>I think my interest in all this is that I like to write tools. I think
>every programmer has some inclination to do that, especially if they see a
>need for better development tools. The trap (or bliss depending on your
>outlook) is to just go on creating tools all the time and never get back to
>using them.
>Without commiting myself to anything (hehe), how popular/useful would a
>java based tool be for you?
Depends on what the tool is, of course, but Java would be a point against
it as far as I'm concerned. Unless you can find a Java VM that runs
stuff as fast as my C++ compiler.
>My Picks:
>
>Tool:
> All-around graphic design--->hex--->binary editor
> (more than a text editor, less than a TIA emulator)
An IDE. Integrated code editing, syntax checking, menu-driven
compiling/assembling and running, with a built-in emulator and
step-by-step debugging. With that last one using a screen mode where it
shows the TIA screen in the top half with some sort of indicator for the
current scanline (highlight the scanline below the one that's currently
being worked on) and the code/registers/ memory/etc in the bottom half.
And include a menu option "Play to Supercharger" where it'd assemble,
makewav, and play it in one step.
Or pretty much anything more integrated than what I'm using now, which is
DOS EDIT, DASM, PCAE, Makewav, and the Windows media player. (Was there
a tie-them-together program that I missed somewhere along the way? I've
a funny feeling there was...)
>Doc:
> Comprehensive 2600 tutorial, friendly pictures and analogies at the
> front,code segment examples in the middle,
> complete commented programs toward the end
I understand the 6507 and the TIA, so I can't help ya on what a newbie
needs here, though an IDE with some sample code to look at and play with
would probably be more approachable than the alphabet soup of tools we
now have.
> A "tricks" book with a game-by-game analysis of special techniques
> and the stories behind them that make the impossible possible.
I'd like "once-and-for-all" documentation on the so-called multi-sprite
trick - I haven't been paying a heck of a lot of attention, but I don't
think I've seen a really comprehensive treatment come through here yet.
I did one for the 6-digit score routine a while back.
>Game:
> i'll pass on this till I know what i want to code myself.
A 4-player game to rival and surpass Warlords for party enjoyment. A 2D
shooter where you earn money to buy weapons and armor, in the style of
the PC games Raptor and Tyrian.
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