Jghinato Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 Hi guys. I've seen a lot of videos teaching programing to 2600. My simple question is: can I use every instructions an codes in 130xe and 800xl ?? Or programing 2600 is totally different? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damosan Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 Instructions? Yes. Techniques? Not really. On the 2600 you're writing code to paint the screen line by line and you have limited sprite support. The "regular" computers provide a richer environment - you have access to more players and missiles, you can do bitmap or character soft sprites, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jghinato Posted January 12, 2021 Author Share Posted January 12, 2021 Great answer, thanks. Tell me, please: I saw some very good videos teaching 2600 programing. I thought "it whould be awsome to create games this way. Very simple but powerfull". So, I was wrong? I 'll not could to make games this way? Please, help me on the conclusion? Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 With batariBasic you can program very good games for VCS. There's a dedicated forum on AtariAge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jghinato Posted January 12, 2021 Author Share Posted January 12, 2021 (edited) Fantástic news! I saw a youtube video some guy teaching just this bataribasic", that I've never heard about. I'm very new in Atari world (actualy 1 month). I only got to know the Apple II world, 35 years ago... By the way, Philsan, what means "VCS"? Personal computers? (sorry, I'm Brazilian and, to increase my ignorance an confusion, my english is bad) Thank you very much. Edited January 12, 2021 by Jghinato Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 18 hours ago, damosan said: Instructions? Yes. Techniques? Not really. On the 2600 you're writing code to paint the screen line by line and you have limited sprite support. The "regular" computers provide a richer environment - you have access to more players and missiles, you can do bitmap or character soft sprites, etc. You can kind of "race the beam" on the 8-bit line too and change graphics / display lists on the fly. I don't know if you can obtain results that make it worth it.. maybe more colors per line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 @Jghinato Atari 2600 console was named VCS, Video Computer System, until 1982. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jghinato Posted January 12, 2021 Author Share Posted January 12, 2021 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damosan Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 6 hours ago, zzip said: You can kind of "race the beam" on the 8-bit line too and change graphics / display lists on the fly. I don't know if you can obtain results that make it worth it.. maybe more colors per line? You *could* do that on the computers - but you didn't have to. Instead you'd setup DLIs for the areas of the screen you were interested in and be done with it. The vertical blanks gave you more than enough time (generally) to do the painting you needed to do. I'm currently messing with a CC65/CA65 program to do this with soft sprites in graphics mode 8. Even with my mediocre understanding of assembly language I'm easily able to do 30 frames per second moving 7 sprites and 20 projectiles... The sprites are only 8x8 and the projectiles a single pixel but I've got room to do more. Writing 2600 kernels is much more involved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jghinato Posted January 13, 2021 Author Share Posted January 13, 2021 Fantastic. I'm very impressed with CC65 / CA65. Please, Damosan, where, or with who I can learn more CC65 ? (starting in the beginning) Thanks!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damosan Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Jghinato said: Fantastic. I'm very impressed with CC65 / CA65. Please, Damosan, where, or with who I can learn more CC65 ? (starting in the beginning) Thanks!!!! Search this website - there are a lot of cc65 examples,links, helpful posts, etc. If you know C you'll be able to pick it up pretty quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irgendwer Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jghinato said: Fantastic. I'm very impressed with CC65 / CA65. Please, Damosan, where, or with who I can learn more CC65 ? (starting in the beginning) Thanks!!!! You may have a look at https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289164-cc65-news-os-structure/ as a starter... Edited January 13, 2021 by Irgendwer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 14 hours ago, damosan said: You *could* do that on the computers - but you didn't have to. Instead you'd setup DLIs for the areas of the screen you were interested in and be done with it. The vertical blanks gave you more than enough time (generally) to do the painting you needed to do. I'm currently messing with a CC65/CA65 program to do this with soft sprites in graphics mode 8. Even with my mediocre understanding of assembly language I'm easily able to do 30 frames per second moving 7 sprites and 20 projectiles... The sprites are only 8x8 and the projectiles a single pixel but I've got room to do more. Writing 2600 kernels is much more involved. Yes the display lists and graphics modes make everything easier. I think the only times you might want to 'chase the beam' on the Atari 8-bit hardware is if you want to put more colors per line, or more sprites per line without flicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jghinato Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 23 hours ago, Irgendwer said: You may have a look at https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289164-cc65-news-os-structure/ as a starter... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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