Atari 2600
My productions for the most classic of all consoles.
I created homebrew games and fixed several existing games.
Productions
CarnivHack: 6-digits score Carnival hack
I've always liked Carnival on the 2600, it's a nice and fast brainless shooter but I find it way too easy to roll the score, considering that it's just 5 digits.
After a pretty long stretch of inactivity concerning all things Atari (years go by so fast!), I've decided to put the extra time available during the holiday break to some good use and add the much needed 6th digit to Carnival's score. Obviously the task at hand proved to be quite more time consuming than expected.
So I proudly submit for your judgment and possibly enjoyment: CarnivHack!
For more info check the AtariAge forums here.
How to play it: Carnival is a game that requires a non-standard setting on emulators (i.e. Stella), since the display starts at row 26 and should be 214 rows high, instead of the default 34x210. Stella features a game-specific preset configuration for Carnival, so once you load this hack game in Stella please press TAB and open up Game Properties / Display, where you should set YStart to 26 and Height to 214, as mentioned above. You will only need to do it once. See image on the left.
Space Treat and Space Treat Deluxe
Space Treat is my first homebrew Atari 2600 game, originally released at the Classic Gaming Expo 2002 and followed up by an updated "Deluxe" version. You can buy it as a solid state cartridge AtariAge.
The game was also released in the Activsion Anthology Remix Edition, a commercial compilation of Atari 2600 games that featured some of the best original Activision games plus my homebrew game Space Treat.
It has been released for PC, Mac and Gameboy Advance.
Bounce! (in development)
Bounce! is my in-development Atari 2600 homebrew game. It features top-view checkered playfield where you, moving a bouncing ball, will be assigned the task to clear all the tiles avoiding to drop off the field.
Once finished, it will feature a PC-based level editor (already done) that will allow users to contribute their personal levels.
Racing the Beam - MIT book mention
I've been mentioned in the book Racing the Beam, published by M.I.T. Press., for my work on the Atari 2600.
The book it's an excellent technical essay about the inner workings of the Video Computer System. Something I've been definitely involved with ;)
You can buy the book from Amazon.
Conversions and Hacks
NTSC->Pal conversion and bugfix
The game used to render an incorrect number of scanlines in the NTSC version, which is now fixed.
NTSC->Pal conversion and improvements
This is the first conversion of a bankswitched game I've ever done. Once again, besides the NTSC to PAL conversion, I've included several other options: Static and Solid playfield modes as well as turned off the disturbing color cycling/flashing.
NTSC->Pal Conversion and colors fix
The game now features correct colors on PAL Atari 2600's. The framerate is left untouched (60hz), which preserves the original speed.
The game used to render an incorrect number of scanlines, also fixed.
NTSC->Pal conversion and fixes
The game now features correct colors on PAL Atari 2600's. The framerate is left untouched (60hz), which preserves the original speed.
The game used to render an incorrect number of scanlines, also fixed.
NTSC->Pal Conversion
The game now features correct colors on PAL Atari 2600's. The framerate is left untouched (60hz), which preserves the original speed.
Color improvements
BetterBlast is a Hack of Astro Blast (NTSC) that keeps the background screen black through all the game, instead of changing to some psychedelic colors. Should sparesome retinas.