Amaurote+ Release

[jhusak]

Hello.

 

I am proud to present you the New! Refreshed! Bugfixed! Speedup! With Intro! Amaurote+

 

there is a lot of things that were fixed upgraded updated optimized that there is only link to the news in Polish language.

Please, use the online translator to get some info about this big improvement.

 

Happy playing!

 

link to the article in polish:

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1333737579&archive=&start_from=0&ucat=1&amp%3Bsub=Z&amp%3Btg=%27&ct=nowinki

 

Link to the game itself:

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=katalog&sub=A&tg=Amaurote%2B#Amaurote+

 

 

the article translated by g##gle:

 

--------------------

Amaurote it was one of the games that I dreamed at night. I considered it a masterpiece programistyczno-graphic. However, the result of too much slowing down, with a large amount of insects chasing Arachnusa, discouraged with it too (maybe) soon. The time passed, the wounds are healed childhood, memories przyszarzały. Revived only after discussion and argument at0mica that Atari is not possible to speed up the game!

 

Ta. Well, of course!

You can not!

Well, but no like this?

I'm not going to do?

 

I took his hands the good old "dis6502" and I started to analyze the game. He immediately threw me in the eyes of the enormity of the code, which in this game is upchnięty. During the analysis it became clear that the authors were quickly copy the code, than write it in a universal way. This gave great contribution to the shortening of the Code.

 

 

 

 

Curiosity is the cleaning of the screen and swap (rewrite) offscreenu the main screen. They occupied a few kilobytes and there were a series of lda adr, x, fixed adr2, X. And so 32 times in a loop, and so eight times, to not slow down it, just a little, unnecessary travel. These optimized, long pieces of code have been performed:

Arachnusa walking on the selection screen of the city,

the patterns in the forefront of animation and game over,

at the beginning of the game and after entering the radio menu.

 

I will say this much: the replacement of normal loops has not slowed down one iota visually the game, and got it a few KB of free traffic. As a result of these and still other skracań I was able to reduce code and data of about 8 kb, which are then filled out the new code and new data.

 

It has been slow around 300 bytes. Memory at the beginning (under $ 1000) is used to buffer sprites (and exactly what for them), and finally on the map of the city (4 KB of $ C000). The game even provides plenty of space for buffers. About 2 KB of memory at the beginning of the sprites, and in fact their background, 4 kB of the city, 4 KB of offscreen, 6 kb of memory screen. Screen and offscreen memory is used skillfully and effectively transcribed (mosaic effect). This effect, however, Atari is much slower than the ZX Spectrum, where the game originally came from.Despite a desire not so much, I managed to speed up this part, but I managed to shorten it about a kilobyte. Luckily for me it is not crucial for the game.

 

As a result of these corrections the game speeded up from 50% (when he's on screen Arachnus) to more than double or better - for the flood of bees. Now, when there are 5-6 on the screen, you can play quietly, before the game became. With interesting to mention that the game uses all available memory and disables the operating system.

 

The things that were changed (uppercase and lowercase):

 

change in the organization offscreenu to 32 bytes / line of 28 bytes / line (it was a chore: it is true kilobyte saved, but the speed of the game a lot lower). I also tried switching to text mode. It even worked and is much faster. However, overwhelmed me and other Arachnusa drawing sprites with a vertical resolution of 1 line in text mode. Because I did not know the code well, I might be good to let a dead end, so I made a return. Analyzing procki prescription sprites on the screen I found that would work faster if offscreen will be 32 bytes wide. For this to happen, you had to rearrange (change address) of the screen and buffer offscreenu the dashboard, the new location memory, offscreenu and dashboards, and related optimizations drawing sprites offscreen and data transfers - screen;

changed the code to generate subtitles - now have a position on the 0.5 mark (one byte) at a level and you can leave for 1-7 lines down, it looks more professional. I ran it by analyzing the code, it is easy to make, and these inscriptions non-centering terribly annoyed me;

added a few characters: + - ';

optimized procedure for drawing the hexagonal frame, both in terms of speed and memory consumption. It is divided into two phases: Do not draw anything where you do not need, copy, where necessary, and in other cases the standard LDA and ora hundred. Powered third time, and occupied 1/3 of one revolution of the loop animations;

added vertical (well, zig-zag) edge one-point separating the playing field from the frame - it was due to inconsistency - the ZX it is, and the Atari was not ...;

thrown the entire code reverse sprites (all bees and Arachnus were reflected symmetrically on the fly) - now sit reversed in memory (inflection, when the ball turned away ).

 

 

 

 

 

 

After these optimizations, unfortunately, a lot of memory requirements have grown.However, optimizations in the code released and allowed some space:

 

the introduction of bees flying animation frames, which contrary to appearances, had not been! - At the request of Kaza;

optimized distribution of sprites in memory (obtained 1 KB of space). It was interesting. Most of the sprites do not use the whole amount. Therefore, the sprites arranged so that the "overlap" each other - if they have joint margins at the top and bottom - that these lines are cut ...;

Optimized dashboard, you can see it in detail "damage Arachnusa%", and the length of the resulting code with a copy-paste, which was thrown: 0.5 kb shorter code;

Optimized for the length (or brevity) the operations of rewriting the screen. Again, when changing the organization of the 32 bytes ofscreenu departing add one byte for each line of the screen;

Fixed bug: the first line of the screen is not updated graphics (a one-line grid from top). It did not give me sleep, since I noticed it;

Fixed bug: the last column of the screen is not updated in animation. Such a lot of time looking for - but there were!

Fixed bug / ficzer when mrygają flies when you are standing. Kaz suggested that it may also be in order, because it can be seen better, but now can lurk . In any case, do not blink ZX and at home have not;

somewhere along the way crept bug: the city were slightly different - different with details Here wprzągłem TRACE to do, and I discovered that this was due to plugging of temporary memory after my surgery.

challenge was also adding new phases of the animation. Like everything in lists, tables, and as amended Arachnus threw paving: D

It turned out that not everything can edit the tables, some are in the main procce Ifach sprite drawing.

surprise: Arachnus to repair, as well teleport at the start of the game is lowered into the field of play, and does not appear on the bottom at once, as was before;

optimized compass arrow - now the brightness is proportional to the distance (to a large approximately) and are greatly accelerated and lighter memorized. To everything was as I came up, I had to leave the line down, then just copy the 22 bytes of the arrow (ie 44 total). And before it was hoho: lda and sta ora!

Opening credits extended by creditsy + added the title of which is not original: P

Grossblatt sprites supabomb bombs and indicators, and the arrows;

wound up skipping a track Arachnusa bug on the "half field". It turned out that this bug was known for writing the code in one place because it improved, but the other does not. Therefore, straighten Arachnusa coordinates and objects which go through the full field.

and last but not least - a great intro with graphics Kaza, styled on an old TV. I had long wrinkle to what to do in the intro. Originally it was to place an image Kaza 32 bytes wide. Then I got the effect of "interlace" (as the old TV). But Kazowi did not like it (he did not wonder), because the appearance of the figure had suffered, hi-resu details were barely visible. Then I thought - after all these TVs often broke off sync, and the A8 is such a thing is trivial. Prock wrote picking sync, BUT do not fit on one line for a few cycles. A must be called in every line of the screen ... Well, this is in two. But running 50 Hz. But the picture of 32 bytes wide - good for the game - looked strangely at break synchronization. Therefore, I asked Kaz a broader picture. Loitering , the width is adjusted to the field of play, but dorysował. I have broadened it (to the nearest 48 bytes, and actually with the horizontal sync pulse to 64 bytes). So the picture is 16 kB (256 lines x 64 bytes).Then I added more so-called scenario, the inclusion and exclusion of TV - and the effect is probably pretty cool.

And certainly the original ;

a! - And even planned to sampled sounds, and are synthetic , that is generated on the fly control bit 4 in the AUDC.

at the end I packed everything exomizerem. Intro unpacks to 2 seconds, and the game after the intro 4 seconds.

 

 

The file "Amautore +" can be downloaded here. Fruitful debugging!

---------------------

[Pengwin]

I like this new version. I always wanted to like the original, but just couldn't: it felt too cumbersome. But this version is sweet. Plus the added intro. Excellent work.

[Faicuai]

Definitely, NICE work!

 

I actually never played / had access to this (bizarre) game, but it plays smoothly, the music/sound remains very nice (as the original version), and the intro-effects/splash-screen (like a TV screen going out-of-sync) is SUPERB (indeed).

 

Is there any sort-of documented source-code available for low-rank (but diligent) students?

 

Again, THANKS for this version, and for all the work and attention to detail.

