[Playing Cybernoid (C64)]

I just played it on the easy level, but I still found it frustrating as hell, even more so than the C64 version since it seems to have significantly upped the # of unfair deaths.

 

Also without the SID music, it's as if half the game is missing

 

At least the NES version has gotten a little ending screen added:

 

 

When the C64 version is close to 70%, then the NES one almost fails the 50% hurdle - and I definitely wouldn't recommend buying it

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

(and I think C64) architecture where you can point the display at any piece of RAM/ROM.

The VIC-II (video chip) only has a 14 bit address line, so it's restricted to 16K. However, one of the CIAs is used to control which of the four 16K banks it sees. The built in Character ROM only appears in 2 of the 4 banks.

 

The key is that CPU and GPU are working with the same RAM and that the CPU can access it any time. As long as the CPU is ahead of the raster beam, you're fine drawing whatever you want, whenever you want

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

Oh. Just reread specs and DMA ($4014) is only for sprites (I think). So I guess for background tiles you have to do things the slow way. Hmm. That means you can't do character set (page flipping) animation, can you?

 

I'm pretty noobish here. I think you can toggle between two different tile layouts (aka name tables), so you should at least get 2-phase animation rather cheap out of it. (A problem is that you can update the inactive table only during vblank just as well , so I haven't seen a real benefit in using it yet. Perhaps it's somehow usefull for scrolling... )

 

And if you use a mapper with CHR RAM, you can animate tiles there as well (That's how I did the dots in the slower version.). Of course, at 16 byte per tile you're limited to animate a handfull of them per frame.

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

I figured it was one of those compromises you have to make. What's the overall flow of the plotting routine? Curious.

 

The current code is quite simple now, I started with a way more complicated approach.

 

Now I just have 64 predefined (ROM-) tiles with a dot in each possible position

 

I move the the dots, calculate their positions in the tilemap and pick the correct tile during the display time, then during vblank I clear the previous tile for each dot and set the new one.

 

It's insane, the NES can write less than 100 bytes into the video RAM during vblank, even with zero code overhead

 

	LDA LIFETIH,X
STA $2006
LDA LIFETIL,X
STA $2006
LDA CURRVAL,X
STA $2007

 

A sequence like this is required to update one single byte, which is only half the code required for updating one of my dots

[Playing Samurai Warrior (C64)]

Wow, I really didn't imagine that this could've been based on a comic license

 

Try looking up "Ninja" games on lemon64. There's everything, even a "Ninja Scooter Simulator", also a "Ninja Hamster" and Ninja Turtles of course, so Ninja Rabbits didn't seem that special

 

BTW: The article above is a second draft. The first was longer and funnier, but when I was almost done the browser crashed - and while retyping everything late in the night I felt rather angry than humorous

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

Looks good.

 

There are some overlap issues, though - sometimes particles disappear.

 

Thanks for taking a look!

 

The engine only works with one dot per tile and so the last dot always wins the tile. I won't do anything about it though, this little sacrifice is part of the compromise I choose to optimize vblank usage

[Saving $1.29]

I hear you. I also didn't buy the virtual version of the last Damned album, even if it meant waiting 4 (eternal!) months longer for the physical CD

[Mii and the Wii - 2 / 2009]

And with another Amazon deal I just ordered Force Unleashed for 27.- Euro

[When walls come tumbling down]

Ne, Erdbebensicher sind wir da noch nicht. Wenn es verdächtig aussieht mache ich höchstens kleine Keile unter die Vorder-Füsse, damit der Schwerpunkt vom Regal Richtung Wand "fällt"

[When walls come tumbling down]

Ich bin nur froh das ich nix abbekommen habe. Kaputt ist anscheinen auch kaum was.

 

Gott sei Dank, ja! Wenn ichs mir vorstelle, ich habe auch jahrelang direkt unter so einer Todesfalle geschlafen

 

Aber nächste Woche kommt Billy zu mir.

 

Sieht um einiges stabiler aus. Ist definitv besser, wenn man in so einer Nachkriegswohnung haust. Bei uns ist ausser dem Regal auch mal ein kompletter Küchenschrank von der Wand gefallen, soviel Porzellan wurde nichtmal an unserem Polterabend zerdeppert

 

Seitdem gibts bei uns fast nur noch selbststehende Regale

[When walls come tumbling down]

Oh, die Scheissdinger sind bei uns in der alten Wohnung auch aus der Wand gebrochen, auf der doppelten Breite allerdings, sah auch aus als hätte man eine Granate in den Raum geworfen

 

Am besten auf richtige Regale umsteigen, die sind bei Ikea & co. im Endeffrekt nicht mal teurer

[Song for a Mad Choir Singer]

I can't access the 'tube link (=> This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions ).

