How To Make An Atari Game

[@focotech_ti]

Fantastic, the years go by (10 years ago), and as a php programmer I was always curious to know how it was made, this video will be legendary for many decades or more!

[@PixelsPolygonsNPetrichor]

12 now

[@GhastlyH]

As someone who actually did 2600 programming in the 6507 machine code it's really cool to see someone has developed an actual programming language for the machine.

[@jacklazzaro9820]

2:26 Wow, I never knew that the Atari 2600 in Europe had less color than ours

[@Tomlinsky]

With PAL you had higher vertical resolution, 228 instead of 192 vertical scanlines, instead.

[@blakegriplingph]

@@Tomlinsky Even worse with the SECAM version which only had eight colours. IIRC Atari simply tapped into the luminance values and assigned them to a colour encoder hence the funky palette.

[@FluffyGameplay]

My dream has come true... I can now make a Mortal Kombat game for Atari 2600.

[@garypickrelliv2735]

yeah fuckin right.

[@FallicIdol]

I plan to make Final Fantasy 10 for it.

[@PokeTube]

FallicIdol Too Late.

[@KilgoreTrout1212]

Fine. Final Fantasy Tactics, it is.

[@danielhetrick677]

Crysis for Atari 2600!

[@Malik-oe2ps]

Thank you for this guide, I'm a complete noob to programing and this is working great on my test game.

[@Tinkernut]

for the first tutorial i did about making games, i did use game maker. this is actually my 3rd game making tutorial. also, you can port it to atari cartridges...there's a link on my forum for how to do that.

[@antonnym214]

Cute game! BASIC was my first computer language. This one is different, but at least the atari is programmable in a high-level language. I did Z-80 and 8080 assembly languages, so I'm sure I could do the 6502 assembly, but the BASIC looks very capable of doing the job. Nice tutorial!

[@MagnusTV1990]

This is very generic and does not really teach how to create a game, but rather how to use that IDE you're using with an example program. There is a lot of stuff going on inside the hardware of a 2600 that needs to be understood in order to properly make games for a 2600. This video makes it look easier than it is. First of all, if you run into a problem, you need to debug your game. In order to debug it, you need to use the Debugger included with Stella. This debugger not only shows the whole memory map, but also the status of every register of the emulated 6507, as well as the flags, and the program being executed. And by the way, this information is not in basic. Then comes all the features of the Atari 2600. The video says "you can only have two sprites in the Atari". Which is partially correct. There are different kinds of sprites. Bitmapped sprites, which is the two mentioned (mostly meant for player one and player two, as the IDE suggests). Then two "one-pixel" "missile" sprites (for projectiles for both player one and two), and the 40 pixel playfield. Some games like Pacman go around these restrictions by placing the second bitmapped sprite into the position of each ghost, per "frame". You can notice the flickering this causes. Other games like frogger, has what looks like different sprites, such as trucks, cars, the trunks, etc. Some games do this through "multiplexing" sprites (drawing parts of different sprites in each sprite, then mixing them), or by drawing "software sprites" (The pacman trick, or using a ball to create a line that looks like a rope, etc). Another thing to point out is that everything you need to create an atari game, is a 6507 assembler. For example, DASM, which comes included with the program. Of course, for that, you need to know not only the instruction set, but the hardware, memory mapping, how an old CRT TV works, how colors work in a specific TV, interlacing, etc. It's more tedious, but you also gain full control on how your program works. If you are not interested in learning all this stuff because it's too complex for you, DON'T BOTHER. It's not going to be rewarding for someone who only want to create a game. Instead, try making regular games for Windows with a regular WYSIWYG IDE such as Game Maker, or Unity. With those you don't need nearly any advanced programming skills, or hardware knowledge, sine everything is managed for your convenience. I'm not criticising the video, which is good as a starting point. I'm just pointing this out for all these people who is having troubles during the process, or understanding how it works.

