atari_aaron Posted November 17, 2002 Share Posted November 17, 2002 I'm writing a 2600 game development kit in Java 1.3.1. I'm calling it: Classic Atari Gamer Development Kit (CAG). If you can download the jar file and run it as an application, you can check out what I've got written so far. Sorry, it doesn't export or save any data yet. Also, it won't have a built in assembler or emulator, but it will be able to run (sorry, for lack of a better term) 3rd party assemblers/emulators from a command line. It should run on any machine that has the 1.3.1 JRE or higher installed... Hopefully, this also includes Mac OSX... but I don't have a Mac so I can't say for sure... anyone who has one, I'd appreciate CAG being taken for a test run on that OS. Sorry, no directions right now either. Eventually this will be delivered through Java Web Start Here's the URL. Feedback is welcome. http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/cag/ Thanks, Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric_ruck Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 Good luck with the project, but don't make 2600 programming too easy, that wouldn't be right. It should also be some good Java practice for you -- I personally like doing exercizes that kinda work with my hobby but keep the real skills sharp. Just out of curiosity, why aren't you working with the 1.4 JDK? I'm not super-fluent in Java or anything but I do know it has a lot to offer, especially if you want your application to print. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted November 18, 2002 Author Share Posted November 18, 2002 Yeah... I actually thought about that... it would loose alot of its mystique. However, it would probably take me several years to develop a system where complex games could be created without any programming what so ever. But I imagine that CAG could be used to develop simpler games and make creating simple to complex playfield graphics a bit quicker and easier. I found that making a playfield is really much more tedious and time consuming than it has to be. I don't really know where I am going with this other than I want to make graphics creation easier. Ultimately some programming will be required no matter what. After all, even VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) creation tools (such as CosmoWorlds 2.0) require an intimate knowledge of the format and a programming language to create really interesting and complex games/environments. I began creating VRML worlds using using graph paper, a pencil, and wordpad. Now I have really awsome graphics tools such as CosmoWorlds, Maya, and VRMLPad, but even with those pieces of software it still takes a special skill few have. As to why I'm using 1.3.1. Well, first, fewer people would be required to download the newest JRE. Second and more importantly, its what came with JBuilder 7. I'm aware 1.4.1 has some good new capabilities, but I'm not sure they're needed for what I'm doing. At least at this point. Thanks for the comments, Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric_ruck Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 I was kidding about losing mystique. Anyone who wants to be a programmer should have to write a game for a classic system. No matter what tools you're using, you have to have an understanding of the machine. It's a background that would serve even the highest level Java programmers well. I guess one thing the tools are good for is the frustration factor. The faster you can get stuff up on the screen, the more likely you are to follow through. That's why I'm working on a Lynx project -- low frustration factor. The Lynx is insanely easy to program, at least for the not-so-challenging project I decided to start with. At least I'm taking notes as I figure things out so my experience might one day be helpful to someone else. Anyway, can't wait to see how your project progresses. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted November 18, 2002 Author Share Posted November 18, 2002 Thanks. I hope you didn't think I was being defensive. I appreciate the support. Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted December 4, 2002 Author Share Posted December 4, 2002 I've done some work on the CAG Playfield drawing utility. It is coming along nicely. You can view a screenshot of the latest work. Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric_ruck Posted December 4, 2002 Share Posted December 4, 2002 Very cool. Much better than the colored pencils and hex calculator method I'm using for Lynx graphics. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted December 10, 2002 Author Share Posted December 10, 2002 Well, I've done quite a bit of work this week. So much so, I've neglected my school work. But anyway. Cag has been updated so the user can now draw normal, reflected, and asymmetrical playfields using box-draw and box-erase tools. More drawing tools will be added after the semester is over... I need to get caught up. You can now draw out a playfield, and do a data dump of that playfield to a project output box. That data can be cut and pasted into your favorite text editor. It's a straight data dump for now, nothing fancy. Also, I have placed a CAG tutorial online. Still, nothing can be saved to disk. The ability to save projects, playfields, and player sprites should be available sometime before the end of January. The current jar file is also online. Source files and graphics are included in the jar. All of this stuff can be found at the following URL: http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/cag/ Feedback would be most appreciated. Thanks, Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted December 30, 2002 Author Share Posted December 30, 2002 CAG can now save/open playfield graphics and export them to asm files to be assembled using dasm. The following URL is a screenshot of a playfield as drawn in CAG and as the assembled asm file appears in PCAE. Colors are off in PCAE, but they appear to be correct in Stella. There are still a number of bugs in it, and a few features which I need to add, so there is no new software download this time. The screenshot is of an asymmetrical playfield, but I tested it with normal and reflected playfields... and all three playfield exports are running well under PCAE and Stella: http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/graphi...s/dec302002.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXG/MNX Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 Just one thing I can say... GOOD JOB! This looks real good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted February 10, 2003 Author Share Posted February 10, 2003 As I have been working on my CAG project, I have also been working on a 2600 version of the Quiditch sport found in the Harry Potter books. Using CAG, I drew and exported a simple playfield. I am in the middle of doing some extensive editing on that file. Basically CAG now has the ability to export vertically scrolling playfields, but it has a long way to go before that tool is ready for release. Anyway, I'm learning as I go here. I have attached a zip file to this post that contains both the assembly code and the rom file for my experiment so far. Currently there is too much code at the front of each frame, so the program jumps up a scanline when once the ball starts bouncing. I am interested in knowning how this file looks on a real 2600. So if anyone out there has a cuttle cart I'd greatly appreciate it if you could look at the file to let me know if what I see in the emulator is what actually shows up on the television screen. The rom included in this attachment displays two 4 digit scores, has an up/down scrolling playfield and a bouncing PF Ball. Start the scroll and bouncing ball by pushing the left joystick fire button. Thanks, Aaron quiditch.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 I've got another screenshot of CAG... which I now renamed Classic Gamer Developer's Kit or CGDK. I'm hoping by August I will have a basic working version for people to test. I don't have a new jar file for people to play with, but a screenshot and more info about the updates can be found at the following URL: http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/cag/ Quick Feature Teaser: Basic Text Editor - including a line count Command/Dos control window so DASM and Stella can be launched from within CGDK Updated Playfield Editor now includes a history editor and erase tool Beginnings of JPEG/GIF/PNG to 2600 binary converter Color Chooser Web Browser - for viewing CGDK tutorials and browsing the web That's all. Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari_aaron Posted July 18, 2003 Author Share Posted July 18, 2003 Hi all, Just sending out an update on the sprite editor in my java CGDK application. I'm to the point now where I've got a handle on scaling the editing canvas. I've also successfully ran an export of sprite data, but I haven't yet written the algorithm for handing the export data over to the text editor in an orderly manner. I've also rewritten the 2600 color chooser and broken it out into a seperate window. It now supports NTSC, PAL, and SECAM colors with a eye dropper selection tool. The following urls are screenshots showing the ability to zoom out so you can better see the sprite you're editing. You can view it at levels of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 or 3200%. The sprite editor will also allow you to edit/design sprites larger than 8 pixels wide, and it already imports GIF's and JPEG's. The three screenshots below also show the 3 versions of the color chooser. The color chooser is based on Glen's color charts found at "http://www.neonghost.com/the-dig/utils/clrchart.html". The color chooser takes direct pixel readings from screenshots of this page. http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/graphi...ly/july-100.png http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/graphi...ly/july-400.png http://myweb.cableone.net/bergstrom/graphi...y/july-3200.png Thanks, Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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