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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development )

@kevedwardsretro.bsky.social

3.3K followers 870 following 1.3K posts

Retired video game programmer. 40+ years developing videogames and software. Creator of games for the BBC Micro, Electron, NES, SNES, PC, XBox, PS3/4, Mobile, Vita, 3DS. I am currently rescuing and archiving old game development disks. LEGO Dev/AFOL.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 6h

AFAIK that was the first assembler to use the alternative syntax where the mnemonics was followed by the addressing mode - 1977, not that long after the 6502 was launched. The offical MOS assembler used the original MOS mnemonics / syntax.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 13h

Works fine on my machine!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

Try this link if you are having any problems...
www.sinclairql.net/downloads/19...

www.sinclairql.net

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

Just checked both links and they worked ok. Not sure why they are broken. Here's the full link.

www.sinclairql.net/downloads/19...

www.sinclairql.net

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

LOL. Happy days wading through JIRAs with these kind of issues to resolve!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

Bad shader constant setup was quite often the cause of these crazy polys. Broken matrices or incorrect 'bone' indices was another! We used the term 'Praying Mantis' to describe the characters/objects that went wrong due to the fact that some of their limbs became extremely long and thin!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

This is pure gold. A who's who guide to the staff at Sinclair Research Limited, from 1984. Photos and details for everyone at the various offices around the UK. There's some great hairstyles and clothing - you have been warned!
www.sinclairql.net/downloads/19...

www.sinclairql.net

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 16h

This is a typical day at the office when you are a graphics programmer. 'Spammy polys' that need debugging to see what the heck has gone wrong with the shaders! Usually easy to track down if you have a decent GFX debugger / capture system.

John Linneman @dark1x.bsky.social · 18h

Huh, PCSX2 really really does not like this even in software rendering mode! Will capture from a regular PS2, of course, but this is interesting.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed. But the source code for BBC BASIC is not written using the standard MOS mnemonics, as with many other systems written in-house at Acorn for the Atom, BBC Micro and earlier 6502 based computers.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 1d

Software Creations and RARE were big UK based NES developers. They both had a lot of experience developing home computer games so shifting to consoles was easy - the CPU wasn't that important. We had NTSC TVs in the office so that we could see exactly how the output would appear.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 1d

That would be nasty!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 1d

Acorn Computers used this alternative format for their own historical reasons. BBC BASIC and other system software used their in-house Marco Assembler, MASM. Prior to this they used UADE which also used the non-standard 6502 mnemonics.
github.com/stardot/Acor...

GitHub - stardot/AcornCmosBasic: Original Source Code for the Acorn Cmos Basic (version 4) (in MASM format)

Original Source Code for the Acorn Cmos Basic (version 4) (in MASM format) - stardot/AcornCmosBasic

github.com

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 1d

It is indeed also much easier to parse this alternative format to determine the opcode value for the instruction. The argument is then simply a number / address to output for the 2nd or 3rd byte, if relevant for the addressing mode.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

Mine didn't either!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

The 'alternative' 6502 mnemonics where letters are added to the standard mnemonic to specify the addressing mode - eg LDAIM 100

This format came about because existing macro assemblers could be easily adapted to support the 6502 processor. MOS, the makers of the 6502, didn't support this format.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

"Mutant Hunter / Ghostmaker" design and renders from the development disks for "X2 : Wolverine's Revenge". Original design artwork by Han Randhawa.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

It's always fun reading through old computer magazines. This issue of creative computing is from January 1979 - published in the USA. I love the adverts.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

The Atari VCS/2600 totally dominated in the UK. A few others did OK, such as the Videopac G7000 and ColecoVision. However, the arrival of home computers killed the console market very quickly.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Ditto!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

I wonder if he's showing it again next month....It is a gaming themed event!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

This was the one Adrian (from the museum) was showing at last year's Retrofest. I'd never seen one before. Very impressive. I guess it's made from unobtainium.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

One of my favourite consoles, the Hudson Soft / NEC PC-Engine! Known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America where, for some reason, it was re-housed in a large, ugly dark coloured case! Games were sold on slim HuCard cartridges and also CD-ROM, if you purchased the external drive. R-Type was amazing!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

It was a first for me, never seen one before. The controller is really cool.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

It's the same book / content. The red-bound one is mine which was done by a library. They didn't bother using the proper title for the binding though!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Wikipedia tells me it had 59 games! I don't remember seeing one back in the day, but have seen them since in computer museums!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1292_Ad...

1292 Advanced Programmable Video System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org