Mr SQL
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Posts posted by Mr SQL
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On 3/10/2021 at 2:46 PM, - Ω - said:
If you guys want to see what some of the games for the TI-99/4A are like before you decide to download them this link: http://tigameshelf.net/ is pretty darn cool!
Wow I was checking out the TI-99/4A bookshelf BASIC games, they all look awesome! 🙂
My best friend had a TI-99/4A growing up and I really liked the machine and it's colorful boot screen and the assortment of Tapes and cartridges we had.
I also saw a GPL breakout game in the Assembly section of the bookshelf, always wanted to learn more about that interesting programming language unique to the TI, it sounds like a CHIP-8 type dialect closer to the hardware than BASIC and powerful enough apparently to run the BASIC interpreter.
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Yes I miss the Fidelity Chess Challenger's inclusion of the Chess board with the computer.
There was another interesting board game released for the O2 with a physical game board that reminded me of Dark Tower, another board game with a computer in the center of the board like the Fidelity.
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On 6/10/2021 at 11:57 AM, RickR said:
I've always been fascinated with how this was programmed. I can't imagine how hard it would be to program a chess game in 2k or 4k.
Me too! At the time Video Chess was released there were dedicated computers just for playing Chess.
I had the Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 which ran a 4K program which was equally amazing.
I like the way Video Chess strobes different colors while the computer thinks and that I can play in color or black and white.
The Chess Challenger showed animated eyes in the low res red LED move display while the computer was thinking.
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SuperCharger Disk BASIC has a special Zero code mode where no code is required only ASCII art 🙂 🙂
There is also an old-school mode that allows you to use just classic BASIC. The ASCII art designers in Zero code mode are similar to batari BASIC but they disengage as a code free design tool concept tool artists can use independently to conceptualize simple compositions and ideas on the Atari 2600 canvas.
These tools can also be used as a stepping stone to BASIC Programming, a single line of BASIC can add animation and change the program making it easy to learn!
virtualworld .............. .............. ...xxxx.....xxxx......... ..xXXXXx....xXXXXx........ .XX.xx.XX..XX.xx.XX....... .XxxxxxXX..XxxxxxXX....... .x.XXXX.x..x.XXXX.x....... .XX....XX..XX....XX....... ..xxxxxx....xxxxxx........ ...xxxx.....xxxx......... .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. rowcolors 54,54,54,54,14,14,114,114,114,114 sprites ..xxxx.. .xXXXXx. XX.xx.XX XxxxxxXX x.XXXX.x XX....XX .xxxxxx. ..xxxx.. chiptunes 6,27,6,13,8 6,27,6,13,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,22,6,22,8 0,0,0,0,8 6,22,6,22,8 6,22,6,22 ,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,13,6,27,12 0,0,0,16,16 12,26,12,26,16 12,26,12,26,8 12,23,12,11,8 12,23,12,2,8 12,17,12,17,8 0,0,0,0,16 0,0,0,0,16 AIR HEAD 4,31,12,23,8 4,31,12,23,8 4,20,12,1,32 4,23,12,23,8 4,24,12,24,8 4,27,12,27,8 4,24,12,24,8 4,27,12,18,8 4,27,12,18,4 4,27,12,18,4 4,27,12,18,8 4,27,12,18,8 4,27,12,18,8 0,0,0,0,16 6,27,6,13,8 6,27,6,13,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,22,6,22,8 0,0,0,0,16 6,22,6,22,8 6,22,6,22,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,24,6,20,8 6,13,6,27,12 MOON PTRL 4,31,4,5,8 0,0,0,0,8 4,17,4,8,8 4,17,4,8,8 4,19,7,30,8 4,19,7,30,8 4,23,4,14,8 4,23,4,14,8 4,19,4,4,8 4,31,4,5,8 0,0,0,0,8 4,17,4,8,8 4,17,4,8,16 4,19,7,30,8 4,23,4,14,16 4,19,4,4,24 RPT 0,0,0,0,32 0,0,0,0,0 -
8 hours ago, DegasElite said:
One other question: how many megabytes can an audio cassette hold? I am not sure how much a 90-minute audio cassette can hold on each side. It's a cool idea, though. I would be interested in working with cassettes because the specialized cartridges are too cost-prohibitive. But, the games could be ported to a CD like Stella Gets a New Brain, I would gather. I am guessing they could be if they were encoded a certain way on the compact disc. Could that work, too?
Yes you can create either one large audio file or a playlist of the audio files to loop on your iPod or CD player and the seek mechanism will find the correct file.
A looping cassette fully emulates disk drive functionality because the tape has to loop, an auto reversing deck will also do this and doubles the capacity for using both sides.
