+nanochess Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Hi all. It is a great pleasure for me to announce my upcoming book Programming Games for Atari 2600, composed of 320 pages of self-contained 6507 assembly language programming. Following on the tracks of my previous books Programming Boot Sector Games and Programming Games for Intellivision. The process of creating a book requires help! And three good friends are helping me there. @Thomas Jentzsch and @Andrew Davie are doing the technical revision of the book (you can remember Thomas from amazing games like Thrust, Boulder Dash, and our teamwork on Aardvark along with Nathan Strum; and Andrew from Qb and his amazing tutorials), and Michael Hayes @Zendocon is in charge of proofreading (he has done some amazing feats on Intellivision). Finally, I feel pretty honored that we have a foreword by the legend himself David Crane (creator of the Pitfall!™ games!) Everything is looking great. We are pretty close to completing this project, and order some demo copies of the book for approval. I'll post as things develop. Meanwhile, enjoy this preview of the cover 😉 Edit: Aug/29/2022 And now added the back cover 😀 Edit 2: Sep/21/2022 Andrew Davie is now helping with technical correction. Edit 3: Nov/11/2022 Now available for ordering! Edit 4: Nov/12/2022 I've made a video showing the book, and the same afternoon I was talking about it with my friend Artemio Urbina in Spanish in another video. Edit 5: Dec/12/2022 Now available on Amazon! Lulu hard-cover: https://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-games-for-atari-2600/hardcover/product-n8z9r6.html Lulu paperback: https://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-games-for-atari-2600/paperback/product-pq9dg4.html Amazon hard-cover: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/1387838148/ Amazon paperback: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/1387809962/ And as ebook: https://nanochess.org/store.html Showing the book with Artemio Urbina (Spanish audio) 34 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Looking forward to the book 👍 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Nice - I like that this is all in assembler. Definitely want a copy. I've not coded for the 2600 yet, but am trying to actively code more in 6502 for the 8-bit computers. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Love it. All of the pictures on the cover other than Flash Gordon make sense to me. Is there a story behind it's selection? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Isn't it "foreward"? EDIT: No, I looked it up, you were right. It just looks odd for some reason is all. that's an interesting avatar. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 I like your chess book, this should be great too 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, cvga said: Love it. All of the pictures on the cover other than Flash Gordon make sense to me. Is there a story behind it's selection? It could be Space Invaders, but Flash Gordon also has spaceships, and that mustache is impressive! Besides, it reminds me that I read Flash Gordon a long time ago but I didn't knew I was reading it because in Mexico it was titled "Roldan el Temerario". And the only time the movie came out in TV, my mother sent me to bed because it was late, so I have only watched the first 5 minutes! Edited August 23, 2022 by nanochess 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Going to be physical and digital? I am definitely interested in buying one. Would love to read the intellivision one as well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 3 hours ago, 4ever2600 said: Going to be physical and digital? I am definitely interested in buying one. Would love to read the intellivision one as well! There will be hard cover, paperback, and also ebook on my digital store. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Sweeeet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 (edited) Nice!!! I'm looking forward to reading it! Where is the book going to be published? Lulu, Amazon? Nice touch with that copy of Aardvark plugged into the '2600 🙂 Edited August 23, 2022 by Dionoid 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Great stuff Oscar, I'll definitely be picking up a copy when it's released! - James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: Nice!!! I'm looking forward to reading it! Where is the book going to be published? Lulu, Amazon? Nice touch with that copy of Aardvark plugged into the '2600 🙂 Thanks! It is going to Lulu, and then Amazon. 58 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said: Great stuff Oscar, I'll definitely be picking up a copy when it's released! - James Cool! Thanks a lot! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSetIlly Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 Programming Boot Sector Games was an excellent read. Looking forward to this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 And now added the back cover to the first post 🤗 Btw, I got my approval to access Dall-E, and now I've some fine line art created by an A.I. let me show an example for the Sound&Music chapter. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Fantastic! I'm available to review, if you need another set of eyes. I'm anal-retentive about grammar and spelling. Also, I have a tiny bit of experience tinkering on the Atari. Congrats, BTW! 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 15 hours ago, Andrew Davie said: Fantastic! I'm available to review, if you need another set of eyes. I'm anal-retentive about grammar and spelling. Also, I have a tiny bit of experience tinkering on the Atari. Congrats, BTW! Wow! I would feel honored. Thank you! I'll send you the latest draft once I put the corrections of the proofreading to not duplicate efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1FqO3 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 On 8/23/2022 at 1:38 PM, nanochess said: There will be hard cover, paperback, and also ebook on my digital store. I image coil-bound, like @Dionoid did with Stella Programmer's Guide, would be a nice feature for a book like this. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSetIlly Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 On 8/29/2022 at 10:31 PM, nanochess said: Btw, I got my approval to access Dall-E, and now I've some fine line art created by an A.I. let me show an example for the Sound&Music chapter. Did you have any success getting Dall-E to draw something resembling an Atari 2600 or even a joystick? I've had amusing results but nothing anyone would recognise. (A recently launched alternative to Dall-E is "Stable Diffusion". You can get access straight away and also run it locally.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 10 hours ago, p1FqO3 said: I image coil-bound, like @Dionoid did with Stella Programmer's Guide, would be a nice feature for a book like this. The reason that the Stella Programmer's Guide and the 6502 Instruction Set Guide are coil bound, is that these are reference guides and used while you're programming, so people want them to stay opened on the table. For @nanochess's upcoming book, I think it makes more sense to have it a paperback, just like @Andrew Davie's book Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies. But tastes are different, of course 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 9 hours ago, JetSetIlly said: Did you have any success getting Dall-E to draw something resembling an Atari 2600 or even a joystick? I've had amusing results but nothing anyone would recognise. (A recently launched alternative to Dall-E is "Stable Diffusion". You can get access straight away and also run it locally.) I didn't try to ask for an Atari 2600 drawing, as I have my own as a model for pictures. You made me curious about the subject, but so far I've used my quota of pictures! 😅 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 On 8/31/2022 at 2:04 AM, JetSetIlly said: Did you have any success getting Dall-E to draw something resembling an Atari 2600 or even a joystick? I've had amusing results but nothing anyone would recognise. (A recently launched alternative to Dall-E is "Stable Diffusion". You can get access straight away and also run it locally.) Today got my extra 15 credits, and tried to get an Atari 2600 using this catchy phrase "kid with bright color clothes playing an atari 2600 console in a futuristic environment with spaceships, robots, and television screens. high-resolution." You're right. It doesn't know what an Atari 2600 looks like, and probably it isn't even in its "memory". And joysticks curiously always look like Playstation 1 controllers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted November 10, 2022 Author Share Posted November 10, 2022 Sample copies received! 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 I'm very happy to say that finally the book is available for ordering! You can order now from Lulu as paperback: https://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-games-for-atari-2600/paperback/product-pq9dg4.html As hard-cover: https://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-games-for-atari-2600/hardcover/product-n8z9r6.html And as ebook: https://nanochess.org/store.html Amazon will follow in a few months. Enjoy it! 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 1 hour ago, nanochess said: I'm very happy to say that finally the book is available for ordering! That's awesome Oscar, congratulations! Looking forward to checking out your new book! In the book listing there are five game titles, but I've never heard of them and neither has Google! "Game of Ball, Wall Breaker, Invaders, The Lost Kingdom, and Diamond Craze." Are these new unreleased games? - James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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