TwentySixHundred

Cheers Karl, yeah for some reason the file is 1kb larger? I usually just compile and run straight from ADS so i hadn't really taken notice of the compiled files. So now my findings is that i can't manually run the .bin file i posted in A7800 as it's just returning an error. Further more i can run the .A78 however the quality looks drastically bad compared to the built in A7800 with ADS. I have no idea why i can't run the files properly in the same quality as the built in emulator of ADS. Anyway here is the .A78 file 👍 Having said that it's showing 512kb when uploaded here... Strange lol

Well i think it's time to give a playable demo now that i have level 1 complete. Rather then showing a demo video and spoiling, i thought those who are interested in the progress can have a play around. The game is far from complete and i work on it in dribs and drabs when i have time. So progress is happening but obviously with 7800 things take a little longer the 2600. Anyway enemy AI needs some attention and i really should start focusing on some sound effects to add some atmosphere. It's a little easy at the moment however, it's only level 1 and i will be making the game harder when it matures. Im happy with the progress so far, cheers 👍

Cheers mate, all good atleast i know whats going on and obviously Maria is drawing the priority sprites first 👍

Thanks Mike, yeah im guessing the later explanation is probably the case. I am plotting a string of text, two scores along with three sprites and "maptiles" within that one zone. I guessing im hitting a sprite limitation per zone of Maria's? Having said that the first to be plotted is the screendata "restorescreen" function followed by the lives "helmet" sprites and text/numeric strings followed by the players sprite. I guess i could always try plotting those sprites after the players srite and see what happens. Either or as it's only the status bar it's not a major issue, however i was a bit confused as to why the maptiles were taking priority on that one row alone 👍

Hi guys back again with another question. For some reason or another im finding the top row my maptiles (alphadata) are taking priority over certain sprites. So the player sprite is actually going behind the displayed tiles and only on the top row? Im a little confused because i haven't changed anything other then creating a pattern for those tiles as a status bar

Ok so i went back and reused the xpos and ypos variables which literally took about 2 min to alter the code. Works flawless, saved 7 variables and halved the amount of code from before... It's staring at me clear as day as to why i never thought of this earlier. So simple and elegant im feeling like such a boofhead for even asking the question lol. Anyway atleast i learnt something tonight 👍

Thanks for the explanation about complex statements mike 👍 Yeah im always trying to save RAM and save cycles to take as much load off the main game engine as possible. Probably not really worth worrying too much about saving a few cycles here and there at this point until the game matures. Never thought to reuse the tileunder x and y variables then just maintain the tile ID variables. Makes sense though as they only really need to be temps once i have stored the ID values. Move onto the next then rinse and repeat Might go have a play around with reusing those variables, once again cheers 👍

Ok guys so im using peekchar to determine walkable maptiles and was thinking the other night there has to be a way to optimize my code a little. Im using 5 points of reference around the player to calculate the surrounding maptiles. That's 3x5 (15) variables at work, well 14 because i reuse 1 of them as the return value would be the same. All 14 are making calculations every frame in the mainloop (feels wasteful). Anyway for example this part of the code is two reference points for each leg a of walkable maptiles. Im reusing the ypos as it never cahnges to save the variable however have two separate variables for the two xpos locations. This had me thinking for all 5 points i dont see why i couldn't use 2 variables in total for calculating the neutral central point of the player then adjust accordingly when checking the ID using peekchar. Stripped down example below. dim tileunderLx = var12 dim tileunderRx = var13 dim tileundery = var14 dim tileunderL_ID = var15 dim tileunderR_ID = var16 mainloop blah blah blah tileunderLx=(playerx+4)/8 ; left foot tileunderRx=(playerx+12)/8 ; right foot tileundery=(playery+32)/16 ; ypos tileunderL_ID=peekchar(screendata,tileunderLx,tileundery,20,12) ; tile under left foot tileunderR_ID=peekchar(screendata,tileunderRx,tileundery,20,12) ; tile under right foot blah blah blah goto mailoop That's all well and good however when i try something like this to eliminate the need of two separate xpos variables i get a bad argument error. For example dim tileunderx = var13 dim tileundery = var14 dim tileunderL_ID = var15 dim tileunderR_ID = var16 mainloop blah blah blah tileunderx=(playerx+8)/8 ; central location of both tileundery=(playery+32)/16 ; ypos tileunderL_ID=peekchar(screendata,(tileunderx-4),tileundery,20,12) ; tile under left foot - offset minus 4 tileunderR_ID=peekchar(screendata,(tileunderx+4),tileundery,20,12) ; tile under right foot - offset plus 4 blah blah blah goto mailoop In my head it would make sense to save a boat load of variables and just calculating the central point of the player sprite. Then from here just add or subtract the offset locations when using peekchar to find a tiles ID location. I just feel like im making alot of calculations and wasting resources when the offset value never changes. Cheers -Anthony

