Microprocessors – Knox Game Design, September 2026

Links & Notes, Podcast, Presentations

A look at microprocessors used in video game consoles for each console generation.

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
Microprocessors - Knox Game Design, September 2026
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Atari 2600 – Knox Game Design, August 2026

Links & Notes, Podcast, Presentations, , ,

Overview of processor, assembler, and emulators for the Atari 2600. Creating Atari 2600 game files from 6502 assembly with DASM. Running created games using the Z26 Atari emulator. Example of displaying KNOX in Morse Code on the Atari 2600. How to use an Asymmetric playfield to display KNOX graphically on the screen. Helper tool for converting text file into byte data included with the assembly code. Byte format and order in playfield strips. Running created Atari binary files on the GameStation Go hardware.

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
Atari 2600 - Knox Game Design, August 2026
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NES 6502 Basics – Knox Game Design, July 2026

Podcast, Presentations

Review of 6502 assembly and how to create a simple number guessing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
NES 6502 Basics - Knox Game Design, July 2026
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NES Photo Graphics – Knox Game Design, June 2026

Links & Notes, Podcast, Presentations

How convert a photo image data to be used in an NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) game. Tools used: Gimp, NESASM, YY-CHR, FCEUX. Review of background tile, palette, and attribute data for assembly code. How to prepare the image in Gimp to used indexed palette. Copying image data to YY-CHR. Running the game file with FCEUX. Touching up the image and how to use Gimp to lay out image. Limitations of NES texture data. Demos with PowerPak, EverDrive, and Analogue Pocket.

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
NES Photo Graphics - Knox Game Design, June 2026
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Game Passwords – Knox Game Design, May 2026

Podcast, Presentations

History of game passwords for the 8-bit NES video game system console from the 1980’s. Pros and Cons for password systems. Design considerations for a password system. How passwords are generated in Mega Man 2. Method for generating passwords in Metroid. How powerups, boss status, game time, and starting position is converted from bits and bytes into a password. Demonstration of program that provides an API to generating passwords for multiple NES games. A look at characters and spaces for various other NES games. Explanation of combinatorics terms and how those apply to game passwords.

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
Game Passwords - Knox Game Design, May 2026
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Knox Game Jam 2026 – Knox Game Design, April 2026

Game Competition Entries, Meetings, Podcast

Check out the great games that were created for Knox Game Jam 2026! Thanks to everyone who came out for the kickoff event and created a game!

Finding Dave by Ashton and Robert

You must escape the cave! Click in the direction you want to go with left-click and release at the charge amount you’d like. Be careful, you only have a limited amount of battery. Collect more batteries to charge yours back up!

Don’t Look Away by Aspen

Easter Egg Crash by Levi

In this puzzle game, colored eggs (red, green, yellow blue) fall in pairs.  You must crash the easter eggs using gems of the same color.  Crash the number of eggs specified in the goals to move to the next level.

Links

Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
Knox Game Jam 2026 - Knox Game Design, April 2026
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Knox Game Jam 2026 – Kickoff

Meetings

Theme

The theme for Knox Game Jam 2026 is “Limited Resources“. Submissions close at 2026-04-05 at 9pm EDT (UTC-4). Good luck to everyone making a game!

Submissions

Join and submit your games at https://itch.io/jam/knox-game-jam-2026

Kickoff Meeting

When: Friday April 3, 2026 at 7pm (EDT / UTC-4)

Where (kickoff meeting): Panera Bread on N. Peters Rd, Knoxville, Tennessee

Kickoff for ideas, brainstorming, and game development discussion

Goal: Make a game in 48 hours
Use any game engine or library
Unity, Godot, Unreal, GameMaker, MonoGame, SDL, Allegro, etc
Your game is your prize

Theme

Here are some suggested themes.  Make a game based on one of the following themes, or make something completely different!

  • Illusions
  • Alone In The World
  • Generation
  • Colonize
  • Stronger Together
  • Survive
  • Roads
  • Explore The Universe
  • Don’t Stop Moving
  • Limited Resources

During the kickoff meeting, we will put the themes on a virtual gameshow wheel.  The theme will be selected by spinning the wheel.  The theme is completely optional.

All are welcome to attend, even if you don’t plan on making a game.  Any show and tell for game development projects in progress is also welcome.

Note – There will not be space for developing games at the kickoff event.  However, forming teams at the event is welcome and encouraged.

We have announcement cards for Knox Game Jam 2026.  If you want one, let me know your mailing address and I will send it in the mail as a post card (USA addresses only, while supplies last).  We should have some to give away at the kickoff meeting as well.  

N64 Development – Knox Game Design, March 2026

Podcast, Presentations

Explanation of how to create a game for N64. Overview of the N64 architecture. Development environment with Pyrite64, MSYS2, libdragon, and Tiny3D. How to install and setup development environment. Creating a new project. Navigating the editor. Adding a simple object and creating a build. Building and running a test project. Creating a model in Blender with Fast3D and exporting to glb format to be imported into development environment. Texture mapping for models. Code for moving and rotating objects. API documentation. Creating multiple instances with Prefabs. Simple collision for objects. Playing your game on real N64 hardware with the Everdrive64 X5 and Evergenesis 64.

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Links

Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
N64 Development - Knox Game Design, March 2026
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Snake Game – Knox Game Design, February 2026

Podcast, Presentations

Explanation of recreating the classic snake game for QBasic called Nibbles in MonoGame.
Steps: Moving blocks. Add snake body. Limit snake length. Adding collectibles. Adding levels, Game States. Sound Effects. Title Screen, Options, Pause.

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Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
Snake Game - Knox Game Design, February 2026
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10 Year Podcast – Knox Game Design, January 2026

Links & Notes, Meetings, Podcast

Commemoration of 10 years of the Knox Game Design podcast, with Jacob, Colin, Levi, and RollyMusic.

Jacob talks about the GameMaker game he has been creating called Stormbound. https://scrangican.itch.io/stormbound

We also talk about the new chat channel for collaboration. James (Lil Snug/locksmitharmy) has a signup for a community game development project. https://discord.com/channels/596076724068941858/1458951461152231629

Attendees

Links

Knox Game Design
Knox Game Design
10 Year Podcast - Knox Game Design, January 2026
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