Is programming a homebrew Zapper game too difficult?

[boatofcar]

The NES is starting to come into its own with a small number of people writing homebrew games for the console. I think it would be just about the coolest thing ever if someone made a Zapper game. Is programming a Zapper game more difficult than programming a game that uses the control pad?

[BocoDragon]

That's a really GOOD idea.

[udisi]

there are a few zapper game ideas being floated around. It's not that much more difficult than any other nes programming.

[debian4life]

As long as your familiar with the 6502 processor and understand assemble language, you should have no trouble programming any homebrew game. Here are some useful links to programming tutorials:

http://www.stanford.edu/~mcmartin/retro/

http://bobrost.com/nes/

http://beigerecords.com/cory/Things_I_Made_in_2003/mario_clouds_2005.html

Evenn though this is information written a few years ago, it is still very useful.

Regards,

Brian

[jb143]

You'll probally need to have an understanding of cpu cycle timing and TV refresh rates to get it to work right. Either that or just copy another programs code :D

[DefaultGen]

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[GarrettCRW]

It's likely more of an issue that the Zapper (as well as the 3D System) doesn't work with HDTVs, and isn't particularly playable on emulators, so why bother?

[DreamTR]

It's likely more of an issue that the Zapper (as well as the 3D System) doesn't work with HDTVs, and isn't particularly playable on emulators, so why bother?


Because a lot of people still use their NES on regular CRTs?

[98PaceCar]

Because a lot of people still use their NES on regular CRTs?

That would make too much sense! ;)

How much different is programming the NES vs the 2600? Same flavor of assembly and people that code for the 2600 already have to manually handle screen refreshes, so it may be a natural transition.

[GarrettCRW]

Because a lot of people still use their NES on regular CRTs?

And I'd wager that that number is shrinking. I happen to like the Zapper and 3D System efforts, but that still isn't going to change the fact that I don't have the space available to keep a CRT handy for a couple of dozen games (and 5 or six dozen tops across all platforms).

[jb143]

I'm not entirely convinced that someone couldn't make a zapper game that wouldn't work on a newer TV. It would have to work more like the action MAX does which doesn't use refresh rate and cpu timing. Of course the zapper could have all that built in...I really havn't looked into it. Are PAL system zappers the same?

If you could get it work then you might have a nice little market cornered there.

[bunnyboy]

I'm not entirely convinced that someone couldn't make a zapper game that wouldn't work on a newer TV

The Zapper itself simply doesn't respond to anything other than a CRT TV (no plasma, lcd, projector, or even computer crt) so a game for newer TVs would need a completely new Zapper. For the number of sales it just isn't affordable to do.

[jb143]

It will respond to something other than a CRT TV...

From Wikipedia:

It is possible to cheat in games by...pointing the gun at a bright light. The gun thinks it is pointing at a solid white target and will report a hit.

I just found info to convert a zapper to work on emulators here...
http://www.zero-soft.com/HW/USB_ZAPPER/

But more importantly it says how the zapper actually works with schematics and calculus...(I don't like to just be told something can't be done. I always need proof) ;)

But yeah...it has internal filters that let it only pick up NTSC so plasma and LCD TV's are out of the question without serious modifications.

[bunnyboy]

Wiki is unfortunately wrong, a plain white light will not work, it needs to be at the correct frequency. Some fluorescent lights will work. That is why the zapper needs to be modified to work on computer CRTs which have a different frequency. If it was just black vs white then any type of TV would be no problem, but it might need more calibration for room brightness etc. I should be a bit more specific saying the unmodified Zapper won't respond to any new TV techs. Expecting people to open and solder their Zappers is a bit too much, and selling a ROM for an emulator hasn't been shown to work (or tried?) anyways.

[boatofcar]

I'd wager a guess that people most who keep a classic console around keep a CRT tv around as well.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Uh, you can play light gun games on some emulators. MAME does this, and I'm pretty sure FCE Ultra can as well.

[jb143]

Uh, you can play light gun games on some emulators. MAME does this, and I'm pretty sure FCE Ultra can as well.

As long as the light gun can be configured to work as a mouse(pulling the trigger reads as a mouse click on the screen) then any emulator that uses the mouse to emulate a lightgun should work...which is probally most of them.

[DefaultGen]

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