DracIsBack Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Personally I just find it to be quite an irritating game. I didn't mind it with the exception of some warts ... a couple of jumps that were too hard, some sensitive controls and an ending that made me want to find the programmer and punch them in the face after having battled through 17 levels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I didn't mind it with the exception of some warts ... a couple of jumps that were too hard, some sensitive controls and an ending that made me want to find the programmer and punch them in the face after having battled through 17 levels. I don't think I've ever got past the first couple of levels. You must love that game deep down . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svenski Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I personally can't see Curt and others investing so much time into this only for the XM to ever have three or four releases for it. Once it is released and people know how to code for it we're probably going to see a ton of titles. We need to feed people like Groovybee beer and caffeine and be patient in the meantime. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carey85 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 It is disheartening to see all of the petty arguing that has transpired in this thread. What bothers me even more is all of the upvoting of what are basically troll posts, which in my mind would only inspire the culprits responsible to make more . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryH917 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 It is disheartening to see all of the petty arguing that has transpired in this thread. What bothers me even more is all of the upvoting of what are basically troll posts, which in my mind would only inspire the culprits responsible to make more . We all need therapy, lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corby Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Alot of reputation points being passed around here!!!! Because clearly this is more of a blaa blaa blaa XM status Page than a "REAL" XM status page! Cut the crap people! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomickneedrop Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Alot of reputation points being passed around here!!!! Because clearly this is more of a blaa blaa blaa XM status Page than a "REAL" XM status page! Cut the crap people! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've got a secret to expose... Under my cloths... I'm 100% nude made ja look! AX 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've got a secret to expose... Under my cloths... I'm 100% nude made ja look! AX I'm glad you didn't expose your secret. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svenski Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've got a secret to expose... Under my cloths... I'm 100% nude made ja look! AX I hope you ain't sending them clothes out with your latest round of boxes of crap Well done Ax, you made me look, you made me stare, you made me see your underwear !! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI7800fan Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 After years of hearing, "I hear the 7800 can't do a side scrolling game like MARIO or ALEX KIDD", that settled that argument for me. I've never played Scrapyard Dog all that much. Personally I just find it to be quite an irritating game. The technique I came up with in Dungeon! to display tiles and sprites could be used to make some very interesting and colourful scrolling games. However, my time is at a premium at the moment. I have been interested in learning how to make homebrew games I just am not very good, I am currently going to college for computer engineering and Got a D in my C programming class, did a little better in matlab though. Maybe I am just not cut out to make homebrew games. Are there any dev kits or programs like that for the 7800, or should I try a different system first like the Lynx. Just wondering are you from England. I noticed how you spell color. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Well, I for one just hope enough tech info gets out there where EVERYONE CAN SEE IT. It doesn't help a system if no one can program for it because a couple CJ'ers (don't know how blunt I'm allowed to be around this joint) want to hoard all the information and make like the Jaguar CJ. I'm willing to try to do something for the XM within my own capability - I'm not too bad with the 6502, but only really ever coded for the Apple ][+ and //e - the XM needs software to survive, and software needs documentation and methods of testing, it ain't gonna program itself. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Well, I for one just hope enough tech info gets out there where EVERYONE CAN SEE IT. It doesn't help a system if no one can program for it because a couple CJ'ers (don't know how blunt I'm allowed to be around this joint) want to hoard all the information and make like the Jaguar CJ. I'm willing to try to do something for the XM within my own capability - I'm not too bad with the 6502, but only really ever coded for the Apple ][+ and //e - the XM needs software to survive, and software needs documentation and methods of testing, it ain't gonna program itself. Well, I can't speak for them, but I'm quite certain that the people behind the XM will be releasing all the relevant technical information as soon as they're ready to do so. They haven't gone to the trouble of creating the XM only to limit the population of developers to a select few; in fact, I'm sure they'd like nothing better than to see the 7800/XM become the top platform for homebrew development. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Falcon Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 At first I have a question about the XM: - will it work on PAL machines? If yes, I will buy it, as keeping highscores would be reason enough for me and if it supported some new games - even better! And please, people, all calm down. I don't want the same thing to happen with the 7800 what did with the Jaguar. Nobody HAS to buy the XM! Noone even has to like it. When it is out, time will tell whether it is worth buying it gamewise, or not. For its other features it is already worth a buy in my opinion! Stay Atari! Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I have been interested in learning how to make homebrew games I just am not very good, I am currently going to college for computer engineering and Got a D in my C programming class, did a little better in matlab though. Maybe I am just not cut out to make homebrew games. The key to learning computer languages in my experience is to define your own goals. Having goals forced on you (as in college) may not be the best way for you to learn. Start simple and build up from there. What language(s) do you know? Feel free to ask questions in the programmers forum(s) if you get stuck. Are there any dev kits or programs like that for the 7800, or should I try a different system first like the Lynx. Just wondering are you from England. I noticed how you spell color. At the moment 6502 assembler is your only option on the 7800 until I get around to releasing the "C" development kit. Yep! I'm from the other side of the pond . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Well, I for one just hope enough tech info gets out there where EVERYONE CAN SEE IT. Technical documentation and example code will be available after the XM ships. There is no point going to all the trouble developing the XM if other developers can't write code or develop additional hardware for it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 At first I have a question about the XM: - will it work on PAL machines? The BIOS will work on PAL because that's my primary hardware testing platform. The XM hardware doesn't contain anything linked to the TV refresh rate so it'll work in any region. If yes, I will buy it, as keeping highscores would be reason enough for me and if it supported some new games - even better! Unfortunately the PAL versions of the original Atari HSC compatible games don't like the HSC cart. I've tested a few, but not all of the games (can't remember which). They either hang or crash. This might be due to the game code or the fact that the HSC ROM isn't PAL compatible. Even if the game works there is normally junk at the bottom of the screen (which is a known problem). The XM BIOS disables the HSC if PAL is detected so that PAL game players don't experience problems during normal game playing sessions. However, I'll include a magic console key press (or combination of keys) that is checked at power up so that this behaviour can be overridden to ensure that legacy homebrews will work OK (plus on screen junk). Currently there are no plans to update the HSC ROM to be PAL compatible. Some time ago I reverse engineered the ROM (source available in the 7800 programmers forum) but I never got into it enough to fix the PAL compatibility problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 It doesn't help a system if no one can program for it because a couple CJ'ers (don't know how blunt I'm allowed to be around this joint) want to hoard all the information and make like the Jaguar CJ. Going off track, but CJ (from the jag scene) isn't the holder of the jag technical information. You can find a great deal of jaguar development links here :- http://www.jagware.org/index.php?showtopic=836 If you want to know how something is done on the jag ask questions in the jag programmers forum. There are several jag developers on AA. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Furthermore, I know the XM will have technical docs so I'm really hoping to use the XM as a potential dev tool, in addition for using it to play cool new games. There's no need to wait for the XM before starting 7800 development . How is your game coming along? The design document looked interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Falcon Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 At first I have a question about the XM: - will it work on PAL machines? The BIOS will work on PAL because that's my primary hardware testing platform. The XM hardware doesn't contain anything linked to the TV refresh rate so it'll work in any region. If yes, I will buy it, as keeping highscores would be reason enough for me and if it supported some new games - even better! Unfortunately the PAL versions of the original Atari HSC compatible games don't like the HSC cart. I've tested a few, but not all of the games (can't remember which). They either hang or crash. This might be due to the game code or the fact that the HSC ROM isn't PAL compatible. Even if the game works there is normally junk at the bottom of the screen (which is a known problem). The XM BIOS disables the HSC if PAL is detected so that PAL game players don't experience problems during normal game playing sessions. However, I'll include a magic console key press (or combination of keys) that is checked at power up so that this behaviour can be overridden to ensure that legacy homebrews will work OK (plus on screen junk). Currently there are no plans to update the HSC ROM to be PAL compatible. Some time ago I reverse engineered the ROM (source available in the 7800 programmers forum) but I never got into it enough to fix the PAL compatibility problems. Oh, that's a pitty So would the ntsc games (those that work on PAL with just junk on the bottom of the screen) work with the highscore cart part of the xm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Oh, that's a pitty So would the ntsc games (those that work on PAL with just junk on the bottom of the screen) work with the highscore cart part of the xm? Some NTSC games like Robotron just hang when you run them on a PAL machine. I've tried a few others in the past but I didn't make any notes about what happened. However, several of the 7800's homebrews are both PAL and HSC compatible. Ideally the HSC ROM needs a rewrite. PacManPlus has had a few battles getting his homebrew NTSC games going on it. It was never an officially released product back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariNerd Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I'm kind of curious of how usable the hi-res modes are now. I know most programmers shy away from them because of the amount of cycles they eat up, starving Maria, other resources and the general push for flashy colors is pleasing to the eye, but was thinking that many of the older arcade titles might benefit from the boost in resolution. Could a simple scroller be done, or would it still be too prohibitive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I'm kind of curious of how usable the hi-res modes are now. I know most programmers shy away from them because of the amount of cycles they eat up, starving Maria, other resources and the general push for flashy colors is pleasing to the eye, but was thinking that many of the older arcade titles might benefit from the boost in resolution. Could a simple scroller be done, or would it still be too prohibitive? I've only used 320A and 320B. Out of those two 320B is the most colourful. However, its usefulness is limited because unless you have kangaroo mode enabled (no, I'm not making it up ) you don't get what you expect. Basically in kangaroo mode the transparency is turned off so you have 2BPP of colour. However, when sprites intersect the one right most in the Display List will overwrite the sprite underneaths intersecting parts with its background colour as well as the foreground colours. For example, imagine two sheets of black paper with a character drawn on each. When you partially put one sheet over the other thats the effect you'll see on screen. I'm sure with some programmer tricks you could get something interesting looking in 320A. That mode also has time for DLI's to change at least one or more colours per line too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakasama Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 However, when sprites intersect the one right most in the Display List will overwrite the sprite underneaths intersecting parts with its background colour as well as the foreground colours. For example, imagine two sheets of black paper with a character drawn on each. When you partially put one sheet over the other thats the effect you'll see on screen. Does that mean you can make a character with two overlapping sprites look like it has more colors than it was just a single sprite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Does that mean you can make a character with two overlapping sprites look like it has more colors than it was just a single sprite? There are only two palettes of three colours each and a common background colour to both in 320B. If you wanted more colours it might be easier to do it with a DLI or two. How you solve the problem would be entirely down to the type of game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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