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Sheddy

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Posts posted by Sheddy

  1. Posted

    Sheddy.... can you tell me more about the engine? i know it has been a long time but how many objects can be handled? unrolled code? how are the "paths" defined and how is actually the scaling working? I mean the prerendered stuff needs a lot of ram?

     

    Could probably go on and on about those things for hours!

    ...but must get back to finishing stuff on the game. Hope the video below is not too much of a spoiler for these last levels.

    So only quick answers ;)

    You may see up to 40 sprites at once. Compiled Sprites. "Paths" are lists of vectors and times - EG go little bit up and into screen for 2.5 seconds, then go left for 1 second, etc. No scaling used - all pre-rendered. Doesn't use a lot of RAM, but does use a lot of ROM!

     

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LpcdfZsjww

  2. Posted · Edited by Sheddy

    If you're not after a follow up project which will take as long as this one, how about creating a new version of the same game but with different bosses / enemies / backgrounds?

     

    You'll not have to do any new development, just artwork.

     

    If you do not do this, I cannot see anyone else doing it and this'll be our only chance.

     

    You can let your imagination go free and not be tied to whatever Sega created.

     

    You could even design characters that are easy to compress, saving a few bytes in the process!

     

    What do you think?

     

    I'm more interested in the coding, so that's not really my type of thing. I think it is the original graphics design that makes Space Harrier...the gameplay is not that wonderful really (although I've worked on that for the Atari version). I haven't got the kind of artistic imagination that'd be required to make a good job of it. IMHO even Space Harrier II for the Genesis/Computers (never was an arcade machine) is just a poor and pale imitation of the original.

     

     

    @Sheddy - kjmann wrote that Sega don't care but maybe you should remove SEGA logo from title screen. More suitable is: "Original game created by Sega" or similar...

     

    Maybe it's not wise to keep it, but I also feel it takes away some credit from Sega for the game if it is removed. I think it needs some kind of graphic in that part of the title screen...hmm...tricky.

     

    That looks fantastic, though I think that kjmann's songs need some touch in the instrument area, like more rich leads and improved percussions. I could do that if you and kjmann agree.

     

    If you think there's room for some improvement, I'd be quite happy for you to have a look if you'd like, but only if Sal is OK about it. You may not get onto the splash screen (unless radical changes!), but there will be a credits and thanks screen.

  4. Posted

    I think the "happy medium" would be to just use part of the block in the large cartridge for the game code.

     

    In all likelihood you could easily "save" 50K or so of that block in system RAM, leaving 12K available for the High Score display and whatever program code is running at the moment.

    Then the HS routine can just write it back and zero the remainder.

     

    Actually, having the program code that handles the High Score and associated screens/music in the same block might work even better. Depending on how you go about programming the game, wastage of the block might be minimised down to 8K or less.

     

    The high score save is one of the things left on the to-do list. Haven't got round to it as it needs a bit of thinking through - it could permanently activate any cheat codes that may be added, which is not necessarily a good idea?

     

    I'm hoping to have a 64k block left, but may go down this route as, unbelievably, it is getting a little tight. It's a good idea, but I'd just be concerned in case the write fails for any reason it'd mess the whole game up instead of just the score saving.

  5. Posted

    one other question for you sheddy, would you be able to play the final/finished game/program on an un-upgraded 800xl or 130/65xe

     

    Or am i to guess you will only be able to play the finished program on an expanded system (i.e 256k min)

     

    The finished game cart will work on any XL/XE with 64K or more memory. So pretty much all standard XL/XEs except for the 600XL which only has 16K as standard.

  6. Posted

    Thanks for the info, I will try what you suggest with the adding 1 to the colours and Altirra. Though I'm still not really sure how accurate even Altirra is for judging NTSC vs. PAL colour palettes.

    There's a thread with screen captures from NTSC and PAL Ataris, which you may find useful.

    thanks! I'd forgotten that thread

  7. Posted

    We Won "Best Game 2009" for Tempest Xtreem.

    Why Couldn't Space Harrier win?

     

     

    Why does it hurt my brain to read this - telling always - " i knew it i knew it i knew it"?