A C-15 on an auto reversing deck will accommodate 2 MB at the fastest baud rate setting which is probably a good idea for a program that large on tape - pushing the technology to that limit will also cause the variable wait time between loads to be up to 1/2 hour.
A a 3 minute continuous looping tape will hold 180K like a floppy disk and the variable load time will feel slightly faster than a Commodore 1541 Disk Drive.
But it also depends on the program architecture - those are the average random access times, if you are not using the Tape Drive like a Disk Drive, and always loading the large game modules sequentially, then wait time would only be seconds.
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3 hours ago, DegasElite said:
So, can these be played on a stock A2600 or does it need a SuperCharger? Do you need special cartridges to play games as a ROM image?
You need a flashcart like the Harmony, Encore, Uno or PlusCart to play the large ROM images, the SuperCharger and CuttleCart can play the big games from Cassette.
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BIG DATA for the Atari 2600 via classic hardware and magnetic Tape
SuperCharger Disk BASIC can be used to create Atari programs up to 2 MB in size in a single ROM or on a standard audio cassette with the SuperCharger.
This allows for modular program design with BASIC variables shared between the program modules.
This is made possible by a security subsystem and ISAM mechanism in the SuperCharger that was ahead of it's time much like the ADAM Home Computers high speed indexed tape drive, allowing a directory structure on high speed magnetic tape to function similarly to a Disk drive in principle.
How it works:
Programs load other programs from the directory using standard MS-DOS style commands added to BASIC just like the Microsoft Disk Extended BASIC for the TRS-80 and Dragon computers.
- DegasElite, Justin and MaximumRD
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I think XONOX Double Enders were an awesome concept putting two ROM's in a phat cart.
What would your wish list of Double Ender Cartridges be if this classic format could be reproduceable Today?
Here are my picks:
Zaxxon and Pole Position
Popeye and BurgerTime
Mr Do and Ms Pacman
Discs of Tron and M Network Football
SpaceChase and INFILTRATE
Video Chess and Missile Command
Asteroids and Defender
Buck Rogers and Qbert
Star Voyager and Solar Fox
AMIDAR and StarShip
Moon Patrol and Skiing
BeamRider and Gyruss
Commando and Space Invaders
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On 1/8/2021 at 2:37 AM, Jinroh said:
Dunno how I missed this, but that is both trippy and clever! I always loved the look of your engine. 😄
Thanks Jinroh I'm glad you like it! 🙂
I wanted to release KC OS before the show but many of the effects look best on a real CRT.
SillyVenture 2020 has been postponed until June but I've shared preview builds with the Game Modem club for players who enjoy using the old hardware:
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15 hours ago, HDN said:
That's a hard one. I'd have to go either Double Dragon or Zaxxon.
Love the Zaxxon port but Double Dragon Double True! 🙂
I get knocked out on the first screen and can beat the Arcade with a quarter.
- HDN and socrates63
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Great thread! So many awesome choices! 🙂
Here are a few more with some repeats:
COMBAT (2 player)
Wizards of Wor (fun with 1 or 2 players)
Pacman (must have a CRT, otherwise MS Pacman)
Burgertime (underappreciated, it's a great musical I can't get the theme out of my head)
Qbert (played it so much I saw the hidden technicolor disco dream mode before computers found it)
Defender
Beamrider
Commando
Communist Mutants from Space
Buck Rogers
Centipede
Moon Patrol -
I like both tennis games and Football and Ice Hockey but Enduro is my favorite sporting game by far!
- HDN, socrates63 and RickR
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KC Operating System is being released in December at the SillyVenture 2020 Atari Art Competition! 🙂
Preview vid:
KC Operating System Demo description: launching the OS I enter the KC Playah zone and a classic but faster version of KC begins - I take over the AI periodically playing this demo cooperatively with the CPU until I've exhausted KC's four lives. This queues the scrolling KC Demo KC Munchkin II R2, which I could play cooperatively but don't so it is shown playing in pure demo mode. I press the button to return to the Operating System and navigate to the Arkanoid Airhead zone where KC spins in an Arkanoid scroller.
- Justin, socrates63 and HDN
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40 minutes ago, TrekMD said:
That is cool. I love the Supercharger. 🙂 Wrote an article about it for The Retro Gaming Times and an expanded one for Old School Gamer.
Thank you TrekMD I'd like to read your articles please share the links! 🙂
I am helping with a colorful coffee table book a French company CoteGamer is putting together on the SuperCharger, it is the sequel to a previous version (also in French) about the SuperCharger here.
I'm very surprised the SuperCharger didn't get wider adoption bitd, games like Survival Island (prototype) and Swords of Saros really started to tap the potential for the large games, maybe it just made the VCS too much like a real computer system where anyone could copy the games.
