8 replies to this topic

[saturndual32]

I read all the time the same thing, the Lynx can display 16 colors by scanline, but what does this mean?, what is a scanline in Lynx terms (excuse my ignorance), can it truly display more than 16 colors at once in an actual gameplay screen (not just on still screens). Thanks in advance.

[chris_lynx1989]

the lynx in theory could do more than 16 colors per screen(in theory).the
only problem is that it would have a great deal of slow moving graphics
and such.on still screens you could this well.not moving ones.with some
creative programs and such more could be done.i've heard it stated, that
with the right program techniques and using stuff similar to the display
interupts on the atari computers that you could do 16 colors per line of
pixels.this would produce a very colorful still screen.or a very colorful and
slow moving(almost to a crawl,i guess) game screen.
the lynx pixels are made up of "triads"(red,green and blue ones) that give
it some of the amazing graphics we've seen in the past on many games.it
is this technology that gives us the wonderful atari lynx as we know it.i'm a
techie and not in the coding biz of things things,like some here seem to be
with computers.i like to surf the web and enjoy the lynx and technology in
general.i hope i've helped you a little.--the ultimate atari lyner

[saturndual32]

I see. Thanks for the info, Chris.

[Gregory DG]

The Awesome Golf title screen displays something like 40+ colors at once. But there are no in-game screens I know of that use more than 16 colors.

[Twoface2]

Gregory DG said:

The Awesome Golf title screen displays something like 40+ colors at once. But there are no in-game screens I know of that use more than 16 colors.

Shadow of the Beast uses more than 16 Colors in-game at once together with multi-layered parallaxscrolling. A real Lynx programming masterpiece !

[sage]

saturndual32 said:

I read all the time the same thing, the Lynx can display 16 colors by scanline, but what does this mean?, what is a scanline in Lynx terms (excuse my ignorance), can it truly display more than 16 colors at once in an actual gameplay screen (not just on still screens). Thanks in advance.

Yes it can. You can change more than 4 colorentries every scanline.
I made some demos over a year ago to show that it IS possible for still-pictures.
Later I made an differnt attemt to get more colors on screen. That technique is used in the CGE Slideshow and even in some simple games (which are not finished yet). Have a look here:


http://www.uni-giess...e/~gd1113/lynx/
PS: All these techiques have problems running on an emulator, so you should use a real lynx...

Tschau,

Bjoern

[Harry_Dodgson]

Lemmings also has a split screen mode where the top and bottom halves use different palettes.

The most colors onscreen at once would be on Songbird's slideshow cartridge.

There was also that winter demo (the name escapes me) which used blending techniques to get more colors, a larger palette, and transparency effects.

As far as the definition of a scanline, you have to go to display theory. Each picture on a CRT or LCD is drawn one dot at a time with lines going from the left side to the right side starting at the top and going down. A scanline would be one of those lines (160 pixels wide on the Lynx).

On the 2600, programmers can change the colors at any time. The Lynx hardware restricts the color changes to once per scanline to keeps things sane.

[Daniel Thomas]

Gregory DG said:

The Awesome Golf title screen displays something like 40+ colors at once. But there are no in-game screens I know of that use more than 16 colors.

There are a few games that use more than 16 colors at one time. Roadblasters, for instance, is another game that pushes more colors (around 24).

Really, I never thought this was an issue. 16 out of 4096 was perfectly fine for a portable 8/16-bit with a 3" screen. There are lots of games that look terrific and mirror their arcade cousins brilliantly. Good graphics are a product of good art skills more than anything -- look at the NES or Gameboy for examples.

[Gregory DG]

Daniel Thomas said:

There are a few games that use more than 16 colors at one time.  Roadblasters, for instance, is another game that pushes more colors (around 24).

Hmmm... That must be why Handy flips out when you play RoadBlasters...