Batari Games

[devwebcl]

Hello,

 

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

I wonder if there is a web page with a compilation of these games. If anyone else is developing a full game (I mean to be completed 100%).

 

Kind Regards,

 

Devwebcl

[Animan]

Hello,

 

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

I wonder if there is a web page with a compilation of these games. If anyone else is developing a full game (I mean to be completed 100%).

 

Kind Regards,

 

Devwebcl

 

I was wondering the same thing, is there a place where all these games can be found? Or maybe there should be a sticky with links to the topics that have games.

 

-Animan

[bongomeno]

this page has a nice collection...

 

batari basic program archive

 

for some reason a few of the download links dont work.

[s0c7]

Typically people post their game in the "Homebrew Discussion" forum when they get serious about a release.

 

The following two games are scheduled to be released in the store when it comes back from "vacation".

 

Dungeon

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127378

 

Cave In

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=116030

 

Solar Plexus, Phantom II/Pirate, Gosub, & Stella's Stocking were all in the store previously. I think the ET Book Cart was also at least partially written in bB. There have also been several independent releases that were bB games (don't know them all off the top of my head - the most infamous being The Last Ninja & NERDS).

[jrok]

Hello,

 

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

I wonder if there is a web page with a compilation of these games. If anyone else is developing a full game (I mean to be completed 100%).

 

Kind Regards,

 

Devwebcl

 

It might be nice to pin a thread containing all WIP and completed batariBasic games. There are many WIPs and quite a few finished games as well (I know atari200land completed several last year). I'm not sure how to go about putting a list together though, unless we all add our games to this thread and then collate afterwards.

 

I'm working on this one, and plan on finishing it before the end of the year:

Charge!

 

I put a lot of time into this one too. It's also playable, but there is a lot of work left to do and I'm shelving it for now. I will complete it eventually, though.

Circus Galacticus

 

Cheers,

Jarod.

[+atari2600land]

GoSub 2 will be out soon, and Alien Greed 3 to follow (both by me, published by Neo.)

[s0c7]

I'm not sure how to go about putting a list together though, unless we all add our games to this thread and then collate afterwards.

My bB games.

 

Phantom II/Pirate - My first released cart. Games written using one of the earliest versions of bB.

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...areLabelID=2756

 

Star Hawk - Never released on cart (never completed). Took 2nd in the 2k category in the 2007 mini game compo.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=112097

 

1775 - Never released on cart. Something I threw together for July 4th, 2007.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109605

 

Cold War - My game from the Stella's Stocking cart. The full cart bin has not been released. This is a bug fixed version.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=136411

 

Phantasm - Bin for this will never be released. Sorry.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=144272

 

Dungeon - Cart will be released soon. Has a little asm mixed in.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127378

[devwebcl]

Great! I knew there were some finish good games, but wasn't sure where to look for.

Thanks for the information.

 

I think http://www.atari2600land.com/basic/index.html is a good resource, maybe could be updated.

[SeaGtGruff]

I think the ET Book Cart was also at least partially written in bB.

Nope, I wrote the E.T. Book Cart entirely in 6502 assembly language, compiled with just DASM-- I didn't use batari Basic at all.

 

On the other hand, my most-finished game to date-- Sudoku (which is grossly unfinished but semi-playable)-- was written using a combination of batari Basic and inline assembly, although the batari Basic "include" files were (as I recall) custom files written entirely from scratch.

 

Oh, crap, on second thought, you are correct-- there was a bit of batari Basic used with the E.T. Book Cart! It was in the "Easter egg" screen, which drew a Christmas tree on the screen with the playfield in batari Basic's standard kernel, along with color-cycling ornaments drawn with the players, a little message written using the score (I'll have to check, but I think it may have simply said "AtariAge"), and a badly out-of-tune rendition of "Oh, Christmas Tree!" If I remember correctly, I compiled that part as a standalone batari Basic program in 4K, then pasted the compiled bB code into my 32K-bankswitched assembly program and modified it a bit to work with the bankswitching. Or I may have modified the 4K ROM image for the bankswitching and then directly included the modified binary image in the main assembly program using DASM's INCBIN directive (which, by the way, is also how I added in all the files that contained the text for each screen-- the main menu, and each "page" in all the different "chapters").

 

Michael

[jrok]

Oh one more to add for me:

 

Shower Scene

 

I will finish this one some day. I still think the concept is interesting, but I really need come up with some actual *gameplay*. As it stands the demo is not winnable and only marginally playable.

[Dan Iacovelli]

lets not forget Laserman:

only the first level out of five is done I'm going to show at VGS'09 on saturday:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1258536

[SeaGtGruff]

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

Just to be fair-- and I realize you weren't (necessarily) implying anything by your remark-- you can find not-so-pro attempts written in pure assembly language, too!

