TIX Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Hello, based on the recently hacked version of Pole Position (by MrFish) I tried to pretty it up a little first task was the explosion.. I tried to recreate all five arcade frames of animation in chunky quadruple pixels ! Then I squeezed them in the 8 frames of our port like so: 1 ->1 2 ->2 3 ->3 4 ->3 5 ->4 6 ->4 7 ->5 8 ->5 I can't control the order of the animated frames, but it seems pretty accurate.. It needs some work in the overlapping frames (for third color) but I'm getting there ! Pole Position (new explosion).xex 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) I haven't loaded it yet, but I know from years of playing with a crummy pixelated explosion that this will be so much better! Now if something could be done to spuce-up the cars, even if it's just better colors...if it is possible, a few DLI's in the car sprites to give them a bit of shading detail...maybe that's far too much to ask for, but I think just having the main car as mostly red, like the 2600 version...I've always thought even the 2600 version car looks better just due to the colors used. But if the explosion is all that can be improved, it makes a big difference! Too bad we can't have bouncing tires... Edited November 12, 2018 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollett Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) Looks good, Hey, I noticed there's an even more modest hack you might want to undertake. Whoever created the splash screen left one stray cyan colored pixel in the upper left corner of the image. Bob Edited November 12, 2018 by bfollett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 sshhhhh, that's the super secret tracking pixel... it is used to follow the user and help to improve their experience.... yeah that kind of talk was always BS on the x86 machines as well, they just wanted to spy and track, had nothing to do with improving anything for the use. LOL just don't connect to the internet with this version of pole "position"..... you get the joke, it's not really an Atari pixel tracker. Though tracking pixels were done on the interwebs browsers... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
José Pereira Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) Strangelly that for many years most (if not all) of the G2F versions that came up always put this pixel when you import a P.C. picture at this place over whatever colour is the BAK register. If I'm not wrong is always PF2. Solution: Just Zoom and change for BAK pixel or Bitmap Edit and FoodFill with BAK if you have good eyes ... Edited November 12, 2018 by José Pereira 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
José Pereira Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) Strangelly that for many years most (if not all) of the G2F versions that came up always put this pixel when you import a P.C. picture at this place over whatever colour is the BAK register. If I'm not wrong is always PF2. Not totally and I just tried from a picture and is: -> If at that top&right is BAK then that pixel is PF2; -> But if at that top&right is PF0 or PF1 it puts that pixel as BAK; -> And if is PF2 or PF3 then it doesn't put that pixel; Edited November 12, 2018 by José Pereira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 I haven't loaded it yet, but I know from years of playing with a crummy pixelated explosion that this will be so much better! Now if something could be done to spuce-up the cars, even if it's just better colors...if it is possible, a few DLI's in the car sprites to give them a bit of shading detail...maybe that's far too much to ask for, but I think just having the main car as mostly red, like the 2600 version...I've always thought even the 2600 version car looks better just due to the colors used. But if the explosion is all that can be improved, it makes a big difference! Too bad we can't have bouncing tires... I will try my hand on the car sprite next, but I don't have any experience with color hacking we will need help there !! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I think this is the first time I have ever played Pole Position and went crashing into every road sign just to see an explosion! Definitely better! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Can a GIF be made of the whole screen, with the new car explosion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 g2f bug... let them fix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) Can a GIF be made of the whole screen, with the new car explosion? I don't know why it looks like that.. but here Edited November 12, 2018 by TIX 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderDude Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I wish we could do SOMETHING about the cars ;( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 I will do something, but I don't think it will be much of a difference with these colors.. Check this, I we could change the colors around maybe we can have something better/closer to the arcade 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I don't know why it looks like that.. but here 1.gif Whoa, that is a much better explosion... all you've got to do now is try fixing that LEGO-looking formula-car.... and morph it, at least, into looking like a more realistic go-Kart sample... That would be really awesome... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) I will do something, but I don't think it will be much of a difference with these colors.. Check this, I we could change the colors around maybe we can have something better/closer to the arcade even that looks a little better, and I think with just color changes and no reshaping the car can look decent from the back angle, the REAL issue are those side perspective angles when turning, as bad as the original explosion! That's where a graphic re-design is needed most. Edited November 12, 2018 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I will do something, but I don't think it will be much of a difference with these colors.. Check this, I we could change the colors around maybe we can have something better/closer to the arcade maybe a combination of the two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) All those 2600 like quadruple sprites look shite.... road fluid like hell but cars.... bash I mean in original game. All the hacks look better Add Rybags samples Edited November 12, 2018 by Heaven/TQA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 C64 sprites are not better but maybe some inspiration? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 The playfield for the road resides in RAM - in theory the game could be modified to utilitze it for better resolution. Though you're stuck with green, grey or white pixels there - the 4th PF colour alternates between white/red for the ripple strip. It wouldn't be so straightforward - there'd need to be adjustment for each scanline considering LMS and HSCROL offsets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) C64 sprites are not better but maybe some inspiration? front and rear tires look out of proportion like they are backwards, and the C64 version looks like it could really use a rear wing for balance, more so than the Atari version, but both need it if it could be done. I do think the main body is drawn better in the C64 version. The side angle definitely looks better on the C64. Edited November 12, 2018 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Even the arcade version has a fairly inconspicuous wing (and I think F1 at the time was similar - from memory the wing size peaked around the time things like skirts and turbos were being banned). Possibly the topmost horizontal black stripe on the C64 is supposed to be the wing. The problem with having a too conspicuous wing is that it could obscure other detail in front of it, though given the chunky horizontal pixel size of both versions the detail is a rough approximation anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 front and rear tires look out of proportion like they are backwards, and the C64 version looks like it could really use a rear wing for balance, more so than the Atari version, but both need it if it could be done. I do think the main body is drawn better in the C64 version. The side angle definitely looks better on the C64. Yes they look better, but they don't have to wrestle with x4 wide pixels.. Man those quadruple pixels are the bane of my life.. at least in Moon Patrol we had an overlay layer with x2 pixels to smooth things out !! I wish 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 yeah... Unfortunatly those "Sprite Hardware" is a Jay Miner thing I personally don't like and limits imho the A8... even TI-49 was better in that respect or Coleco Vision and even Intellivision. and somebody felt they are great that even in Amiga chipset they appeared.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I fear that we can not do much with Pole Position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I think it entirely possible the cars could be augmented with playfield graphics but it would mean an extensive rewrite and might mean 128K ROM and 48K Ram needed to run it. The thing is, the game isn't really going to be a lot better for it. IMO the best pseudo-3D driving game by far was Vroom on the Amiga and the elevation change of the track is a big contributor to that. Such a game on the A8, probably doable but it'd have to be a ground up development. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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