Re: [stella] [Poll] What is everybody working on?

Subject: Re: [stella] [Poll] What is everybody working on?
From: "Christopher Rydberg" <solitaire0@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 05:12:09 +0000

> AI Classic - A portable video game system compatible with the Atari 2600.
> This is on indefinate hold while I figure out how to do it. I have alot

Hey.  I told you weeks (months?) ago that I'd be willing to help...I'm
just busy as all get out!  I guess you didn't get the message.  :)


Really? I don't know how I missed that. Sorry, man. Well, let's get on it. We'll talk about it in private mails, but I have a significant amount of material and planning already done and have even made some tentative contacts within the local manufacturing community to score some LCD screens. I may even have found a manufacturer who may be willing to make the whole item if I can hand them the plans and the money.

> Duel of Dragon and Tiger - This is going to be my first attempt at a 2600
> title. It is a fighting game somewhere between the arcade classic Gladiator
Sounds cool. Also sounds ambitious...I hope to see this for Christmas!

I hope so too. I'm having alot of trouble with using cycle counting and player graphics used as sprites. It is integral to making the screen as I envisioned it and I am having a lot of trouble. The Bamboo in level one looks horrible too. I've got to fix it.



I think that the console switches are under utilized. Unless you plan to use
every one of them in your game, you should consider using one for a PAL/NTSC
switch.

The game will feature the ability to, using the console switches, change your martial arts style during the fight so I will already be using the console switches a little. I will probably try and include automatic and manual switching.


Seriously though, I think these bytes might be better used for game features.
I don't know which method would waste more bytes. I think at this point,
RAM is a bigger concern because there are 32K ROM boards available. What
do people think?

I am not worried about bytes at all at this point. In fact the opening demo and title screen will bloat the game size significantly if I proceed as planned. I am, however, concerned with RAM which so far has not been a problem.



> The Last Just Cause - If a deal can be struck I will likely make an attempt
> at an RPG game based on a recently written text adventure called The Last

I am interested in the mentioned Closed Caption option and will definately explore it with the text RPG but right now I have to devot myself to DoDaT to truy and get it completed on time.


Will your port be text based, or graphic adventure, or full
graphics RPG?

Probably text based but with things like health, experience, levels, magic, etc. I hope to make it fun and interesting. I also hope it can run on the satandard VCS without a Supercharger, but I haven't written one line of code for it so I have no idea how or if it will work.


> Blank Cartrdige Depot - On the Afterlife website I am setting up a BLank
> Cartridge Depot to support the homebrew community. If I ever get it
> 2600 carts as well. Perhaps Jaguar, Lynx, and Vectrex. Don't leave out the 5200 and 7800. There is "active" development for these
systems too. You might also consider Atari 8-bit platforms as well. It's
much easier to develop for disk, but not everyone has a drive. :( Ah...big,
big plans.

Consider it done, but one thing at a time. I need to get the 2600 section operational before I start planning the next addition. If anyone has any requests let me know. I figured on Lynx and Jag because the development community exist but the parts don't. Vectrex is sort of the same way. I knew about 5200 projects, but hadn't heard of anything happening on the 7800. Either way it's all *** until I get the first one up and running.


> Developer Aid Center - Also something for the Afterlife website. This will
> feature a series of tutorials, code bits, and links that try to explain
> enough of the basics of 2600 programming to get anyone going on a 2600
> project.


I really like this idea.

Thanks.



I think the most important one that is missing right now is "How To Move A
Sprite With The Joystick".  That might be a little too high level for what
you have in mind...but it's mostly a hint for people who have one of these
sitting around to make it available someplace other than Stella archives.

I am actually working on this write now. As part of writing DoDaT I've had to learn every aspect of Atari programming as I learn I jot down how I learned and the order I did it in. One of the two things I'm doing on DoDaT right now is actually 8 directional movement. Sadly it's coming slowly because I'm focused on the Kool Aide Man glitch and figuring out sprite graphics and cycle counting.


Something that would be really interesting is starting with "How to Draw a
Playfield" and incrementally building up to Combat. Even doing it in a full
4K would be great.


Heh...and then you could have a section on optimizing code, to trim it down
to 2K!

Both of those sound great. I think I will probably do this with a future game that I have planned called Seperation Anxiety. It is technically simple and is based on the Pong classics but turned inside out. I think I will write this from the ground up with heavy commenting and use it as a tutorial on making a game, but if I can get the text RPG going I will try and do that first. I think. To be honest I have so many things going right now that I don't worry to much about future projects I just try and gt the m lined up and when the time comes I select the one that seems most likely to be do-able.



Christopher Rydberg solitaire0@xxxxxxxxxxx afterlife.100megsfree4.com


_________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp


- Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/ Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/

Current Thread