ibogost Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 (edited) Hey all. As some of you know, I've been teaching with the VCS at Georgia Tech for a while now. I finally managed to get all of the games my students have produced over the years posted to my website. http://www.bogost.com/games/student_atari_games.shtml There are just under 40 games right now, a mix of assembly and batari basic. I should add at least 30 more this term thanks to a large intro class in which we'll do batari as a two-week project. If you follow the link, there are also pointers to the courses in which I have taught the VCS, the book I'm co-authoring on the platform, and a lot of my other work if you're interested. Here's a few: LCC 2700: Intro to Computational Media LCC 8823/CS 8803: Special Topics: The Atari VCS Video Computer System: A Platform Study of the Atari 2600 Edited September 3, 2007 by ibogost 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Good stuff. Your students had a lot of good ideas. I also agree that this is a great way to teach basic game and programming concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrAtari2600 Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 haha wow thats awsomeee i just checkout them and i love some of these xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboGames Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Would it be OK to add them to my website to allow others to play via Java? http://www.JimboGames.com/vcs.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Very nice! I also have to say that your students had some nice ideas, my favorite games so far are dorothy x and construction! Btw., the download for "simple simon" doesn't work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 It feels like Christmas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uzumaki Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Didn't Intellivision have the same idea: mostly student made games for Mattel Electronics to sell? Think you could get the permission to have those produced on cart and sold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Some of the games are pretty good. Some aren't totally finished or functioning the greatest (ie: bugs) but they're cool ideas. I've been saying for years that I'd pay if there was a school in New Jersey I could learn ASM aimed directly at Atari 2600 programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 (edited) When I went to Georgia Tech in the late 1980's, the "co-op" system was still very popular for engineering students. I'm not sure if it still is, but basically you worked one quarter, then went back to school one quarter, etc. Several guys from Tech wrote a lot of the games for the GCE Vectrex as co-ops in the ealier 80's. Edited September 7, 2007 by R.Cade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibogost Posted September 8, 2007 Author Share Posted September 8, 2007 Would it be OK to add them to my website to allow others to play via Java? http://www.JimboGames.com/vcs.html I'm thinking of using jstella on my site to get them running. I can't seem to get any of the Jimbogames games working? I just get color bars? I'd love to know why that is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibogost Posted September 8, 2007 Author Share Posted September 8, 2007 When I went to Georgia Tech in the late 1980's, the "co-op" system was still very popular for engineering students. I'm not sure if it still is, but basically you worked one quarter, then went back to school one quarter, etc. Several guys from Tech wrote a lot of the games for the GCE Vectrex as co-ops in the ealier 80's. The coop program is still alive and well and popular (although we moved to semesters in the late 90s). I'd love to see if it's possible to trace any old Vectrex programs to GT student developers. Do you have any more information, or know anyone I could talk to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 It's really great to see stuff like this. Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibogost Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Some of the games are pretty good. Some aren't totally finished or functioning the greatest (ie: bugs) but they're cool ideas. I've been saying for years that I'd pay if there was a school in New Jersey I could learn ASM aimed directly at Atari 2600 programming. It's true. Most of them were made in a two week project, and most of them on the pre 1.0 version of bB which had some, well, quirks . Anyway, it's always interesting for me to see what ideas they come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibogost Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Btw., the download for "simple simon" doesn't work! Fixed, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Did the students have any comments upon seeing games like Thrust, Ladybug, Toyshop Trouble, Strat-O-Gems, etc.? I wouldn't expect the students to push the hardware the way those games do but it's neat to see the difference between what can be done with 'normal' code and super-optimized code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaxda Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 That "Top Rock" game is awesome! I totally love it. Thanks so much for making these available--I gotta get'em on my CC2 right away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 That "Top Rock" game is awesome! I totally love it. I can't figure it out. Can you explain how to play it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibogost Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Did the students have any comments upon seeing games like Thrust, Ladybug, Toyshop Trouble, Strat-O-Gems, etc.? I wouldn't expect the students to push the hardware the way those games do but it's neat to see the difference between what can be done with 'normal' code and super-optimized code. We talk a lot about design innovation on the machine as it relates to technical innovation oriented around the hardware's natural affordances compared with exploits, tricks, and refinements. My main examples are early Atari/Activision carts, but we do indeed talk about homebrew such as the ones you mention as well. In general, students appreciate seeing the relationships between these games and platforms and the games they are familiar with. Remember that the average college freshman is starting to have a birthdate in the 1990s, so there is a lot of history that they haven't encountered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mauvila Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Would it be OK to add them to my website to allow others to play via Java? http://www.JimboGames.com/vcs.html I'm thinking of using jstella on my site to get them running. I can't seem to get any of the Jimbogames games working? I just get color bars? I'd love to know why that is Possibly a browser thing...Firefox and Internet Explorer work. Safari (for Windows at least) will load the applet, but is buggy so its security won't allow file downloads from the same website (i.e. the ROM), and hence the television test screen. (Apple is starting to be very Java hostile...) Opera seems to be buggy as far as Java Applet keyboard focus is concerned. JLA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Would it be OK to add them to my website to allow others to play via Java? http://www.JimboGames.com/vcs.html FYI - using the following doesn't work under Safari (the browser on Macs). <applet archive="vcs/jstella_0_7.jar" code="jstella/runner/JStellaApplet.class" rom="vcs/caligames.bin" height="480" width="480"> </applet> Use the PARAM option instead, as in <applet archive="vcs/jstella_0_7.jar" code="jstella/runner/JStellaApplet.class" height="480" width="640"> <PARAM NAME=ROM VALUE="vcs/caligames.bin"> </applet> Also note that 480x480 isn't correct - you should use 640x480. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrenchien Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 will you be posting screenshots somewhere of the carts your students made? i would be interested to see some of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornpipe2 Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 These would be a fun multicart : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 I love Catch The Ball. I'd like to see that incarnation developed a little further. If nothing else, respond to the 2600's reset switch instead of just a one shot starting on run and ending when caught deal. Maybe a way to slowdown or stop the dog catcher. Like after a set number of seconds of running, or catching so many balls, you can drop a pile that the dog catcher has to stop and pick up. But if you run through it, or the ball goes through it, you loose points. I know there was a blub about a future 2 player puppie/frisbee game, which also sounds interesting (but maybe not much fun for solo players I think). Looing forward to seeing it too regardless if it's 2 player or not. Anyways, give Kady Rosier, Jenelle Walker and Hitomi Kayama a much heart felt thanks for this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impaler_26 Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I love Catch The Ball. I'd like to see that incarnation developed a little further. If nothing else, respond to the 2600's reset switch instead of just a one shot starting on run and ending when caught deal. Maybe a way to slowdown or stop the dog catcher. Like after a set number of seconds of running, or catching so many balls, you can drop a pile that the dog catcher has to stop and pick up. But if you run through it, or the ball goes through it, you loose points. Yep, i also like catch the ball and i'm missing the option to restart a game with the reset switch in many of those games. Here's a version where you can restart the game with the reset switch after you're caught. CatchTheBall__Reset_.bas.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Yep, i also like catch the ball and i'm missing the option to restart a game with the reset switch in many of those games.Here's a version where you can restart the game with the reset switch after you're caught. Kool. Now we just need the fudgy dog piles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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