33 replies to this topic

[Lendorien]

I would love to try writing games for the 7800. But ASM is so horribly daunting for someone with no programming experience that it's just not likely without a hell of a lot of drive. The thing that Batari Basic has done for the 2600 is that it's opened the platform up to people who would otherwise be scared off by the need to write in assembly. I strongly believe that if something like Batari basic came over to the 7800, the amount of homebrew being made for the platform would skyrocket.

Raw ASM is just too big a hurdle for all but the most dedicated to jump.

He's a question though. Batari basic is written for the 2600 and it's peculiar hardware requirements. As a layman, I'm wondering how much adaptation would be required to port it to the 7800. Is its basic framework something that could be worked off of (given that the 6507 and 6502 are related), or are the hardware differences between the TIA and MARIA such that it would be better to start from scratch?

Again, this question is from someone who is fairly clueless (if less clueless than some).

Edited by Lendorien, Sun May 30, 2010 3:06 PM.

[GroovyBee]

Lendorien, on Sun May 30, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

I strongly believe that if something like Batari basic came over to the 7800, the amount of homebrew being made for the platform would skyrocket.

5 of the 6 games I've done for the 7800 have been written using "C" for logic and AI and ASM for speed using my own custom library and the CC65 compiler system. I have quite a large tool set for the system now including G2F, 169 colour, 160A, 160B, 320A, 320B graphics conversion, ProSystem save state with DL and DLL analysis, A78 header manipulation tools. At some point in the near future I'll be bringing it all together for a release.

[jaybird3rd]

GroovyBee, on Sun May 30, 2010 3:20 PM, said:

At some point in the near future I'll be bringing it all together for a release.

That's great to hear. I really think this is a superior option to creating a new language specifically for homebrew games, especially for people who are already familiar with C. For those who aren't, it's not hard to learn, and once you figure it out you can also use it on other platforms, which is something you can't do with a specialized/proprietary language.

[Lendorien]

GroovyBee, on Sun May 30, 2010 3:20 PM, said:

Lendorien, on Sun May 30, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

I strongly believe that if something like Batari basic came over to the 7800, the amount of homebrew being made for the platform would skyrocket.

5 of the 6 games I've done for the 7800 have been written using "C" for logic and AI and ASM for speed using my own custom library and the CC65 compiler system. I have quite a large tool set for the system now including G2F, 169 colour, 160A, 160B, 320A, 320B graphics conversion, ProSystem save state with DL and DLL analysis, A78 header manipulation tools. At some point in the near future I'll be bringing it all together for a release.

Well, let me encourage you to do so. You'd do the community a huge favor.

And... If you did, you'd join the pantheon of Atari gods. Though I'm guessing you're almost there anyway.

[ApolloBoy]

With the 7800XM on its way and the exponential growth of the 7800 homebrew scene over the past few years, I thought maybe I'd pick up on programming for the 7800 again. In addition, I've also been getting real interested in my game concept again, and I figured maybe I should share an outline before I decide to move on with this...

[ApolloBoy]

Here's the outline...  Cyber Buster 1 Outlines.rtf   5.55K   38 downloads

[GroovyBee]

Interesting concept. Is it going to be a scrolling or flip screen game? In my opinion you might want to consider holding the right button down longer to activate the double jump. However, I think the button action would depend on a few factors e.g :-

- Level design
- How pixel perfect do jumps have to be?
- If the character gets into battles often

[ApolloBoy]

GroovyBee, on Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:07 AM, said:

Interesting concept. Is it going to be a scrolling or flip screen game?

I'm leaning more towards scrolling, although the latter option sounds interesting. The game is basically a mix of Mega Man, Metroid and a bit of Gaiares, so there'd be a lot of platforming involved.

[theloon]

GroovyBee, on Sun May 30, 2010 3:20 PM, said:

Lendorien, on Sun May 30, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

I strongly believe that if something like Batari basic came over to the 7800, the amount of homebrew being made for the platform would skyrocket.

5 of the 6 games I've done for the 7800 have been written using "C" for logic and AI and ASM for speed using my own custom library and the CC65 compiler system. I have quite a large tool set for the system now including G2F, 169 colour, 160A, 160B, 320A, 320B graphics conversion, ProSystem save state with DL and DLL analysis, A78 header manipulation tools. At some point in the near future I'll be bringing it all together for a release.

I'm pretty sure something like C is what the OP and many of us need to grow the 7800 scene. ASM is a little too steep while I've actually dipped my feet into C before. My hi-score is a dozen compiler errors for a "Hello World" example!

I've gotten an NES "Hello World" example to compiler exactly ONCE with cc65. Seems like the NES gets no high level lovin'. Maybe the 7800 can sneak ahead with GoovyBees polishing of cc65 and his custom libraries.