 

I think there are two main factors that contribute to some people's impressions that games written in batari Basic are "less professional" than games written in pure assembly language:

 

(1) batari Basic "levels the playing field" so to speak, by allowing relatively-unskilled programmers to create their own games for the Atari 2600. This does not mean that anyone/everyone who programs in batari Basic is unskilled at programming. Nor does it mean that anyone/everyone who programs in pure assembly language is skilled at programming. And even highly-skilled programmers can create crappy games for the Atari 2600 in pure assembly language, because programming skill alone doesn't guarantee that a game is going to be non-crappy-- imagination, hard work, dedication to finding and eliminating any and all bugs, the ability to think of clever solutions to overcome any "potentially show-stopping" problems, plus (and perhaps most importantly) a thorough understanding of how the Atari 2600 works, are all major factors, too, probably more important than just programming skill per se. But generally speaking, assembly programming has a higher "entry level" learning curve than batari Basic does, so you almost need to have a certain degree of programming skill just to get started in assembly language programming-- plus, you must deal with the instructions on the CPU and chip (register) level, so you need to have a better grasp of how everything works on the machine level.

 

(2) batari Basic lets you create games for the Atari 2600 without having to create your own display kernels, through the use of ready-made "canned" kernels. You still need to manage all the stuff that goes on before and after the screen is drawn-- the "housekeeping" chores of setting or updating the playfield and sprite graphics, the colors, the positioning of the sprites, the sounds, etc.-- but you don't need to get into all the intricacies of the TIA registers or the RIOT chip's timer that the display kernel has to deal with, so you don't need to be *quite* as familiar with how the Atari 2600 works. The downside of this is that you're stuck with whatever capabilities (and restrictions) are built into the "canned" kernels. On the other hand, batari Basic does allow you to create your own customized "include" files or inline assembly code, so there's no reason why a skilled programmer can't produce a game in batari Basic that doesn't "look" anything like what some people have come to recognize as "that batari Basic look" (which is a consequence of using a "canned" kernel, and which-- in all fairness-- can be just as true with pure assembly games if the programmer is re-using a "standard" display kernel that has a particular set of capabilities and limitations).

 

Just my $0.02!

 

Michael

[Animan]

Don't forget me!

Catch A Coin

[jrok]

That was very well said. And although most of the "heavy lifting" of setting up the display kernel is done for you, there is still the matter of working within the technical constraints of the hardware itself, which I think is quite a challenge no matter what your level of programming skill is.

 

And making something fun and challenging and polished is difficult no matter what language or medium you happen to work in. Look at the mighty river of uninteresting, nearly identical modern games that flows into the mammoth hardware available today. Many of these are designed in IDEs that are practically WYSIWYG "gamemakers", and by teams of programmers who are handed big budgets and long lead times to produce... and most of them still manage to stink.

 

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

Just to be fair-- and I realize you weren't (necessarily) implying anything by your remark-- you can find not-so-pro attempts written in pure assembly language, too!

 

I think there are two main factors that contribute to some people's impressions that games written in batari Basic are "less professional" than games written in pure assembly language:

 

(1) batari Basic "levels the playing field" so to speak, by allowing relatively-unskilled programmers to create their own games for the Atari 2600. This does not mean that anyone/everyone who programs in batari Basic is unskilled at programming. Nor does it mean that anyone/everyone who programs in pure assembly language is skilled at programming. And even highly-skilled programmers can create crappy games for the Atari 2600 in pure assembly language, because programming skill alone doesn't guarantee that a game is going to be non-crappy-- imagination, hard work, dedication to finding and eliminating any and all bugs, the ability to think of clever solutions to overcome any "potentially show-stopping" problems, plus (and perhaps most importantly) a thorough understanding of how the Atari 2600 works, are all major factors, too, probably more important than just programming skill per se. But generally speaking, assembly programming has a higher "entry level" learning curve than batari Basic does, so you almost need to have a certain degree of programming skill just to get started in assembly language programming-- plus, you must deal with the instructions on the CPU and chip (register) level, so you need to have a better grasp of how everything works on the machine level.

 

(2) batari Basic lets you create games for the Atari 2600 without having to create your own display kernels, through the use of ready-made "canned" kernels. You still need to manage all the stuff that goes on before and after the screen is drawn-- the "housekeeping" chores of setting or updating the playfield and sprite graphics, the colors, the positioning of the sprites, the sounds, etc.-- but you don't need to get into all the intricacies of the TIA registers or the RIOT chip's timer that the display kernel has to deal with, so you don't need to be *quite* as familiar with how the Atari 2600 works. The downside of this is that you're stuck with whatever capabilities (and restrictions) are built into the "canned" kernels. On the other hand, batari Basic does allow you to create your own customized "include" files or inline assembly code, so there's no reason why a skilled programmer can't produce a game in batari Basic that doesn't "look" anything like what some people have come to recognize as "that batari Basic look" (which is a consequence of using a "canned" kernel, and which-- in all fairness-- can be just as true with pure assembly games if the programmer is re-using a "standard" display kernel that has a particular set of capabilities and limitations).

