Making Games for the Atari 2600

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About Making Games For The Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 was released in 1977, and now there's finally a book about how to write games for it! You'll learn about the 6502 CPU, NTSC frames, scanlines, cycle counting, players, missiles, collisions, procedural generation, pseudo-3D, and more. Use our web-based IDE to write 6502 assembly code, and see your code run instantly in the browser. We'll cover the same programming tricks that master programmers used to make classic games. Create your own graphics and sound, and share your games with friends!List of chapters:Introduction to 6502The 8bitworkshop IDEVCS Memory MapWriting Your First Assembly CodePainting on the CRTPlayfield GraphicsPlayers and SpritesColor SpritesSprite Fine PositioningPlayer/Missile GraphicsThe SetHorizPos SubroutineJoysticks and SwitchesIndirect AddressingA Complex Scene, Part IA Complex Scene, Part IINUSIZ and Other DelightsScoreboardCollisionsAsynchronous Playfields: BitmapAsynchronous Playfields: BricksA Big (48 pixel) SpriteTiny TextSix-Digit ScoreboardA Big Moveable SpriteSprite FormationsAdvanced Timer TricksMultispritesRandom Number GenerationProcedural GenerationDrawing LinesThe Sound and MusicPseudo-3D: Sunsets and Starry NightsPseudo-3D: Driving Down the RoadBank SwitchingWavetable AudioPaddlesIllegal OpcodesTiming AnalysisMaking GamesTroubleshootingAppendix A: VCS Memory MapAppendix B: VCS ColorsAppendix C: 6502 OpcodesAppendix D: 6502 Instruction Flags