[jhusak]

There will be the documentation. AND there WILL BE a 128K version. The full source code of the game will be published IF there are no problems with Pickford Bros acceptance.

 

I' am glad that all the half-year after-hours fork is appreciated by you. I simply could not watch neither play this buggy game. So I've made it almost bug-free (however, The Bugs are intact). The only visible bug is when there are tall buildings around and they cover Arachnus.

 

And last - but not least - gr8 painters! Is anyone interested to put her picture into the game?

 

The 128k game will be enchanced by inter-scene pictures fading one into another, not like ZX version (ugly animation).

[emkay]

The original game, well, not sure what had driven a coder to create it for the A8. Such an incomplete heap of code... as it seems.

 

Now it plays well (gamespeed) , but there is some point still that makes it different to the Speccy version.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvnt2gAk3fw

 

While on the A8 version, the flies always trace you, which results in real unplayable situations, the Speccy version always gives a chance to escape, making the flies walk other ways..

[+Philsan]

Amaurote 128, new enhanced version of Amaurote released:

http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=6887

[snicklin]

Wow, this is so much smoother, just how the game should have been in the first place.

 

The added animations are also great, are these the ones that were in the Spectrum version?

 

I am having a problem though, I am trying to enter "Canaan" and it says "Canaan Welcomes You", but nothing happens after that. Altirra 2.50 Test 4 64 bit.

[jhusak]

Hello. I woluld like to say "Thank you" for all the nice words about this version "on steroids"

 

So i could not wait more and I would like to anounce the bug-free Amaurote 128. It sits either on atarionline.pl with README:

 

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=katalog&sub=A&tg=Amaurote+128#Amaurote_128

 

or a8.fandal.cz:

 

http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=6887

 

If you find some unexpected bugs in the game, let me know

Edited December 4, 2013 by jhusak

[eegad]

always had mixed feelings about this game - on the one hand, i kind of liked the graphic format, and loved the eerie music. on the other hand, i never really understood what i was supposed to do - other than fire at bugs....which were really hard to hit, plus your "ship" moved really slowly and awkwardly.

 

i just tried the new release, and it definitely runs smoother. but can anyone really explain what the point of the game is? (is there an "end" to it; a way to win?). and does anyone have any hints/tips (or cheats?!) for playing? because this is one game where i just could never get anywhere.

[+therealbountybob]

I think: Press Option(?) for the in game menu where you can summon repairs (keep the keyboard really handy!) extra bombs, and the super bomb... this is key! Use the super bomb to kill the enemy base (where the bugs come out of) the game is really good but does take some patience to get into it, arrows direct you to where the item is being parachuted in. Really looking forward to playing the new new version on my XE, great job jhusak

[Kyle22]

Does this work on NTSC? It loads up nice, then the picture 'tears apart' almost like a horizontal hold problem, then it interlaces, then goes back to normal. As soon as I press the fire button, there is a single dot in the center of the screen for a short while, then it all goes black.

 

This is on an 800 Incognito 1M RAM.

 

Thanks for any and all help. I really want to play this game

 

-K

[snicklin]

Does this work on NTSC? It loads up nice, then the picture 'tears apart' almost like a horizontal hold problem, then it interlaces, then goes back to normal. As soon as I press the fire button, there is a single dot in the center of the screen for a short while, then it all goes black.

 

This is on an 800 Incognito 1M RAM.

 

Thanks for any and all help. I really want to play this game

 

-K

 

He he, it is designed to do this! It is made to look like an old CRT television being tuned in and then switched off.

 

It should however (after the dot) go on and load.

[Mclaneinc]

Pah, youngsters, missed all the good things

 

Watching the dot fade away last thing at night was required viewing

[+CharlieChaplin]

always had mixed feelings about this game - on the one hand, i kind of liked the graphic format, and loved the eerie music. on the other hand, i never really understood what i was supposed to do - other than fire at bugs....which were really hard to hit, plus your "ship" moved really slowly and awkwardly.

 

i just tried the new release, and it definitely runs smoother. but can anyone really explain what the point of the game is? (is there an "end" to it; a way to win?). and does anyone have any hints/tips (or cheats?!) for playing? because this is one game where i just could never get anywhere.

