peteym5

I am very interested in the board. I still need to learn how to set up a bank switching ROM. I know it is better to have one portion of the memory mapped at all times, and one that is switching. Like 2K always mapped and 2K switching. If all 4K switches at once, I am not sure how one would have the program in one bank, and access data or subroutines in the other bank without CPU intensive programming.
 

I am very interested in the board. I still need to learn how to set up a bank switching ROM. I know it is better to have one portion of the memory mapped at all times, and one that is switching. Like 2K always mapped and 2K switching. If all 4K switches at once, I am not sure how one would have the program in one bank, and access data or subroutines in the other bank without CPU intensive programming.
 

GemDrop uses a method known as "SuperIRG" that alternates between two character sets at the start of the V-Blank. Gives the illusion of more colors. Get the best effects with "Checkerboard" alternating where every other vertical and horizontal pixel alternate each frame. I played around with the technique. Works great on steady screens. Had not tries anything with scrolling screens.

How many people here are into Real Time Strategy games? Games like "WarCraft", "Age of Empires", "Empire Earth", "Rise of Nations", "Command & Conquer", etc.  I am looking to see if it is possible to do such games on the Atari 8-bit, and want to see how much interest there is. I know it be very limited and would be very primitive compared to even a DOS based PC. I recently installed the original MS-DOS based "WarCraft", and I realized this is closer to a format that might be doable on 80's tech computer systems. To make these games multiplayer, it might need a device like Fujinet so two people can have their own screen. This is a possible future project that I am considering, and would only go forward if there is enough interest. 
It has many challenges, like how I am going to display units from two opposing sides, graphics mode to use, selecting units with the joystick, or can we use a mouse with the Atari. I know it probably be more suitable for Atari ST or a VBXE system with a 65816 upgrade.
 

How many people here are into Real Time Strategy games? Games like "WarCraft", "Age of Empires", "Empire Earth", "Rise of Nations", "Command & Conquer", etc.  I am looking to see if it is possible to do such games on the Atari 8-bit, and want to see how much interest there is. I know it be very limited and would be very primitive compared to even a DOS based PC. I recently installed the original MS-DOS based "WarCraft", and I realized this is closer to a format that might be doable on 80's tech computer systems. To make these games multiplayer, it might need a device like Fujinet so two people can have their own screen. This is a possible future project that I am considering, and would only go forward if there is enough interest. 
It has many challenges, like how I am going to display units from two opposing sides, graphics mode to use, selecting units with the joystick, or can we use a mouse with the Atari. I know it probably be more suitable for Atari ST or a VBXE system with a 65816 upgrade.
 

The Layout and Game Play was kept simple for easy game play and allowed multiple courses to be available on cartridge. Many people like the layout. The 7800 Version has been enhanced with multicolored sprites, 2 extra courses, and a random course option. Some things had to be adjusted to fit the 7800 screen format. It was compiled with an earlier version of 7800 Basic at the time of release.
Any videos you may find in my YouTube channel for other 7800 games may be work-in-progress. Sometimes from incomplete games as I am putting stuff together and figuring stuff out. I am making changes as these games are putting together, making decisions about what looks and animates the best. Some of the games are receiving some major enhancements over the 8-bit versions to take advantage of the 7800 graphics.

I loved The Shinning story. Steven King is a master writer. I watched both versions of the story. Also "Doctor Sleep" is a great sequel. 
 

Hello FunkMaster. Thankyou for the review of Putt 18 Miniature Golf on the Atari 7800. This was our first game we did for the  7800 and working on doing some better games in the future. We are about to release Venture for the 7800. Tile Smashers is in later stages of development. 7800 has allows me to make games with graphics that are more colorful and more detailed than the Atari 8-bit/5200 version. 
I have seen your post up on that other Atari forum and a well received response. Many people seem to enjoy the game and having a lot of fun. The layout was kept simple and made game play easy. Some posts disappointing and inaccurate about all my games being substandard for the 7800. To date, only Putt 18 for the 7800 has been released and no one other than our own beta testers have been able to play them yet. Also stated I was banned for poor quality labels and manual was not true. Statements that I using different accounts to help promote my games are also not presently true. 
I am working on games like Animal Keeper, Laser Blast X, and Novawolf for the 7800. I am developing some upgrades to make these games look and play great and look forward to completing them. I wish to thank the Atari Community for their support for our games.
 
 

No problem. We hope to get Atari 7800 Venture out soon, and Tile Smashers out early next year. I have been doing work on several more Atari 7800 games when I can. I am not trying to get too far ahead of Video 61 and our team as we are all busy with stuff. I took some time out in the last two days to fix up an Atari 8-bit game and hoping to release it soon. We can look forward to development of more 7800 and with everyone's support, I am proud to be making more.
I know I had been a subject of something negative on your "Homebrew Programmer Biographies" a few weeks ago. I am not going to dwell into it at this time because I am not sure what is going on.  I apologize if things did get mess up on your thread.  You may post my biographical information here. I am in Buffalo, New York USA. Lived in the area all my life. I took Data Processing at the local vocational school and then Computer Informations Systems at Erie Community College. I had been working with Atari computers since age 15, learned Basic and Assembly. I also do some video game work on the Windows PC. 

Thankyou for your continued support.
 

Anyone ever replace the Potentiometers inside the 5200 controllers? I found an YouTube video where Arcade USA replaced the Potentiometer inside a 2600 Paddle controller and it took away the "jitters." Had a solid metal shaft. Cut with Dremel tool. Maybe the solid metal shaft kept position in place better or blocked out some external EM interference. 5200 controllers must use 0-500 Ohms Potentiometers. I remember seeing a video that someone replaced it with a more robust potentiometer. 
With seeing all this renewed interest with the Atari 5200, I feel it is important that we have information about repairing or replacing controllers. 

