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Mike Harris

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Posts posted by Mike Harris

  2. Posted

    Mike, I do not advertise my own stuff like that, even in support threads. As to colors, you can use any palette you like with ColEm, just provide your own .pal file. Can't say much about how accurate scanlines are compared to other emulators, did not run any specialized tests for that. But that is not exactly the response you were expecting, right?

    Actually when I read my previous entry I did not specify COLEM. I just assumed because it is the only emulator I use to be the most accurate.

     

    When I tried my game on a real ADAM all the colors were an eye sore which put me back 2 months of hard work.

    It was either take liberties with my port or scrap the game altogether all because the palette was not accurate to reality.

    How about one last question...

    Are the colors that come with COLEM 4.6, downloaded from your website, for the PC an accurate representation of a real RASTER TV, NTSC, in the United States at 3.58 mhz running off Channel 3.

     

  3. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Mike, you might want to ask your question in a separate forum thread. Since I've started this thread mostly for ColEm release announcements and support, you are looking for somewhat off-topic information.

    Sorry, I thought it was about COLEM itself and not an advertisement.

     

    In that 2 seconds you said to go somewhere else you could have just said, my emulator has the most accurate colors. Which unto itself would have been an advertisement.

     

    That's fine, thanks for your time.

     

    Oh, BTW....Is telling me that you have the most accurate colors and setting up scan lines support?

     

     

    Again, thank you for your time.

  4. Posted

    Which emulator has the most accurate palette as well as the most accurate settings for scan lines or whatever in order to have the best representation on a raster based television.

    The current game I am developing I had to change the colors due to differences between the A2600 and Coleco which can be hard on the eye's if not done right.

  5. Posted

    Thank you for the help.
    I am rewriting some some code and optimizing a lot to make things faster.

    As far as the Atari version of Adventure and it's limitations I had to write the Coleco version from scratch as well as the graphics and sound despite being similar.

    Aspect ratio and colors are different so I have to take liberties.

    In my version the rooms are completely drawn on one scan line then you are free to move about the room without having to bother about it ever again.

     

    Objects are drawn after the room and I am looking at better ways to do that but for the amount of object currently cause no speed issues but if I were to go up to 255 I suspect it would slow down.

    My engine is great for the size of Adventure or DOUBLE the size of the original Adventure but if I were to go more intensive I probably could not get away with it.

    Either way I will come in under 32k and will do everything I can to be polished and bug free.

  7. Posted

    In the C coding guide or by experience.

     

    Which command or what collision routine do you guys use for when a sprite is colliding or over a pattern.

     

    I have some ideas but it's those damn offsets because the sprite position is the upper left hand corner.

     

    Would love to hear your thoughts and input.

     

    TIA

     

  8. Posted

    Bypass $200 and print your own Zaxxon Box, slap some instructions and a DDP in it.

    I hate to be a snooze Berry but I had all 3 and threw them away 30 or so years ago.

    I bid on an auction recently where I won an EXP 3/Coleco and a Disk Drive for $305.
    In an email from the lady told me that Power Supply, Instructions and Software were not in the picture yet were included.
    Then I found out she divided all that up and was selling it separate. I said that I would at least like the manual to the disk drive and she said no.
    I had her cancel the sale which she did.

    The next week she sold it for I think $153 so she ended up losing over $150 because of a manual that she could have easily given me.

    Point is that you need to walk away from these things because people want to milk you for every dime they can knowing that the nostalgia community are suckers for these things and will pay top dollar for what amounts to 35 year old electronics that may or may not work.

  11. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    You sound like you were stuck in the blue wall as a blue square.

    I hate to press you but was this on a real Coleco or ADAM?

    I have found that every emulator I use yields different results.

     

    Oddly enough, despite the actual size of the game at Super Game Level I am only using 98 bytes of the full 1k with 60 rooms.

    My mapping system can currently use up to 255 rooms but who wants Adventure with that much traveling.

    Once I get the offset and Castle issue solved I will release an update with the other objects engaged.

     

    The Super Game so far has 6 Castles, 6 Dragons, 6 keys, 3 Bats, 4 Treasures, Bridge, Magnet and Sword.
    The Super Game Level will also have slightly better textures.

     

    Despite being a free game I want it to be polished.


    But for now break it as much as you can but I really do need to know what emulator, if it runs on actual equipment as how well everyone likes the colors because some things from the A2600 you can't do on a Coleco.

    If there is a color scheme on a real television that is pleasing to peoples eye's then I would love some input on that.


    Thanks people for your input.

  12. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Question...
    Is this on an Emulator if so which one or on a real Colecovision.

    Stuck in walls is an offset problem which I am working on due to mapping the sprite to the background tiles.

     

    Diagonal movement works but that does not go through the collision detection as of yet.

    Thanks for noticing the bounce.
    The character also changes color per room as well.

  14. Posted

    No ColecoVision cartridge game broke the 32K barrier until CollectorVision released Mario Bros. using the MegaCart PCB. I think this was around 2008.

     

    I take your word and I would believe that too but he worked at Coleco and also said it shipped broken.

    I just remember loving the game at the time and when I made my backup way back then it came out to 32k.

     

  16. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    This is just a preview of my version before I even knew about the Opcode version.

    There are 3 other levels 2 others in the original as well as the Super Game Level which doubles the map, monsters, several new objects.

    Monsters and most objects disabled.

    I just wanted to show what I accomplished in two months between December last year and February.

    One key is activated just for show and you can leave it anywhere in the entire world as well as every other object.

    At this point I just wanted opinions.

    Once completed the game is 100% free.

     

     

    Test it on a real Colecovision if you dare and let me know results.