Wow congrats @Alasdair Campbell (BSc.) on cracking the 20k mark! I knew it was possible, well done 👍

Well as i never uploaded the Fairmont picture i thought i would Now for my new pride and joy that i picked up today at the right price Ford Fairlane BF 2006

Great stuff! I guess sometimes it pays off to take a chance, as it could always be a simple fix. Happy to hear you got it working and saved yourself some euros. It shows the solid build quality of Atari products, they just keep going flawlessly. I have been given a connection to what seems like a reputable source so once i get a chance i will try making contact with them No envy on my part just glad to hear you landed a great deal 👍

Thanks mate, much appreciated and im glad you enjoyed City Defence along with the other games. Great scores by the way 👍

Yeah i was interested in PAL but at the same time would rather NTSC mainly for the reason i code my programs predominantly for NTSC. So when the 7800 SD flash carts hit the market i could test my NTSC ROMs on real hardware. As for 2600 titles id just buy a Harmony cart to test and load with NTSC originals. Yeah as i mentioned above to mimo NTSC is my preferred choice mainly for homebrew testing. The refresh rate isn't much of an issue as i have an LED TV that supports 60Hz and has component-in. Also as you said there is adapters to step-up 50-60Hz for the PSU and i had read somewhere even a 50Hz PSU is fine as long as the output voltage is correct. I thought the rusty screws was the worst part of the console in that listing. However looking at the RF connector shows more of the true condition of the console. They said it was tested but you can see the oxidation had never been touched (AFAICS). There should be atleast some flaking if tested from the cable and im not even sure a signal would even make it through all that oxidation. I agree the Alloy face plate would be hard to find without scratches, as with the 2600jrs but $280 for a console in that state seems a bit steep IMO. Would hate to see what the mainboard PCB looked like. Either way it looks rough

Well i have been looking for the past few months to acquire a decent 7800. The prices on ebay here in Australia are a complete joke... Fair enough they're fairly rare however listings like this bring a tear to the eye ;( Really have no idea how they're expecting $280 for the system when it looks like it's been submerged in a lake for the past 30 years lol. Starting to think im better off buying something decent from the states and paying the shipping fees. Although that wont be cheap. Atleast it will be NTSC rather then PAL which id prefer

Thanks for the kind words mate, yeah it's not a 1 for 1 of the original but has the aesthetics. Basically will be my take on Captain Comic and there is a high chance the name of the game will change when i get further into it. There will probably be some completely new enemies and somewhat of a hybrid of both CC1 and CC2. Anyway guess we will see how it pans out Thanks @willbilly and no stress about the later scans. Not sure which box art i like more, out of the original or the sequel as both look great! Very helpful though, as it helps give some ideas as to what direction it could take 👍

And... we're cooking with gas once again Manually installed the update - tested - exports .png files successfully on my end. Once again cheers mate

Cheers Matt, thanks for looking into it - much appreciated 👍

Great to know i wasn't the only one

Having said all that i think you're onto something with this game Lewis. The fact we are all beating ourselves up to try and complete the level, shows our desire to play the game. Great stuff 👍

Exactly! The game looks great, it makes me want to play it and i want to beat it . The rage kicks in after making it a decent ways through and losing all my lives. That's all well and good, until restarting and blowing out 3 of my lives on the first few screens again 😄. Personally i think if the first checkpoint was a little easier to reach, it will lower the punishment 😉

Yeah the difficulty is no joke with EXO however i just keep going back for more punishment

Cheers mate, it's Anthony btw 👍

Hi Matt, im having an issue when trying to export a sprite. It's saying "An error occurred: undefined". It saves the sprite with no issues however it throws the error when exporting. Cheers

Brilliant score! Im sure cracking 20k is possible and was trying last night. In regards to not getting the snapshot of a high score, i did that last night and had to rerun for the 16k i got lol. OBS on captured the top half of the screen and i didn't noticed while playing, so the footage was useless and needed to rerun. I feel your pain with that one...

The 5th demo of Captain Comic showing the first 10 screens of level 1. The design of the screens were mapped out properly on graph paper and Paint.NET to help get more of a fluent level design. The plan is to atleast complete level 1 before releasing a ROM, cheers 👍