Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 The problem with that is there is also some letterboxing in the screen itself compared to the A8. So going with larger blocks could mean they take up too much of the screen's real estate at a time, which will make it harder to judge motion and perspective. That's no what I suggested, the graphics should stay untouched. I just wanted to make the overall board smaller. So if you see e.g. 10% of the board in the original, you should see ~10% in the 2600 version too. So if the board itself is too small that can be expanded just by having more squares across and deep, but the same size. Actually the board currently is too large. You can only see a much smaller fraction of the whole board than in the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Kinda hard to control with two hands and a keyboard, and a little fringing on the compression.... But non-the-less... in action. holy shit...that looks damned good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Even more applause, kudos, and encouraging comments are due the author of Ballblazer 2600. I would not have believed it had I not tried it out myself on the 2600 emulator Z26. Two simultaneous screens. Wow. Some gamers probably weren't around back in the 80's when Lucas games did the original on the A8 and 5200. Seeing (and hearing) Ballblazer in action was remarkable. The smoothness, speed, and visual clarity of that checkerboard was something we weren't used to seeing at home. I'd never have guessed it was possible for these FX to be replicated on 2600 and I bet I'm not alone. Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 (edited) I'd never have guessed it was possible for these FX to be replicated on 2600 and I bet I'm not alone. Wow. Indeed. This is the sort of display I was expecting only stuff like the Chimera to make possible. When this game is done it has to hit all the tech blog sites (Digg, Slashdot, Engadget). It's just too newsworthy. BTW, you can see in the youtube clip the intermittent scanline dipping down. Edited December 11, 2008 by mos6507 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Indeed. This is the sort of display I was expecting only stuff like the Chimera to make possible. When this game is done it has to hit all the tech blog sites (Digg, Slashdot, Engadget). It's just too newsworthy. I'll make sure of that, one at a time so AA doesn't get hammered too seriously. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbanes Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I'll make sure of that, one at a time so AA doesn't get hammered too seriously. I have a feeling that once the cat is out of the bag... The good news is that you can use a Coral Cache mirror as the link and no one will be the wiser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I'll make sure of that, one at a time so AA doesn't get hammered too seriously. I have a feeling that once the cat is out of the bag... That's true, there's no real controlling it. I just know that I personally would not submit it to all three sites simultaneously. :D And if I found that someone else here did, well, I'd just have to have a word with them. The good news is that you can use a Coral Cache mirror as the link and no one will be the wiser. I haven't tried that before, but would be interesting to see how well it would work. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 jaw, meet floor. will it be able to run like that with music going, goal posts, a ball and 2 rotofoils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 jaw, meet floor. will it be able to run like that with music going, goal posts, a ball and 2 rotofoils? It should be possible. Gamelogic takes now 600/700 cycles (unoptimized) from the available 2888 during VBLANK (correct me if I'm wrong). The kernel is capable of displaying two goalposts (missiles) and one rotofoil (2 player graphics). A ball should be possible too. I now have 32 bytes left, I hope that's enough... I'm now working on displaying the opponent's rotofoil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Fantastic work guys! This is beyond amazing! I never thought it'd look so good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Don't submit the story until the game is done. You only have one chance to impress people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Totally agreed! You are within striking range Roland! Nail it, then show it off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Can I keep posting updates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 George Lucas will be kicking himself: "Awww. I wasted all my time doing those shit Star Wars prequels, when I could have become a legend by converting Ballblazer to the 2600!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Please tell me this is still being worked on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Please tell me this is still being worked on... Yes, I'm working on the 3d calculations. Once I've got them right, I can start drawing sprites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Yes, I'm working on the 3d calculations. Once I've got them right, I can start drawing sprites. Thanks for the update. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Yes, I'm working on the 3d calculations. Well, that's something I probably never expected to read in regards to a 2600 game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 !!! Go Roland! Merry Xmas man. Nathan, I didn't think I would read that either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 !!! Go Roland! Merry Xmas man. Nathan, I didn't think I would read that either. thanks I'm now working on the scaling drones/ships/whatever they are called. I decided to start with big scaling squares to represent the ships. WARNING, It's still full of bugs, but it gives an impression of uhh.. how the ships would look if you would replace them by squares Just look at the upper playfield and move forward/backward. ballblazer.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 You Rock, Man. -Thom !!! Go Roland! Merry Xmas man. Nathan, I didn't think I would read that either. thanks I'm now working on the scaling drones/ships/whatever they are called. I decided to start with big scaling squares to represent the ships. WARNING, It's still full of bugs, but it gives an impression of uhh.. how the ships would look if you would replace them by squares Just look at the upper playfield and move forward/backward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I'll have a look-see when I get home. LOL@ at squares looking like, well.. SQUARES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub_bobby Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Buggy, like you said, but nice scaling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corby Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 !!! Go Roland! Merry Xmas man. Nathan, I didn't think I would read that either. thanks I'm now working on the scaling drones/ships/whatever they are called. I decided to start with big scaling squares to represent the ships. WARNING, It's still full of bugs, but it gives an impression of uhh.. how the ships would look if you would replace them by squares Just look at the upper playfield and move forward/backward. the ships are called "Rotofoils"!! Roland your doing a great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) the ships are called "Rotofoils"!! Roland your doing a great job Ok, Rotofoils. I'll make the scaling squares bugfree. The position of the ship is now calculated with a lookup table, by taking its y position, divide it by 8 and get the scanline from the lookuptable. By dividing the y position by 8, I have a range for 2048 y positions, as each tile occupies 256 y positions, that's 8 tiles far. It turns out that, after generating some 3d-tables, a lot can be optimised. Like the width of the ship can be calculated by the formula scanline + scanline/2. counting starts at vanishing point, scanline 14 (each scanline is doubled). At scanline 25 (bottom of checkerboard), ship will be 37.5 pixels wide, at top, scanline 5, ship will be 7,5 pixels wide. The same can be done for the height. I'll calculate the horizontal position with the Bresenham method, the same way the horizontal position of the checkerboard is calculated. I don't see any more efficient/faster way to do it yet. Edited January 11, 2009 by roland p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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