Re: [stella] Ballblazer

Subject: Re: [stella] Ballblazer
From: "Clay Halliwell" <clay.h@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 11:10:03 -0500
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob <kudla@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2000 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: [stella] Ballblazer


> At 06:23 PM 5/19/00 -0700, Glenn Saunders wrote:
> >Just another bit of trivia from Stella at 20: Volume 2.  Tod Frye was
> >working on an Atari 2600 version of Ballblazer, yes, 2600.  I didn't ask
> >him if he still had any code leftover.  I doubt it, since he didn't have
> >Save Mary anymore.  That would probably be even more challenging than
> >Battlezone to pull off.
>
> I did get a primitive kernel going with poorly simulated perspective and
> the two playfields, though they were only halfway independent and I had
> sync problems as I mentioned.
>
> I don't think it would be impossible to capture the flavor of ballblazer,
> though to get the real 3D perspective working properly you would need a
> bunch of RAM and either a tighter kernel than I could write, or a
> coprocessor in the cart that dumped the whole playfield to RAM twice a
> frame (which seems like it would have been the way to go in 1984.)
>
> If any better coders have time for this sort of thing right now, feel free
> to pick it up ;)
>
> Rob

Many, many years ago I was also considering how Balblazer could be crammed
into a 2600, and concluded that the best way to do the "grid" would be to
use a Robot Tank-style ground for the horizontal grid lines, and multiplexed
Pitfall-vines for the vertical grid lines.

This would leave both players free to be glommed together into the rotofoil,
the ball as the plasmorb, and the missiles as the goal posts (fortunately
the posts never stick down into the grid, so there wouldn't be any
interference with the grid kernel).

 --
Clay Halliwell           | ATARI XL/XE   DO + THE
clay.FAKEMEAT.h@xxxxxxx  | 8 - B I T S   --------
e.halliwell@xxxxxxxxx    | ///////////   M A T H
Keeper of the Atari Jaguar Cheats and Codes FAQ. Request your copy today!
Editor, Jaguar Explorer Online - More Jaguar News Than Should Be Allowed!
http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/      "Where do you want to play Atari today?"



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