Getting started hacking games

[PapaCharlie]

Can anyone give me some information, tips & resources on hacking games? I've got a few ideas in my head, the biggest one being that I was rather disappointed Atari never made a game for The Goonies for the 2600 (only the 8-bit computer line) and I could probably hack a few different existing games to make something with a similar premise to the game on the Atari 800/Commodore 64.

[attendo]

Scroll down to "Hacking" atariage.com/2600/programming/

 

Good luck.

[yuppicide]

I thought about a 2600 version of Goonies. That would be awesome. I'd want it to be based off the Commodore 64 version, not the NES version, though as it was pure crap.

[PapaCharlie]

I thought about a 2600 version of Goonies. That would be awesome. I'd want it to be based off the Commodore 64 version, not the NES version, though as it was pure crap.

869102[/snapback]

 

The NES game, Goonies II, was actually supposed to be a new concept, a "sequel" to the original. The C64/Atari 800 game was fantastic and highly addictive.

 

I was thinking of doing it as a "series," i.e. three games, the 2nd and 3rd games a succession of the first. Something like the first game being about hunting through Mikey's house to find the map and the doubloon, then an adventure through the Light House Lounge and the underground caverns, and finally a hunt through One-Eyed Willy's pirate ship for the treasure.

 

I'm still picking through games to see what could be hacked to best suit the system. I've written games on the C64 before "from scratch," but to be honest with you, I'd rather hack some existing stuff on the 2600 to get a feel for how the environment runs before I try and tackle an original creation.

[fabventure2600]

I thought about a 2600 version of Goonies. That would be awesome. I'd want it to be based off the Commodore 64 version, not the NES version, though as it was pure crap.

869102[/snapback]

 

The NES game, Goonies II, was actually supposed to be a new concept, a "sequel" to the original. The C64/Atari 800 game was fantastic and highly addictive.

 

I was thinking of doing it as a "series," i.e. three games, the 2nd and 3rd games a succession of the first. Something like the first game being about hunting through Mikey's house to find the map and the doubloon, then an adventure through the Light House Lounge and the underground caverns, and finally a hunt through One-Eyed Willy's pirate ship for the treasure.

 

I'm still picking through games to see what could be hacked to best suit the system. I've written games on the C64 before "from scratch," but to be honest with you, I'd rather hack some existing stuff on the 2600 to get a feel for how the environment runs before I try and tackle an original creation.

872673[/snapback]

 

 

What you think about"quest for Quintana Roo"and"Pitfall II lost caverns"or"Moutain king?,maybe the answer can be hack 2600 roms....

[MayDay]

There are several ways to begin hacking games. There are a couple of bit-hacking programs available for download in the hacking section that allow you to change sprite shapes. It is explained in their threads pretty well how each of them work. The two I'm aware of are named "Bithacker" and "Hackomatic".

 

Also, if you are more open to the coding as your post suggests, check out Andrew Davie's tutorials in the Newbie section of Atari 2600 programming. You will also need to find a program called Distella, which you can use to get an assembly file from 2K and 4K game binaries. Larger games are also possible, but you will need to learn to split the files in half, disassemble each, and put them back together using DASM.

 

Hacking games is fun, and a good way to transition to writing your own games. Or, like some people here, you can just stick to hacking. A few of the hacks done here have rivaled "real" games, some even have their own cartridge releases... and maybe a few more should.

 

-JD