108 replies to this topic

[majestyx]

because program size is equated both pre-RUN and post-RUN.

Once you run the program, the variable space is reserved for whatever you decide to call the variable... rather than having an integer value repeated a hundred times.

All thats left is a single, 1 byte reference to the integer. I could see how this might increase speed of the program as well. Write a simple test program and try it out.

 

Will definitely keep this in mind for any future programming projects I may attempt. Been far too busy recently to work on anything, but would love to get back to it soon.

[LASooner]

I tried replacing all values of 1-4 with variables, it made no difference once compiled as Falcon suspected.

[Opry99er]

I would guess that larger integers would work... any integers with two or more digits, which have 4 or more iterations.

Then again, perhaps not. Interesting test...

[InsaneMultitasker]

The 'integer' values in a non-compiled XB program are floating point values.  Consumption is 8 (9?) bytes per variable.  You take a double hit since the value is stored in the program and the variable is allocated during prescan.  Are the compiled values represented as 16-bit integers?  I guess that's a question for Senior Falcon. 

 

If you have a lot of numeric variables to set, and they are 8 bit (0-255), you can save space by converting them into characters and storing them into a string.  You can also use strings as "numeric arrays" by using the SEG$, VAL, and CHR$ statements.  The message pointers for my BBS software are all stored in this fashion.  127 message pointers require 254 bytes of stack memory; a numeric array would cost 9*127 bytes of program space.  

[LASooner]

Updated rom image on post 1

 

Back to no title screen, bunker sprite is removed when the player leaves, cuts down on sprites overlapping.

 

fixed the issue with the bats that turn into robots losing the maze path.

[eebuckeye]

Title screen won't fit?  It looked awesome.  :-)

[LASooner]

Title screen won't fit?  It looked awesome.  :-)

Thanks, but I'm running out of memory, so I'm ditching it for now so I can work on the gameplay, if I can get it back down I'll try to fit it in.

Edited by LASooner, Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:09 PM.

[LASooner]

Updated Rom Image in post 1

 

Fixed these bugs. Made some significant performance fixes. Watch video to see. 

 

FIXES:

Speed of the game is too slow

Robot scoring is messed up past 5000 points

 

[digdugnate]

FANTASTIC.  i am in awe of folks that do stuff like this.

[Retrospect]

Brilliant stuff!

[LASooner]

Updated ROM in post 1

 

Bats and Spiders die from bullet hits from main robot

Extra Man every 10000 points

[LASooner]

Updated ROM in post 1

 

New Sound FX!

 

Low tone laser shots

New Death Sound (also doubles as robot shield sound)

Heartbeat thrump louder

New Pickup and Player Spawn sounds.

[LASooner]

Still having trouble with sound effects hanging, is it something to do with sounds not using all channels playing on top you think?

 

Seems to happen when the explosion sound plays over a laser shot, and the explosion is only using the noise channel

Edited by LASooner, Sun Mar 18, 2018 4:42 PM.

[LASooner]

First time I was able to get to the invisible robot. Granted the Black and Invisible robot aren't as nasty as they are in the original game yet. Black and Invisible have bullets that can stop your bullets, and destroy your bunker. So this is not indicative of how hard it will be, but it's still pretty hard to get this far.

 

 

 

[Opry99er]

Sweet!!!

[LASooner]

Updated Rom image in post 1, Also updated video 

 

Finally got that hanging sound bug fixed thanks to Senior Falcon's suggestion of killing all sound channels before playing the sound

 

Also "thickened" up the spider sprite so it will look better on CRT's

 

plays spawn sound when you get an extra man

 

I feel like I'm in the home stretch on this thing.

 

Level 4 Robot shots kill player bullets

Black Robot fires larger projectile

 

 

Fixed Bug

Robot shot sounds hanging until next shot

[LASooner]

Updated Rom image in post 1

 

Finally got the bat explosion characters done and working, no longer sprites so should help even more with flicker issues

Put a new title attract screen, uses existing char set, added a credit screen with shout outs to you guys who've helped me

Will continue to try to optimize it down enough to also include the original title screen I created, but it's not looking great there.

 

Biggest remaining hurdle is bunker busting Level 4+ robot bullets and I will continue to try looking into using screen characters instead of sprites for the bullets, my first attempt didn't go well.

 

Bats hanging from ceiling on Spawn

Add explosion graphic for bat or spider death (spinning disc temp)

Find space or make new title screen

Add an attract screen mode, to give the player time to start the game and explain scoring

[LASooner]

Updated Rom Image in Post 1

 

You can now shoot hanging bats for some easy kills early.

Fixed an issue where the gun was getting overwritten by explosion graphic from bats and spiders.

Optimized routine for moving and animating the character, slight performance increase.

 

 

BUG FIXES:

Bullets don't kill hanging bats.

Attract mode wasn't properly looping, crashing after credits screen.

[LASooner]

Updated Rom image in post 1

 

Finally got the level 4 black robot destroying the bunker, that's basically it for the original game features, I'm calling this BETA. 

Hit me up with any bugs you find.

 

 

BUG FIXES

Fixed the color of the bunker buster bullets to yellow

Level 4 Robot destroys bunker

[LASooner]

Rom Image updated in Post 1

 

Bug Fixes:

Robot Shields don't display correctly

Player can clip through wall on 2nd and 3rd column pass through intersection

Player is occasionally being killed twice on the same bullet

Extra man after 20000 doesn't show up until you kill something after 20000 or any progression after that

[LASooner]

Updated Rom Image in Post 1

 

Bug Fixes:

Better player collision handling.

Slight performance increase.

[CrazyChris]

Witch emulator would you recommend to play this?

 

Thank you,

 

Chris

[LASooner]

Witch emulator would you recommend to play this?

 

Thank you,

 

Chris

 

I've used it on Classic 99, and http://js99er.net/, but t works great on real hardware as well.

[LASooner]

Updated ROM in Post 1

 

Changed all projectiles to characters instead of sprites, flicker should be at a minimum.  likely the only time you'll see it is when the bunker sprite appears, or after you blow up a robot. But bullets shouldn't ever disappear except when passing through another bullet, an explosion or a blinking gun.

 

Order of sprite priority is 

 

#1 and 2 Bunker sprites

#3 Player sprite

#4 Main Robot

#5 and 6 Bats/Secondary Robots

#7 Spider

 

The Bunker sprites only show up when the player is within 16 Pixels of it, so effectively all the important sprites should never disappear.

 

I haven't got any feedback or bugs except for the guy on YouTube making fun of it. So this will probably be the last update for a while.

 

 

 

BUG FIXES:

Look into using chars for bullets to reduce sprite flicker

Optimized character set for simpler collision checks

[Vorticon]

Is this the final version then?