 

Just my $0.02!

 

Michael

Edited July 16, 2009 by jrok

[accousticguitar]

I have no programming experience whatsoever, and I only got into hacking so I could finish Missadventure. After that experience, I decided that I would like to program a game of my own, but that is easier said than done in assembly language. I tried, but my lack of a programming background was too much to overcome. Then I tried batari Basic, and with a little help from people who actually know what they are doing (SeaGtGruff, among others), I had a game finished in about 2 weeks. It's a simple game, and I obviously have a lot to learn, but it was actually possible to accomplish thanks to batari Basic.

[Animan]

I have no programming experience whatsoever, and I only got into hacking so I could finish Missadventure. After that experience, I decided that I would like to program a game of my own, but that is easier said than done in assembly language. I tried, but my lack of a programming background was too much to overcome. Then I tried batari Basic, and with a little help from people who actually know what they are doing (SeaGtGruff, among others), I had a game finished in about 2 weeks. It's a simple game, and I obviously have a lot to learn, but it was actually possible to accomplish thanks to batari Basic.

I know, that's what makes batari Basic awesome. It lets people with great ideas with little to no programming experience make something cool. (Although i had some regular BASIC and Javascript experience before.)

Edited July 16, 2009 by Animan

[Dan Iacovelli]

I agree with you animan, bBasic is one cool compiler app and when you use it Vb basic with it it makes more awesome.

I started out doing graphic hacks with AHD(laserman 2k3) then Idid some 2600 asm language (some of the coding comes close to

the ti-extended basic language if you look at it)

then this comes along and it blew my mind.

I did program in ti-basic, extended basic and java (some ibm programing as well in school(fortran and such).

[MausGames]

It isn't just for people with no programming experience though. In fact it can be greatly enhanced and customized for specific projects by people who also have ASM skills.

 

Maybe I am my own niche, but I programmed with variants of BASIC all the time when I was a kid, and never had the patience, skill, or desire to learn assembly - so bB is a 1000x better solution for me. When you want to make something, being able to enjoy the creation process can make all the difference.

[devwebcl]

Oh yes, please do not misunderstand me. What I meant if ever some game was finished as a complete game and I can see there are several.

If the game it's made in ASM or/and Batari is good for me, those are "tools" to accomplish a target. Also I'm pretty clear that the game design to make it playable is almost the cornerstone of the game, of course, the later implementation between code, gfx, music, etc are important too.

 

Good to know all this thoughts, right now I have intention to learn batari.

 

Cheers,

 

Devwebcl.

 

 

I've seen some neat games made with this language (I remain those games with the release of Megaman demo), however also I found several attempts not so "pro".

Just to be fair-- and I realize you weren't (necessarily) implying anything by your remark-- you can find not-so-pro attempts written in pure assembly language, too!

 

I think there are two main factors that contribute to some people's impressions that games written in batari Basic are "less professional" than games written in pure assembly language:

 

(1) batari Basic "levels the playing field" so to speak, by allowing relatively-unskilled programmers to create their own games for the Atari 2600. This does not mean that anyone/everyone who programs in batari Basic is unskilled at programming. Nor does it mean that anyone/everyone who programs in pure assembly language is skilled at programming. And even highly-skilled programmers can create crappy games for the Atari 2600 in pure assembly language, because programming skill alone doesn't guarantee that a game is going to be non-crappy-- imagination, hard work, dedication to finding and eliminating any and all bugs, the ability to think of clever solutions to overcome any "potentially show-stopping" problems, plus (and perhaps most importantly) a thorough understanding of how the Atari 2600 works, are all major factors, too, probably more important than just programming skill per se. But generally speaking, assembly programming has a higher "entry level" learning curve than batari Basic does, so you almost need to have a certain degree of programming skill just to get started in assembly language programming-- plus, you must deal with the instructions on the CPU and chip (register) level, so you need to have a better grasp of how everything works on the machine level.