 

But the Mod is brilliant! Where did you find it?

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

I just updated the attachment in the main entry - the engine got almost twice as fast with the rewrite, it's now moving 94 pixels at 30Hz

 

I still know a couple of things I could do now to make it a bit faster, but nothing significant anymore and nothing without other trade-offs like upping RAM/ROM usage.

 

So this project can now rest in a solid state, until my next vacation

[NES Apocalypse Engine (Milestone 2)]

Yes, it's just "animated" background tiles. The sprites I'll need for the game itself

 

I just figured a way (aka total rewrite) that should make the engine fast enough to either plot twice as many dots or update the current number with 60Hz. Maybe even faster. I hope I find some time on sunday to type it in

[I'm going to see Project Pitchfork Live!]

Just got Battle for the Sun, quite good so far. Looks like Placebo will be in Germany in November/December. Nothing listed for Texas

 

The Munich date sounds promising, albeit a bit too big a gig for my taste - the Olympic Hall is the league where Depeche Mode normally plays

 

I need to check out the new album. Actually I just figured I need to check out the old album (Meds) as well, since so far I only have their first 4 CDs. (Sometimes I'm really living under a rock )

 

BTW: I like For What it's Worth a lot more than the title track

[Music Update]

Speaking of old favourites returning to form, I'm currently totally thrilled by this one

[Set Phasers on "Preposterous"]

Don't know his name either, but Spock is played by the guy who does Sylar in "Heroes"

[Mii and the Wii - 2 / 2009]

Thank Heavens for price-drops and Amazon deals. So I already got Secret Files for 30.- and Deadly Creatures for 20.- Euro this month

[Two months later...]

AdamAntium.

 

Hey, there's nothing wrong with him though, he still rules!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA7ecjaOtbA

 

BTW: Go and see Star Trek. I was very reluctant at first as well, but came out very positively surprised. The makers really love and know the original series, doing it no harm

[Completed Wonderboy in Monsterland]

Phatasy Star does indeed use a battery, IIRC

 

BTW: You best make a quick savegame and wait a week to see if it's still there. I remember playing Golden Axe Warrior for three days in a row without problems, but then I paused a week and the save game was gone.

[Garrison]

A little trivia bit I forgot to mention in the main article is that Rainbow Arts did a totally rip-off sequel called "Garrison II" on the Amiga. It was basically the very same game, it just got a different title screen and 128 new levels

[Playing Shadowgate (NES)]

If I had known how close I was to the end already, I would've finished it yesterday:

 

 

Playing this game was a rather enjoyable experience and personally I think Shadowgate is even a bit better than Uninvited - I'm almost wanting a copy for my collection

 

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see its sequel "Beyond Shadowgate", but first it'll continue with something else.

[Short Song List]

There exists a compilation CD called "Short Music for short People" that contains 101 very short songs. I think I still have it somewhere, since The Damned were also participating on it.

 

=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Music_for_Short_People

[Playing Shadowgate (NES)]

Uihjah! This evening I had a lot of fun with the game. I had to look up 1-2 things on gamefaqs, but those aside I solved a surprising number of riddles on my own this time

 

The game has some pretty cool monsters, I loved that scene with the woman that turns into a werewolf

[Playing Shadowgate (NES)]

Figured that the hard way already...

 

Since I still didn't get forward, I had to read in a walkthrough again tonight. There it said that you can move behind the waterfall, which is odd, because I'm 100% sure I actually had tried that myself. Maybe I hit the wrong trigger pixels or so...

 

Then I got along on my own again for a while. Surprisingly enough, after crossing a bridge I was entering castle Shadowgate... I actually thought I was already in there right from the start

 

It seems the game has the same "problem" as Uninvited: You're overwhelmed by dozens of items you find, while at the same time you have no real idea where/how to continue. I have ~60 items and 4 magic spells now, still I'm stuck in places where I've already tried half of the stuff in my inventory

 

Uninvited did have a solution for this though, as you could throw all unnecessary items away in the backyard there. I didn't find such a helpful spot in Shadowgate yet...