+atari2600land Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 So I got a Kid's Controller a couple days ago and thought "Someone should make a homebrew that uses this." To my knowledge, this is the first truly homebrew game to use the Kid's Controller. It stars Bert of "Sesame Street" fame (I have seen Elmo in that "Peek-a-Boo" Colecovision game that's for sale in the AtariAge store.) Nevertheless, if they tell me to stop, I'll just change the characters a bit and call it "George the Guy" and do something else with it. Why? Because I want a homebrew game using the Kid's Controller. Even though it functions the same as the normal Keyboard controller. (Which I should probably need help with since I've never done it before.) Anyway, this is the title screen: There's Bert's floating disembodied head. The title screen plays the "Sesame Street" theme. Pressing the reset switch (since there is no actual Fire button on the Kid's Controller) gives you this: I had no idea you could change COLUPF on the fly between a "sleep 18" statement. This took about 4 hours to make this screen, which will be where the action happens. But nothing happens yet because I just got finished with it. Doesn't look like Bert I know, but at least he has the pineapple head going for him. bert7.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 6, 2020 Author Share Posted August 6, 2020 Decided to make a third yellow bin be between the red and blue ones. The pigeon will drop a differently colored item and it is up to Bert to put it in the correct bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 Added the pigeon. How many cycles are you allowed, and is there a way to check with Stella how many you're using? I'm still new at assembly. Since my eye hurts, I figure I'd take the rest of the day off. bert11.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 2 hours ago, atari2600land said: How many cycles are you allowed, and is there a way to check with Stella how many you're using? I'm still new at assembly. Looking good so far! Keeping a steady 262 lines is a good way to make sure you don't have screen rolls on CRTs and video dropouts on modern equipment, here's a good page to reference: - James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 I sat here for a few hours trying to get the ball to appear anywhere, but with no such luck. All I want is for the ball to drop from the bottom of the pigeon and land on the brick wall. Did the programmers really have to make it THIS hard? If anyone can help me, here is the code: bert12.asm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 6 hours ago, atari2600land said: I sat here for a few hours trying to get the ball to appear anywhere, but with no such luck. All I want is for the ball to drop from the bottom of the pigeon and land on the brick wall. Did the programmers really have to make it THIS hard? If anyone can help me, here is the code: bert12.asm 30.07 kB · 2 downloads I like what you are doing with this so far Looks better with just the 3 bins, IMO. The "brick wall" kinda makes it muddy to look at VS not being there. If that is of any use to you or not. Keep up the good work, and yes that does look about as Bert as you are gonna get on the 2600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Looks really good so far. I don't know about the brick wall, kind of like the clean bins only look. I don't know what a pigeon would be dropping other then poop, may be better to have an airplane fly over with a parachute drop. The parachute would have a crate that breaks open when it lands to reveal the item. You could have different items that are dropped like shapes or something simple, then you could also have them drop non-colored items in the bin with the right shape on a higher level. You could use color, shape and numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 In the show, Bert likes pigeons, so I put in a pigeon. And the wall needs to be there for a box to fall atop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 Update: Bert can now move. 7 - left and 9 - right. Bert can grab the box (once it fell) with the * key. And only if he's at the x position where the box is (which took a looong time to get correct for no apparent reason other than the computer decided to hate me then.) Dropping the box in the container will use the # key. Pressing 1 on the title screen starts the game. I'd like it to be a reset switch, but it won't work. I tried importing some code but to no avail. If anyone can help me with that, I'd enjoy it. .asm is in the zip file I attached here. The whole point of the game is the box will be a random color, and you're supposed to put the correct color box in the correct color container. bert14.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Got reset switch working! bert14a.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Fixed the drawing problem when Bert was on the right side of the screen. bert15.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Bert can now drop the items into the bins. Press # to do that. I changed the colors a little bit too. You'll get a point for doing that if you get it in the correct bin. Besides adding sfx, I don't know what to do. And, I think it's not really a very complicated game at this point. So any way I could perhaps add something to it would be very appreciated. bert16.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Left (7) now works on a real Atari 2600 Kid's Controller. bert17.