batari Basic DPC+ Anyone think Marble Madness possible on 2600?

[iesposta]

Well, not a breakthrough, you could do this all along.

I've just failed at it until now.

Building on the concept of using 2 drawscreens and 2 Playfield definitions, it allows a 2-color Playfield, or if you overlap colors, 3-color.

The following demo scrolls two 255 byte single colored line playfields. (Double lines is easy as this is a 2 line kernel.)

To make a taller screen, I'll have to flip to two more playfields.

It looks oh so nice on a CRT.

Marble20140722A.bas.bin

 

If nothing comes out of this right away, with similar techniques I want to make a simplified, vertical parallax "TIA blast!" (See GTIA blast! or Atari blast! in the Blogs or in the Atari 8-bit Computer forum.)

[iesposta]

That was fun while it lasted.

A full level, even this short practice level, would take way more than the 4K batari Basic gives for graphics.

That resolution can scroll 80 lines before it wraps around.

Three playfields that size leave only around 550 bytes left.

Double line resolution looks so much worse that the isometric effect is even harder to see.

 

This will have to be shelved again until either more ram is available for graphics, or it is programmed in assembly language with lots of ram for Playfield design.

 

This realization gives me great respect for the large levels fit into 2600 Boulder Dash ® !

[Rudy]

Not having really done much programming yet (I can't get the compiler working so far) I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you can do what the author of the atari pacman did, modify the game so the graphics fit in the rom size.

[Sprybug]

That was fun while it lasted.

A full level, even this short practice level, would take way more than the 4K batari Basic gives for graphics.

That resolution can scroll 80 lines before it wraps around.

Three playfields that size leave only around 550 bytes left.

Double line resolution looks so much worse that the isometric effect is even harder to see.

 

This will have to be shelved again until either more ram is available for graphics, or it is programmed in assembly language with lots of ram for Playfield design.

 

This realization gives me great respect for the large levels fit into 2600 Boulder Dash ® !

I think there is too much emphasis on the graphics. I think it's very possible to do a Marble Madness game on the 2600, just tone it down. The demo to me looks like it's trying to look as close to the game as possible. It doesn't need to be. I mean, look at my games. I take what is given to me, and I know I won't be able to make it look like the game I'm trying to emulate, so I focus more on game mechanics, level design, etc, to keep it fun.

[+Gemintronic]

Well, not a breakthrough, you could do this all along.

I've just failed at it until now.

Building on the concept of using 2 drawscreens and 2 Playfield definitions, it allows a 2-color Playfield, or if you overlap colors, 3-color.

The following demo scrolls two 255 byte single colored line playfields. (Double lines is easy as this is a 2 line kernel.)

To make a taller screen, I'll have to flip to two more playfields.

It looks oh so nice on a CRT.

Marble20140722A.bas.bin

 

If nothing comes out of this right away, with similar techniques I want to make a simplified, vertical parallax "TIA blast!" (See GTIA blast! or Atari blast! in the Blogs or in the Atari 8-bit Computer forum.)

 

Could you break it down to smaller screen segments and mix-n-match them to form a cohesive level? Also, since this is DPC+ you have a buttload of virtual sprites.. could you use some of them as parts of the level?