Category: Games

Atari TIA schematics

Atari Age hosts two sets of copies of the schematics for the Atari VCS TIA (Television Interface Adapter), the custom chip that was used in the VCS/2600 for graphics and sound. One set has sheets at 2048 x 1396 resolution, the other is in a whopping 14400 x 9820 format.

Might be neat to simulate the TIA and other VCS hardware in Minecraft and run a ROM entirely in that world. Why not? Something similar was done w/ the Commandore 32!

Another interesting link – a recent rundown of the TIA hardware.

Free sprite assets from itch.io

I will admit to leveraging several of these sprite assets from itch.io!

Broforce boss sprites, courtesy of Wikipedia
Broforce boss sprites, courtesy of Wikipedia

Dwarf Fortress earnings

The Adams brothers have been killing it numbers-wise w/ Dwarf Fortress the last few years. Good on them, it’s nice seeing folks succeed in this manner.

Screenshot of Dwarf Fortress, courtesy of slate.com
Screenshot of Dwarf Fortress, courtesy of slate.com

30th anniversary interview with Galaga creator/designer Shigeru Yokoyama

Neat background info on everything Galaga, from the programming to the cabinet design: https://web.archive.org/web/20150803002342/http://shmuplations.com/galaga

Galaga screenshot, courtesy The Society of Peripheral Studies
Galaga screenshot, courtesy The Society of Peripheral Studies

“The Core”: resurrecting Atari 2600 homebrew abandonware/vaporware…

…from a single screenshot more than 20 years after it disappeared due to unfortunate circumstances.

Interesting thread here at AtariAge discussing the current effort and a contemporaneous description of the game by the original developer, Paul Oswood, here.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t link to the original screenshot of course:

Original screenshot of
Original screenshot of “The Core” ca. 2000

Digitpress interviews David Rolfe…

…developer of – among other things – the Intellivision Exec OS and Star Fire, the first arcade game to use a sit-down cockpit, and more notably, allow a user to enter their initials after achieving a high score: https://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_david_rolfe.html

David Rolfe, programmer of Star Fire and Intellivision Exec OS
David Rolfe, programmer of Star Fire and Intellivision Exec OS

 

 

Jeff Minter (Yak) of Llamasoft

Previously shared a trailer for an upcoming Atari game Akka Arrh. Forgot to link to the Wikipedia entry, but its developer, Jeff Minter, is a hoot. You may also recognize him as the actor whom murderous author Jerome Davies from the Black Mirror film Bandersnatch.

Poster for Black Mirror's film
Poster for Black Mirror’s film “Bandersnatch”

Rare and valuable Atari 2600 games

Amazing the obscurity of some of these titles and the resultant sales prices: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/rarest-and-most-valuable-atari-2600-games

Programming the Atari 2600 VCS

As I wrote previously, I’m considering taking a stab at programming Atari 2600 games for fun and _.  May just update helpful links here:

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