Atari 7800 Homebrew: Into The Void / Number Crusher

[fultonbot]

test1_zonesandsprites.zipI've been watching this forum for while now and decided to start a development thread for my Atari 7800 homebrew game "Into The Void".

The current build is here:

 

https://raz0red.github.io/js7800/?cart=https://intotheverticalblank.com/downloads/itvb5.bas.a78

Some screenshots attached.  These are only test images.  The game will most likely transform greatly as I continue.

 

 

 

itvb5.bas.a78

Edited October 6, 2020 by fultonbot

[jefffulton]

Looks good so far! 

[fultonbot]

By the way the game is 160A with 16 pixels zones using 160A 4-color sprites and doublebuffering

(I'm going to create a video to show why I came to that conclusion.)

I's being built with Atari Dev Studio

Right now TIA sounds, but I'm not against Pokey.

AtariVox support (alpha included planned)

High Score Cartridge support (planned)

 

Oh, and I started this thread to force myself to finish the game in 2020.  
 

Edited July 23, 2020 by fultonbot

[TrekMD]

Very cool!

[+sramirez2008]

Thanks for sharing. Look forward to seeing more.?

[AtariBrian]

4 hours ago, fultonbot said:

 

 

Oh, and I started this thread to force myself to finish the game in 2020.  
 

Can we help with forcing you to finish this? ?

[gilsaluki]

Cool Ace Frehley song as well, "Into The Void"

[PacManPlus]

 

[+HatNJ]

Black Sabbath also did a song to Into the Void 1971 album Master of Reality

 

 

[fultonbot]

If you think the Ace Frehley or Black Sabbath citations are going to slow me down, you are dead wrong!

[Cousin Vinnie]

KEEP IT UP

[+bhall408]

22 hours ago, fultonbot said:

Right now TIA sounds, but I'm not against Pokey.

 

Is dual/stereo POKEY a thing on 7800 homebrews like it is on 8-bit? (I've never heard of that for 7800, but games like Yoomp! on 8-bit sure sound awesome with it)

 

And one you didn't mention -- are you using/planning to use both fire buttons?

 

[Jinks]

I can not find my old band called Barrel Murder Delivery Service our song Into the Void recording it was our best song back in 07.. oh well all gone. That is what came to my mind when I read the game title..

Can someone do a video of the game?? 

 

[gambler172]

To check it on real hardware...an a78 file would be good

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Awesome, always happy to see a scrolling shooter headed to the 7800. I also had not heard of Atari Dev Studio, time to look it up...

[fultonbot]

3 hours ago, bhall408 said:

Is dual/stereo POKEY a thing on 7800 homebrews like it is on 8-bit? (I've never heard of that for 7800, but games like Yoomp! on 8-bit sure sound awesome with it)

 

And one you didn't mention -- are you using/planning to use both fire buttons?

 

I probably will use both buttons, but I want the second one to be for "special" things.

[fultonbot]

1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Awesome, always happy to see a scrolling shooter headed to the 7800. I also had not heard of Atari Dev Studio, time to look it up...

Plug-in for VS Studio.   It works nicely.  

[fultonbot]

2 hours ago, gambler172 said:

To check it on real hardware...an a78 file would be good

There's probably not enough there yet to really put through the paces, but I added it on the first post.

I really need an SD Cart for the 7800...

Edited July 24, 2020 by fultonbot

[fultonbot]

As I have been trying to figure out what is the best graphics mode and zone settings to use for this game, I create a couple software tools to push the 7800 to its' limit.

After loading the tools, the [Fire] button will cycle through the various tests, while the [Joystick] (right, down) will add sprites and (left, up) will subtract sprites.

 

The readout at the bottom shows: x (sprite per zone), y (number of zones), dropped frames, background on/off, animation on/off, doublebuffering on/off.

 

If you go too far, the system will glitch-out and you have have to restart.  I've only used this with Atari Dev Studio/Atari 7800 Basic/A7800 so far.  My hope is to acquire  a flashcart so I can test on real hardware.

Code, sample images and executables attached.
I hope this is useful for people.

 

(By the way, @RevEng helped me figure out the dropped frames counter for this)

 

I made video describing the process and the tool here:

 

test1_zonesandsprites.zip

Edited July 25, 2020 by fultonbot

[SlidellMan]

You should consider doing a series of How to videos once you are done with your game.

[+Muddyfunster]

@fultonbot Not sure if you tried some tests with giving more DL memory?

 

My understanding is that if you provide Maria with more DL memory to use, you can push back the point at with glitching occurs but you eventually hit the wall anyway as you run out of cycles.

 

You can set extradlmemory on which allocates memory at $2200 to expand the display list.

 

if you need to go past that, you can set dlmemory $start $end 

 

I use this method in E.X.O as i'm using 16kb of on-cart RAM (256K+16K rom scheme). That means I can use set set dlmemory to give Maria a bigger chunk of RAM that she would ordinarily have access to and use the remainder for things like storing the screen and lots of extra variables. This way you can massively extend the DL until you run out of cycles.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Muddyfunster

[fultonbot]

3 hours ago, Muddyfunster said:

@fultonbot Not sure if you tried some tests with giving more DL memory?

 

My understanding is that if you provide Maria with more DL memory to use, you can push back the point at with glitching occurs but you eventually hit the wall anyway as you run out of cycles.

 

You can set extradlmemory on which allocates memory at $2200 to expand the display list.

 

if you need to go past that, you can set dlmemory $start $end 

 

I use this method in E.X.O as i'm using 16kb of on-cart RAM (256K+16K rom scheme). That means I can use set set dlmemory to give Maria a bigger chunk of RAM that she would ordinarily have access to and use the remainder for things like storing the screen and lots of extra variables. This way you can massively extend the DL until you run out of cycles.

 

 

 

I think I will try that next.  Just add it as a new option on the next set if demos for 2.0.

16K of on-cart RAM is addressable like the normal 4K RAM but it comes the cart?
I take it he 256K ROM is used for code and GFX?
How much does a cart like that cost to produce over a 48K cart using the standard 4K RAM on-board the 7800?

 

[Edit] Okay, I tried "set extradlmemory on" and I was able to get one extra sprite per zone.  I suppose then by using "set dlmemory" I can address much more RAM and get even more object per zone.  
 

-Steve

Edited July 26, 2020 by fultonbot

[fultonbot]

13 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

You should consider doing a series of How to videos once you are done with your game.

I might do some very basic how-tos before I'm done.  I need to make sure I understand more though.

[phattyboombatty]

Awesome start to what will no doubt be an awesome game! 

 

I was able to get this to load on my CC2 and play this on real Atari 7800 hardware by making the following menu entries:

 

7800:    Into The Void    ITVB5    7048    78BIOS

 

Use tabs for the MENU.TXT file and spaces for the MENU.CC2 file.

 

New banking schemes for the Cuttle Cart 2 here.

 

Lastly, don't forget to remove the first 128 bytes of any .A78 file to convert it to a .BIN file.

[fultonbot]

13 hours ago, phattyboombatty said:

Awesome start to what will no doubt be an awesome game! 

 

I was able to get this to load on my CC2 and play this on real Atari 7800 hardware by making the following menu entries:

 

7800:    Into The Void    ITVB5    7048    78BIOS

 

Use tabs for the MENU.TXT file and spaces for the MENU.CC2 file.

 

New banking schemes for the Cuttle Cart 2 here.

 

Lastly, don't forget to remove the first 128 bytes of any .A78 file to convert it to a .BIN file.

Oh cool, thanks!
If you know anyone who wants to get rid of a Cuttle Cart 2, I'm interested.