| |
| |
|
|
| |
Below are the
tools I've used to Hack Atari 2600 Games, and some other
useful applications. A Link to the original location of
the file is provided, if available. Many of these
tools are older command line
utilities that may require a
32bit operating system.
Here's some screenshots of a few
of the tools below.
|
Tool |
|
Description |
|
Link
to Original Location |
|
MakeWAV |
|
Convert Roms to WAVs for the supercharger (R.
Colbert) |
|
Link |
|
Edit/ShowGFX |
|
Dumps
contents of ROM to text file for graphics editing |
|
Link Unavailable |
|
StellaGraph |
|
Atari2600 Playfield Tool (by Christopher James
Pepin) |
|
Link Unavailable |
|
AHD |
|
Atari
Hacking for Dummies Tool, with AHD Files |
|
Link
|
Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Below is a collection of Atari
2600/7800 game editors that were used
in AtariAge contests or released
by AA users in years past.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Below is a collection of Atari
2600 Emulators. I
personally use Stella, as it is
the most frequently updated and
the most compatible.
|
z26 |
|
Very accurate Atari 2600 emulator. |
|
|
Stella |
|
Very good multiplatform emulator,
includes debugger |
|
|
PCAE 2.2 |
|
Hasn't been updated in a while,
includes debugger |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Batari Basic is Fred "Batari"
Quimby's BASIC compiler for creating Atari 2600 games.
The official homepage is located
here,
however there is also an AtariAge
forum dedicated to it that is more frequently
updated.
Getting Started
Ready to begin
but don't know where to start? There is a whole
lot of great information out there to help someone just
starting out. I've outlined some some basic steps
for getting started with batariBasic below.
1.
Get the files. Download and install all the
files that you need.
-
New to
Basic programming? Do some reading. If
you're new to Basic, I'd highly recommend starting
with Random Terrain's batariBasic page. His
page is very well organized with lots of answers to
beginner questions. Once you're more familiar
with batariBasic his page is also the best place to
go for up to date commands and syntax. His site is
like the bB bible.
-
Get
the batariBasic files.
This AA thread
is frequently updated with the latest version of bB.
As of 3/2015 the latest version is 1.1d37 (bB.1.1d.reveng37).
-
Get
the Visual batariBaic files. As a beginner,
you'll definitely want to download
Visual Batari Basic.
It includes graphical editors for sprites and
playfields, support for the titlescreen kernel, and
a music editor.
-
Get an
Emulator. I recommend
Stella.
It's cross platform and offers the highest level of
compatibility with batariBasic features.
2. Read
the Tutorials. AtariAge members CurtisP and
SeaGtGruff wrote some excellent tutorials and posted
them to the batariBasic forums.
3.
Learn from Example. Below is a collection of Sample Batari Basic applications I
wrote to help get you started.
The source code is heavily
commented to explain every line
of code. These sample
programs are also available for
download at AtariAge.
|
Sample Application |
Source |
Binary |
Description |
|
Draw a Sprite |
Source |
Binary |
Drawing a sprite on
the screen |
|
Draw a Playfield |
Source |
Binary |
Drawing a playfield on
the screen |
|
Move a Sprite |
Source |
Binary |
How to create and move
a sprite on the screen with the joystick |
|
Fire a Missile |
Source |
Binary |
How to make the sprite
fire a missile |
|
Animate a Sprite |
Source |
Binary |
How to animate a
sprite with three frames |
|
Animate a Playfield |
Source |
Binary |
How to animate a
playfield |
|
3D Moving Sprite |
Source |
Binary |
Creating the illusion
of a 3D srpite moving toward you |
|
Flash Colors |
Source |
Binary |
Flashing colors |
|
Detect Collisions |
Source |
Binary |
How to detect a
collision between two sprites |
|
Move an Animated Sprite |
Source |
Binary |
How to move an
animated sprite |
|
Adventure Light |
Source |
Binary |
How to create the
light around a character, as done in the invisible
maze in 'Adventure'. |
|
Bankswitching Demo |
Source |
Binary |
A demonstration of how
to use multiple banks in your game |
|
Move, Animate, and Fire |
Source |
Binary |
How to move an
animated sprite that can also fire a missile |
|
Move within playfield boundary |
Source |
Binary |
How to keep a sprite
from moving through a playfield boundary |
|
Simple Titlescreen Demo |
Source |
Binary |
How to create a simple
titlescreen before your game starts |
4. Ask
for help. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
There are many experienced batariBasic programmers that
visit the AtariAge batariBasic forum frequently.
You'll find many people are more than willing to answer
questions and help you get started.
Downloads
The batariBasic files linked below
are older versions, go to
this AA thread for the latest version of batariBasic.
It's updated frequently enough
that it's not practical for me
to include each update on my
personal site.
AA user Random Terrain maintains the
bB documentation on his excellent website, which is
updated frequently.
|
bB DOS/Win .Zip v0.35a |
|
Early beta release
from 2005. Includes the .exe, README, and sample
files |
|
|
bB DOS/Win .Zip
v0.99b |
|
Later release from
2006. I used this for a few of my early games. |
|
|
bB DOS/Win .Zip
v1.10d |
|
Recent 32bit release
from 2013. |
|
|
FAQ |
|
Frequently Asked Questions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
