Tag: Programming

  • Stealing the Secrets of the NES – Agon Light Tilemaps in C

    Early computers weren’t powerful enough to draw full-screen moving graphics, so they had to use clever tricks. Let’s explore how Nintendo’s techniques for creating tile-based games on the NES can be applied to modern hardware. Using these methods, I built a scrolling tilemap system for the Agon Light using C programming.

  • Programming Bitmap Graphics – Agon Light using C

    In this video I look at how you can program the Agon Light to display bitmap images using C. I go through how to convert a PNG image into an RGB2222 format bitmap image, and then use the C library functions to load that into the Agon Light, and the VDP commands necessary to display…

  • Programming Language Easter Eggs

    Easter eggs are usually hidden inside our games and software, but did you know there are some hidden inside the tools and languages used to make that software? Come with me on a fun Easter diversion while we eat our bodyweight in chocolate, and look at six programming Easter Eggs. Some of these are from…

  • Agon Light Graphics Tests

    It’s the Easter holidays and I’ve got two weeks off work. Amongst highly exciting things like weeding the garden and waiting for a new washing machine to be delivered, I’m doing some programming. After spending a bit too long remembering how my own code works, I managed to create a simple starfield that looks quite…

  • Calculating Pi using Python – Gauss-Legendre and Monte Carlo methods – #piday 2024

    Let’s celebrate #piday in this appropriately short video by writing some #python programs to calculate Pi. The first method uses something called the Gauss-Legendre method. It works by iteratively refining an approximation of Pi, generating the answer digit by digit. When writing code to calculate Pi we run into issues trying to store the calculated…

  • Exploring Hardware Hacks: Joystick Integration, Keyboard Inputs, and Debugging with the Agon Light

    Dive into the exciting world of DIY hardware hacking. Join in as I explore joystick integration, keyboard inputs, and serial debugging using the versatile Agon Light platform. Delve into the technical intricacies of GPIO pins, assembly language programming, and C compiler usage for low-level development. Discover the power of computational thinking, boolean logic, and UART…

  • Agon Light Joystick Test 1

    I’m working on getting a joystick port working on my Agon Light. They don’t come with joystick ports, but there is a set of GPIO pins that can be read through assembly. Here’s my setup, the Agon Light is in the white box, my trusty PowerPlay Cruiser joystick from the 90s is plugged into a…

  • Cellular Automata – Simulate life from chaos and code

    Today, we’re diving into the world of cellular automata. A digital playground of sorts where simple rules lead to astonishing complexity. where order can arise from chaos and collapse back into chaos just as quickly. First we have a look at One Dimensional Cellular Automata which were originally conceived by John Von Neumann in the…

  • Cellular Tomato

    In preparation for my next video I’ve been tidying up some cellular automata code I wrote. There’s some good old Conway’s Life, some 1D CAs that make pretty patterns, and one I recently discovered called Wire World. Now, since I can’t just make a thing without fiddling about, an afternoon of “can I write Conway’s…

  • Agon Light C Programming – An Introduction

    Instead of bashing away in BASIC, it’s possible to do some coding in C on the Agon Light. Let’s find out how in this introduction to an ongoing series where I figure out the Agon hardware and work on a game. I have no idea what game I want to make, and I’m not entirely…