NRV

Well, 16.16 would be more nice for your numbers You need 13 bits for your max integer value (8800), so if you are forced to 16 bit values, that gets you something like 13.3. In that case I probably would drop the 2 highest values (8800 and 4400.. this sound like Hz values ) and use a 12.4 representation, representing these max values as a "special" case in the code (and assigning them a special bit sequence..). If size (and speed) is not a problem I would go for a 16.8 or 16.16 representation directly. For the decimal part, 8 bits gives you something like "2.25 digits" of precision, and 16 bits gives you like "4.5 digits" of precision (P-M numbers use 8 bits of decimal precision by the way.. but could also use 16). This is the code I normally use to transform a float value (below 256) to a 8.16 byte representation: void FloatToByte3(float floatValue, int arrayIndex, bool approximate) { if (approximate) { // 2 ^ -(16+1) , approximation, this is like adding 0.5f previous to an (int) conversion floatValue += 1.0f / 131072.0f; } unsigned char byte1 = (unsigned char) floatValue; unsigned int decimalPart = (unsigned int) (65536.0f * (floatValue - (float) byte1)); unsigned char byte2 = (unsigned char) (decimalPart / 256); unsigned char byte3 = (unsigned char) (decimalPart - byte2 * 256); m_arrayByte1[arrayIndex] = byte1; m_arrayByte2[arrayIndex] = byte2; m_arrayByte3[arrayIndex] = byte3; }

Very nice - something not too simple, yet not too vastly overambitious for A8 either. ExedExes had crossed my mind more than a few times as an interesting project I was trying to do something that looked good, was fun and played to the strong points of the A8. If I really wanted to do a port of E&E (at the level of SH for example), probably I would go for gr7 bitmap mode, with lot of software sprites and drop the parallax effect, because most of the time you have lots of enemies in similar vertical positions and lots of bullets.. and gameplay is most important than visuals for me (in this case). So that "door" is still open (but I suppose in that case, one should start doing something more simple, like a port of galaga). And Star Force is mostly my model for air enemies.. in fact you should recognize the "inspiration" for the flying enemies in the first picture . The SF patterns are very "A8 friendly", in the sense that many times you don't have more than one enemy per line. Hmmm why nobody has ever tried to do a port of Goldrunner? no fans?

Well, the "year" started in July and I should be trying to generate money also, with some personal projects, so is not all "free time" Technically, all the screens are from code running in the A8 (well.. in Altirra), but the ones that still have a "future" are: pic 5, a fast platformer + shooter with simple graphics; pic 6, a pacman-alike that started as an experiment to get the AI of the original ghosts in some new mazes and test some new behaviors; and pic 6+7, a vertical shooter with exed&exes influences (at least the parallax and graphics.. should not talk to Sheddy about old games ). Pic 8 is a test for plasma effects in APAC. Pic 2 and 4 are two small programs that I wrote to test scroll in G8 (one pixel at a time) and in G15 (with sub pixel precision). Pic 1 and 3 are a test of a system to see graphics in G0, with all the possible brights; something that could be used for a simple rogue like game, with illumination effects. The other four are: one from my old software sprites thread, one example of a colorful "mario like" type of screen, one example of mid-scanline color changes and an old arkanoid like type of game, with 7 levels and that used the mouse as control.

Sunny.. spring is already here Wow, is already September, that time of the year.. well last year I started working in October, so I still have time I suppose. That time I had a 3 month vacation.. now is one year.. maybe I should do something and don't get distracted with side projects Just for asking.. you win.. some pictures.. Well, they look colorful altogether.. and without a rainbow effect in sight Some oldies but goodies: Regards!

Maybe you can contact him through some email address in the sites: http://www.erasmatazz.com/ or http://www.storytron.com/

Nice to see the reaction to this thread, after almost two years of the epic 464-pages vs thread Jose, this is for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbKKikXSjz0&feature=player_embedded

Good work :thumbsup: +1 for the updated version in the future (with the enemies) (more than one hour to get to the top??.. hope it has a pause button x) ) (also.. at some point write about your compression techniques please!) Regards.

Just under the dome in the first picture! Well.. maybe "towers" is a little too much for the "vertical area of the same color" under the base, but you get the idea..

Is a bad time to buy this then? x)

Nice! Simple and difficult at the same time.. 48 levels? the side number is the optimal solution? the letters are the ranking? lame on purpose? () (I really like the transitions.. would like to know what graphic mode is that )

Hmm .. you mean the "Solomon's Key" type of game: http://www.mobygames.com/game/spherical/screenshots or there was another one?

Awesome! Really nice use of colors and animations. Very professional and fun-looking. Keep raising the bar, please

Didn't knew that, but I always used .sb to put text on screen (with Mads) like: .sb " screen text test " (using single or double quotes do the same in this case)

My generic macro to set memory to a predefined value: ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; SetMemory [address] [bytes] [value] ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ; warning, using some page zero memory .macro SetMemory setMemPtr = 254 setMemCounter = 252 .if :0 <> 3 .error "SetMemory error" .else ldy #0 lda #<:1 sta setMemPtr lda #>:1 sta setMemPtr+1 .if :2 < 256 lda #:3 setMemLoop1 sta (setMemPtr),y iny cpy #:2 bne setMemLoop1 .else lda #<:2 sta setMemCounter lda #>:2 sta setMemCounter+1 setMemLoop2 lda #:3 sta (setMemPtr),y iny bne setMemB1 inc setMemPtr+1 setMemB1 lda setMemCounter bne setMemB2 dec setMemCounter+1 setMemB2 dec setMemCounter lda setMemCounter ora setMemCounter+1 bne setMemLoop2 .endif .endif .endm This doesn't need the address aligned to a page, or the number of "bytes" to be a multiply of 256.. For your example: "Let's say I want to store zeros in memory locations 32000 to 40000", the usage would be: SetMemory 32000, [40000-32000+1], 0 (yep, 8001 bytes because you specified 40000 inclusive ) This is all in MADS assembler syntax.

Maybe the guy who is programming Ballblazer for the VCS? http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/130990-anyone-think-ballblazer-is-possible-on-the-2600/page__view__findpost__p__2338933 Yeah, that guy is a genius! Well, Ballblazer probably is my favorite most - played game in the A8, so I agree with that (A lot of times here in the forum I read that there was a version in the works for the 2600, but never could find a link to it, so many thanks to bringing the URL to my own topic )

Haha.. it seems Miker was just waiting for the moment to post that Hmmm.. nothing.. I have said nothing.. Unexcusable!

Really, really sad.. rest in peace Raster.

+2 for the questions also.. in fact let's add more, like: - what projects do you think would be feasible with the A8 + AtariMax combo and your current knowledge? - if you were to work in this as a (paid) job, how many months do you think it will take you to complete SH (with your last engine rewrite)? - was the project always "fun" to you? nah.. not sorry personally, when I create anything just for fun, I think the best reward is people's appreciation at the end.. and that they like it Exed Exes! nice memories .. I really like some of the classic Capcom shooters.. that one and Gunsmoke are among my all time favorites (Vulgus is also very intense, but with less variation.. simple enough for a port maybe ).. in fact I think I'm going to put the LCD on the side and play some rounds in the PSX, with the Capcom classic collections..

Congratulations on getting to the finish line Sheddy! What a great "piece" of code (all 7843 files ) .. best conversion ever for the A8 IMHO. I always liked the original arcade game (I finished it with 3 credits at some point ), so I appreciate it more I suppose. I hope everyone at least look at your "comments.txt" file, to see how to manage a project like this over time. Please, take a (small) rest and start another "impossible" project, to fill those empty hobby hours (just asking.. apart from SH what other arcade games have you liked?) Regards.

Hmm.. my knowledge about the 5200 is a little lacking, but.. If the only difference is to remap some addresses and with that cartridge you can have at least 64K, then it should be possible..

Nop.. sorry, it was hibernating the first half of the year

Nobody has said "a nice auto complete feature" so I suppose is too obvious? Anyway, I still have not used WUSDN, so I can't really comment (yeah I know.. shame on me )

If you have the Express edition then it seems you will need a newer version, but if not, maybe is possible to "downgrade" the .vcproj by "hand". Where I work they used to do this (Microsoft provides you a conversion wizard to easily upgrade a project to a new version, in the best of their interests, but don't help you if you want to try to go back to an older version.. also in the best of their interests I suppose ). Normally, they will open an empty (or working) project file (.vcproj from your old VC++) in a text editor and then open the .vcproj that you want to convert, in another text editor. Then, they copy the necessary information from one to the other until it works, trying to "figure it out" what is needed. Hope that helps.

Nice! Good luck with it.. I can imagine some applications running over that .

I voted for tutorial without polish because you can always add the polish later (and that can be part of the tutorial). Also, if that is already the 7th item in your list, the faster the better . Fast prototyping is a good idea, because you are more motivated with something already working and playable. You can get the first level and the engine working and then the people here can add all the levels and some new ones. Seems good to use also gr.8 with some players for the door and the key. Why flicker?. Also, it sounds like you want to do the zoom effect? I remember that you talked about this before, but it was this? http://cymonsgames.com/asciiportal/ or this? http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/ I believe that the mechanics can get complicated, with some physics and objects included in the higher levels, but I'm not so sure. Hmmm it sounds like a good technical demo to try.. some basic lines and joints and some simple geometrical objects physics.. I suppose you can precalculate some reactions or hard code some animations and specific reactions. For anyone looking for good and "modern-retro" ideas, the finalists of the IGF 2011 were already announced. Take a look at most of the 2d entries: http://www.igf.com/02finalists.html and some others for inspiration: http://www.chimegame.com/ http://www.remar.se/daniel/herocore.php http://teknopants.com/games/shootfirst/ http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=NightSky Regards.