     

     

     

    BTW

    Code is already implemented but disabled so I could concentrate on one set of objects at a time.
    Level select and Title is also disabled but you can move around the entire level one map to get a feel.

    As far as the BG color, I tried Grey like the original but it was too loud so I tried blue.

    Project HERO 5.rom

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    I second this motion.

    Although the Programmer's Manual does have information it is neither complete nor does it have examples.

    I have tried all sorts of fooling around within Assembly at a great many hours with little success because I might not be meeting previous criteria as in setting up an address or patterns.

    Shape Tables, Put Frame.... Just a ton of stuff.
    What is true in any forum is that when you are in a company and working on a game there are those who you can go to for tips, advice and knowledge that you will never find in a classroom or an over engineered technical manual.

    Going through past posts from the old Coleco Programmers Yahoo Group there was more participation and now that the new programmers are coming of age it seems no one wrote a guidebook nor has the time to share knowledge. Some even have businesses to run.

    I can not speak for others but If someone wrote a comprehensive programmers guide to the ADAM/Colecovision/SGM in Assembly language with examples then I would pay top dollar for it.

    If I had to suspect then I would bet money that half you guys out there already have tons of code written down already just not compiled and bound together in some Coleco Programmers Bible.

    I swear, I am on fire to make software but I spend days just trying to figure stuff out that you guys have already done years ago just looking at the games you have released and the strain of inching forward is a huge turn off.

  19. Posted

    Can someone provide a mathematical formula or code to wrap text around the screen?

    I have looked all over Coleco and MSX forums but have come up empty.

    Say I have a block of data such as;

     

    DB 00,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,10,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23

     

    So if I shift this all to the right say 6 spaces how can I have this display on the same line when it hits the end of the screen like this example;

     

    18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14 15 16 17

     

    Or if I take away I would do the same but in reverse like this;

     

    06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05

    I have been wracking my brain on this for about month before I bother you guys.

     

     

     

    TIA

    MH

     

  21. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Was the store Active Surplus with the gorilla out front. Sadly the store closed in 2015. In the early 1980s, quite a bit of money was invested in these teletext/videotex systems. They thought everyone would have a terminal in their homes for news, banking, and shopping. These things were strictly character based with a fixed character set, so it doesn't apply to energy quiz.

     

    We still don't know if Energy Quiz was only a proposal, a test project, or something that was actually implemented by the ministry of energy mines, and resources. Maybe, if more people see the game, someone out there might remember it.

     

     

    Yes, I forgot banking as well.

    Chiclet keyboard and character graphics like a Commodore 64. I think down here it was from AT&T.

     

     

    You guys just made me remember. It was called the AT&T Sceptre Videotex Terminal, 1983 | Videotex, teletext.

  22. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Telidon/Teliguide" kiosks?

    I know before I bought my first ADAM there was a department store inside the 163rd street mall named Burdines that I would hang out every day. The salesman allowed me to play and program all their machines from the Vic 20, TI994A and the ADAM because it drove the sales up.

    Anyway I know that one of these devices or something really similar came out in Miami around 1983 that allowed you to go to message boards, time, weather and some basic games like Colossal Cave Adventure which I would play till store closing if I wasn't doing something else. I remember the Vectrex came out around then as well.

    I wish I could track that down but I have yet to see it in the computer history museum website.

  24. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    I posted this originally in the wrong area. As if you are following.

    Here is a sample of my 8 bit Z80 Scrolling.
    Still working out some of the bugs, this is based off of KIWI'S C Code.

    But it does the job for a 64x64 grid

     

    MAP_XY:
    LD HL, 0
    PUSH BC
    LD A, (SCROLL_Y)
    CP 0
    JP Z, Y_WAS_ZERO
    LD B, A
    LD DE, WIDE
    LOOP_Y: ; Scroll Y * Wide
    ADD HL, DE
    DJNZ LOOP_Y
    Y_WAS_ZERO: ;+Scroll X
    POP BC
    LD A, B
    CP 0
    JP Z, FINISH_ADJUST
    LOOP_ROW: ; Wide * ROW
    ADD HL, DE
    DJNZ LOOP_ROW

    FINISH_ADJUST: ; Add to Map Data put in DE for print
    LD BC, (SCROLL_X)
    ADD HL, BC
    LD (SCROLL), HL
    LD HL, NEW_MAP
    LD BC, (SCROLL)
    ADD HL, BC
    EX DE, HL
    RET

     

     

    When calling MAP_XY you have to pass the row in B as in LD B, Row number
    The return values tells where on the 64x64 grid map to print to the screen which prints a 32 column row of data to the screen.

    Do this 24 times and you can create a scrolling world in all 8 directions if done right.
    Now I have to create a double buffer because although it is very fast in pure z80 assemble it still looks choppy moving 8 its at a time.

     

    I am 100% certain I can modify all my code to have a 256x256 scrolling world in 8 directions with any patterns and any color in VRAM.

     

     

    Feel free to give me feedback.

  25. Posted

    When I was a young boy, I remember going on a school trip to Ottawa, where we visited some kind of technology museum. It was a long time ago and my memory is fuzzy, but I do remember playing simple video games set up as kiosks, and these games were created specifically for this museum's exhibit. I believe this Energy Quizz game was made for such a kiosk setup, but I'd have to play it to be sure. If it doesn't use the keypad at all, it means you could plug Atari 2600 controllers into a ColecoVision hidden inside the kiosk, or even build a tabletop controller (built into the kiosk) with arcade machine parts.

     

    Is this the same KIOSK that was in department stores like Jefferson Wards?

    1982 is when I first seen the Colecovision on the KIOSK and next to it was the Intellivision and TI994A.

    They eventually threw them out and I grabbed the controllers because they broke the whole thing into a hundred pieces.

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