SpiceWare's Blog

What was your query? I'm still busy spending most of my time updating my web site and getting used to the 30 day trial of Dreamweaver. That thing costs almost 400 dollars. When I buy it in a month or two, I won't be buying any used Xbox 360 games for a while.

I don't usually go back and read the comments after I've read the blog post and comments the first time around. I will test the latest build a bit and see if I experience any of the effects described. Don't think for a second that interest in this project is dying!!!

I've played a few rounds and the only thing I've noticed so far is that the player's explosion seems to extend out to the right more than it does to the left. I'm not sure if that is expected, it's a known emulation issue, or whatever...

 

Otherwise, I didn't notice anything like what you mentioned in the comment in the former blog entry.

 

/edit/

 

btw, the game is a blast! (pun intended)

The query was the comment I made in visible thrust on the 12, followed up again on the 20th. Just found it odd that there was no response as other topics have generated many more comments. Possibly it's because people where only following the most recent topic, busy busy, which wasn't about Space Rocks.

 

Hmm, looking at the explosion it appears to be balanced:

 

but looking at the conversion, it appears that frame 6 is off by a pixel. If Nathan concurs, I'll fix that as it's just a minor tweak of two lines (11 and 21):

ShipExplosion0:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
; .byte zz________ ; 4
; .byte zz________ ; 5
; .byte zz________ ; 6
; .byte zz________ ; 7
; .byte zz________ ; 8
; .byte zz________ ; 9
; .byte zz________ ; 10
; .byte zz________ ; 11
; .byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz_X_X_X__ ; 13
.byte zz___X____ ; 14
.byte zz__XXX___ ; 15
.byte zz_XXXXX__ ; 16
.byte zz__XXX___ ; 17
.byte zz___X____ ; 18
.byte zz_X_X_X__ ; 19
; .byte zz________ ; 20
; .byte zz________ ; 21
; .byte zz________ ; 22
; .byte zz________ ; 23
; .byte zz________ ; 24
; .byte zz________ ; 25
; .byte zz________ ; 26
; .byte zz________ ; 27
; .byte zz________ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion0Height = * - ShipExplosion0


ShipExplosion1:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
; .byte zz________ ; 4
; .byte zz________ ; 5
; .byte zz________ ; 6
; .byte zz________ ; 7
; .byte zz________ ; 8
; .byte zz________ ; 9
; .byte zz________ ; 10
; .byte zz________ ; 11
; .byte zz________ ; 12
; .byte zz________ ; 13
.byte zz___X____ ; 14
.byte zz________ ; 15
.byte zz__XXX___ ; 16
.byte zz________ ; 17
.byte zz___X____ ; 18
; .byte zz________ ; 19
; .byte zz________ ; 20
; .byte zz________ ; 21
; .byte zz________ ; 22
; .byte zz________ ; 23
; .byte zz________ ; 24
; .byte zz________ ; 25
; .byte zz________ ; 26
; .byte zz________ ; 27
; .byte zz________ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion1Height = * - ShipExplosion1


ShipExplosion2:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
; .byte zz________ ; 4
; .byte zz________ ; 5
; .byte zz________ ; 6
; .byte zz________ ; 7
; .byte zz________ ; 8
; .byte zz________ ; 9
; .byte zz________ ; 10
; .byte zz________ ; 11
; .byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz___X____ ; 13
.byte zz___X____ ; 14
.byte zz__XXX___ ; 15
.byte zz_XXXXX__ ; 16
.byte zz__XXX___ ; 17
.byte zz___X____ ; 18
.byte zz___X____ ; 19
; .byte zz________ ; 20
; .byte zz________ ; 21
; .byte zz________ ; 22
; .byte zz________ ; 23
; .byte zz________ ; 24
; .byte zz________ ; 25
; .byte zz________ ; 26
; .byte zz________ ; 27
; .byte zz________ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion2Height = * - ShipExplosion2


ShipExplosion3:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
; .byte zz________ ; 4
; .byte zz________ ; 5
; .byte zz________ ; 6
; .byte zz________ ; 7
; .byte zz________ ; 8
; .byte zz________ ; 9
; .byte zz________ ; 10
; .byte zz________ ; 11
; .byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz___X____ ; 13
.byte zz__X_X___ ; 14
.byte zz___X____ ; 15
.byte zz_XX_XX__ ; 16
.byte zz___X____ ; 17
.byte zz__X_X___ ; 18
.byte zz___X____ ; 19
; .byte zz________ ; 20
; .byte zz________ ; 21
; .byte zz________ ; 22
; .byte zz________ ; 23
; .byte zz________ ; 24
; .byte zz________ ; 25
; .byte zz________ ; 26
; .byte zz________ ; 27
; .byte zz________ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion3Height = * - ShipExplosion3


ShipExplosion4:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
; .byte zz________ ; 4
; .byte zz________ ; 5
; .byte zz________ ; 6
; .byte zz________ ; 7
.byte zz___X____ ; 8
.byte zz________ ; 9
.byte zz___X____ ; 10
.byte zz___X____ ; 11
.byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz_X_X_X__ ; 13
.byte zz__X_X___ ; 14
.byte zz________ ; 15
.byte zzXX___XX_ ; 16
.byte zz________ ; 17
.byte zz__X_X___ ; 18
.byte zz_X_X_X__ ; 19
.byte zz________ ; 20
.byte zz___X____ ; 21
.byte zz___X____ ; 22
.byte zz________ ; 23
.byte zz___X____ ; 24
; .byte zz________ ; 25
; .byte zz________ ; 26
; .byte zz________ ; 27
; .byte zz________ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion4Height = * - ShipExplosion4