[@lunarprix2932]

How about we get rid of all the bull shit that you just said and just make a damn game.

[@MagnusTV1990]

Lunar PRIX Go on and try. The moment you realize you can't do "this" and "that", that's when you will understand that everything I said, wasn't really bullshit. Do you think everything in the game industry is just grabbing a pirated SDK, placing some MS-PAINT sprites on it, and click on a button, to produce a game? No.

[@lunarprix2932]

TMI

[@slideon]

Ninjihaku Workshop You've made some really good points. I've heard 2600 programming is the absolute worst. Anyone out there who wants to make a game, don't start with homebrew, use a modern high-level programming language like Python (with the Pygame library installed).

[@angelhdzdev]

Here come the noobs to complain...

[@fredricgreenblott4169]

This was really helpful, as I have absolutely no coding experience whatsoever, even BASIC, so thank you sir.

[@ramgladore]

I just bought the Atari 2600+. I'm excited to be able to play the older games but also I wanna see more people making games for legacy hardware. I understand too many people making bland shovelware games is what killed the Atari but maybe things will be different this time now that we have a talented modding community.

[@random_an0n]

indeed,back then it was profit based but now? its passion based,no profit to be made making a shit rom

[@s4ndwichMakeR]

Can this be renamed to ‘How To Make An Atari Game Using BASIC’? I was expecting an Assembly tutorial. Btw: I’m always impressed how complicated simple INCs and DECs are in BASIC (7:40).

[@Chris-yj2di]

Word of warning, this does NOT work in Windows 10. Just to save someone the time.

[@lebswada]

+AnEmeraldStone How do I fix it?

[@lebswada]

***** Yeah, I kind of thought that I should've just done that.

[@droptherapy2085]

what do you mean by that?

[@superdoom1unrevealed231]

Pick an apple, put it in the basket...

[@chadchaos6178]

That's funny, I just made this in Windows 10, must've been an update

[@antonnym214]

I used to program in z-80 and 8080 assembly, also APL and BASIC. I knew about the 6502, but didn't own one, but my friends had some Kim 1 and Apple computers so I've been exposed to the assembly on that. This is super interesting. The only thing I would recommend for future videos is to have no background music while you talk. just maybe for the intro and outro. Im autistic, and background music sounds like foreground music to me. I can't concentrate on what you are saying. Keep up the good work. I gave you a thumbs-up. All good wishes!

[@mashupmaster8874]

I’m either going to make Minecraft (some how) Super Smash Bros (Some how) Or just a remake of some other game

[@LEE_MILLARD]

This is great, will try this out when I get time

[@TheGroovySideOftheTube]

Make sure you have "Add Bb to Environment Variable" & "Add Bb Compiler to system path" checked under settings. If you are getting compile errors, make sure you add a space to the start of the line where the error happened (check messages tab) - it's pretty fussy with the way it handles indents.

[@Tinkernut]

@OuterSpaceRave yeah, you did right. youtube isn't really the best way to help you out. go to my forum and post this question and a screenshot (if you can) and i'll help you out.

[@АннаЗинурова]

Song name???

[@ColeSlawProductions]

I couldn't compile my projects for a while, but i needed the "Add bB Environment Variable" and "Add Bb Compiler to system path" checkboxes checked, and then i go it working fine! I like it a lot!

[@user-yk1qb5qp1b]

let's make E.T. Remake!!!!!

[@gddjcat1165]

+정태혁 just no

[@stejac133]

Noooooo!!!

[@TorutheRedFox]

+AnEmeraldStone Its the worst game ever.

[@brodym.3547]

+LBPPlayer7 E.T. was the shit.

[@cgme7076]

HA!

[@armstronglance]

Awesome! Thanks. I’m an old Atari MIDI user and programmer. But I never pgm’d games.

[@michaelolz]

I'm wondering, are you limited to the amount of RAM that the 2600 actually had when playing via the emulator? Could you write a game on a higher scale than what the standard cartridges held back in the day?