 

 

Well,

 

aliens have invaded your colony, all inhabitants have fled or have been killed. Now it is your task to clear the whole colony from these nasty creatures - and last not least kill the alien queen. [joke]The game was not licensed by 20th Century Fox, so the aliens look more like flies (or bees) and the queen looks like a queen of bees and err, the game was therefore named Amaurote, not Aliens...[/joke]

 

The colony is divided into 25 disctricts which can be selected from the district map. Choose one of the districts, press the fire button and you will be transported there with your Arachnus. The vehicle Arachnus is a four-leg vehicle, marching slowly and using spring-bombs (not lasers, rockets, etc.) that are not very easy to get used to. Your task is to:

 

1) kill the alien queen (queen of bees or queen of flies); to do this order the super bomb in the option screen; to locate the alien queen and/or the super bomb you have a scanner in form of an arrow which is pointing into the direction of either the super bomb or the alien queen (use Select or Option to toggle the scanner/arrow onto the queen or the super bomb); the alien queen is somewhere in a huge white area and she is not moving, so once you have the super bomb the queen is easy to kill - alas, the way to the queen is full with aliens (flies/bees) that are not so easy to kill with your spring bombs (even the super bomb is a spring bomb)...

 

2) kill/eliminate all, yes ALL! aliens (flies/bees) in the district; even if you have already killed the queen successfully, you have to clear the district of all aliens... quite a boring job...

 

3) keep the colony intact, i.e. when firing your spring bombs do not destroy too much of the colony / district, if the district damage (as well as your own damage) gets to high, it is game over for you...

 

Did I say, that there are 25 districts ? Yes, there are and afair each district does have an alien queen which has to be killed, all districts have to be cleared completely from the aliens (bees/flies) to accomplish your job. Its okay to do this once or in one district, but it becomes really boring to do this in 25 districts. And since the game originally came on tape, there is no save-option, meaning you cannot clear five districts, save the game and continue at a later time - you have to clear all 25 districts in one go to finish the game ! The spring bombs and the slow Arachnus vehicle make this game a real challenge, I hate both ideas, but there are lots of Atarians who love this game and have no problems mastering the gameplay, except me I guess...

 

I never cleared or finished one district in the original game (by Mastertronic), after a few seconds or minutes it was always game over for me, Arachnus destroyed or too much district damage. But in the late 90s I read a cheat that disabled some part of the collision detection, so that the aliens (flies/bees) could no longer harm my Arachnus vehicle. With this cheat I could finish a level easily, but afaik I still needed 10 to 15 minutes to do so. Played two or three levels with this cheat but soon found the game too boring. I do not know how long it takes to finish a level (district) without such a cheat, but since there are 25 districts, it will keep you busy for quite a while to finish the game. I also do not know if the original version Amaurote or the speed-up version Amaurote+ does contain some kind of end-scenario (animation, end-screen, etc.) or if you just see a text like "Congratulations! You have made it !" The Amaurote 128 version surely does include an end-picture or end-animation (as well as intro animation, cut-scene pictures, game-over picture, etc.)

 

Maybe one of the Amaurote fanatics/lovers can give you some more information about and tips+tricks for this game. The gfx of the game are great, the sounds are also very well done (fitting to the story), but gameplay is a mixed bag - some Atarians love this game, some hate it...

 

-Andreas Koch.

[eegad]

"But in the late 90s I read a cheat that disabled some part of the collision detection, so that the aliens (flies/bees) could no longer harm my Arachnus vehicle."

 

Anybody happen to know what that cheat is???

[Kyle22]

 

He he, it is designed to do this! It is made to look like an old CRT television being tuned in and then switched off.

 

It should however (after the dot) go on and load.

It does! Now that I use MyPicoDOS, instead of SDX. With SDX, it would freeze after the TV switched off. I had an old B&W TV that did the very same thing, the dot, that is, not the video tearing. It had a beautiful sharp picture.

[w1k]

..AVENTINE WELCOMES YOU..

and game freeze :/

 

running from SIDE II

Edited December 10, 2013 by w1k

[+therealbountybob]

Like I said you have the repair screen (a couple of times per level?) press Option at any time

you can do this even when you are getting fried! Also call a rescue if it's getting too tough and you're dropped back somewhere "safe".

 

I don't worry too much about damage to the surroundings (probably I should), just fire off the bombs and patrol an area where you can move (roads best), take out the ones that come towards you to start with. I lauch bombs ahead and follow them when scrolling the screen never can be too careful

 

Looks like we have new cut screens too