Pengwin
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Posts posted by Pengwin
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Spoof of IK+ on You Tube:
(Very Funny)
Brilliant, that brought a smile to my face
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Thanks Forrest,
I'd just found them, I'm now trying to see if I can source one in the UK. The XtraView looks to be the best as it also takes the audio via USB.
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Due to the lack of space after the move, I've been trying to find a way to use my iMac as a monitor for my 800XL. Unfortunately, I seem unable to find a device with OSX drivers.
Does anyone know if drivers are needed for such a device?
If not, is the USB 2.0 High Resolution Video Grabber from Digitus any good?
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Though clearly lacking compared to the greats above, I still also play Ninja. Still can't get that tune out of my head!
I'd forgotten all about Ninja. As you said, not in the same class as IK, but it wasn't meant to be that sort of game. It was more a a platformer/beat-em-up. Another of Mastertronics classics.
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I like Ben Heck's laptops, but Beetle's gets my vote. It looks like an Atari made product
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The one I played most back in the 80's was International Karate. Loved that game.
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Thanks for the quick replies guys. I may try some experiments with scrolling when I have some spare time.
Out of curiosity, did any other computers of that era also have something like customisable display lists? Or was this a peculiarity of the Atari?
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OK, after 20 years, I have finally got my head around custom display lists and DLI's. Using Quick makes DLI's and VBI's so easy. However, there are a couple of things I'm still not clear about.
What do the VSCROLL and HSCROLL bits do?
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What is your avatar anyway ?????
It's a tripods foot...one of the things I am also doing, as well as writing the games is modelling a Tripod for advertising on my web site, and probably for the manual, if I get around to writing on. So far, I have only done the legs and the underside of the body:
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Changed your avatar.....again!
Hehe...I wondered how long till you noticed.
I like to change it every now and then to keep people on their toes
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Pengwin - surely the reason ant attack is mono is because the game is isometric and the attribute layout on the speccy screen is orthogonal, not becuase Sandy wanted to make a mono game!?!? Just look at Realm of Impossibility (Zombies) or other iso games on the A8 like Bluemax to see how the 160 wide mode would look ideal for iso games!
I liked the CPC screenshots of Tripods BTW...
That's kind of the thing, I prefer the spectrum graphics of The Tripods over the CPC version. I think the higher res suits it. But you have given me something to think about, particularly at this stage of development, where I can change my mind without having to rework much.
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I'm nor sure I see why converting games from the speccy requires use of Mode 8, just because the resolutions are near seems a pretty slim reason to go that route. I would sugest that using the A8's features would result in a great game, based upon a speccy one, not a pixel copy...
The gameplay was NOT defined by the resolution, just the rather limited visual quality. Not that I would want to deter any homebrewer of course, plough your own path. I've not seen the jetpac demo yet, but the VIC 20 version done at 160X192 was a FANTASTIC version.
sTeVE
I'm not suggesting all spectrum ports should be mode 8. As I said, I would look at using a multi colour mode for Cookie.
The reason why i suggested mode 0 or mode 8 for Ant Attack was that it was primarily a mono game anyway. At least in the main gameplay area. Looking at it again, if I were to attempt this conversion, I would still probably use mode 0 for the main area, although I would use a colour mode for the status area. To get the same kind of view in the play area, I'm not sure how it could be achieved without a high res mode.
The reason for mode 8 in The Tripods is just that I started playing with the idea in mode 8 and haven't really thought about doing it in any other mode.
I do admit though, the Vic-20 version does look good.
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Well, while we're at it, I might as well mention one of my favourite Spectrum games: "Dynamite Dan II: Dr Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum" by Mirrorsoft.
That's one I'd love to see on the A8. I suspect that it would be tricky to do well, though.
That's part of the problem, I think. Turning the Spectrum action games to the Atari. OK, so we have player missile graphics, but the speccy had a constant high resolution throughout all of it's games. So in doing the ports, we have to take the colour depth/resolution compromise into consideration.
If (and that's only an 'IF') I were to try Ant Attack, I would probably forgo PM graphics and use Graphics mode 0 for most of the gameplay area. I believe Sandy White did the game with UDF's rather than hires graphics, so it should work the same way. Plus, the graphics are relatively small, so the animation should be quite simple.
