[CSDb] - User Forums - How did you get started?

You are not logged in - nap

CSDb User Forums

Forums > C64 Coding > How did you get started?

2013-03-12 14:26

ChristopherJam

Registered: Aug 2004
Posts: 1409

How did you get started?

I noticed a lot of reminiscing on PAL's "I want to code" thread, which was interesting to read, but pretty off topic so I'm starting a new topic over here :)

I, too, got my c64 coding off the ground with a copy of the Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference guide (pdfs of which can now be found at http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/c64_programmers_reference/c64-p.. ). Initially I was assembling by hand, and entering the code as BASIC DATA statements - I don't miss those days at all.

I switched to FASSEM as soon as I got hold of a copy (in 1986 IIRC), and did a lot of debugging of my own code and examining of others' using my brother's Final Cartridge, before eventually graduating to an Action Replay (don't ask me to remember which versions!) I particularly remember spending hours poring over a disassembly of Walker's music routine as extracted from Armalyte, and printed out on sheets of green and white paper.

My fastload coding bible was and still is Immers & Neufeld's "Inside Commodore DOS" - one of the few paper books I still refer to.

How did you guys get going?

... 35 posts hidden. Click here to view all posts....

2013-03-12 23:40

PAL

Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 292

Stein... love you! You are one of the best programmers on the c64 ever and nobody knows it!!!!! That is my eureka... you blew all with offence scroller on x that we did together and you know what.... it is the best demopart ever in the history of the c64! It is even better than my unitrax fetish parts you know... we did it, you coded it... I made it legendary with the shadows... you made it eternal with getting the shadows in there... they made it without shadows but it were all about the shadows... that made it the best ever...... bestest ever! Thank god for your parents! Without them the best demopart would never have seen the lights!

2013-03-13 02:52

TWW

Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 545

After "programming" my dads VCR to hell, one day when I came home from school in 1986 (10 years) a C-64 was lying in the living room. It was with a tape recorder and a double tape-game collection thingy with Rambo II, Kung Fu Master, Fighter Pilot & Things on a Spring (If I remember correctly).

Quickly discovered equal minded persons in the neighbourhood and started swapping turbo tapes. I even got a double tape-recorder to do the copying. I received a 1541 roughly half a year after this and started the same business with disks.

After a year of playing/swapping and a little poking around in Basic I got inspired by the intros and we also got hold of some demos.

I got hold of an EPYX fast loader (I think I borrowed it from Kjetil/direct Design) and started messing around with the monitor. Also had the monitor which loaded to $c000. Had no clue what I was doing but maanged eventually to steal a Raster Compare IRQ routine (people didn't like to share too much) which allowed me to play music and I could maange to display a char logo.

I then ordered myself a AR6 and the C64PRM which changed things completely. It wasn't before around the release of 'public domain' in 92 I started using Turbo Assembler. This simplyfied matters a lot.

in 96-97 I went to College and started working along side of it. So it wasn't untill around 2000 when I wound an assembled which allowed me to code on the PC and run the code in a n emulator (never looked back to Norway and didn't have any posibility to drag my HW around with me (Worked World Wide)).

But all the time I was always thinking about doing... Then when I discovered KickAssembler (Thanks Mads) I got a renewed interest and gathered the other lazy remnant of Creators and founded the group again. It's purly a "we do it when we like it" kinda club as RL issues are taking it's toll on all of us.

Today I feel I am sitting on a lot of knowledge but I am not afraid to ask and I especially don't give a fuck what people think (I'm too old for that shit).

Biggest problem is too many projects / too little time / loose interest once the main obstacle is cracked in something I want to do. So I do 1000 different things and never finnish any of them :-)

The worst part is that I am really proud of having been a tiny part of the sceene but weirdly enough, noone gets it when they ask what I like to do for a hobby 8-)

2013-03-13 02:56

chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11386

here is something to show your friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRkZcTg1JWU :)

2013-03-13 02:57

Flex

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 111

what becomes to a man and a demopart... Was it really Stein and THAT SCROLLER....?? Now I'm ashamed I never offered the man a double before X2012!!!! :-) Stein knows what. Love you guys at Offence!!

2013-03-13 04:51

The Phantom

Registered: Jan 2004
Posts: 360

Awesome topic BTW....

