ilmenit

FYI, I just implemented proposed previously Diversified Late Acceptance Search https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.09328.pdf and to my surprise it works worse than LAHC in case of RC. The reason is that with multi-threading in LAHC all threads modify the same "best picture", while in DLAS each thread modify a own "non-best picture" (Diversified part of the algorithm). However, because of diversity the CACHE_SIZE_LIMIT kicks leading to mitigation of performance gain. I then tried to reorganize the code in a way that all threads will modify a shared "non-best picture", however this requires extra synchronization of threads to use common array of past solutions, which again leads to mitigation of gain. Additionally, the multi-threading code for it is even more hard to read and would probably prevent further improvements. There are some new algorithms like https://www.uni-due.de/mvmo/ that should work better in multi-threaded optimization, so are to be tested in the future. On the other hand I found out that the cache can be reduced to 1/4 (16MB from 64MB per thread) without speed decrease, and even could lead to increase if /s number of solutions is small. For big ones (over 5K, 10K) the bigger cache could be more beneficial. I'll make it configurable from the command line, but by default lowered to 16MB.

Yes, you can set /save=0 to turn it off or set it to preferred value. I will change the default auto-save to be time-based (like each 30 seconds) to avoid SSD burning. @MrFish - I have tried also setting 1280 x 960 but it does not work well on my screen. I use high-resolution one and the SDL2 window is automatically scaled for me, so the 1280x960 leads to a huge out-of-screen window. In the current version of RC you can resize the window and make it full-screen. Can it solve the small window size problem for you?

Yes, you can set /save=0 to turn it off or set it to preferred value. I will change the default auto-save to be time-based (like each 30 seconds) to avoid SSD burning. I have tried also setting 1280 x 960 but it does not work well on my screen. I use high-resolution one and the SDL2 window is automatically scaled for me, so the 1280x960 leads to a huge out-of-screen window. In the current version of RC you can resize the window and make it full-screen. Can it solve the small window size problem for you?

Dear friends and users of Rasta Converter, After almost 11 years I am thrilled to announce a new official release or Rasta Converter - Beta 9, available now on GitHub. https://github.com/ilmenit/RastaConverter/releases/tag/Beta9 This update has been made possible thanks to the incredible contributions of our community, particularly the significant efforts of @Sheddy who successfully convinced me to revive this project. This release includes a number of exciting new features and improvements, including: - A fix for the sprite repositioning bug, thanks to the hard work of @Sheddyand @phaeron. - The removal of the dependency on the Allegro 4 library, replaced by the more modern SDL2. This allowed to prepare a 64-bit version of the software for improved performance and memory space. - The use of the LLVM compiler for extra speed and efficiency, thanks to @Sheddy. - The removal of the thread limit for the /threads parameter, allowing for even more parallel processing. - The addition of default auto-save functionality, which will save your work every 100K iterations. - Improved build processes for Linux, thanks to the efforts of @dmsc and @polluks. - An updated help file, courtesy of @snicklin. - Conditional compilation with NO_GUI directive that removes dependency on SDL2 (for developers who want to run RC on GUI-less devices). Thank you for your continued support of Rasta Converter. I hope you enjoy these new features and improvements, and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Please note that the code for this release has undergone a significant rewrite, so it is possible that some bugs may have been introduced. If you encounter any issues while using Rasta Converter Beta 9, please let us know by reporting them on GitHub so we can address them as soon as possible. Enjoy!

Yup, it should optimize faster. With how LAHC is done now (with multi threading) I couldn't make the DLAS work properly yet. I will probably need to implement it first to solve some easier optimization problem, to have a reference implementation.

Thanks to @Sheddy I have a working build environment for Rasta Converter on a new Visual Studio. This allowed me to merge and test the pull requests that were added by the others. The binary build Beta8 done by Sheddy here is the one to use now, the fixes are very good. Having some free time I'll make an official release to download from Github directly. Now I'm trying to understand the highly optimized code introduced by @phaeron with the multi-threading and caching that he added. While the code is of good quality, it's lacking the general comments about concepts used. Also I did not program in C++ for more than 10 years now and never used it for multi-threading so the task is not easy. I have some ideas to check and implement, but first I need to do more code cleanup to make it easier to work with the code in the future.

can you share the code?

