Atari 8 bit is real too

newly arrived today (I had an 800XL back when they were leading edge)

Atari 130XE

Atari 2600 denial '77 release notes

The first product of my retro programming project is (almost?) done.

denial '77 (Atari 2600)

denial '77 (NTSC)
denial '77 (PAL)

denial '77 (PAL60)

PAL mode (50Hz) has been tuned separately from NTSC but is still probably a little easier than NTSC or PAL60 (maybe I should create NTSC55 & PAL55 and split the difference?)

If no obvious problems are found, this will be the final (or at least initial final :) version).

The game is loosely modelled on Space Zap, an arcade game from 1980.

setup

Left player difficulty sets game difficulty
Right player difficulty sets starting level (1 or 14)
Reset or joystick button to start.

gameplay

You're protecting the base in the centre, move the joystick in the direction you want to fire.
The base heats up when you fire, changing colour and expanding. The base firing rate slows as the base heats up.
The base also heats up when hit. It's game over if the base hit when it is overheated.
The level number is the only scoring mechanism.

scores

If anyone tries it out I would be interested to know what level you attain - and whether it was using an emulator or real hardware, easy or hard, 60Hz or 50Hz.

waffle

This was always intended to be my warm-up game as I returned to Atari 2600 programming after a 14 year hiatus.
It is lacking some polish generally found in modern 2600 games (separate title screen, option screen, more detailed scoring, game over screen, multiple chances etc.). Maybe it's more like a quick and dirty cash-in game from 1978 :)
Part of me wants to go back and make it "the best it can be" and fix some of the "naive coding choices", but another part of me says I have other games I want to do on the 2600 and the Atari 8 bit (and other platforms) so this is probably it for this game.

another reason to delay - eBay AV 2600 arrival

The Atari 2600 Jr. with AV conversion which I bought on eBay arrived today. Of course I set this up for testing instead of finishing denial '77 - any excuse for delay :)

Well, it certainly generates an AV signal rather than the RF signal. Unfortunately it is not the correct signal.
This was tested on 4 TVs using 3 different display technologies (CRT, plasma, LCD) and was consistently wrong on each one.

The new eBay purchased 2600 + AV (photograph of plasma TV with phone camera) - the image produced is more stable than the RF one but most of the colour information is missing.

Most of the colour luminance information seems to be missing. Rather than providing a range of luminance in each colour it produces a single luminance, white and black for each colour.

crappy display, but at least the colours are correct

My other RF connected 2600 (photograph of plasma TV with phone camera) - the image produced is not as good as I would like, but at least all of the colours are produced.

perfect emulator version for comparison - sadly the real version will never look this good :)

future planning - space car '78...

instead of finishing the warm up game denial '77 (hopefully finished this week) I've been thinking about later parts of the project

other games planned to some level

Atari 2600
next game: space car '78 (Atari 2600)
the other next game: unnamed '78 (Atari 2600)
(maybe) endless / auto runner

Atari 8 bit
(theme) responsibilities - balancing the responsibilities of life
(genre) up screen shooter
(genre) horizontal shooter
(genre) dungeon crawler / shooter
(genre) endless / auto runner
(genre) platform
... does the Atari 2600 driving controller work here (quite likely)

Mega Drive
... no real plans yet, just know I want to do this one

Uzebox
interesting new platform under consideration Uzebox...

new hardware MIST which could be used for the project...

new platform candidate... Uzebox

not technically a retro platform but … The Uzebox is a retro-minimalist homebrew game console...

denial '77 alpha 4 binaries

denial '77 alpha 4 (NTSC) autoplay
denial '77 alpha 4 (NTSC) manual

Transition between title mode and game mode not yet implemented so here's one in each mode.

Can now destroy attacking enemies.
Fine tuning of attack timing, overheating, base firing etc. underway.

Mars Bar Crumpet - food for retro programmers...?

Mars Bar Crumpet