Planetary Defense 5200?

[Klankster]

I'm working on porting my 400/800 game "Planetary Defense 2012" -- a version of the ANALOG Computing game with enhanced bonus features) to run on the 5200 for an Android emulator. I've never done a port to the 5200 before, and am unclear on what operating system vectors apply (if any) and how other registers etc. are mapped.  Is there a good guide available for the 5200 (sort of like the old De Re Atari)?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[+playsoft]

That would be great to have on the 5200!

 

There is @ClausB's guide from ANALOG Computing, Transporting Atari Computer Programs to the 5200

 

Also @phaeron's Altirra Hardware Reference Manual

 

Good luck with the port.

 

Edit: as it might be a good controller option for the game, there's a trakball guide here.

[BIGHMW]

7 hours ago, playsoft said:

That would be great to have on the 5200!

 

There is @ClausB's guide from ANALOG Computing, Transporting Atari Computer Programs to the 5200

 

Also @phaeron's Altirra Hardware Reference Manual

 

Good luck with the port.

 

Edit: as it might be a good controller option for the game, there's a trakball guide here.

Thanks @playsoft! So after looking through that and studying it does that mean even I, can port over A8 games to Big Sexy or is my education/skill level not good enough to do so, as I hate to ask others to have to do it for me, I have always wanted to be more self-sufficient. (I have developmental and psychiatric issues) There are plenty of A8 ports that'll work on the 5200, like Bug Attack, to name one, and quite a few others as well.

 

I DO own a 65XE, and an XEGS (picked up in November and December respectively last year) as well as the 5200 (since 1983) as well. I also own a Dell Inspiron with Windows 7 Pro that I can (if necessary) transfer .xex, .car, .atr, and .rom files and convert them to .bin, .hyb, or .rom very easily.

[+playsoft]

17 hours ago, BIGHMW said:

Thanks @playsoft! So after looking through that and studying it does that mean even I, can port over A8 games to Big Sexy or is my education/skill level not good enough to do so, as I hate to ask others to have to do it for me, I have always wanted to be more self-sufficient. (I have developmental and psychiatric issues) There are plenty of A8 ports that'll work on the 5200, like Bug Attack, to name one, and quite a few others as well.

 

I DO own a 65XE, and an XEGS (picked up in November and December respectively last year) as well as the 5200 (since 1983) as well. I also own a Dell Inspiron with Windows 7 Pro that I can (if necessary) transfer .xex, .car, .atr, and .rom files and convert them to .bin, .hyb, or .rom very easily.

You would have to learn to program first but I think anyone can do that with study and practice. A lot of us here learnt programming when we were kids, writing in Atari BASIC initially, learning 6502 assembler and including some machine language routines in our BASIC programs, then finally writing programs completely in assembler.

 

Obviously this took a number of years and as older adults we might not learn as easily as we did when we were young and your issues may not help. But it is a path you could follow, perhaps to start with spend a year or so learning Atari BASIC with the goal of writing a simple game and see how you get on with that, whether it is something you enjoy or not.

 

[BIGHMW]

Thanks Paul, maybe I AM a bit too old to do it all nowadays, but for all who have never heard of Bug Attack, it's kinda similar to Centipede, but as you can see from my review of it on The Atari Report, THIS variation of it..... has some bite to it as well, and I think 5200 owners would enjoy it as 8-bit owners do already, so here is the video on it as well as the ROM for it, if anyone wants to make a 5200 conversion that's up to them, it was put out in 1982 so it's not a homebrew.

 

 

Bug Attack.xex

[+bhall408]

On 9/22/2021 at 2:07 AM, playsoft said:

That would be great to have on the 5200!

 

Edit: as it might be a good controller option for the game, there's a trakball guide here.

 

In Argon, we're currently supporting an 8-way digital stick, a 4 digital way stick (for maze games, such as Major Blink, also works great for Overflow) and a 2-way digital stick (for "shoot and scoot" games like Galaxian and Space Assailants). The 2-way stick will show up in the public beta we'll be posting today or tomorrow, and is implemented for Space Assailants 2121.

 

The 4-way and 2-way controls really make a positive difference in gameplay for the games where they are most suited. We have this set in the server side meta-data for each game, so no need to worry about how to do it -- we've already picked.

 

We have an analog control we're not quite happy with yet (when ready, that will be the best for direct location positioning games, such as Missile Command style), and will also be doing a paddle (analog 1 axis/horizontal) for breakout/warlords/kaboom style games.

 

 

[BIGHMW]

Hey @Klankster, how's work going on converting Planetary Defense to the 5200? You haven't chimed in in quite a while.

[BIGHMW]

Hate to update a dead thread but I feel obligated to do so, so here it is yet again!!!

 

Here is a video of the particular game in question:

 

 

...and the rom down below:

 

 

Planetary Defense.xex

[+bhall408]

On a related note, we were able to add support for the Koala Pad mode of Planetary Defense to Argon.

 

You can now play it (the Atari 800 version) via touch/stylus/mouse/trackpad/analog stick in Argon.

 

See video posted in this comment to a thread on the 8-bit forum: 

 

[Keatah]

Ohh what a fun game! A novel fire-control mechanism for sure. Could have been made into an arcade game.

 

Does the planet ever get repaired? Or do you ever get free men at a certain score?

[+bhall408]

43 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Does the planet ever get repaired? Or do you ever get free men at a certain score?

It does get repaired at some point (see the Planetary Defense 2012 post).

 

I'm thinking we may need to kick up the difficulty level when played with touch -- perhaps start at level 5 by default. And/or add a difficulty level, and the current one would be "easy" and starting at 5 would be "normal" and something past that "difficult"

 

[BIGHMW]

@rra anyone want to take up doing a 5200 version of this mainly for the analog stick and/or trak-ball, this would be great for Big Sexy

[Keatah]

Love this. Had it working in Altirra in a matter of minutes. No going to ebay to bid on a KoalaPad, then fretting over accuracy and durability or any of that stuffage.

 

With PC mouse, I also configured autofire LMB and single-shot RMB. Fire off a barrage or precision shot as desired.

 

Anyone care to comment on the history, such as where the idea/inspiration for it came from? Because to me it seems a mix of MissleCommand and (partial reverse) Liberator.

 

[BIGHMW]

That's a very good call on Liberator, I always wanted to see an 8-bit port of that arcade game, I preferred it over Missile Command after playing them both, but, then the 5200 was discontinued and it was never even thought of for either the 7800 or even the XEGS afterwards, an absolute gem if you ask me, that and also a port of Quantum would've done well, especially with the Trak-Ball for the 5200.

[Keatah]

Back then I never thought much about a port of Liberator to anything 8-bits. Mostly because of the apparent complexity of the rotating planet - thought it beyond the capabilities of home hardware. Yet it only has a single 6502 @ 1.2MHz.

 

Now I suppose it doesn't matter because MAME brings it home.

[Keatah]

How many levels are there in this game? Seem to be "stuck" and not progressing past #28.

[BIGHMW]

Any word from either @Klankster @rra or @bhall408 on whether or not a 5200 version of this (or better than that how about the 2012 version) will ever be out out, my Atarimax awaits!!!

[+bhall408]

On 6/3/2022 at 1:06 AM, BIGHMW said:

Any word from either @Klankster @rra or @bhall408 on whether or not a 5200 version of this (or better than that how about the 2012 version) will ever be out out, my Atarimax awaits!!!

Can't speak for the others, but we ended up going down the path of adding Atari 8-bit and koala pad support to Argon (vs getting the game to work on 5200 with analog controls), so our own motivation to do it is now gone.