 

(2) batari Basic lets you create games for the Atari 2600 without having to create your own display kernels, through the use of ready-made "canned" kernels. You still need to manage all the stuff that goes on before and after the screen is drawn-- the "housekeeping" chores of setting or updating the playfield and sprite graphics, the colors, the positioning of the sprites, the sounds, etc.-- but you don't need to get into all the intricacies of the TIA registers or the RIOT chip's timer that the display kernel has to deal with, so you don't need to be *quite* as familiar with how the Atari 2600 works. The downside of this is that you're stuck with whatever capabilities (and restrictions) are built into the "canned" kernels. On the other hand, batari Basic does allow you to create your own customized "include" files or inline assembly code, so there's no reason why a skilled programmer can't produce a game in batari Basic that doesn't "look" anything like what some people have come to recognize as "that batari Basic look" (which is a consequence of using a "canned" kernel, and which-- in all fairness-- can be just as true with pure assembly games if the programmer is re-using a "standard" display kernel that has a particular set of capabilities and limitations).

 

Just my $0.02!

 

Michael

[+Random Terrain]

It isn't just for people with no programming experience though. In fact it can be greatly enhanced and customized for specific projects by people who also have ASM skills.

 

Maybe I am my own niche, but I programmed with variants of BASIC all the time when I was a kid, and never had the patience, skill, or desire to learn assembly - so bB is a 1000x better solution for me. When you want to make something, being able to enjoy the creation process can make all the difference.

If I had a one-on-one tutor, holding my hand through the whole thing, I might be able to learn how to program using assembly language, but self-help tutorials about anything never seem to work for me.

 

With the help of people like batari, SeaGtGruff, CurtisP, and Robert M posting useful updates, kernels, title screen makers, asm code for use in bB programs, batari Basic examples, and little known batari Basic tips and tricks, I might actually make a few games that will be worth playing. Can't do it on my own, so I need all the help I can get.

 

As more yummy, juicy, colorful, Willy Wonka-ish magic-filled tools and tidbits are posted, every bB user will be able to more easily create fun, amazing looking games that would make Imagic and Activision proud.

 

[yuppicide]

The title of this topic is misleading. I thought Batari Games would be like Winter Games or Summer Games. A compilation of events.

[xg4bx]

Typically people post their game in the "Homebrew Discussion" forum when they get serious about a release.

 

The following two games are scheduled to be released in the store when it comes back from "vacation".

 

Dungeon

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127378

 

Cave In

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=116030

 

Solar Plexus, Phantom II/Pirate, Gosub, & Stella's Stocking were all in the store previously. I think the ET Book Cart was also at least partially written in bB. There have also been several independent releases that were bB games (don't know them all off the top of my head - the most infamous being The Last Ninja & NERDS).

 

 

day 1 purchase for dungeon and cave in, those look awesome.

[devwebcl]

Cool, after all I've been playing with batari.

 

First of all I saw the source code of it and looks clean and good use of Lex. I was able to compile it with Mingw and Flex. Good work!!! (have you thought to upload this project to Sourceforge ?)

 

Besides I read the great batari Basic Commands page. I tried out the Visual batari, but I had some troubles as loosing the highlighting feature after changing the fonts to courier. Anyway, that's not a big issue, its sprite and playfield editors looks good too, but I didn't know how to convert them to code (should I open the files created ?).

 

Also when I compiled and run my first code (actually code from this forum) the first attempt was the Stella emulator flickering around, after a while appear the correct sprite.

 

Well, I guess I'll use Notepad++ for now and I'm ready to rock

 

Devwebcl

Edited August 11, 2009 by devwebcl

[+Random Terrain]

Besides I read the great batari Basic Commands page. I tried out the Visual batari, but I had some troubles as loosing the highlighting feature after changing the fonts to courier. Anyway, that's not a big issue, its sprite and playfield editors looks good too, but I didn't know how to convert them to code (should I open the files created ?).

Check this out:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-me...texplorerfriend

You'll be opening your project folders in the Project Explorer, so learn to love it because the Project Explorer is your friend. Double click on a file in the Project Explorer and it will open in the appropriate editor. And when you have a program open in the Code Editor, you can drag sprite or playfield files from the Project Explorer and drop them right into your program. Double clicking and dragging and dropping; it can't get much easier than that.

[devwebcl]

Besides I read the great batari Basic Commands page. I tried out the Visual batari, but I had some troubles as loosing the highlighting feature after changing the fonts to courier. Anyway, that's not a big issue, its sprite and playfield editors looks good too, but I didn't know how to convert them to code (should I open the files created ?).

Check this out:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-me...texplorerfriend

You'll be opening your project folders in the Project Explorer, so learn to love it because the Project Explorer is your friend. Double click on a file in the Project Explorer and it will open in the appropriate editor. And when you have a program open in the Code Editor, you can drag sprite or playfield files from the Project Explorer and drop them right into your program. Double clicking and dragging and dropping; it can't get much easier than that.

 

Great! I didn't see that phrase... cool.

 

Btw, I think could be good to have a printable version (PDF). Although I read already, i'd be good to have a hardcopy.