    The Game is Sheddy's work, your part here is something like "riding on the shoulder of giants". The "possible" prize for this belongs to him only. If he wants to share with people who was helping, it has to be up to him.

     

     

    By the way. on a quick note... Merry Christmas (Or Happy Holidays) To Everyone here.

    I kind of noticed that this get lost in the shuffle in discussion forums at this time of the year. =)

     

    well, not really ....

     

    Please do not get personal. I don't think that is a fair way to interpret Sal's comments. I asked for help with music and Sal came up with the goods, for which I'm very grateful.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    Great work as ever, Sheddy! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

     

    About the PAL to NTSC color thing.. I was working in that today and I could say that a fast and simple rule to do the conversion is: add one to colors from 1 to 9 (don't change the brightness). All others should stay the same. You aren't going to get the exact same colors (not that is possible), but is a very good start and you can fine tune hue and brightness later. The only problem is that color 10 from PAL is like "in between" color 10 and 11 from NTSC, so you can choose the one that fits better (Altirra is the perfect test bed by the way).

     

    Did you arrive to the perfect software sprites method? :)

    (any big rewrites to the code this year?, you should write a technical doc about your engine sometime!)

     

    About your next big thing.. what do you think about Hang-On (or Super Hang-On) and Enduro Racer? Do you think that is possible to have something fun and playable with your current engine?

     

    Regards!

     

    Thanks for the info, I will try what you suggest with the adding 1 to the colours and Altirra. Though I'm still not really sure how accurate even Altirra is for judging NTSC vs. PAL colour palettes.

     

    No, no big rewrites! No such thing as a perfect sprite routine of course ;) What's in SH may be pretty good for bitmap graphic mode games with large sprites, though.

     

    PS Hope you continue to get such excellent results with your project :thumbsup:

     

    This is an awesome project and I'm looking forward to seeing it completed.

    If I understood correctly, you are currently planning to release it just as a cart dump, not a disk image.

    Is there a chance for a disk version that can be loaded from an SDrive or a similar device in order to play the game on a stock 800 XL/XE or at least a 130XE without having to buy the cartridge?

     

    Unfortunately the way I decided to improve things over the demo version means it won't be possible to have a disk image that runs on a standard machine like the cart does. The sprites take up too much memory, but like with most standard Atari carts the sprites can just be bank switched in and out of memory as required (but instantly, not slow like a disk)

     

    Sorry, but just remember asking something to Sheddy, just curious...

     

    If we call PF0,PF1,PF2 a Pallete, how maximum number of Palletes you have "flicker" on the same Line?

     

     

     

    Greets.

    José Pereira.

     

    José, not sure I fully understand your question, but I'll write some more and maybe the answer will be in there!

    Palette on SH changes only every TV frame (50/60 times a second) not every line. There are 2 palettes which alternate, so palette 1, then palette 2, then back to 1 again (50/60 times a second) etc. If you try more than 2 palettes then the flicker is really bad on the eyes. Changing palette every line makes flicker less bad, but takes a lot (most) of the CPU cycles.

    EG Line 1 - palette 1, Line 2 - palette 2, Line 3 - palette 1 etc.

    Then next frame Line 1 - palette 2, Line 2, palette 1, Line 3 - palette 1...and so on.

    Jeff Potter's Colorview shows still pictures with 3 palettes in a similar way. It is probably not so good for a moving game though.

     

    Sheddy: Do you consider to release a .bin image of the game which will work on a flashcartridge? F.e. on the 8Mbit cart made by atarimax.

     

    Yes, that is the plan, the game is designed for standard 8mbit maxflash cartridge.

  10. Posted

    And I'm afraid the SH's copyrights belongs to Sega :/

     

    Yes. Some people do have problems to see the difference here. Producing a game with a copyrighted background and give it away free, will cause no problems.

    Make a bundle to sell it, could result in big problems. Renaming Bomb Jake (for example) does not save it from some copyright issues.

     

    Yes, I know. I tried to contact with Tehkan (BJ's copyrights owner) twice. Unsuccessfully.