I programmed a little on an atari 600xl, my first "real" computer. It's ok. I'm not ashamed ;)

My sister purchased a c64 for a few, A FEW, hundred and after a year with it, passed it to my younger brother (reeet-mon). He didn't do much with it, I think he ran a bbs on C64, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you what it was. He eventually went Amiga and passed his c64 on to me in late 1987.
I purchased the pricey koala pad and went at it. Released a few picture demos, and was asked to join MMI (metal maniacs Inc.) I drew a bit for that group, released a few items (which I would love to find BTW).

Eventually, changed MMI to FOE and here I sit. Old, complains a lot, hardly drinks, always high and still, STILL, I prefer drawing on c64. It's gotten a little easier with the plethora of editors and I still use old school tools, like Centauri or OCP, still like packing with ECA,, but use exomizer (SP?) at times.

Today? I've quite a few projects in the works. A demo, some artwork demo, a nufli dragon that'll probably never get finished. These days, I code probably a demo part a year.

2013-03-13 08:14

Fungus

Registered: Sep 2002
Posts: 686

in Basic I started on the apple IIc in like 1980 or something...

assembly I started in I think 1990, but didn't poke around on it much as I was playing in bands and getting laid at the time... but in 92 or 93 I got a lot more interested in it. I decided I wanted to make cool raster bars and intros and maybe some demos, so I started looking for books on it. I got Jim Butterfield's book and taught myself assembly in 6 months, first I used the Warp Speed monitor, then I bought an Action Replay and used it instead. Once I started talking to other people coding on boards, I ran into Roy Batty and Moloch, and they turned me on to Turbo Assembler and I started coding for real. Man those were the times, it was so fun and everything was new. I started with figuring out how to time raster bars and whatnot, then I figured out scrollers and how to make a logo swinger after I painted one in Centauri Logo Edit. That logo sucked balls and I deleted it thank god... shortly after I made my first (terrible) demo. Batty thought I was pretty good and we got to talking and we ended up forming MLM along with Waveform (RIP)...

After that I got on irc and started to talking to people there. I had great conversations with Deadbeat, Graham, Crossbow and Oswald. It just went on from there... contrary to popular beliefs I coded first, and cracked later ;) I actually started cracking because I wanted games to work on NTSC better than the fixes I had, or old games which didn't work at all... I got told it was lame to fix someone elses work, so I started figuring out how crack, I talked to JJ The Breaker and he helped me alot, also the guys from TSD. My mentors for real were Deadbeat and Sorex, and taught me that quality is better than speed ;)

anyways, enough ranting...

2013-03-13 09:26

Oswald

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5094

I will never forget that Fungus taught me on IRC how to do FPP ;)

2013-03-13 18:47

Fungus

Registered: Sep 2002
Posts: 686

and Oswald taught me how to do Plasma =]

2013-03-13 21:24

Flavioweb

Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 463

When i was ten, my parents gave me a Philips Videopak+ VG7400 with -Microsoft BASIC Home Computer Module (G7420)-.
Here i started to learn coding basis, reading users manual and typing examples...
Live in a small country town don't help at all to find infos or books on how to code, not even find softwares are so simple.
Meanwhile my parents realized my passion for coding, registered me to a course in "code for businness" where was taught to me how to code some gestional applications using basic on a Laser500 computer.
Arrays, sorting (bubble sort, quick sort...), data manipulations... thing where i -graduated- with good grades.
In that period, many friends are become the owner of at least one Commodore computer, and i was struck about quantity of software and books availables for those machines.
I worked during the holidays so i can buy a C128 with C1541
and among classmates and friends i owned a lot of sotwares and infos...
Here is about 1988/89 when i'm in touch with people like Mamasoft of ICS that gave me some sources and tools (tass, char editor, a -sid player- coded by Marco used for ripped tunes... and much more than i can remember...) when i'm officially started to code in assembly.
The rest is history.

2013-03-13 21:37

Skate

Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 494

I've started with an Atari 800XL with a combination of Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference. :) First a few basic examples worked (plain print/goto stuff etc). But when pokes and other stuff involved Atari refused to run those basic programmes. That's where i started "thinking"...

Previous - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 - Next

Refresh

Subscribe to this thread: