kisrael Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 It's not yet at version 1.0, but the atari-background-builder - https://alienbill.com/2600/atari-background-builder/ is probably the best tool yet for making playfield graphics or 48px splash screen images. (I just changed the name from "splash-o-matic"... I wanted to be more clear about what it does.) Features Include: multiple kernel modes, each one providing ready-to-run source code... (batari Basic 48px splash screen via minikernel, bB DPC+, assembly non-reflected assymetric playfield... more coming) sophisticated handling of scanline based color changes gradient tool import from JPG/PNG etc images section cut/copy/paste NEW! save and load your work as a project Here is a clumsy introductory video running over all the parts 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 added a "fill" tool, just keeping up with the joneses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quohog Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 This is so great! I've been looking for something exactly like this for a long time! Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Work continues (and is starting back up) Minor change: it now describes the various kernels modes on offer (Assembly, batari Basic, DPC+, etc) as text. In the next few weeks as we add more assembly modes (mirrored etc-- things that a finely tuned assembly program might find more useful!) the description will be more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Work continues (and is starting back up) Minor change: it now describes the various kernels modes on offer (Assembly, batari Basic, DPC+, etc) as text. In the next few weeks as we add more assembly modes (mirrored etc-- things that a finely tuned assembly program might find more useful!) the description will be more important. Oh and in other cool news, an artist group in brazil is using my tools for some programming classes: https://sites.google.com/dad.puc-rio.br/semanadad20211/home 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 Added an "Undo" feature everybody makes mistakes 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 Added a new Assembly Playfield Mode: Asymmetrical Mirrored Playfield (already had Asymmetrical Reflected Playfield) Maybe not a super increase in utility, but a good box to check. Next up will be Symmetrical (Mirrored, Repeated) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 Now with Symmetrical Playfields! (Mirrored/Repeating) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 I swear I'm not the biggest Pokemon fan, but for some reason I feel like I'm channeling Ash Ketchum - where caught Pokemon = features (gotta catch 'em all) and the general wish to be the greatest Pokemon trainer (have the absolute best Playfield and Large Title Graphic Editor) in the world. So, case in point: added an "ellipse" tool because I saw someone like it on a different editor, and it seemed like fun to make. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 18, 2021 Author Share Posted May 18, 2021 NOW! Supports variable scanlines per row, for the 4 assembly kernels Probably a lot of projects don't have time to change the playfield every damn scanline, and this support is important for making it a more serious tool, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 30, 2021 Author Share Posted May 30, 2021 10 years ago (yeesh!) @RevEng made The bB Titlescreen Kernel I am working to incorporate full-ish support for this in atari-background-builder... starting with the "48x2" minikernel (currently just one of the 3 "locations" for it) This method should end up being MUCH easier to import images for than the previous steps using windows-only software. Other fixes included a nasty undefined color bug fix, and some internal improvements to accomodate the new kernel types 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Got the 3 basic assembly kernels (48x1 mono, 48x2 color, 96x2 color) of @RevEng's bB Titlescreen Kernel in, along with an affordance for saying if it's minikernel 1,2, or 3 of that type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevKelley Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Is there a way to have a titlescreen and then do something and press reset and have it go to another titlescreen? I had been playing around with it and at first I thought it was something as simple as changing the name of the abb.asm but that didn't work so I assume there is more to it. I was looking in the file but was not sure if there were any other changes one would have to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevKelley Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Also, is there a way to display the score with the player background... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Karl G Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 You can't have two Titlescreen kernels in the same project, unfortunately. That's one of the reasons I made my simple splash screen kernel as something that could coexist with the Titlescreen kernel, which could be a splash screen before the title, or something like a game over screen. I'm not sure what you mean about the player background with the score, but you can't display anything else on the same lines as the score on a title screen, if that's what you meant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevKelley Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 I don't know what I meant by player background. I think I was writing this down when my son was talking and some wires got crossed in my brain. lol What I meant was if the score could be activated on this titlescreen. I figured you couldn't but didn't know if there was some way to. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Karl G Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Yes, there's a score minikernel as part of the titlescreen kernel that you can enable in the titlescreen_layout.asm file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 When I run an example program on the bB page and hit Select until I get the preset DFXFRACINC number of 32 (22 rows that are 8 scanlines high), I get a screen that looks like this: When I enter a height of 22 on your page, I get this: That's really scrunched down. Am I using the wrong number? Would it be hard to have bB DPC+ presets to choose from on your page such as 176 rows that are 1 scanline high, 88 rows that are 2 scanlines high, 44 rows that are 4 scanlines high, 22 rows that are 8 scanlines high, and 11 rows that are 16 scanlines high? Example: ;*************************************************************** ; ; 176 rows that are 1 scanline high except the top and bottom ; rows (which seem to be 2 scanlines high). All of the colors ; seem to be 2 scanlines high. ; DF6FRACINC = 255 ; Background colors. DF4FRACINC = 255 ; Playfield colors. DF0FRACINC = 255 ; Column 0. DF1FRACINC = 255 ; Column 1. DF2FRACINC = 255 ; Column 2. DF3FRACINC = 255 ; Column 3. ;*************************************************************** ; ; 88 rows that are 2 scanlines high. ; DF6FRACINC = 255 ; Background colors. DF4FRACINC = 255 ; Playfield colors. DF0FRACINC = 128 ; Column 0. DF1FRACINC = 128 ; Column 1. DF2FRACINC = 128 ; Column 2. DF3FRACINC = 128 ; Column 3. ;*************************************************************** ; ; 44 rows that are 4 scanlines high. ; DF6FRACINC = 128 ; Background colors. DF4FRACINC = 128 ; Playfield colors. DF0FRACINC = 64 ; Column 0. DF1FRACINC = 64 ; Column 1. DF2FRACINC = 64 ; Column 2. DF3FRACINC = 64 ; Column 3. ;*************************************************************** ; ; 22 rows that are 8 scanlines high. ; DF6FRACINC = 64 ; Background colors. DF4FRACINC = 64 ; Playfield colors. DF0FRACINC = 32 ; Column 0. DF1FRACINC = 32 ; Column 1. DF2FRACINC = 32 ; Column 2. DF3FRACINC = 32 ; Column 3. ;*************************************************************** ; ; 11 rows that are 16 scanlines high. ; DF6FRACINC = 32 ; Background colors. DF4FRACINC = 32 ; Playfield colors. DF0FRACINC = 16 ; Column 0. DF1FRACINC = 16 ; Column 1. DF2FRACINC = 16 ; Column 2. DF3FRACINC = 16 ; Column 3. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 I could consider it. (i've pivoted my attention away a bit) I don't really have my head around the DF*FRANCINC stuff. Are there any games that take advantage of the multicolumn stuff in gameplay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 3 hours ago, kisrael said: I could consider it. (i've pivoted my attention away a bit) I don't really have my head around the DF*FRANCINC stuff. Are there any games that take advantage of the multicolumn stuff in gameplay? Seems like most people set the DF*FRANCINC column stuff to the same number. I don't understand any of it. I just know from the chart that 255 = 176 rows that are 1 scanline high, 128 = 88 rows that are 2 scanlines high, 64 = 44 rows that are 4 scanlines high, 32 = 22 rows that are 8 scanlines high, and 16 = 11 rows that are 16 scanlines high. Everything else can basically be ignored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 I should have left out the DF*FRANCINC numbers since they aren't needed for your page. The most important thing is letting the user change the height of the rows and it can just be all the rows at once. No need for the ability to change the height of individual rows. If it could have these presets for bB DPC+ users, it would make it easier for them since they wouldn't have to look it up on the bB page every time: 176 rows that are 1 scanline high 88 rows that are 2 scanlines high 44 rows that are 4 scanlines high 22 rows that are 8 scanlines high 11 rows that are 16 scanlines high Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 yeah that makes some sense. I have backburnered this but might try to bring it out to work on it a little 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 On 7/9/2021 at 9:35 AM, kisrael said: yeah that makes some sense. I have backburnered this but might try to bring it out to work on it a little This is basically what I was talking about: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/323744-bb-playfield-editor-free-online-tool/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted September 6, 2021 Author Share Posted September 6, 2021 https://alienbill.com/2600/atari-background-builder/ - I added support for the DPC+ kernels Mostly I stuck with "A few examples" - https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#dpc_frac_rows @Random Terrain - is it worth me trying to stick in the asm language hacks for 88 and 176? I couldn't get it to work Here's where I tried to insert it abbPFbBDPC.bas I think that code is "right" in terms of top 6 lines, alternating red white blue red white blue, and with the asm hack I was hoping for this at the top: (err, ignore the gray bar) but get could that be related to the "DPC+ 176 rows and DPC+ 88 rows will not display properly without tricks developed by Lillapojkenpåön at AtariAge" thing you mention? Should I try and build some hints on that into the editor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Check out this post: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/323730-bb-dpc-programmers-need-to-download-this-file/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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