13 replies to this topic

[Philsan]

It would be nice if every homebrew released would use this filename format
Name (Year) (Author) (TV standard)
or something similar.

[GroovyBee]

My 7800 games autodetect the TV type .

[lucifershalo]

GroovyBee, on Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

My 7800 games autodetect the TV type .

which is something really appreciated
as most of the 7800 homebrews are NTSC
and non Pal compatible

[GroovyBee]

lucifershalo, on Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:19 AM, said:

which is something really appreciated
as most of the 7800 homebrews are NTSC
and non Pal compatible

My 7800 games are developed in PAL first but use less than 200 video lines so they'll work on NTSC with only palette and animation speed changes.

[Philsan]

TV standard isn't a problem.
I would like to know author name and year of release, in particular for VCS games.

[thegoldenband]

What the OP suggests would be great, but the biggest thing for me is for WIPs to have either a version number or a date in YYYY-MM-DD as part of the filename. If the author just publishes it as MYNEWGAME.BIN with each WIP, it gets messy pretty fast.

[GroovyBee]

I try and put a date and a version number on my binaries. However on the 7800 you do have the luxury of ROM space so you can put your own name/handle in the game's title page.

[Random Terrain]

I haven't finished anything, but for the unfinished stuff I'm working on, I put the program name, year, month, day, and time like this:

kasploder_2010y_11m_12d_1952t

Every time I make a significant change to a program I'm working on, I save it as a new file. I don't have time to figure out what version number it should be (1.2.0.1? Huh?), so I simply put the year, month, day, and military time.

I changed the system clock on my computer to military time, so all I have to do is look down in the corner. No more complicated version numbers, just the fast and easy date and time.

[raskar42]

GroovyBee, on Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

My 7800 games autodetect the TV type .

you are my hero

[batari]

GroovyBee, on Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

My 7800 games autodetect the TV type .

How do you do that?

[Eckhard Stolberg]

batari, on Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:03 AM, said:

GroovyBee, on Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:59 PM, said:

My 7800 games autodetect the TV type .

How do you do that?

You wait for VBLANK to start by polling MSTAT. Then you wait for VBLANK to end. Then you count the number of scanlines until VBLANK starts again by triggering WSYNC and increasing a counter. PAL systems have more scanlines than NTSC ones.

Here is the routine I used in DevOS. I found it in the version of Asteroids that is build into PAL 7800s.

; This routine waits for the vertical blanking period to start
WaitVBLANK:
WaitVBoff:
                bit     MSTAT           ;Vblank?
                bmi     WaitVBoff       ;wait while it is on...
WaitVBon:
                bit     MSTAT           ;Vblank?
                bpl     WaitVBon        ;wait until it comes back...
                rts

...

; Do this during your init routine to test for PAL/NTSC
                jsr     WaitVBLANK      ;
WaitVBover:     bit     MSTAT           ;
                bmi     WaitVBover      ;wait for the VBLANK to end

                lda     #$09            ;prepare NTSC setup here

                ldx     #$00
CountLines:     bit     MSTAT           ;if not back in VBLANK
                bmi     CompareCounter  ;
                sta     WSYNC           ; then wait 2 scanlines,
                sta     WSYNC           ;
                dex                     ; decrease the counter
                bne     CountLines      ; and keep counting
CompareCounter: cpx     #$78            ;if less than 274 lines have passed
                bcs     noPALsetup      ; we are on NTSC

                lda     #$00            ;
noPALsetup

[atari2600land]

I usually make my file name filename_MMDDYY. In case I update it within the same day, I'd do something like filename_MMDDYYv2. But @OP, man, that'd be a huge long program title!

[Philsan]

IMHO it is important to add version but also author name (and release year).
Often I find VCS homebrews and I have to make researches to discover authors real name.

[theloon]

I may be contradicting myself but I think I try to put the game name + build number into the filename. Adding my nickname or exact date would make things look awkward. I'd just wait until Albert completes the AtariAge upgrade. I hear it'll have a homebrew section. Hopefully authors could submit their games and fill in those details.