Atari Sudoku - Latest Version (2013)

I am releasing the latest version of my sudoku game. I want everyone to keep in mind that I had certain criteria when I started this little project. Inspired by the likes of Doug Neubauer and Star Raiders I wanted to keep this within an 8K limit. My initial goal was for the Atari to generate a valid sudoku puzzle on its own and do it in under 8k. Please also do not think that I am in any way comparing myself to Doug, or my game to Star Raiders. We/they are a hyperspace across the galactic map in comparison. My sheer amazement of what was accomplished in 8K was the sole factor in my goal. So far that has been a success. My original Atari 800 was able to generate a valid sudoku puzzle in under 8k worth of code. I also set a goal of using assembler. I remember my parents drove me over to Houston, TX in order to purchase Synassembler. We bought it and it sat on my shelf for years. I am using it to produce this game as I own a copy and feel that I owe it to my parents to put the money they spent so long ago to good use. I would also like to thank Darren Schebek for releasing his Envision font editor. Again my program is not even near the same class as Envision, but I was able to use it to make some font changes.

Once I got a valid puzzle generated, I then started adding in some basic gameplay so that you could take advantage of the puzzle and give it a go at trying to solve it. That too is complete (workable lets just say) although it does lack a lot of polish. I know when I posted the earlier version there was some discussion about upgrades. I am willing to entertain them but am very limited on what I can actually put in as this is a spare time only project and I have much less right now than I would like. But that is the situation. I can say right off the bat that any requests to turn this into a full graphic experience using all 48K is going to be turned down.

I pop into AtariAge quite frequently but haven't been to active lately. I did however notice that fernando marrin was putting together a cart with a huge list of all games made and saw my game included on the list. I was quite tickled to say the least. To even be mentioned in the company of so many games that shaped my youth and my career was quite flattering. So I looked up the last disk that I was working on and pulled out the latest copy of the game. I have had discussions with Albert about turning my game into a cartridge, and I also had a chat with Steve Tucker about it. Both gave me some great ideas, but that was years ago and I haven't been able to really turn this into something that I think people would want on a cartridge. I guess I will leave that up to the individual.

Noting that I was initially writing this on a real 800, and have done 99% of the work on a real 800, I tried to write the gameplay as I was using real hardware. That concept doesn't translate as well with the emulators. It's nothing against the emulators, but more from a hardware point of view. For instance when you are sitting with a real 800 in front of you and an option screen comes up, it's second nature in my opinion to reach up for the Option/Select/Start buttons to make your selections and get the game going. Not as obvious on an emulator since the buttons are usually mapped to F2, F3, and F4. The real hardware made them so much more prominent. You throw in the fact that some people who are using the emulator have only seen pictures of the real hardware that is something that is hard to make intuitive. I also wanted to build in my experience with joysticks and how I felt that most games you picked up the joystick and immersed yourself in the game. The keyboard became a secondary experience if it was needed at all. For instance Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, I played that forever it seemed and never had to even touch the keyboard. I do realize it was multiplayer and such but it just seems to me that at that time, reaching for the keyboard was something you only had to do on the more complicated games like Flight Simulator. These are just my observations and I am sure everyone will have their own opinion on this. With all of that in mind I tried to keep gameplay joystick oriented. I did have to use the Start button as my trigger for the Hint, but gameplay can be completed with just the joystick.


Upgrades I think are do-able:
1) On the selection screen, use the joystick to scroll through the selections. The joystick button already works to start the game.
2) Letting you input numbers on the puzzle with keyboard entries.
3) A way to abort. Maybe zeroing out the score, displaying the completed puzzle, then taking you back to the options page.
4) Kaz atarionline.pl came up with an awesome looking splash screen. Not sure how big it would be and would still like to keep this in the 8K barrier. But I do understand that its my own little hangup here and not really relevant these days. Something I just need to give some more time mulling over. I am keeping it as a possibility that's why I am listing it here.
5) I would like to re-work some of the timing internals. Like the joystick pause. I have a loop there to burn some time but I am thinking it isn't consistent. It should be more driven off the clock and not just using loops in code. For now it works but isn't very elegant. If you remove this it becomes totally unplayable as you hit the joystick and the cursor goes into overdrive and is impossible to control.

Upgrades I do not have time for:
1) Better graphics. I know that the screen I used limits the fonts but I don't have the time at the moment to go in and redo all of that part of the game. I would also like to still keep this to an 8K endeavour.
2) Changes to the way the game is played. For instance I think at some point someone wanted to be able to put in a puzzle and have the computer solve it. Not going to happen here, that's a completely different gameplay and logic.


Enjoy everyone and all comments are welcome. Keep in mind that I will do what I can but make no guarantees on any upgrades. It is a working program and that's the main thing. If you want to solve a sudoku puzzle that was generated by your very own 8bit Atari, then this is your chance. I have also written up some instructions and notes on the game. I am sure there will be more to come as I am not putting this to bed, just making sure you guys have the latest to play with. Maybe, just maybe one day this might turn into a cart. Again though no guarantees.