[@Another.YouTube.Channel]

Hello, I'm not entirely sure. The basic limits are 4k of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM though they can both be exceeded through ways like bank switching and Superchip RAM. Beyond that though, I don't know much. Theoretically it's possible since emulators can be made to do more, but maybe it hasn't been done yet at least not that I know of.

[@airborne501]

This is excellent. I wanted wanted a video with more assemply, but this method is great. Awesome stuff, thanks for video.

[@Tinkernut]

@chancescheatz ah, i see what you mean. thanks for the clarification! when i code projects for myself, i use those standards (as well as commenting), but when i'm teaching others, i find it makes more sense when you do it the long way.

[@omaewamoushindeiru1237]

Only thing left is to find empty ROM cartridges to write on so I can actually plug it into my physical atari

[@random_an0n]

14 years ago this vid was made?!?! holy f! pro quality video for that early yt era

[@AloanMoreira1]

btw, you will be making games using original atari 2600 sounds, original atari 2600 colors, and original atari 2600 resolutions. It's all in the download page. You will be downloading the sound pack and the game making engine (or example)

[@Jshaw71]

This is kinda cool, I didn't know there was a program to make atari homebrew games, thanks for the upload, I think I am going to check more of these kind of videos out, thanks for the upload

[@fosterpuggy]

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the 2600 and the 2600's Television Interface Adapter (TIA), with the external links being especially good at explaining the low-level technical details of the 2600, and some about the original dev environment used back in the 70's and 80's.

[@jamesln5392]

Those "if" statements, they made my brain set it's self on fire! LoL

[@mouth-breatherproductions7736]

The download is broken, program is outdated, find another program, such as Atari Dev Studio (ADS)

[@iduck6095]

what a retro throwback

[@Oxxyjoe]

Super explanation, this is so easy to follow. Thanks for uploading.

[@Fireweasle]

it is possible because some people made a Halo game for the atari 2600 and put it on cartridges and gave some out at an event. The game is Halo 2600 if you want to look it up.

[@yongamer]

I have tried to add the compiler path to the environment proporties and adding the compiler to the setting where it stands bB Compiler. However, this is the only thing I get when I compile:

[@chlorobyte]

Wow this is so awesome! Thank you so much! I can now make Atari 2600 games

[@ColeSlawProductions]

My .SPR and .PLA editors aren't working, but i coded them both out manually, and if you want to change the color of a sprite, type "COLUP" then the number of the sprite, like player 0 is "COLUP0" and player 1 is "COLUP1" and so on, then you set it equal to a color value the same way you did for the playfield color. Example: "COLUP1 = $DA" would set Player 1's color to green.

[@pc617]

everytime i try to compile it anytime after setting the sprites on the coding page it comes up with an error and says syntax error. click play a popup comes up saying missing binary. message says could not locate default.bas.bin and could not recompile. please check to make sure it was compiled correctly. everything works perfectly fine before that, and it saves with no problem before and after that too.

[@Caolan114]

Is this the most up to date method for making Atari games? this video Is 14 years old and some progress mustve been made

[@travismaxwell9805]

Good video. You can sort of see how video games progressed from pong from this example. Using a step for step pursuit algorithm as shown, the game would end quickly without the ability to shoot the opponent. Add a maze and the game could last a little longer. Playing a game where you just run around a maze getting chased would get old fast. Add the ability for the player to track their movements so that they move over every position and you have Pac-Man.

[@chancescheatz]

@gigafide i think he means like how you can program things in slightly different ways to get the same thing, like how in gml instead of something unnecessary like: variable=variable+1 you could just use variable+=1 im not sure if that is exactly what he meant, but i think he meant something like that

[@TravisJobe1981]

Man, after watching this I can't even fathom how complicated it must be making games for nowaday's standards.

[@gjc82071]

@TheJeli125 Well, I think this is more of a tutorial of what CAN be done with VbB. You'd need to know more about Batari Basic coding & stuff. I want to try....On some websites, I found the code to actual real games. I want to see if I can copy/paste it to VbB, then compile & then play them that way. If so, you can then examine the code, maybe tweak it. You can also see how it all works. Anyway, glad to see you go it working.

[@Spat856]

1:45 The editor didn't open. Is there a way to fix this?

[@u1f98a]

The good ol' days of Tinkernut.

[@MizterCastro]

@TheGooseproductions i had the same problem..u gotta go to the settings tab and set the first folder to your atari emulator "Stella" and then u gotta select your second folder as atari2600 something like that which should be under your C:// then you HAVE to check 2 boxes called "Add bB Enviornment Variable" and "Add bB Compiler to system path"

[@MikeyS9607]

I got it working, and the code here is great. Will post response later.

[@UltraAceCombat]

Excellent tutorial, took a while to figure it out but it works great!

[@Apo458]

If you want to make a video game arcade, atari, nes, snes, etc. Use Game maker to make the game that you fancy (if 3D is going to be tricky)

[@Tinkernut]

@OuterSpaceRave did you install stella before installing visual bb?

[@АннаЗинурова]

Song name???

[@TastyTwinkieGaming]

Thank you Tinkernut. This video was awesome and I made a Duke Nukem Atari game. I liked this video and thank you for teaching me.

[@Tinkernut]

@snasebrase coding style? that's just like saying you don't like the "style" of mathematics. coding doesn't have a style, you have to write what is necessary to get the desired output. if you change things around for the purpose of style, then the program doesn't work.

[@marioroberts9564]

Dude ur the best loving your channel keep it up ☺

[@yongamer]

1:00 Actually you should not see this icon, because you did not check the create a desktop icon.

[@KevinTwiner]

Wonderful, enjoying this so much! Thanks and happy gaming

[@GataZGinkgo]

OKAY EVERYONE if you keep getting the error message "could not locate default.bas.bin i have a solution to fix that problem. when typing in: player1x=50:player1y=50 player0x=20:player0y=50 make sure you INDENT. that means putting a space before player1x=50:player1yblahblahblah. now save, compile and run, and everything should be fine.

[@prozxsniping1599]

Still doesn't work and I've tried it on his code as well. Can you help please?

[@TheVileBile]

ProZxSniping same here!

[@nono8540]

***** Thanks sooo much

[@kylenolastname9627]

***** thanks man

[@JonTheGeek]

Could not locate sed.exe. Please copy sed.exe to C:\Arari2600\bB. This will improve DASM error reporting Precompilation failed, aborted at 1/15/2015 10:55:56 PM HOW I FIX

[@gamerbrosmaximuz7125]

Put SED.exe From the latest bB not VbB inside of C:\atari2600\bB

[@dartjat]

thanks gigafide, i really like creating games! but i dont know lots of coding.... love your tutorials, its was a good idea to subscribe to you :D

[@Tinkernut]

@Donflorgon just watch the tutorial i did on Game Maker and that should answer your questions.

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

Incredible...this is a great start.

[@Tinkernut]

@EType1993 try it again.

[@gjc82071]

@TheJeli125 I "fixed" it, I think? LOL. It's doing it again now, but I DID actually get everything to work. I downloaded different versions of Visual Batari Basic, & Batari Basic (you need both) & set the paths properly. After I deleted my Project Folder & tried again, I then got the same error. I am kind of narrowing things down I guess. I am gonna try again though & think I know how to solve the problem now. Do you want the version info/the ones I used? We can try & help each other.

[@carlo1478]

Excellent tutorial bro!

[@marvinalberto2852]

never thought this was such a easy to learn code

[@yongamer]

1:44 I don't get this editor, instead I get a notepad. Have I overlooked some program I need to install?

[@spixelletsplay]

Vegard Fjeldberg the version in the description is too old, download the newest version. got this problem too fixed it with that xD

[@RathouseFilmworks]

Vegard Fjeldberg I'M PUTTIN' THIS VIDEO ON FACEBOOK

[@MysteryPatron]

I've always been into retro gaming myself for that same purpose. But, I still do play some more modern games, such as Oblivion. When I want something that doesn't pay much mind to graphics, I either flip on the NES or find a good indie game. There are some great ones out there that don't use very high graphics at all, such as Super Meat Boy, and Fez. I would recommend checking both of those out, though Fez is only on XBLA. Granted, I do see some charm in 2600, but not much variation going on.

[@KWAA201]

i have a problem the player1 is not really moving that much at all and is going off the screen when i shot it couple of times

[@RebornAc3]

Thanks TinkerNut. You're the man!

[@Ballbusteress]

A Wizard of Wor alike one with dozens of mazes would be veeery fancy

[@EliaForce1984ita]

When I enter the coordinates for sprites, say for example *player0x=20:player0y:20* and hit enter, then save and compile, I get a syntax error in the line where the coordinates are.

[@mauricega1]

as a past DCL/DOS Dev - this vid is great on its own, for a start off point, or for bigger idea's.

[@Jshaw71]

Hi. do,know if it is possible to use the joystick controller, and paddle controller at the same time, in a game? I have an idea for a home brew game, where you would use the mouse to aim, and the joystick, to of course move around the playfeild...

[@pacman10182]

it should work, but I'm not sure how the atari handles input.

[@mariaisabeltoledogonzalez3971]

download link of visual batari basic

[@jacknorkus9557]

Tinkernut, Great tutorial! Learned a lot about Batari Basic, and it inspired me to start working on a game called Galactic Recon which is basically a combination between Berzerk, Asteroids, and Combat. I even got a title screen going, I don't know how though, I did that like three years ago and forgot how I did it! I was wondering how you can make a missile shoot downward? Is this even possible? I know I could do this using sprites, but that seems like a lot of tedious coding for something so simple. I'm not trying to learn 6502 assembly! Thanks!

[@droptherapy2085]

when i compile it says "Could not locate sed.exe. Please copy sed.exe to C:\Users\Julian\Desktop\New folder. This will improve DASM error reporting Precompilation failed, aborted at 6/9/2016 11:00:40 AM" wtf is sed.exe? and when i play, it says that it couldn't find default.bas.bin i'm on windows 10. somebody in the comments section said that they used windows 10 and it worked for them. EDIT: i fixed the sed.exe problem, but i don't know how to fix the default.bas.bin problem.

[@ofadventure6004]

Drop Therapy sed.exe should be in the folder in which visual batari basic was installed. Drag the file (sed.exe) to where visual batari basic is instaled

[@droptherapy2085]

AlextheAwesome 101 yes, but what IS sed.exe?

[@ofadventure6004]

Drop Therapy idk, i think it has to do with the compiler.

[@ofadventure6004]

Drop Therapy This guide should be of good help! www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#gettingstarted

[@droptherapy2085]

I got it to work for Tinkernut world, but when running my game it says: "cannot locate default.bas.bin and could not recompile"

[@SleepyAdam]

At the player0x=50:playerxy= etc. etc. line I get a syntax error. I heard that indenting helps but it hasn't done anything!! HELP

[@unfortunatebeam]

So what was the original programming language called that was used to make the old atari games back in the day and what software did they use to make it? Just something like MS-dos I guess...

[@gjc82071]

So you CAN compile then? Didn't you say that you were also getting the error "Could not locate default.bas and could not recompile. Please check to make sure it was compiled correctly"? If you ARE compiling, it might be your emulator path. You do have the Stella emulator right? I think we can work/figure out your problem. Initially I had the same error, but downloaded new VbB/Bb versions. I copied exactly, everything in this video, & then played the "game", when done. It does work.

[@AllGamingStarred]

i did all the instructions and got this error message: improve dasm reporting "precompilation failed"

[@Donflorgon]

Another great vid. @gigafide is the anyway to do the same on Game Maker? & how much would the code change?