Other games, such as Cookie, I would probably consider mode 9 or 10 for the playfield and 'bad guys', whilst multiple sprites to make the main character and the flour bombs look better. But that's only a quick idea, I've not really looked into it.
For The Tripods, I am using Graphics mode 8 exclusively, which seems to work with this style of game.
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I just had a mail from Chris about this. Looks great, just a pity I can't read Polish.
Still, I guess it means I have to get on with it now and get the Atari one finished ASAP.
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It would be cool to see some other Spectrum titles ported over (properly, unlike the Jet Set Willy farce).
... I may look at porting others.
How's about "Ant Attack"?
http://sandywhite.co.uk/fun/ants/
Regards,
Mark
Now there's a challenge.
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I could also find this useful. I have been trying to contact the copyright holders to The Tripods, but so far, no-one has bothered to reply.
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...Lords of Midnight.
I spent hours on that game, and also on the sequel, "Doomdark's Revenge".
There was a lot of UK coding talent around in the 80s.
I feel that the 80's talent for coding was some of the best because there were no 'rules' nor restrictions. If someone wanted to write a game, they could...often in the comfort of their own home. And a lot of the games went off in completely radical directions (Pimania springs to mind here). Also there were new things to produce, again I mention Lords of Midnight for the amazing technical feat that hadn't been accomplished before.
This is one of the reasons why I like retro computers so much, even now, the games remind us of the inginuity of programmers back then.
Writing games professionally now seems to be something akin to producing a film, with a credit list almost as long. 20 years ago, the credit list would be one, two, or very occasionally, three names long. Hell, even I've fallen into the 'overkill trap' by producing a complete website about a game that's only just begun production
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As a quick aside, I am currently working of a port of the Spectrum game The Tripods. If this goes well, I may look at porting others.
Hej Pengwin,
Good luck with your project. Using Quick, Turbo BASIC XL?
I've started to code the project using Quick. I did look at doing it in Kyan Pascal or Turbo Basic XL, but they are too slow for the landscaping methods to draw the screens. I also need to free up as much memory as possible to have a map of 4096 locations, and as Quick's runtime is fairly small (as opposed to Kyan's) this should allow me to do this.
Fortunately, being a port, I am ripping the graphics directly from the Spectrum version, but I do intend to enhance the game a little by adding a little more intelligence to the Tripods, as well as increasing their number, and doing the same with the Black Guards. I also would like to add shops inn more appropriate places and give the player a little more freedom as to what they can do.
I'll just have to see if I can fit it all into 64K!!! If anyone is interested in this project, I have set up a sub-site in the Krazy Pengwin web site, the link to it is http://www.krazypengwin.co.uk/thetripodsproject/
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The Spectrum had some very good games that never made it to the A8.
That was one of the biggest shames about the games in the 80's. The fact that most (not all) A8 games come from the US, whilst most Spectrum games were home grown here (in them UK), meant that some ports that should have happened, never did.
It would be cool to see some other Spectrum titles ported over (properly, unlike the Jet Set Willy farce).
I always thought it a shame that we never got Manic Miner or Lords of Midnight.
As a quick aside, I am currently working of a port of the Spectrum game The Tripods. If this goes well, I may look at porting others.
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The early Ultimate games were some of my favourites on the Spectrum, in fact Cookie was the first computer game I ever bought.
I believe a 'port' of Jetpac was attempted on the A8 before, but it doesn't do the game any justice.
It can be found here
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Just watched the vid. As a direct port so far, it's pretty good, although it does appear to be a little slow compared to the Spectrum version. I like the act that even the flicker, that is present in the Spectrum original, is also there.
I look forward to seeing the updated versions.
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Any chance you could convert the video file to Quicktime or divx? I can't view it on my Mac and I would love to see the progress you are making on a port of this game.
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As I said in the other thread, I like this new look. It's much easier on the eye and navigation is a snap. Well done.
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Ok, it took a while, but I found time to search for the Quick magazines. The routine for texts in Gr.8 is on magazine 10 if I remember right.
The texts all are in German, but the routines should work with other languages too
Wow! thanks. I shall enjoy looking over these, whilst improving my german
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AdventureWriter Save/Load Question
in Atari 8-Bit Computers
Posted
Hi Yorgle,
I have recreated your problem by selecting Save Adventure, hen trying to reload it with Load Database.
To save an adventure for later editing, you need to use the Save Database option.
The Save Adventure option is for creating stand alone adventures for distribution.