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 When I get done with this, I will attempt to make the "lost" Count's Castle game with everyone's favorite purple counting vampire children's character Count Von Count. The idea behind my version is this: Some items show up on the screen, and the player has to count them and then enter the number of things on screen with the keypad. Again, not a thrilling game by any means, but it's for young kids. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Pat Brady Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 On 8/10/2020 at 4:21 PM, atari2600land said: In the show, Bert likes pigeons, so I put in a pigeon. And the wall needs to be there for a box to fall atop. Yes, pigeon is absolutely the correct thing to put in a Bert game. Fortunately pigeons have a reputation for carrying things. I like the wall because it subtly reinforces that this is not a jump-over-things game. 8 hours ago, atari2600land said: Bert can now drop the items into the bins. Press # to do that. I changed the colors a little bit too. You'll get a point for doing that if you get it in the correct bin. Besides adding sfx, I don't know what to do. And, I think it's not really a very complicated game at this point. So any way I could perhaps add something to it would be very appreciated. bert16.zip 35.61 kB · 2 downloads I don’t think I want to propose anything specific, but: the old Atari Kid’s Controller games really just used that controller as a joystick substitute. What you described above mostly follows that precedent. Since you’re looking for suggestions, my recommendation is to tailor the game more to the controller you chose. Your Count Von Count idea definitely does that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 Added sound effects. I had to work all day on it because the computer was being mean. Sometimes it screwed up the title screen even though I had no changes to it. Got rid of the thousands and hundredths digits to the score. Added a life counter back in. Will work on that some more later. bert18.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) Looks great so far. I posted this on the Atari 2600 Homebrew Group on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Atari2600homebrew Someone posted this as a suggestion. Robbert Jansen, " Nice to see a new kids controller game! One thing though, in the titlescreen, Bert’s mouth should be much wider, from his face’s edge to edge. And he has a bigger nose. " Here is your original and one I tweaked a little. - Changed nose color - Changed nose shape - Widened mouth Here is the updated BIN:Bert18a Title Touch up.bin Edited August 17, 2020 by neotokeo2001 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 I can't put the changes in without an .asm file. So I went ahead and tried to make them myself. This is what I came up with. bert19.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 During my bout with insomnia (it's 2 a.m. right now), I added some bass notes to the title screen song. bert20.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 On 8/14/2020 at 11:46 PM, atari2600land said: Fixed the drawing problem when Bert was on the right side of the screen. bert15.zip 8.07 kB · 6 downloads With the wall much higher than the bins like that it looks a heck of a lot nicer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 6 hours ago, atari2600land said: I can't put the changes in without an .asm file. So I went ahead and tried to make them myself. This is what I came up with. bert19.zip 9.37 kB · 2 downloads Looks good. Just move the pupils in a pixel towards center. You will notice that Bert's eyes are a little cross-eyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 New changes: Added a lives counter. If Bert misplaces the box, he'll lose a life. If he loses all three of them, it goes back to the title screen. Quieted excessively long notes in title screen music. Fixed Bert's eyes His unibrow wasn't uniform! Changed that as well. bert21.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 (edited) We'll be checking out Bert on tomorrow's (Fri Aug 21) ZeroPage Homebrew stream LIVE on Twitch at 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 7PM GMT! Hope everyone can watch! Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Deep Space (2020 Exclusive WIP Premiere) by Leandro Camara (@HSW3ET) Cave Run (2012) by Steve Engelhardt (@Atarius Maximus) Bert (2020 WIP) by Chris Read (@atari2600land) Barnstorming (1982 Activision Patch Attempt) by Steve Cartwright (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY) Edited August 24, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Weird - all my text disappeared when I posted, leaving only the screenshots and source. Anyway I was replying to this: On 8/17/2020 at 2:04 AM, atari2600land said: I can't put the changes in without an .asm file. Just load the BIN into Stella and it will begin to analyze the ROM. Play it a bit, the more you play the better the analysis will be. Then enter the debugger and type savedis: I didn't play much, and it created this disassembly: Bert18a Title Touch up.asm Inside which I can see the graphics for Bert which could be copied/pasted into your source: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 20, 2020 Author Share Posted August 20, 2020 OK, thanks for the explanation. I put in the suggested changes, plus I made Bert's ears bigger. I'm having trouble thinking of a name for the game. I don't want to call it "Bert Game" for obvious reasons. bert22.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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