Thinking of taking up 2600 programming...

[Max-T]

Apologies to all for another lame post requesting opinons, but, I value your opinions.

 

I have been giving serious thought to learning to program for the 6502. I have located what I believe to be sufficient documentation and the correct utilites I'd need to start such an endeavor.

 

I used to be quite good with BASIC, Fortran and Pascal. I realize that programming the 6502 is quite a bit more difficult than those higher level languages. Still, I think I'd like to give it a shot.

 

My questions are, what sort of game program would be considered to be easier for a beginner to try? Something like Blackjack, with simple graphics and gameplay, I'm guessing?

 

Also, if I were ever to make a viable ROM for the 2600, how much would it cost to have a custom EPROM burned for me and put in a 2600 cart board and shell? Does anyone do one-off burnings, or would I have to pay for bulk? I realize that EPROM burners are more expensive than I'd be willing to pay for, and also, that I am clumsy enough with a soldering iron that I'd botch my own attempt at assembling a cart.

 

Thanks to everyone for reading, and thanks in advance for any advice or info.

 

Max

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Also, if I were ever to make a viable ROM for the 2600, how much would it cost to have a custom EPROM burned for me and put in a 2600 cart board and shell?  Does anyone do one-off burnings, or would I have to pay for bulk?  I realize that EPROM burners are more expensive than I'd be willing to pay for, and also, that I am clumsy enough with a soldering iron that I'd botch my own attempt at assembling a cart.

AtariAge Store FAQ

[Max-T]

Thanks, Mr. Jentzsch, I had not read that FAQ before (told you I was stupid). Good information. I appeciate it!

 

Max

[Happy_Dude]

I'd suggest master mind ..... but I'm already doing that so ....

 

Definitly start with somthing "you" want to do. I'v been stuck on 1 problem for days now and if

I wasn't doing it for the love then I'd have given up by now.

A board or card game would be a good start. Anything that doesn't require repositioning (the

main reason I started with Master Mind deluxe )

 

It's not as hard as you might think.

[TMR]

My questions are, what sort of game program would be considered to be easier for a beginner to try?  Something like Blackjack, with simple graphics and gameplay, I'm guessing?

 

Board, card or puzzle games are a good starting point, even something as "simple" as Simon is a challenge for someone learning the machine because it covers all the basics of input, does random numbers and if you arrange the four squares in a diamond to match the joystick you either have to have a vertical split in the playfield colour (easier than it sounds...) or use a player to make the second square where there are two on a line.

 

Definitly start with somthing "you" want to do. I'v been stuck on 1 problem for days now and if I wasn't doing it for the love then I'd have given up by now.

 

Very good advice for people doing homebrew regardless of the platform; pick something you want to play 'cos you'll drive yourself potty with the playtesting otherwise! =-)

[Saikyo]

Pong type games i suppose could be easy enough

 

as for card games well you would have to deal with getting the numbers right

 

i know no programming but i definatly think card games would be hard to make!

[Max-T]

My thanks to everyone who has posted their ideas. Very good ideas. I'll take them all into consideration before I start on my little project.

 

So look for Homebrew X, due in AtariAge store around Q3 2007.

 

Seriously, thanks guys. I value all opinions.

 

Max

[EricBall]

and if you arrange the four squares in a diamond to match the joystick you either have to have a vertical split in the playfield colour (easier than it sounds...) or use a player to make the second square where there are two on a line.

 

Or you can set bit 1 of CTRLPF = SCORE (left half of playfield gets color of player 0, right half gets color of player 1)

[TMR]

Or you can set bit 1 of CTRLPF = SCORE (left half of playfield gets color of player 0, right half gets color of player 1)

 

Ooh, that's sneaky... =-)

[Robert M]

Since you are just starting, let me recommend something that I think will make your experience more enjoyable.

 

Pick an existing game you like, preferably a 2K byte game, but 4K is doable just harder. Run it through Distella to convert the ROM image to a source listing.

 

Now the "fun" part. document the assembly code, take the time to understand each instruction and what it is doing. You will learn a great deal by doing this. Once you understand the code, or at least part of the code, you can begin to make experimental changes compile the file and see the results in an emulator window. I believe this is the best way to quickly learn how to program the Atari 2600.

 

If you pick a 2K ROM to start with you will have an additional 2K of ROM available to add your own routines and change the game.

 

cheers!

[Nukey Shay]

How is 4k more difficult to "decypher" than 2k? They are both able to fit in the addressable 4k space True, there are more lines of code to go thru (and possibly all available ram hasn't been used in a smaller game)...but once the ram locations are figured out for a game, the rest of the code becomes relatively easy to understand and label.

 

I think that the difficulty increases when you get into the bankswitching methods used by games larger than 4k.

[Robert M]

How is 4k more difficult to "decypher" than 2k?  They are both able to fit in the addressable 4k space  True, there are more lines of code to go thru (and possibly all available ram hasn't been used in a smaller game)...but once the ram locations are figured out for a game, the rest of the code becomes relatively easy to understand and label.

 

I think that the difficulty increases when you get into the bankswitching methods used by games larger than 4k.

 

Well as you said, a 4K game has twice as much code to decipher. Also by doing a 2K game you always have 2K bytes of free space to play with without having to resort to bank switching.

[Nukey Shay]

Handy "cheat" for finding out what specific ram locations do:

 

Find the scoring routine...which is almost always just below a SED command...then change the instructions to copy the ram location into the score instead. You'll see the digits change as you run the game (at least the decimal digits).