Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

Robert M

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    1,533

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Robert M

  1. Posted

    Very interesting. I have been itching to do an RPG for the VCS. I want to focus on my 1K entry for the minigame competition, but after that I would be interested in having a go with your display engine. Do you have a way to see the combat kernel in the demo binary?

     

    Have you considered 4A50 banking? I could probably supply you with a cartridge for development if you want, or you can use a CC2 or a modified Z26.

     

     

    I will certainly have a look at it when I switch to the RPG project. I don't want to think about it right now. I need to stay focused on my 1K game if I am going to have any chance of meeting the end of the month deadline.

     

    Cheers!

     

    Rob

  2. Posted · Edited by Robert M

    Hi Paul,

     

    Very interesting. I have been itching to do an RPG for the VCS. I want to focus on my 1K entry for the minigame competition, but after that I would be interested in having a go with your display engine. Do you have a way to see the combat kernel in the demo binary?

     

    Cheers!

    Rob

  7. Posted

    Milestone 1: March

    Milestone 2: April

    Milestone 3: May

    Alpha test: July

    Beta test: August

    Release: October

     

    Here we are half way through April and Milestone 1 is still MIA. That schedule is just impossibly tight. Especially since they are planning to use a script generated code base. I think there are some serious technical issues to overcome in trying to do that. Script generated code is notoriously larger an slower than hand written code. The 2600 is short on both processor time and memory resources. How will the the script generated code be partitioned between the memory banks? The scripts will need to be smart enough to solve that problem. Also, how will you limit the execution time of the scripted code to guarantee that the TV display will remain stable, but the game will remain responsive enough to be playable? These sorts of problems are not insurmountable, but they will take time. I would see a project of this size taking until 2Q 2008 give or take 6 months with 5 to 10 hours given to it per week. I hope they do succeed, but I don't see the original timing as realistic.

     

    Cheers!

  8. Posted

    How do you get the dragons to stay in the castle with the sword in there with them?

     

    Cheers!

     

    Aye, there's the rub! It would be good if folk could try to figure this out themselves first, so...

     

    *SPOILER WARNING*

     

    First you have to get the bat carrying a live dragon - then you can use the sword to kill it without it running away. Then get the bat to carry the corpse into the castle, and swap it for an object in the middle of the screen. Do this for all three dragons, and afterwards take all other objects bar the bat and chalice to the castle. Leave the chalice just outside the door and release the bat inside (release the bat from the bottom of the screen so that it flies up - otherwise it might leave the castle again). Go outside, then press reset and carry the chalice in before the now alive dragons can get to the edge of the screen!

     

    I've tried to figure a way of doing it without pressing reset, but have so far failed... Any takers?

     

     

    Have you tried living the sword outside with the chalice, and then stack them up and do the old double push into the castle?

  10. Posted

    All we need is a clean sub forum to start from.

     

    Overall I think this is an excellent idea. Only, why not just continue the threads we already have? I've already been posting personal updates to some, even if it was already after the deadline :)

     

    Fair enough, but there may be something to be said for reseting the whole business once in a while to prevent it from getting clogged and hard to navigate. Maybe, once per year start a new subforum for that year?

  11. Posted

    How about an informal system. If there is a game you like, then create a thread and post your score. Other people can discus and post their scores for that game in the thread for that game. There is no time limit on a game and no formal rankings for the club. You can tally your own rankings if you want to and post them to a common meeting place thread pinned to the top of the forum. You can post a new high score whenever you happen to get one. Sort of a play as you go thing, and you don't have to wait to start posting scores for your own favorite game. All we need is a clean sub forum to start from.

     

    Cheers!

  13. Posted

    If I may make a suggestion for a format change. What if the top twenty players from the last season all pick a game at once. Then we create a sub forum for season four. In that sub forum we add a thread for each of the 20 games. The player that picks the game can post and maintain the thread for that game to distribute the work load for the club using the standard format that Zero uses to post a new game minus the ranking information because it won't matter at the start.

     

    All games are then in play simultaneously for a period of 4 months. If you have a new high score in a game you post to the thread for that game. You MUST have a higher score to post in the thread. At the end of 4 months we count for each game the people in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions on each game (should usually be the last three posts, minus errors and personal improvements). Each 1st place is worth 5 points. Each second place is worth 3 points, and each third place is worth 1 points.

     

    There should be an additional thread in the season sub forum for chatting and asking questions about any game active that season. The game threads should be exclusively for posting new higher scores.

     

    Goals:

    - I think this approach will yield less work for the manager of the club. Scores are only tabulated once, and they should

    almost always be the last 3 posts in each thread.

    - If you are really into a game you have 4 months to compete and don't miss out if you are on a trip or something.

     

    There is a minor negative. If you score in what would be the current second place, then you can not post in the thread. You must surplant the existing high score to get into the rankings. I think that difference makes for an exciting shoot-out style of season.

     

    We could push to have season 4 start this way on May 1st and run until the last day of August.

     

    Any takers?