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The SuperCharger was a tremendously powerful device capable of putting a file system onto a tape drive like the ADAM and it's potential never fully unlocked and explored - the SuperCharger could have enabled 1.5 MB Tape games, it beat Microsoft and Apple to the punch (but not Xerox) with it's sleek GUI OS with starfield screen savers and a help system.
I've been working on something like RS-DOS for the SuperCharger (SuperCharger Disk Extended BASIC) so that operating systems and and disk based application suites can be built for the Atari 2600 and serious productivity applications even.
It's already in BETA, and I have a example here of an Atari 2600 Operating System demo with a suite of four delightful applications for SillyVenture2020 🙂
Give this serious application suite a try
The Atari is always tremendous fun for games, but give this serious OS and it's application suite a try and see the OS comparison graph - how does the SillyVenture operating system stack up against an OS running on your phone or your Desktop, besides the SillyVenture OS?
It's been a lot of fun working on this interesting project with awesome help from Al_Nafuur, Batari, Dirty Hairy, Jetsetilly, Alex79, Eric Ball and Eckhard Stolberg and many other great programmers at AtariAge!
Here is a pic of the Disk BASIC programming Manual I am updating shown on my Atari running on the PlusCart - it's backward compatible with Flashback BASIC:
The PlusCart viewer technology looks a lot like the TRS-80 Color Computer and is fantastic for reading the BASIC documentation and part of the fun! 🙂
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Awesome Atari book! I just finished reading HC4! 🙂
I liked the screenshots and analysis sections, and the coverage of the new Atari consoles games like Strip Off from Tactical Neuronics.
I also liked hearing favorably about programmers and productions that aren't always noticed or promoted on AtariAge - my friend from the scene bitd Greg Zumwalt is featured in this book with pictures and a backdrop story for Candyman I enjoyed.
I've started Reading BREAKOUT how Atari computers defined a generation and it's an awesome book too with great screenshots and insightful stories 🙂
Racing the Beam is available free online as a PDF, and I downloaded it after losing my copy, but there's nothing like reading a real book and rereading the PDF just did not compare - I'll be reading this hardcover next.
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It's a fun and distinctive iconic port that is different, but I like all of the different ports for genres like pacman - particularly when it's clear the programmer is very creative and going for different or just Atari streamlined.
My favorite Pacmen in the 80's were two variants that took the genre to the next level - KC Munchkin and Grabber, a split-screen pacman that I hope to bring to the Atari! 🙂
https://atariage.com/forums/topic/300642-grabber-split-screen-pacman/
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Arkanoid Airhead is easy and relaxing to play, but still challenging.
This is the most recent version:
ARKANOID_AIRHEAD_FINDS_AIRHEAD_20200627.bin
And there is also a version for the Flashback Portable that will change depending upon what console you play it on:
ARKANOID_AIRHEAD_FLASHBACK_EMU_ANOMALY_20200627.bin
The Flashback version plays in white on the Atari Portable, but plays in black on classic consoles via the Harmony or Uno cart.
And it's multi-colored if you play it on the Retron-77 console which may be the closest to how it would look on a real CBS RAM cartridge, the format the AFP is using to get the colors.
To find out for sure and how close someone would have to create a real CBS RAM cart with the binary and compare it on a classic console.
I don't think anyone has succeeded in reproducing an authentic CBS RAM cart today; it shouldn't be that difficult for a retro hardware pro since Sara carts have been reloaded.
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This looks cool! I just ordered the real book version along with Breakout:How Atari Computers Defined a Generation, and a hardcover copy of Racing the Beam.
Looking forward to some fun reading :)
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EDIT: New version BREAKOUT2002 LASERBEAMS!
Can you make it to the playable green treasure room ending scene on level 10?
Button control reversed; reserves finite LASERBEAMS that run out before the end of each level.
BREAKOUT2002_LASERBEAMS_NTSC.bin BREAKOUT2002_LASERBEAMS_NTSC.wav
BREAKOUT studies
A collection of seven BREAKOUT stories featuring an inspired new rendition, BREAKOUT 2002 with a 10 level quest and a harmonized sound that is different.
Breakdown of the studies
Five stories of the continued evolution of Atari Breakout design with examples of games and links to prototypes
Stories of old and emerging technologies for creating more dazling and colorful retro videogames!
Party Gameplay instructions for BREAKOUT 2002
Printing it out
To create a 4-page mini book, print the PDF on one piece of double sided paper and fold it in half.
Best play experience
Use either classic hardware or full screen settings if you are running an emulator and turn off phosphor/merge frames.
BREAKOUT discussion
Hope everyone enjoys! Share your thoughts and ideas about BREAKOUT on this thread!
Atari 2600 titles that could have / have have been ?
in Atari 2600
Posted
This cart should be produced by Hozer Video Games!