    So I decided to make a small homebrew cartridges bundle. I know that this is a risk but BJ is a great game and I really tried to be fair.

     

    I didn't get any replies to my enquires to Sega or Elite Systems (who had the licence for at least some of the home computer versions). Unfortunately I bet their lawyers will not be equally as uninterested!

  11. Posted · Edited by Sheddy

    Amazing :lust:

     

    I'm curious. Will the gfx engine still be using flicker techniques to enhance colour density? And, still using stereo pokey tunes?

     

    Thanks! Unfortunately it still has to use flicker, so some adjustment of TV brightness/contrast may be wanted for long periods of play by some people. It will use stereo pokey tunes if stero pokey is detected.

  12. Posted

     

    I will be Sending money to Sheddy for each Sale. =)

     

     

    This may sound a little weird, but you really don't have to do that. What I would ask is to make sure you cover your costs of course, but maybe have the price a little lower? (I know there is not much margin in these things anyway)

  13. Posted

    Hello Chris

     

    Good to hear you're still working at the game. Will you offer cartridges or will it come as a binary that we have to flash into some kind of cart?

     

    sincerely

     

    Mathy

     

    I can only offer it as a binary, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sal's AtariSales will be able to offer it as a cartridge (I see from a post a couple of months back he has already designed a suitable label) :) Although I haven't asked him, Steve from Atarimax may also be able to pre-load one of his "blank" 8Mbit Maxflash carts if you ask nicely :)

     

     

    Just OOI Sheddy, is all this all your coding or did you get some stuff from the other 8bit versions (i.e amstrad/c64)

     

    The coding is all mine. Figuring out how to do things and writing it from scratch is what I've enjoyed most about the project. The other 8-bit versions are way too different from the Arcade original for my liking (with the possible exception of the PC-Engine), so reusing or porting any code was never really something I considered.

  14. Posted

    Any videos yet?

     

    Altirra does a pretty good job of them, maybe give it a try if you don't have a capture card.

     

    I'll get some done in the next day or so. Phaeron is doing great work with Altirra, and I'm using it for pretty much everything these days, so I'm really looking forward to giving that a go. I did have to use Atari800WinPlus for the "interlaced" screenshots though.

  15. Posted

    This looks like you have something for santa to bring all us eight bit fans this year?

     

    I'm not sure it will quite make it in time for Christmas, but maybe when you are getting a little fed up of all your new presents it will be ready ;)

     

    How you manage to cram this into an Atari, I really do not know, but you impress me immensely.

     

    Good luck with your final few steps now, 'technically' this may well become the best game on the Atari. Dare I cheekily ask after all this work if you have any plans for any other games after this?!!

     

    Thanks, but it's really just down to using a really big cartridge and me just keeping on plugging away at it over the years.

     

    No idea about doing any other games yet, but if I do, they'd probably not be quite as ambitious; at my usual pace of work, I'd never live long enough to finish them!

     

     

    But, hey , to be serious... this title.... "Conversion by Chris Hutt, Music by Sal Esquivel". I didn't know, he was working at SEGA back in the 80s ;)

     

    What about "Atari 800 XE version by Chris Hutt, POKEY Music by Sal Esquivel" ? Which would resemble the facts more ;)

     

    Yes, I suppose it could be read the wrong way - I'll make it clearer. Thanks!

  23. Posted · Edited by Sheddy

    Surprised at what a pain it is to create the .bins in the emulator!

     

    Since I've just started playing with FreeBASIC recently I thought it might be good practice to have a go at trying to create this converter. It's a bit of a quick and dirty hack really, but it seems to work on the maxflash images I've tried so far, including newer ones that don't store the unused banks.

     

    Please find attached Win32 console program and source (FreeBASIC can compile to a few platforms). It takes the atr path and filename as an argument and spits out a bin in the same folder as the atr if it thinks it can do it. Easiest way to use it is to drag and drop the atr onto the program.

     

    Usual Caveat applies - use at your own risk. It's no masterpiece of code, but I learnt some things and maybe it could be of some use :)

    atr2bin.zip

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