Is it only a graphical overhaul or also the seed for pseudorandom level generation is different and we have "a new level pack"?

True, but even if you can, doesn't mean that you should (especially in a thread for a newbie)

Amazing, this is what I was looking for!

It was a great community and a pleasure to be here. I'm not optimistic knowing how corporations work. What often starts as idea for non-direct monetization, sooner or later brings questions about ROI, profitability and how to improve some KPIs like Average Revenue Per Active User. Time to create an alternative non-commercial international community?

it's crazy amazing how well it looks, how fluent the game is and how good the gameplay is preserved! I would say the non-transparent enemies are totally fine, and maybe even better in the limited resolution and color space, because the tiny black border makes them better visible on the screen. The game runs really fast now but "faster sprite drawing" indicates that you know how to improve it further 🙂

https://ekranownia.atari8.info/ http://www.atarimania.com/pgegallerysoft.awp?system=8&type=G&screenshot=1&step=200

Looking forward for the progress. At least for me it's one of the most interesting projects from recent years (as I love Dungeon Crawlers).

I'd say there are many games on 8bit Atari already that fit the genre, like "Draconus", "Miecze Valdgira", "Zorro", "Blinky's scary school" - generally http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-400-800-xl-xe-p_total-page-step-genre_118-1-200-11_8_G.html

I see that you are doing some basic game engine for text-based adventure games, however the code is a total mess (how it's written and structured). If your expectation is that some developers will take it and use it as a base for a game then I'm afraid it's a wasted effort.

Can you put it somewhere to Github, as the project, with all the sources to look at? We don't know what AdvSkel65 is how it's written. Can you put there also outputs of the compilation with map files, and asm source with included C code as comments? Then we would see what is actually included to the generated code and takes space.

@JAC!- With new WUDSN I receive following warning when assembling Atari project for Altirra with MADS. "Breakpoints will be ignored because the application 'Operating System Default Application' does not support passing source level breakpoints." I installed the new Altirra 4.20 beta, do I need to switch something in the configuration? With built-in Altirra 4.10 it did work, however for some reason this version had some issues for me and 4.20 has them fixed. Should I set something somewhere to allow breakpoints? How WUDSN is checking if the app is supporting source level breakpoints?

The fun of Angry Birds (or other "destroy the castle" games) come from the physics of interaction of missile with blocks, collapsing structures and destruction. Implementation of physics engine like Box2D is non-trivial and requires significant processing power to simulate physics steps, collisions, passing the force etc. A lot of work that could end up with a slideshow when implemented.

Thank you, will pass it to the whole development team 🙂 While we had a few beta testers that were able to win the game, difficulty is really subjective. We tried to organize the levels according to perceived difficulty, but seems that it's very subjective. Also for many levels players find much simpler solutions that were planned as a winning path. Making puzzle game is not easy

The game difficulty is not linear. Generally on each planet (except the last one) levels get progressively harder from level 1 to 4 being introduction to new rules. From planet 4 (that you are on) the max. difficulty should remain similar. Maybe there are 2-3 levels in the whole game (7-7, 8-2) that are particularly challenging. The game is designed in a way that you do not have to play levels in order, but new planets are unlocked to try other challenge when you are stuck. Each level completed (even the simpler on other planets) will increase your game skill and will help afterwards with completing more challenging levels. There is no shame therefore in first doing easy levels on more planets and then going back to challenging ones 🙂

If you prefer to use MADS assembler: https://github.com/ilmenit/A800-OS-XL-Rev2

@tebe - why so harsh? @nobody - I believe the game deserves a proper "plus" version, with new backgrounds done by pixel art artists, not by RC convert. The CPU saving with hand-made backgrounds would probably make a huge difference.

Is the movement (of player, enemies) planned to be aligned to character boundaries (like in Karnov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7h_LCuTaH0) or smooth (like in Aliens: Neoplasma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGXJ8_tQ6w), in the final game?

It does not matter if someone denies. There are also facts in form of performed actions and their results. Once could be a mistake or an accident, but if someone regularly sets a fire that burns down a houses then it's an arson, no matter if the perpetrator denies.