Sa. 11:30
Raum 2.1

Retro Coding
On The Atari
2600 VCS

Code your very
own demo!

Speaker:
SvOlli
--------------

Going retro:
learn to code
a simple demo
for the very
first micro-
processor
based game
console, the
Atari 2600
VCS. Just
bring in a
notebook, and
everything
else will be
provided:
toolchain
using a 6502
assembler,
emulator and a
small skeleton
of source code
to provide the
correct timing
for keeping
the TV in
sync.

The Atari 2600
VCS was build
in 1977, and
offers 128
bytes of RAM
and an
addressable
space of 4K of
ROM for the
developer. In
this workshop,
we want to
write a small
one-screen
demo.

The course
starts with a
small intro-
duction to the
6502/6507 pro-
cessor, ex-
plaining a
subset of
assembler in-
structions
that will be
most probably
needed for the
demo. After
that, the
build environ-
ment and the
emulator will
be explained,
followed by a
description of
the hardware
of the 2600
 VCS.

And finally,
as all the ba-
sics are set,
everyone is
invited to
code a simple
demo. There
will be even
the opportuni-
ty to test
your demo on
real hardware,
capable of
running code
from SD cards.

What experien-
ce should you
have to at-
tend?

- You already
  coded 6502
  assembler?
  This work-
  shop's for
  you!
- You already
  coded any
  assembler?
  You should
  get along
  fine.
- You already
  coded some-
  thing in
  languages
  like C, Java
  and are wil-
  ling to ac-
  cept that
  you've got
  only three
  registers?
  It won't be
  easy, but
  you should
  be able to
  get along.
- You never
  coded any-
  thing? Sor-
  ry, but you
  should pro-
  bably start
  to learn
  coding some-
  where else.