I have been looking over these repair videos. I figured a good place to post them is here.
 
Atari 5200 Controller Refurbishing
 
Atari 5200 Joystick Gold Plated Contact Upgrade!
 
Atari 5200 Controller Repair Part 1 - Fixing Two Common Problems
 
Atari 5200 Controller Repair Part 2 - Replacing the Flex Circuit
 
 

Hello FunkMaster. Thankyou for the review of Putt 18 Miniature Golf on the Atari 7800. This was our first game we did for the  7800 and working on doing some better games in the future. We are about to release Venture for the 7800. Tile Smashers is in later stages of development. 7800 has allows me to make games with graphics that are more colorful and more detailed than the Atari 8-bit/5200 version. 
I have seen your post up on that other Atari forum and a well received response. Many people seem to enjoy the game and having a lot of fun. The layout was kept simple and made game play easy. Some posts disappointing and inaccurate about all my games being substandard for the 7800. To date, only Putt 18 for the 7800 has been released and no one other than our own beta testers have been able to play them yet. Also stated I was banned for poor quality labels and manual was not true. Statements that I using different accounts to help promote my games are also not presently true. 
I am working on games like Animal Keeper, Laser Blast X, and Novawolf for the 7800. I am developing some upgrades to make these games look and play great and look forward to completing them. I wish to thank the Atari Community for their support for our games.
 
 

Adam is very funny. Like him on Mythbusters and his YouTube videos.
 

Found this. Someone published this SoftRAM program claiming it uses compression and re-arranging stuff to double RAM on a Windows system. But did not use any compression.
Now I was able to increase amount of memory available on cartridges with compression and what I did actually worked. 
 
 

Hello FunkMaster. Thankyou for the review of Putt 18 Miniature Golf on the Atari 7800. This was our first game we did for the  7800 and working on doing some better games in the future. We are about to release Venture for the 7800. Tile Smashers is in later stages of development. 7800 has allows me to make games with graphics that are more colorful and more detailed than the Atari 8-bit/5200 version. 
I have seen your post up on that other Atari forum and a well received response. Many people seem to enjoy the game and having a lot of fun. The layout was kept simple and made game play easy. Some posts disappointing and inaccurate about all my games being substandard for the 7800. To date, only Putt 18 for the 7800 has been released and no one other than our own beta testers have been able to play them yet. Also stated I was banned for poor quality labels and manual was not true. Statements that I using different accounts to help promote my games are also not presently true. 
I am working on games like Animal Keeper, Laser Blast X, and Novawolf for the 7800. I am developing some upgrades to make these games look and play great and look forward to completing them. I wish to thank the Atari Community for their support for our games.
 
 

The Layout and Game Play was kept simple for easy game play and allowed multiple courses to be available on cartridge. Many people like the layout. The 7800 Version has been enhanced with multicolored sprites, 2 extra courses, and a random course option. Some things had to be adjusted to fit the 7800 screen format. It was compiled with an earlier version of 7800 Basic at the time of release.
Any videos you may find in my YouTube channel for other 7800 games may be work-in-progress. Sometimes from incomplete games as I am putting stuff together and figuring stuff out. I am making changes as these games are putting together, making decisions about what looks and animates the best. Some of the games are receiving some major enhancements over the 8-bit versions to take advantage of the 7800 graphics.

Here is an updated video for the Atari. This one is much clearer. I had an older video that had a low frame rate. It used some different video capture software that did work correctly.
 
 

Here is an updated video for the Atari. This one is much clearer. I had an older video that had a low frame rate. It used some different video capture software that did work correctly.
 
 

Here is the latest Work-in-Progress update of Tile Smashers for the 7800. Made some progress since my the last posting. The ball the bounce properly from angled walls. Have animated pinball bumpers. Able to color and stagger the tiles or bricks. It will have backgrounds in areas of the sceen. This will be a colorful game than the 8-bit or 5200 version because of the 7800 graphics abilities.
 

Here is a New All Video. Updated to include a Muskie Attack segment and information about my channel. I am figuring out new things about YouTube and putting links to other videos at the end.

Looks like a Pac-Man game that went crazy.
 

Here are the links to the updated videos. The original videos had an Audio issue and dropped several minutes into the video. So I re-edited the audio track and replaced the videos. I did not want anyone to believe there is a problem with the game itself. I had believing this several years ago on another popular Atari forum when members with malice intent and proclaimed games were buggy just from viewing these videos. However, I later discovered issues were coming from the processes of making the videos. Several things can go wrong with recording original footage, using codecs to compress a new edited video, and uploading to YouTube. Along with playing back on a streaming video service. 
 
 

Many people here porting or looking to port Basic program sources to Atari Fast Basic? I already done a few programs to bench mark and compare the speeds. So far, it looks like it runs code much faster and the compiled executables can be run from SpartaDOS and do not need the run time. I would like to do more. Get a larger library of samples out there for everyone to learn and enjoy. I am putting out a few free games and currently not intending to profit from them.
https://github.com/peteym5/FastBasicPJM

Personally I think it is a great language and providing something great to the Atari Community.
https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic
 

I have been looking over these repair videos. I figured a good place to post them is here.
 
Atari 5200 Controller Refurbishing
 
Atari 5200 Joystick Gold Plated Contact Upgrade!
 
Atari 5200 Controller Repair Part 1 - Fixing Two Common Problems
 
Atari 5200 Controller Repair Part 2 - Replacing the Flex Circuit