7800basic beta, the release thread

[+Atarius Maximus]

Time for a 7800 version of Seaweed Assault?

[+Random Terrain]

Brilliant! It looks great. Thanks, RT. You are very good at web design, it's easy to use and much better than trying to navigate a pdf file.

Thanks. Maybe people who are less likely to download and read a PDF file will give the HTML version a look.

 

 

 

Time for a 7800 version of Seaweed Assault?

Maybe one day. But I'd like my first Atari 7800 game to be something I'd actually want to play.

[+frankodragon]

Could someone make a tutorial on how to create a sprite coming from another sprite and that sprite has X/Y movement? For instance, a creature that by pushing the fire button while standing in one of four directions spits a fireball and the fireball travels in that direction?

[+Atarius Maximus]

Could someone make a tutorial on how to create a sprite coming from another sprite and that sprite has X/Y movement? For instance, a creature that by pushing the fire button while standing in one of four directions spits a fireball and the fireball travels in that direction?

 

Here's a sample program that does that. It's not perfect as the fireball will move mid-flight when you change directions, but it works.

firetest.bas

firetest.bas.a78

gfx.zip

[+frankodragon]

Another question: I'm using the code from the zelda example to go around obstacles but I need to bankswitch. So with codes with labels, do you need to mention "bank #" after every code or just after the labels?

[RevEng]

Just with the labels, if I understand your question correctly. Here's a mini example that does nothing useful except illustrate syntax.

 

 set romsize 128k

 rem ** we don't declare bank 1. its always understood to be first

 rem a local goto (one within this bank or to the last bank) doesn't need the bank # specified...
 if a=1 then goto routine1

 rem a banked goto. notice that there's no space between "bank" and "2"...
 if a=2 then goto routine2 bank2

 rem a banked gosub. 
 if a=3 then gosub routine3 bank2

routine1
 if b=1 then goto other1
 [more code]
other1
 [more code]

 bank 2
 
routine2
 [more code]
 goto other1 bank1

routine3
 [more code]
 return

I will raise a potential issue - bankswitching with graphics is a bit of an advanced technique. The bank with graphics needs to be the same one where your "drawscreen" happens and where your code runs until the screen is drawn, unless all the graphics are in that ever-present last bank.

[+Atarius Maximus]

 

Here's a sample program that does that. It's not perfect as the fireball will move mid-flight when you change directions, but it works.

 

Same program I posted earlier, RevEng just made a minor change so the fireball will not change directions when you move.

firetest2.bas

[RevEng]

beta 0.2 20140714 is now in the first post. I also modified the first post to point to RT's guide, rather than posting the pdf.

 

Here's the changelog excerpt...

• added "drawwait" command, which waits until the visible screen has been drawn.
• added "plotmapfile" command, which can be used for complex screen maps, with many different areas using different palettes.
• added "set basepath" command, which defines a directory structure that incgraphic, incmapfile, and plotmapfile will use.
• added Atarius Maximus' "smasteroids" demo to the samples.
• added minumum argument sanity checks to most commands.
• now throw error for failed atoi() conversions.

RT, the first 3 lines in the changelog above have entries in the pdf. I'll drop the pdf soon, I think, but I figured it would make your life easier to include some text about the changes there.

[+Random Terrain]

beta 0.2 20140714 is now in the first post. I also modified the first post to point to RT's guide, rather than posting the pdf.

 

Here's the changelog excerpt...

• added "drawwait" command, which waits until the visible screen has been drawn.
• added "plotmapfile" command, which can be used for complex screen maps, with many different areas using different palettes.
• added "set basepath" command, which defines a directory structure that incgraphic, incmapfile, and plotmapfile will use.
• added Atarius Maximus' "smasteroids" demo to the samples.
• added minumum argument sanity checks to most commands.
• now throw error for failed atoi() conversions.

RT, the first 3 lines in the changelog above have entries in the pdf. I'll drop the pdf soon, I think, but I figured it would make your life easier to include some text about the changes there.

 

 

I use WinMerge with the xdocdiff plugin that lets people quickly and easily see any changes made between two PDF files, so any time you upload an updated PDF file, I should be able to keep up with the changes.

 

Is it hard for you to update the PDF file? Is that why you're going to drop it? If it's a pain, you could always send me new text in a PM in the future and I'll add it to the online version.

[RevEng]

Excellent that you can quickly find the difference. That will make updates easier.

