adamantyr

One, I'd avoid using DATA for sound data. Use BYTE instead. Way less likely you'll have accidents that way. BYTE 6,>85,>17,>90,>8A,>0B,>90,3 BYTE 4,>9F,BF,>DF,>FF,0 This should work. I usually set up a "silence" tone in a sound list and just branch to it. Remember you can have a sound list branch to another address. Adamantyr

That's correct, the duration byte is not included. The reason is that it's not actually sent to the sound generator, it's used by the ROM ISR as a count-down value. Adamantyr

Just an FYI, Owen contacted me. He's fine, but he's working through RL stuff right now, and has no internet. He's still plugging away at Beryl, though! Adamantyr

Agreed! Come back, fellas! Adamantyr

Oh, go on, you can write in GPL... just make sure we can run it without requiring a P.E. box wired up like an Xmas tree. Adamantyr

I guess you might have to change one of the contest guidelines then Must be loadable with BASIC, Extended BASIC or the Editor/Assembler cartridge Because... what, the new Forth comes on a cartridge? Adamantyr

Quick note... I added a ZIP file on the first entry, which contains the game both for Classic99 and MESS/V9T9 versions. That should make it easier to get it to a CF card. I hope... Adamantyr

Thanks for the direct link! Owen's been away and out... I guess I can't hope for that Retrogaming article anytime soon. Adamantyr

True, but your example also uses a small random range. With a full 16-bit range, your increase of certain value results will be so small as to be statistically insignificant. That being said, it's ALWAYS better to use base 2 values in assembly language, because you can avoid the problem entirely by just using bit masks to get the number you want. My particular random number generator is best used for real-time randomness, like rolling dice. Something you do in a program that replicates what a human user does. If I wanted to randomly fill the screen with pixels, I would NOT use this method, I'd do something like your XOR routine which would not use division and would actually cycle through all given values given enough permutations. Adamantyr

Yes, you can use division to reduce the random value to something within a specific range, as follows: * R3 = maximum range desired, R5 = random value from 0-65535 INC R3 CLR R4 DIV R3,R4 * R5 now contains a value from 0 to max - 1 Adamantyr

What is the actual address @CLOCK is pointing to? It's a memory variable, nothing more. I use it for a variety of purposes in my CRPG for timing. Adamantyr

@CLOCK is just a 16-bit value incremented in the ISR, so it ticks every 1/60 of a second. You can use the VDP interrupt timer byte (>8379) for a similar function, which is to generate a random shift. Just replace that line with MOV @>8378,R0 and it will function the same. >8378 a random value storage for BASIC and Extended BASIC, I believe. Can someone else confirm this? Adamantyr

There was a lively thread on some different methods here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/163646-not-prime/page__p__2020334__hl__primes__fromsearch__1#entry2020334 Sparked by the idea that primes would be needed for a pseudo-random system. Adamantyr

Seen some action here... TI Wars in Forth... anyone else going to show us what Forth can do? Adamantyr

I really hope you can do without the 8K RAM, because otherwise it's going to limit its playability on real hardware given that many of us do not have that cart... Any chance of a release by Faire time this year? Really hard to say. Core engine isn't done yet. If it was, then I'd just be doing pure content, which is a little more predictable. Adamantyr

Thanks I hope it lives up to its expectations. As for making it to the June deadline, that will likely be a stretch but one never knows BTW, where are you at with Realms of Antiquity? Special effects engine. Gotta create content for it (exact spell effects, graphics, sounds) and then write the engine, optimize it, and find out if I gotta start using the 8k RAM cartridge. :S Adamantyr

An incredibly AWESOME game, Vort. Please submit it for the RDGC! I could see myself playing this one for hours on a rainy day... Adamantyr

Yep, that's exactly what he did, with Eastern Front 1941. He had created the scrolling technique and showed it to war gamers, but nobody did anything with it. So he decided to write something himself. Adamantyr

Will see how I go. Don't have a lot of time these days so can only slowly chip away at it... Well, you got three months! Love to see it in the running! Adamantyr

Are you going to submit this to the RDGC? It certainly meets the criteria. That being said... Chris Crawford remarks in one of his books on game design that it's never a good thing to create a technical feature, then try to build a game around it. It's not impossible, just approaching it from the wrong angle. My own suggestion would be to think of a cool game concept first, some kind of game you'd like to write. If it could utilize your new scrolling technique, awesome. Adamantyr

Hey - it's not just about Aperture! No No No! It's about all our games, of which Aperture is just the best. You're quite right, my apologies. Hubris overload. Adamantyr

Yeah, still no article about Aperture. Bummer. Adamantyr

A superb entry for the contest! I can't wait to see it going. Adamantyr

I've got my 2nd prize, a 250k RAMdisk! Also, I've made one small note: if there isn't at least six entries to the contest, we won't be awarding prizes, just ranking entries. Given that the prizes are material items of not-negligible worth, we don't want to award them if an entry had few or even no competition. Adamantyr

Very nice! I've played Advanced Wars on the GBA, looking forward to it on the TI! Adamantyr