Fast scrolling game howto, anyone?

[iss]

Wow! I like SFX and Screen calibration routine!
I have a small request: can you pls dump the value after calibration when using Oricutron and real Oric?
I'm very interested is it 19966 or 20000 .

[coco.oric]

Waow, you've done a big job.
It looks really playable.

[ibisum]

Mind-blowing how great this software looks on screen! Can't wait to play it!

[barnsey123]

Pretty awesome. I like the SFX. It will be something special with some music and jingles...

[Chema]

Thanks guys. Glad to see you like it.

@iss: pretty sure this has been discussed somewhere else in these forums. In Oricutron (and IIRC in the real Oric) the value is not 20000. It is closer to 19966 if not that exact value. At least that is the value I start with.

EDIT: This was written by Fabrice quite long ago:

19968 = 64*312 is the precise number of cycles of the screen raster.
However, to get an interrupt every 19968 cycles, you must program the VIA timer with a value of 19966, because the VIA adds two cycles to each count (19966, 19965, 19964,.... , 2, 1, 0, -1, 19966, 19965, 19964,...).

I will try to do a test on a real oric, anyway, as soon as I can.

At this point I have quite a lot of free memory, so this game will be tape based. Of course, you will be able to load it from disk too.

@Dbug: I think you once sent me a piece of code to detect the Vsync hack, but I think I lost it. Could you resend it to me, please? There is some on your demos and tests in the SVN, but I think the one you sent me was much much simpler... am I wrong?

[Dbug]

@Dbug: I think you once sent me a piece of code to detect the Vsync hack, but I think I lost it. Could you resend it to me, please? There is some on your demos and tests in the SVN, but I think the one you sent me was much much simpler... am I wrong?

The only such routine I have is the one I used in the double sinus dots.

Look in http://miniserve.defence-force.org/svn/ ... nes/Main.c the TestVSync() routine (which uses some calls in vbl.s)

[Symoon]

Chema: just WOW

VBLs have been discussed here a bit:
http://forum.defence-force.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=944
I found 19992, but I am really no code machine expert and may have been wrong in calculating this.

[Chema]

@Dbug: thanks. My memory failed then... I will have a look at the code.

@Symoon: Yep. That was one of the threads we discussed about this. And the reference I posted was from even an older thread. It seems I will have to test on a real machine...

The calculations made by Fabrice are theoretically correct, I think. And that is what oricutron gives after my calibration.

Another thing: does anyone how to prevent youtube from compressing the videos? It creates awful artefacts on Oricutron captures (the font is nearly unreadable, when it shouldn't, for instance).

[Xeron]

When you first upload to youtube, it gives you a temporary encoding which is low quality, so don't judge it on that.

Once it has been uploaded and the encoding has finished, you can select different bit rates by clicking on the cog at the bottom.

Edit: Hmmm... but with oricutron captures, 240p is the best you'll get because there is only 240 lines.

I wonder if upscaling 2x before uploading would give you more video quality options.

Edit 2: AWESOME progress in the video, btw

[Chema]

Hi guys.

Just a quick note to inform you that, due to some sad family events, I have been (and probably will still be for a few days) quite inactive.

However, I made some progress, mainly completing some aspects and testing some ideas. I included some variant in the ship decorations to add some variety, for example, and started with the calibration of the level of difficulty. Both are working quite well, imho.

I also included a lateral displacement in the player's ship every time you change direction, so the area in front of it is greater, which should increase playability. It is working relatively well, though I am not sure if the effect is clean enough and if there is a real gain with it.

I hope to make some more advances and post yet another video soon, so stay tuned.

[Atlantis]

Great job really !!
Oric finally has its own Goldrunner

[ibisum]

Hey Chema - sorry to hear of your sad family events, I hope its not too serious and that you get a time to recuperate as needed.

Its great to hear of your enthusiasm for continued development, though! This fan (me) is really tuned in to your progress ..

[Chema]

I did some small advances, maybe worth a new demo video. I really think I am posting too many of them

There are several things to notice, such as the small lateral displacement of the ship to increase the viewing area, the alternative decorations for ships, how the energy indicator can be increased collecting the energy balls and how it acts as a kind of hitpoint system,...

Still some bugs lurking and dozens of things to fix (the level number is not shown, for instance), but quite shows the gameplay for the first levels.

Yeah, still the objective of the game is not shown, so I have to destroy the mothership by pressing ESC. But that is the next on my todo list... (after fixing glitches).

Enjoy and comment, please
http://youtu.be/mmNyjg_0qhI

Merry Christmas!

[barnsey123]

Loving it Chema...especially the jumping over the walls. Hopefully, you could have a level where you have to be very good at this. Excellent.

[Xeron]

This is just looking so awesome!