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Vorticon

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Posts posted by Vorticon

  2. Posted

    I'm too wrapped up in the world of Forth at the moment to take anything else on. I'd be happy to do something after that though, probably in about 6 months.

     

    How's the book coming?

     

    Not too bad. Still loads to do though :( The problem is that I chose to make it difficult for myself! The book not only teaches all the TurboForth words, it also teaches *Forth*. I considered this essential as most people in the (current) TI community don't know Forth, so without a book to teach them Forth programming they wouldn't be able to do anything more than 'kick the tyres' and then they would lose interest.

     

    *Hopefully* the book will show them what Forth *is*, show that it's not as difficult as it looks and encourage people to sit down and give it a good spanking, rather than kick the tyres!

     

    Mark

    I hope so too! I want a signed copy!

  3. Posted

    i agree, for this type of games, it's really hard to have smart AI.. simple "conditions" and "structure" are not enough to have a brainy computer ;) good luck

    Au contraire! You'll be surprised how a few simple rules can create enormous complexity. Think for example of Conway's LIFE. There are only 4 simple rules and yet you can get an infinite amount of variability. Same goes for chaos theory as demonstrated in my Chaos Musings suite. The problem really lies in finding the judicious combination of simple rules perhaps spiced up with a little randomization, which is by no means an easy task. I have already sketched a series of 6 rules for the AI opponents which I think will create a relatively challenging game, but I won't know for sure until I test it out.

  4. Posted · Edited by Vorticon

    I updated the PDF. I didn't realize that the 8.5x11 page size was cutting off the edges... No information was really cut off, but details like that bother me, so I increased the page size to hold the whole scanned page. So re-download if you want (same link).

    Thanks :) I was hoping to peek at the AI section, only to find out that this was a 2 player game :( Nonetheless, there are some interesting features like zones of control worth studying.

  5. Posted

    Can I assume that you are OK with your program being posted on the site?

     

    Sure, I would be honored. :)

     

    Maybe don't upload the source until the GCC bugs are removed. I don't know if it would be good advertising for GCC.

    Great! Is Insomnia the programmer of GCC for the TI?

  6. Posted

    Is Guillaume Tello really the name of the author of MLC? That would be something he he... I want to make sure so I can give him proper credit when I post Kaboom. Vraiment une tres bonne adaptation (veillez excuser l'absence d'accents dans mon browser):)

     

    yes, Guillaume Tello is the author of MLC. Perfect french ;)

    OK then :) Thanks.

  8. Posted

    Does anybody know how many digits there are in front of and behind the decimal point in a TI FP number?

     

    Or, is it dynamic (i.e. "floating point" ;))

     

    Thanks

    Dynamic. Radix 100.

    Overall size: 64 bits

    Power: 8 bits

    14 significant digits (total, front and back)

     

    :)

     

    Bruce Harrison wrote a great article on Radix 100 in his Art of Assembly series. It's available for download on the WHT ftp site (ftp.wht.com).

  9. Posted

    Agreed. I quite like it - although the way -tive values are represented are a pain in the ass (only the first two bytes inverted, the rest not)

     

    Mark

     

    It's also a royal PAIN to use the built-in FP routines in assembly language. They're hard-coded to use the scratchpad in various places and the various functions are scattered between GPLLNK and XMLLNK respectively.

     

    GPLLNK is particularly annoying to use. I know people have written custom GPLLNK routines, would be good to see one that isn't as difficult to manage as the original.

     

    Adamantyr

    There is also a bug in the FCOMP function which consistently gives you incorrect results. I kind of got used to these routines after a while, and they are really not that bad once you get past the initial shock :D

  10. Posted

    Is Guillaume Tello really the name of the author of MLC? That would be something he he... I want to make sure so I can give him proper credit when I post Kaboom. Vraiment une tres bonne adaptation (veillez excuser l'absence d'accents dans mon browser):)

  11. Posted

    TO DO:

    - Scores (moves)

    - Highscores and current level saved into a file

    - Small animation and sound when a level is finished

    - 30 levels (minimum)

    - There is still a strange bug when you move a 3-tiles block

     

    Now, I can call it finished! :)

     

    RUSH_HOUR3.zip

    Damn! I'm going to have to update the gameshelf site again much sooner than I expected! And the beauty of it is that most of the material I have has been recent projects! I can definitely tell that the TI is currently undergoing a renaissance :) Can I assume that you are OK with your program being posted on the site?

  12. Posted

    I have that COMPUTE! edition. I just dug it out of a box that has been sitting in the attic for literally 23 years. Seems I had a subscription to COMPUTE! for most of the mid 80's. I'll make a scan of the article tonight. For understanding the program, the Amiga code actually looks like the more promising since it does not use line numbers, and thus has descriptive labels and better use of GOSUB and functions. Anyway, I'll scan all the code versions.

