Your Own First Atari 2600 VCS Demo
Presenter: SvOlli | Audience: (Demo) Coders
So, you think you have seen it all? You even know what it takes to hack on the 6502? (if not, part 1 of my seminar is for you!) Let me take you on a trip that shows you how to code for the most retro system available for a reasonable amount of money. A system that is so f***ed up, you simply want to try it. Who needs a frame buffer or a hardware character generator? As an addendum to my Ultimate Atari 2600 VCS Talk held at 28c3, which focused on coding demos on the 2600, I would like to show you in depth “how others did it” and also highlight some problems I encountered during my first humble attempts at coding for this platform. I will also show you some of the most common tactics for “getting something on the screen”, like asymmetric playfield data, the 48 pixel sprite, the interlaced 96 pixel sprite as well as some other stuff.
- Introduction of the 6502/07 CPU (1h)
A small recap for those who have not coded for the 6502 before
- Inside the machine: the hardware (1.5h)
An indepth view of the two other chips of the VCS
- Hands on: Your own first demo (1.5h-2h)
Starting a VCS project from scratch is hard, so we’re starting off with a small demo explained in depth, which you will be expanding to your first demo.
1 1/2 Gamecubes: The Nintendo Wii
Presenter: Widdy | Audience: Demosceners (Rated R for nudity and alcohol abuse)
Everybody and their mom has one, but no one likes it – the Nintendo Wii. That’s a shame, because it probably was the last video games console for which
bedroom coders could develop more or less decent stuff (albeit unlicensed, of course) everyone could enjoy on real hardware without complicated
modifications or add-ons.
This seminar isn’t extremely in-depth or technical, it’s rather about what is (and isn’t) possible and feasible on the Wii, and why you should consider
doing a game (or demo!) for it. If you have any basic C/C++ and OpenGL knowledge, you should be fine and get your first own code running in no time.
Everyone else could at least have a laugh watching me trip over that Balance Board. I might even tell you how I got all these details into “Pissed”. 🙂
- Introduction to the Wii hardware
- Installing the devkit, HBC and eventually executing your own code
- Special focus: These silly controllers and peripherals, and how to use them
- Duration: 1h