ShipExplosion5:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
; .byte zz________ ; 1
; .byte zz________ ; 2
; .byte zz________ ; 3
.byte zz___X____ ; 4
.byte zz________ ; 5
.byte zz___X____ ; 6
.byte zz___X____ ; 7
.byte zz___X____ ; 8
.byte zz________ ; 9
.byte zz___X____ ; 10
.byte zz________ ; 11
.byte zzX_____X_ ; 12
.byte zz_X___X__ ; 13
.byte zz________ ; 14
.byte zz________ ; 15
.byte zzX_____X_ ; 16
.byte zz________ ; 17
.byte zz________ ; 18
.byte zz_X___X__ ; 19
.byte zzX_____X_ ; 20
.byte zz________ ; 21
.byte zz___X____ ; 22
.byte zz________ ; 23
.byte zz___X____ ; 24
.byte zz___X____ ; 25
.byte zz___X____ ; 26
.byte zz________ ; 27
.byte zz___X____ ; 28
; .byte zz________ ; 29
; .byte zz________ ; 30
; .byte zz________ ; 31
ShipExplosion5Height = * - ShipExplosion5


ShipExplosion6:
; .byte zz________ ; 0
.byte zz___X____ ; 1
.byte zz________ ; 2
.byte zz___X____ ; 3
.byte zz___X____ ; 4
.byte zz________ ; 5
.byte zz___X____ ; 6
.byte zz___X____ ; 7
.byte zz________ ; 8
.byte zz________ ; 9
.byte zz________ ; 10
.byte zzX______X ; 11
.byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz________ ; 13
.byte zz________ ; 14
.byte zz________ ; 15
.byte zz________ ; 16
.byte zz________ ; 17
.byte zz________ ; 18
.byte zz________ ; 19
.byte zz________ ; 20
.byte zzX______X ; 21
.byte zz________ ; 22
.byte zz________ ; 23
.byte zz________ ; 24
.byte zz___X____ ; 25
.byte zz___X____ ; 26
.byte zz________ ; 27
.byte zz___X____ ; 28
.byte zz___X____ ; 29
.byte zz________ ; 30
.byte zz___X____ ; 31
ShipExplosion6Height = * - ShipExplosion6

ShipExplosion7:
.byte zz___X____ ; 0
.byte zz________ ; 1
.byte zz___X____ ; 2
.byte zz________ ; 3
.byte zz________ ; 4
.byte zz________ ; 5
.byte zz________ ; 6
.byte zz________ ; 7
.byte zz________ ; 8
.byte zz________ ; 9
.byte zz________ ; 10
.byte zz________ ; 11
.byte zz________ ; 12
.byte zz________ ; 13
.byte zz________ ; 14
.byte zz________ ; 15
.byte zz________ ; 16
.byte zz________ ; 17
.byte zz________ ; 18
.byte zz________ ; 19
.byte zz________ ; 20
.byte zz________ ; 21
.byte zz________ ; 22
.byte zz________ ; 23
.byte zz________ ; 24
.byte zz________ ; 25
.byte zz________ ; 26
.byte zz________ ; 27
.byte zz________ ; 28
.byte zz___X____ ; 29
.byte zz________ ; 30
.byte zz___X____ ; 31
ShipExplosion7Height = * - ShipExplosion7

 

 

Just thought of something else - the ship's X position is offset by 1 when drawing rotation images 16-31 (images 0-15 do not get adjusted) so that the ship properly rotates around a center point.. The ship is drawn as though it were 9 pixels wide so that pixel 5 is exactly in the center - if it were drawn 8 pixels wide then the center is pixel 4.5, but it can't rotate around a half pixel so it would wobble. Possibly it's not doing the X adjustment for the explosion sequence. I'll have to check that later on this week as I'm picking up dad from the airport tonight.

On frame 6, the two rightmost pixels can be moved one row to the left. I think they're hanging out there because at one point I was making an 8 pixel wide explosion, but changed it to 7 pixels and never adjusted that frame. Since I was going for an effect that could be played backwards for hyperspace, it's less explosion-y and more starburst-y, hence the symmetry.

Thanks, frame 6 has been updated.

On the B&W option, there are colored lines above/below the scores.

Was this a decision, or a regression error?

Egg is still there so I'm playing a new build.

 

Still fantastic play value improving with the starsplosion and rocksplosions and 30-plus fire angles.

I still can't believe it's the 2600!

That wasn't on purpose, probably a side effect from having to roll back the source code. I've added it to my list to look into for when I next have time to work on SR.

 

Not sure when that'll be though, I've been busy with my folks before dad heads to Nigeria and next week my sister & B-I-L's 6-month probation period is over and the adoption gets finalized for my new nephew - Zander, age 9.

I would test this, but my PC is too slow for Stella's ARM emulation.

 

I plan to get a new one soon.

A Harmony Cart would be cheaper