    Thanks Matt! :lust:

  13. Posted

    The 3D effects on board and numbers actually looks quite cool. Maybe even more so when adding stars in the background. Again I would have to play with them colors again. Arghhh ...

     

    Nice touch having other items scattered like a meteor, spaceships and a relaxing alien - hehehe, at first I thought there were something wrong with that ship.

    Go for it! We are vision oriented mammals afterall :D

  14. Posted

    MLC compiler is really special. It's not a basic compiler. It's a special language, very near to assembler ( in the structure ). The advantage is you can use in it directly your XB basic program, and it's really fast.

     

    Ex :

     

    To change the background color from 1 to 15 :

     

    in basic :

     

    For I=1 to 15

    call screen(i)

    next i

     

    in MLC :

     

    =I1 Step I= 1

    La Label A

    &SI Call screen I

    II I=I+1

    CI5 !>a IF NOT I>15 GOTO Label A

     

    But there are more interesting functions :

     

    ex : to test limit of X for a sprite

     

    Basic :

     

    X=X+1

    IF X<1 THEN X=1

    IF X>256 THEN X=256

     

    MLC :

     

    (X1.256

    I'm sorry to say I find this syntax really obtuse :( So who wrote this "language" and where is it documented?

  15. Posted

    Actually no, the TI was still supported at the time, but it did not have the necessary resolution in XB to allow that kind of game. It definitely seems interesting from the description but the online Compute! archive unfortunately does not include the program listings... If anyone here happens to have that issue and is willing to make copies of the listing for the PCJr, I would love to get it from you. I could then type it in and see if how it compares to my game.

    Thanks for the reference :)

    I'm in the progress of typing in the Apple II version.

    Are you talking about the torrent version of the archive or something else? The torrent definitely has listings.

    I was not aware there was a torrent for Compute available. I generally stay away from torrents for security reasons but I'll look it up anyway. Thanks.

  16. Posted

    I just played the game in Classic 99 and it seems to be quite faithful to the Atari VCS classic (and just as frustrating). Well done! Would you mind if I posted it on the tigameshelf.net site? Also can you give me some more information about the MLC compiler? I am only familiar with Harry Wilhelm's one.

  17. Posted · Edited by Vorticon

    This looks fantastic! Is control now with just the joysticks? It looks like a complete game to me, so I was wondering when you were going to release it. Also, I think that it should be quite playable with joysticks alone and there is no need to interface paddles unless someone really wants to.

     

    Edit: Never mind. I see you already posted it :ponder:

  18. Posted

    Is this your final version or are you still tweaking it?

     

    Not finished.

     

    TO DO:

    - Scores (moves)

    - Highscores and current level saved into a file

    - Small animation and sound when a level is finished

    - 30 levels (minimum)

    - There is still a strange bug when you move a 3-tiles block

    Really looking forward to seeing the finished product :)

  19. Posted

    I studied the linker (LD) manual. Now the code loads at >A000 instead of >6000 and it can be run on real hardware. :ponder:

     

    Three levels, press (N)ext or (P)revious to switch, (space) to select a block and (ESDX) to move.

    Rules: Push the red block to the exit.

     

    RUSH_HOUR2.zip

    Is this your final version or are you still tweaking it?

  20. Posted

    Are there any pre-connection configuration settings to adjust? So long as the terminal program is negotiating with the UDS100 device, the echo shouldn't be a problem. When you say 'parallel network adapter' to what are you referring? :)

    I tried turning echo off without any effect. On my PCJr, I use an external network adapter on the parallel port and a TCP/IP suite of software written by Mike Brutman that gives the Jr the ability to connect to the internet and do telnet, ftp, IRC etc... Mike also wrote an ftp server program for it which is what I use to transfer programs to and from the internet. The Jr's telnet program works just fine without any tweaking when I connect to the Heatwave BBS or The Keep.

  22. Posted

    For a somewhat similar game, check out Compute #74 (July, 1986) Hex War

    I think that was after they dropped the TI so it's probably just for Apple II, Atari, C64, and IBM.

    It could be an interesting project for someone.

    Actually no, the TI was still supported at the time, but it did not have the necessary resolution in XB to allow that kind of game. It definitely seems interesting from the description but the online Compute! archive unfortunately does not include the program listings... If anyone here happens to have that issue and is willing to make copies of the listing for the PCJr, I would love to get it from you. I could then type it in and see if how it compares to my game.

    Thanks for the reference :)

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