Non Techincal Playfield Design

[Aidy]

Hola! I'm very new to the 2600 programming, and a friend an I are collaborating on a new 2600 game, I'm designing the game itself and he's programming it.

 

As a non-programmer, could anyone recommend a package I could use to design the playing field and sprites, I've tried a few like TIA Paint, but this only allows me to draw with one colour, sorry if I sound a bit stupid. I've kind of got my head around the fact that width-wise everything has to be 8pixels etc.. but I'm currently drawing everything out on paper and could do with a slightly non-techy way of creating the designs which would adhere to the 2600 format and that my friend could pick up and run with.

 

Any help appreciated :-)

[GroovyBee]

Unfortunately it is very easy to create a mock-up of a game on the 2600 that the machine can't actually do. As an artist you also need to know about sprite widths, sprites per line, sprite flickering, player, missile and ball limitations, playfield widths, whether the kernel is 1, 2, 3, 4, X lines etc. You also need to discuss with the programmer the limitations of the kernel that he/she is writing to drive the game's screen. Graphics and the kernel are very closely tied on the 2600.

[+Random Terrain]

Unfortunately it is very easy to create a mock-up of a game on the 2600 that the machine can't actually do. As an artist you also need to know about sprite widths, sprites per line, sprite flickering, player, missile and ball limitations, playfield widths, whether the kernel is 1, 2, 3, 4, X lines etc. You also need to discuss with the programmer the limitations of the kernel that he/she is writing to drive the game's screen. Graphics and the kernel are very closely tied on the 2600.

After finding out those things, Visual batari Basic could help:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-vbb.html

 

 

It has a playfield editor and a sprite editor.

[vdub_bobby]

Try this for designing sprites/players: http://www.alienbill.com/2600/playerpalnext.html

 

Kirk Isreal (the creator of that) also has a playfield editor and a bunch of other resources on this page: http://www.alienbill.com/2600/

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Graphics and the kernel are very closely tied on the 2600.

Well said.

 

Usually designing a kernel is an iterating process, where you start with a basic idea about how the screen should look like and then try to implement it. Then you either have to simplify your design idea or enhance the kernel. Usually both. If you are lucky, you might even have the option to enhance your design idea. Depending on the complexity of the design idea, you might find out that you need more than one kernel. Either for special vertical areas of the screen and/or for special scenarios which have to be displayed.

 

The quality of the result depends on the number if iterations (optimizations) you are willing to do and the amount of space you want to use for the kernel(s). Eventually you will reach a situation where everything is good enough for your requirements or all possibilities are maxed out.