 

It's not that hard to update the pdf, but I like how the bB docs eventually migrated to the community-supported RT-curated model. I think the best way to migrate to that model is to not have authoritative docs, but I'm a bit torn on that, as it is nice to have offline docs as an option.

[+Random Terrain]

Excellent that you can quickly find the difference. That will make updates easier.

 

It's not that hard to update the pdf, but I like how the bB docs eventually migrated to the community-supported RT-curated model. I think the best way to migrate to that model is to not have authoritative docs, but I'm a bit torn on that, as it is nice to have offline docs as an option.

 

Since it's so easy for me to compare PDF files, there's no need for you to be torn then. You can post a new PDF file whenever you have updates and I'll check it with the previous PDF file for changes.

 

Speaking of comparing PDF files, it looks like I caught all of the latest changes:

 

randomterrain.com/7800basic.html

 

The table of contents and index have also been updated.

[Trebor]

Just my two cents...It would be great to have both the online guide and the pdf available, if possible.

Perhaps the pdf file can be available as a download link on RT's site as well (?)

[+Gemintronic]

Just my two cents...It would be great to have both the online guide and the pdf available, if possible.

Perhaps the pdf file can be available as a download link on RT's site as well (?)

 

Not poo-poo'ing your idea. Chrome has an option to print to PDF built in. That's the only reason I have it installed

[Dan Iacovelli]

you could also get pdf redirect and print ato pdf as well

[+Random Terrain]

Just my two cents...It would be great to have both the online guide and the pdf available, if possible.

Perhaps the pdf file can be available as a download link on RT's site as well (?)

 

It's better if I just link to this thread, like I do here:

 

randomterrain.com/7800basic.html#about_this_page

[Cybearg]

When working with batariBasic, there are some limitations that come into play; the games all have the identical 6-digit score at the bottom of the screen and a handful of other modular options, but one can tell that it's a batariBasic game at a glance.

 

What sort of limitations of that sort does 7800basic have? Although I know that it must be limited compared to what a pure Assembly game can technically achieve, visually and technically speaking, are there any big hurtles to making the game look/do pretty much anything one wants (within the technical limitations)?

[RevEng]

I highlighted the current limitations compared to pure assembly language in this post.

 

The scrolling limitation is just a matter of time. I haven't had any personal time to devote to coding it, but I have a pretty good idea of how it's going to work.

 

The advantage of assembly language over basic is a lot less with 7800basic, compared to bB, mainly because the 7800 doesn't work with a display kernel, so there's no beam racing involved.

[Dan Iacovelli]

one of these days have to get a emu for 7800 and 7800basic on my pc to run games and test.

maybe I can find me 7800 power supply for my 7800,see if they are working.

7800 programing is my next step once I finish up any bugs in laserman 88 game for the 2600

[Cybearg]

7800 programing is my next step once I finish up... game for the 2600

This is what I say, too.

[iesposta]

This is what I say, too.

Me three, but there is just is much personal and public wow factor getting the 2600 to do something you did not think it could do.

It is so ancient / primitive wile also being flexible.

 

I hope we continue to see innovative 2600 things.

We haven't even started exploring bus stuffing.

DPC+ music and sound hasn't been given to batari Basic users.

 

Sorry! I realize this has become a thread hijack.

 

I still need an iOS 7800 emulator.

[Dan Iacovelli]

its not really bugs in my game but with improvements to bBasic I can clean up the sprites and add some more levels

right now being unemployed I have other things to worry about.

[Cybearg]

right now being unemployed I have other things to worry about.

Same problem here, except with being employed. After a day of work, I'm more inclined to procrastinate than program.

[+Random Terrain]

Same problem here, except with being employed. After a day of work, I'm more inclined to procrastinate than program.

I've been in more of a game playing mood than a game making mood. Before you know it, I'll be too old or too dead to make any games.

[+frankodragon]

I'm just wondering if I should look at bBasic examples to rely on coding in 7800basic? For one thing, I nearly flunked algebra in high school and looking at the mathematics involved on how it all works makes me bewildered. I do understand movement in X and Y variables from using Multimedia Fusion 2 but that's about it. Anything else, and I have to look, and rely, at other examples.

[potatohead]

Just checking in here.

 

AWESOME!!

 

Very well done RevEng. When the original Batari Basic came out, I sat down for a quick jam session and made something work in like an hour. Fred really knocked it out of the park, with just enough function to make it possible to get things done, but not so much that people would get bogged down in the details.

 

This looks like a very similar balance for the 7800, and I can't wait to see all the great creations people make with it.

 

Cool beans man.