TheMole Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 This is just my horizontal demo applied to the Scramble graphics. The graphics transfer nicely to the TI. I had to move a few ground items to allow for the color transitions. I expect to replace the rockets by sprites is the game, but I have kept them as tiles for the demo. scramdemo.dsk.zip The file on the disk is an E/A3 object file called SCRAMO Very nice, but for some reason the disappearing stars bother me much more here than in Titanium. Maybe if you let them twinkle, it won't be so apparent that they disappear on character boundaries? But as I said, once again excellent work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 As a Scramble aficionado, I would be fine with one button firing and bombing at the same time. One the arcade, I treat the two buttons as one, mashing away the whole time, only stopping when I really need to time a bomb. Not very sophisticated, I know, but it is good enough to "complete my duties" two or three times on a quarter. It know I have played one version of a game (and it may not have necessarily been Scramble) that alternated between bombs and shots every button press and that was horrible. Maybe 2600 Super Cobra? Looking forward to this, good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unhuman Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Really nice stuff. I like the multicolor tiles - works really well for this game. Probably can use tiles for them and then convert them to sprites when missiles launch... Don't forget the rocket launchers too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I don't know if you are scrolling the whole screen (changing a video start address pointer and fine scrolling) or re-drawing everything (No idea how the TI does things!) If it's the later you can get significant CPU time back by noting that the arcade game is vertical and therefore only 224 pixels wide, meaning you have to plot significantly less pixels In either case, looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Very nice, but for some reason the disappearing stars bother me much more here than in Titanium. The stars are just a leftover from my scrolling demo. I don't expect to keep them for Scramble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 I don't know if you are scrolling the whole screen (changing a video start address pointer and fine scrolling) or re-drawing everything (No idea how the TI does things!) If it's the later you can get significant CPU time back by noting that the arcade game is vertical and therefore only 224 pixels wide, meaning you have to plot significantly less pixels In either case, looks great. The TI does not have hardware scroll registers, so it's all done by changing tiles. The map must be transformed into one that represents the unique tile transitions rather than the tiles themselves. The transition tiles are scrolled 0-7 pixels, and then the tiles are reset and the whole screen (32x24 tiles) is scrolled one tile (8 pixels). For the latter operation the screen size matters, but the screen is only 256 pixels wide in the first instance, and my algorithm is dividing the updating of the screen evenly between frames using a double buffer approach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Swooooooooon...... Why in hell did we not have games like this back in the day... <shakes head> 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyBritish Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Indeed..very impressive. Wondering what using the f18a would add to this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Rasmus, you are my new man-crush. I long have desired to be able to program the TI like this. I have a couple of game port ideas that always seemed pretty difficult with the TI and my skill (more the latter,) and your work gives me great inspiration and hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OX. Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Can't wait for this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 I've been struggling with how to fit the info panel (score, lives, levels) onto the TI screen, since the scrolling part must be at least 24 rows high to include all the tiles (not apparent from level 1). I even thought about turning the screen sideways as in the original (and ask users to do the same!). Now I have decided to free up two rows at the top by changing the maps slightly. This space is enough to fit in all the information while still maintaining some aspects of the original display, like the fuel bar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Yes I think fire + down will have to do it. Pressing space bar while holding a TI joystick seems impossible, unless you use you feet. I never playedSuper Cobra myself. How is it different from Scramble, except for the graphics? Parker Bros made a version of Super Cobra for the ColecoVision: That proves it can be done, but I was hoping to be able to improve the graphics somewhat. I happened to be watching the ColecoVision play and noticed that it seems forward shooting only occurs when an object can be shot, such as the ship is in line with the object. Otherwise, a bomb is dropped. Perhaps that is an option to investigate?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 The source code to Cerberus (included in either 99 Special I or 99 Special II, released by TI in Germany) may also be some help, as it too uses scrolling tunnels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 16, 2013 Author Share Posted September 16, 2013 Commodore 16/Plus4: Vic-20: Sorry, have turned into a collector of bad scramble clones. And now the great Atari 7800 version: Can't beat that one on the TI, but perhaps with a little help from the F18A? ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Can't beat that one on the TI, but perhaps with a little help from the F18A? ... Well, once I get an F18A and if the program looks play's like that, I'll BUY a copy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Scramble for the TI? Yes please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 This video shows my progress so far. This is all working on the old TI - no F18A is required, only the 32K expansion. There's a slight delay when switching between maps/levels while the next map is unpacked, but no loading is required - everything is kept in memory. To prove my point I have included the demo as a cartridge file made with Tursi's makecart utility, but please try the disk instead on a real console. I have tried to keep the graphics as close as possible to the original, but if you really know your Scramble you will notice some differences where I had to move ground objects in order to cater for the TI's color set model. I also had to squeeze a few levels vertically in order to fit them on the TI screen, but I don't think this will affect gameplay. The rockets are tiles until they decide to launch, at which point they turn into sprites. The shot is made with tiles in order to prevent flickering, since the ship is already 2 sprites. It looks like they did the same in the original. The next thing is to work on the bombs... I really hope I can pull this off. I still have about half the clock cycles left running as 60 FPS, and about 8K RAM left for the program. But there is still all the collision detection and explosions to take care of. Like in the original the explosions will be done using a mixture of tiles and sprites. I'm planning to show the original 4 color sprites if an F18A is present. Enjoy! Rasmus scrambleg.bin scramble.zip 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Wow! This is really impressive. I can't believe how quickly you are managing to put these games together! Are you taking requests by any chance? It really puts me to shame given how slowly I work on projects, although I try to chuck that to every excuse under the sun Between Titanium, Mr. Chin and now Scramble, it's like manna from heaven. We have not had such an abundance of new machine language titles for the TI in a long time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 I'm glad you enjoy it, Mr. Chin is Tursi's work, however. Scramble is a lot easier than Titanium because I don't have to come up with any ideas or graphics of my own, but it's still very challenging and interesting, and more rewarding because normal graphics mode leaves you with a lot of resources compared to half-bitmap mode. At the moment I just enjoy making these games so much that I will find the time. The great thing about working on retro computer games is that the target computer will never become out-of-date since it already is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OX. Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Wow this just gets better! Can't wait for the finished game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Really damned good work! I especially dig the font you used for your name. As an aside, I was thinking about professional-like packaging for forth-coming home-brew releases, and I think like the MBX games had information on the MBX we could have indications of "F18A-Enhanced" software. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 This video shows my progress so far. This is all working on the old TI - no F18A is required, only the 32K expansion. I appreciate that you are writing software that will run on the real iron while also incorporating optional improvements to make use of newer or replacement hardware such as the F18a. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 This is falling-off-chair level awesomeness! :thumbsup: I repeat what I said about your earlier demo: Why, in the name of all that is holy, did we not have games of this calibre back in the day! Your work *proves* that the hardware is capable of it; it just needs the applied talents of an inspired programmer. We could have kicked the C64s ass! DAMMIT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 18, 2013 Author Share Posted September 18, 2013 I repeat what I said about your earlier demo: Why, in the name of all that is holy, did we not have games of this calibre back in the day! Your work *proves* that the hardware is capable of it; it just needs the applied talents of an inspired programmer. We could have kicked the C64s ass! Without the assistance of Magellan to keep track of the character transition this would be extremely difficult. And without the debugger in Classic99 it would take much longer to get the code to work. Developing in a emulation environment is so much easier and faster than on the real console, but given enough time it could have been done, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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