[@thersites7874]

Very informative and helpful! Thanks!

[@karaokehammick5215]

Gotta love how the Atari has like 10x more colors than the NES.

[@djbasstijaneofficial5760]

when i try to compile it it says Environment variable bB not set! Precompilation failed, aborted at 13/02/2014 15:15:02 pls help me

[@keanu8539]

go to the settings, and click Set environment variable bB and put compiler path.

[@almond125]

Blurby Boo How do I fill out my settings page? I have nothing there.

[@TheMireaux7]

today, atari games are old and simple. back in their day, they were new and complex. todays advanced games have the benefit of being leagues simpler to program, despite having tons of code in them. yesterday's programmers were the ones who were burdened with the task of solving many difficult algorithms which paved the way for programmers today.

[@stalepalemale]

Great intro video!

[@UltraAceCombat]

@smoothie12446 Are you talking about the one by yoyo games? You can't make Atari games with that. This is a tutorial for the console, not a computer.

[@gjc82071]

@MidnightWonko Just download/save the video like I did. It actually takes much less time to to download it, than to wait for it to load/watch it. Then you have it permanently & can reference it @ your leisure & without having to go online.

[@joesmoe71]

You would need an EPROM programmer, they're easy to get and can be gotten for under $100, they usually come with the software.

[@gjc82071]

@CsDy1395 Awesome tutorial I JUST started trying to learn how to program vintage systems (Atari, Commodore, etc). I have so many questions & this cleared some of them up. BTW, do you know how to use VbB & make/program Atari games? I'd like to ask somebody who knows how, a few questions. Like, can you program "platform" games with VbB? Or, take a game like Donkey Kong. How do the barrels know "where" to go? Does it have to do with "if/then" statements? How can you "climb" ladders/stuff?

[@walsallmatt]

i am following this tutorial to the letter, and yet there's errors and al sorts coming up, and i'm starting to feel stupid :( i can't even get past looking at my playing field, the compiler just wont and i dont know what to do :(

[@665yoman]

when I try to compile it says: Environment variable bB not set! Precompilation failed, aborted How do I compile it right!

[@marinacelada3246]

I do have the same problem. Hope you've fixed it.

[@psovegeta]

I seem to have associated Visual BB with Batari basic and the stella emulator (an important step not mentioned in the video) but when I double clicked on the play field, it said it couldn't open it and offered to open it in notepad.

[@matthewtarbard2288]

can you make a video on how to make an NES game?

[@MrBenMcLean]

matthew tarbard, unfortunately, no one has yet coded up a similar high level language for the NES or Gameboy. However, Batari Basic should prove that such a project should be doable in principle, so maybe we'll see that eventually someday. :)

[@AlyphRat]

This shiru.untergrund.net/articles/programming_nes_games_in_c.htm

[@gjc82071]

@TheJeli125 Hello. Do you know what I keep getting the error ""Could not locate default.bas and could not recompile. Please check to make sure it was compiled correctly"? It's annoying the hell out of me. I tried copy/pasting default.bas to every folder in VbB.

[@Tinkernut]

@AiDaNdAbEsT08 i apologize. i was doing something wrong. try it now.

[@ofadventure6004]

Thanks I always wanted to make a atari game!

[@dj505Gaming]

Successfuly compiles but when I click run a popup displays the message "Could not locate default.bas.bin and could not recompile. Please check to make sure it was compiled correctly." Can anyone help?

[@britishfireworks]

Minecraft 2600 here we go

[@ColeAlexanderSoftware]

I don't why but the PLA and SPR editors never work. So, I'll try to make a separate program for editing the PLA and SPR files.

[@augustuen]

@123mbeard you can instead run the programs in windows mode (dont know how it works, I bet u can find a tut on it here on youtube)

[@sheenufilms]

Atari is a fun word to say.