CENTRON 3D - End of level screen shot

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hello Rybags

 

 

Keep talking!

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

This one ?

 

http://madteam.atari8.info/index.php?prod=gtia2

[Rybags]

That's it. Pretty sure it got canned due to lack of support and being overshadowed by VBXE, although it would have come in a lot cheaper.

 

But again it becomes a case of anything that uses it would be incompatible with normal hardware.

[kiwilove]

I did want to make a comment on the original thread but that was closed down.

 

I just wanted to say that I did not hear of anyone doing much in Aussie back in those 80s' days... for the Atari 400 and 800. Not that I had any link with anyone in Aussie, at that time period (but in the Amiga years - yes). Though you did not say that you released anything back then.

 

Perhaps the reason for the skepticism - was that it normally takes a year and longer to complete any first game project - and even rarer for that first game to be really something special. Of course, there can be the exception - in which something special is being done, that no one has worked on before.

 

What people here may not know - was that, the Atari 400/800 computers were really expensive down here (in New Zealand) when they first appeared on sale - in that the importer Ozisoft was retailing the Atari 400 at NZ$1295? Many years later on - I think I read somewhere that they had no choice but to purchase them at a US retail price - and then added their markup on top of that. Which would then explain this inflated pricing. When the Atari 800XL series etc appeared - Monaco became the importers, and prices were significantly lower - no doubt due to the cheaper manufacturing cost but also Monaco acting as a proper distributor - I'd guess.

Those who purchased an Atari 400/800 - did so because they were thoroughly convinced of it's graphics superiority over it's competition - at that time.

 

Perhaps it's not so unsurprising that it's full? potential is being pushed to it's limits at this very late time. I would be doubtful of any proper 3D game being done well - but that it's likely to be a pseudo-3D effect you'll be using? (eg. Encounter).

 

If your project ends up surpassing peoples' expectations - that would be wonderful to see...

 

Harvey

[Rybags]

3D (or "2.5D") as seen in Project M and other projects is entirely possible for a game project, especially at a lower resolution.

 

Of course doing the projection and basic movement mechanics is the easy part - turning the whole thing into a game worth playing is the challenging part.

Given the power of the Atari and availability of less demanding lores modes, really there is a distinct lack of such games.

[Synthpopalooza]

@Snicklin: Certainly did. Both fantastic movies and after that watched Final Fantasy. The graphics and anim is absolutely smooth. Love it.

 

Thanks mate

 

@ Synthpopalooza: What is ICE Graphics Mode 1?

 

Pete

 

Well, it's a series of modes using Graphics 1, but you toggle the GTIA registers and character sets every VBLANK (like in the SUPER IRG mode used in Bill Kendrick's Gem Drop game) ... it is full screen flicker, but it does get you extra colors.

 

Here is a thread that shows examples and how they work:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/186653-super-irg-modes-using-graphics-1/

 

I've written a series of font editors in Turbo BASIC caled ICE (Interlace Character Editor). There are actually 5 different versons of it out now:

 

IRG version: For modes which use only Graphics 0 or 12, no GTIA (like Super IRG)

GTIA version: For modes which use the GTIA settings in Graphics 0 (so that you can get a text version of 256 color mode for example)

CIN version: These combine a Graphics 0 or 12 mode with a GTIA mode so that you can get up to 80 colors at 160 pixels.

 

And recently, I finished two more: GTIA low-res, which is for Antic 5 (Graphics 13) using GTIA settings, and Super IRG 20, which uses Graphics 1 with the GTIA settings to give you extra colors, plus about 9 color palettes to chose from. I'm actually still writing two more editors, to cover the other mode combinations (CIN 20 and double Gr. 1)

 

A couple of other threads of interest:

 

This is a series of picture experiments using Super IRG and other ICE modes:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/188370-doing-pictures-using-super-irg-2-and-other-ice-modes/

 

Also, threads where I have downloads of these font editors:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/150227-ice-interlaced-character-editor/?hl=%2Bice&do=findComment&comment=2926642

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/189778-interlaced-character-editor-10-wins-4th-place-in-abbuc-contest/?hl=%2Bice+%2Babbuc&do=findComment&comment=2689837

 

Hope this helps!

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Wasn't SuperDOS written by one of those guys hanging upside down?

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

[popmilo]

3D (or "2.5D") as seen in Project M and other projects is entirely possible for a game project, especially at a lower resolution.

 

Of course doing the projection and basic movement mechanics is the easy part - turning the whole thing into a game worth playing is the challenging part.

Given the power of the Atari and availability of less demanding lores modes, really there is a distinct lack of such games.

Agreed 100% ...

 

Based on Pete mentioning creating painting programs for making graphics in game it looks like Pete is going for something like Space Harrier. '3D' made from resized 2d sprites. Decent approach for 'simple' shooter. That would also explain short development time.

 

Anything similar to 'proper 3d' game would include hidden lines, vector projection, ray casting, etc... Now that would be a game I would love to see on Atari

[Synthpopalooza]

I remember seeing this once on facebook. The whole reason I came to this forum and rekindled my dormant interest in Atari 8-bit computers:

 

 

More games like this, especially if they are done using software modes and other tricks to push the limits of the old Atari, can be nothing but a good thing!

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Hello guys

 

Wasn't SuperDOS written by one of those guys hanging upside down?

SuperDos was done by Paul Nichols from Australia (1985?) mainly to support his own 1050 SuperMax speeder hardware.

[pirx]

And it was quite a thing in late eighties in Poland.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

I think it was underrated back then. It's like DOS 2.5 but with all the goodies like double/quad density, high speed and a fast ramdisk driver.

[Marius]

From all Dos 2.x compatible Dosses available, I'm rather sure XDOS from Stefan Dorndorf is the very best alternative. In case someone was looking for something like that.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

From all Dos 2.x compatible Dosses available, I'm rather sure XDOS from Stefan Dorndorf is the very best alternative. In case someone was looking for something like that.

You're probably right but back then XDOS did not exist and is not menu driven by default.