  14. Posted

    Thanks Tom. I found a ton of information here:

     

    http://www.atarihq.com/danb/files/TIA_HW_Notes.txt

     

    The section "Playing with the HMOVE registers" describes this problem in detail. Here's an excerpt from it:

     

    The extra HBlank time shifts everything except the Playfield

    right by 8 pixels, because the position counters will now

    resume counting 8 CLK later than they would have without the

    HMOVE. This is also the source of the HMOVE 'comb' effect;

    the extended HBlank hides the normal playfield output for the

    first 8 pixels of the line.

     

    Day dreaming here. :ponder: If they had considered adding a HMOVE register for the playfield that would shift the display -8 to +7 pixels on every line. Smooth horizontal scrolling would have been doable, and the vertical HMOVE bar on the left would hide data being scrolled on or off the screen. :love: Ah the possibilities.

  15. Posted

    Hello,

     

    I have received PMs from 3 people. As I told them, I will be out of town for work for a week. I will be back on the 10th and I will determine if any of them are working. At that point I will offer a working unit (if any) to those who have asked in the order they have asked. I am glad to save these computers from the scrap pile.

     

    Cheers!

  16. Posted

    Hello,

     

    My workplace is closing down. In the back storage area there are 3 or 4 PET CBM 4032 computers. I do not know if they are in working order. I would certainly clean them up some and plug them in an see if they work if anyone is interested. They are slated to be scrapped. I will send one or more to you for the price of shipping. Let me know.

     

    Cheers!

  19. Posted

    If we are limiting the discussion to titles released by Atari, then the award should go to the entire Swordquest series. If we are talking about all the releases for the Atari 2600, then I would have to vote for Skeet Shoot. I think the Mcdonalds prototype is more fun than that game. People voting for average games like E.T., Pac-Man or Galaxian need to get out and experience the true depth and breadth of crappy titles available for the 2600.

     

    Cheers!

  21. Posted

    Having the different sizes staggered over the year got me thinking. It might be interesting to have a sub category where you enter a game at 1K, then again at 4K and again at 8K each time using the additional memory to add or improve features to the orignal 1K concept. Kind of an evolution of game design thing.

  23. Posted

    Xfraction = Xfraction + Xadjust 

    Xpos = Xpos + Xadjust + carry from previous addition.

    Shouldn't that be:

    Xpos = Xpos + carry from previous addition?

     

    Sorry Thomas, I edited that mistake. It should be:

     

    Xfraction = Xfraction + Xvelocity

    Xpos = Xpos + Xadjust + Carry from previous addition.

     

    Sorry for the confusion.

  24. Posted · Edited by Robert M

    If Xvelocity is negative THEN  // The MSB is set.

         Xadjust = $FF      // for a negative velocity you must extend the sign to 16-bits.

    ENDIF

    I don't get this part. Negative velocity works exactly like positive one.

     

    I was skimping in my example, probably a bad idea to teach the concept, but my urge to save a byte of RAM won out. ;) In the example, I am using only 8 bits to hold the velocity rather than 16. Since the velocity is a signed value I need to extend the sign bit of the 8-bit velocity make a 16-bit value before I can add it to the 16-bit position.

     

    EDIT: A better name than Xadjust would have been Xsignextend

     

    Cheers!

  25. Posted · Edited by Robert M

    I think what Thomas is referring to is better described as fixed-point math. For fixed point math you do all math as integer math and then slap a decimal point in at a fixed bit position every thing to the right of the decimal magically becomes a fraction, and the left side is the integer you use to draw the object on the screen.

     

    Let's keep things simple and assume you are using a 16-bit X-position value. The decimal point will be conveniently placed between the 2 bytes.

     

    Xwhole = [Xpos]:[Xfraction]

     

    Now you need to declare an X velocity as a single byte holding a signed byte value.

    Each time you are going to add the velocity to the you must do this:

     

    Xadjust = 0

    If Xvelocity is negative THEN // The MSB is set.

    Xadjust = $FF // for a negative velocity you must extend the sign to 16-bits.

    ENDIF

     

    Xfraction = Xfraction + Xvelocity

    Xpos = Xpos + Xadjust + carry from previous addition.

     

    Then use the XPos byte to position the object on screen.

    NOTE: it will take at least 2 updates to change Xpos by 1 pixel. To get a higher velocity for the object you need to either add Xvelocity multiple times each display frame, or extend it to 16 bits just like Xwhole.

     

    Repeat this technique for the Y axis.

     

    Doing gravity is another problem entirely, and I will have to think about it and propose a solution later. Basically you need to find a quick way to calculate the distance from the gravity source to the object = SQRT(Xdiff^2 +Ydiff ^2) = nasty :P , and then mulitply that times some gravitational factor for the object yielding an acceleration that you must proportionally divide between Xvelocity and Yvelocity based on the angle of the object to the source.

     

    The real question is, how realistic does this need to be? Are you willing to go with an approximation of gravity or do you need a NASA grade simulation?

     

    Cheers!

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...