110 replies to this topic

[TMR]

Heaven/TQA said:

but retro gamer they are really dedicated maniacs... maybe little bit too much speccy (ok...its a uk mag) but you really get a flashback... hope that the hype will not kill the mag...

They vary a lot, it just depends on what's happening as to what goes into the mag so issue 7 had a bit more Spectrum whilst issue 8 leans more towards the Breadbin with two new and one classic title reviewed and a large piece on the Turrican series with a heavy focus on the Manfred Trenz originals. But there's also a slightly scary but fascinating article about the eBay sales of the VIC20 game Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash, a very in-depth piece on the Konix Multisystem (and the video footage on the CD is well worth seeing), the aforementioned Bubble Bobble coverage and so on...

If we (the people actually doing new Atari stuff) give them something to print, they do seem more than happy to; Tezz's Bubble Bobble work hasn't gone unnoticed and Reaxion A8 has been mentioned in the news twice now for example.

Heaven/TQA said:

but i have to get the top 100... hehehe... sad that they have revied in issue 7 rampage for 8bit which is definitly a bad port... any idea why they have written for turrican3 that there is just a demo on the covermount and video but you can download the full d64 from the net???

Since magazines are written in advance of publishing, issue 7 was put together prior to the release of the final version of Turrican 3 at Evoke '04 so they didn't have access to it for the disk - there's a review of it in issue 8 where it got 83% and there's a mini interview with AEG/Smash Designs in the Turrican article that corrects the news item in issue 7 since he didn't rip off Protovision's code.

Oh, and Cyberwing scored 1% more overall than Turrican 3 in that issue! [very smug grin =-]

[sack-c0s]

hang on a mo - isn't that my shoody Z80 coding on the bottom of page 8?

(Grimaces as the timing bars are still running on that shot and people can see how much raster time he's pissing up a wall)

[StartTheBiddingLow]

I'd like to see Atari Bubble Bobble released by Cronosoft...

Perhaps a legal problem, though, due to the licence.

[Heaven/TQA]

hmmm...lets see what i have learned in more than 4 years prof. games biz....:

call it simply "buble trouble", exchange the main characters, f.e. with the ones from mayhem in monsterland e.g. creatures...

take the tune out, instead take the tune from radar rat race...

design new levels... bring the game to the market... and then run... when taito will get angry... just tell'em "oh... it's an original idea...inspired by the game...how was it called "bouble something" yeah... heard from it...."

[emkay]

To be honest...
Does it really make sense anyway, to create software for the 8-bits with a commercial intention?
Isn't the idealism the cause for "all" people, doing software for those ?
... recognizing some homebrews, all to sell via the AA Shop and Cosine doing a game to sell it on a tape...

[TMR]

emkay said:

To be honest...
Does it really make sense anyway, to create software for the 8-bits with a commercial intention?
Isn't the idealism the cause for "all" people, doing software for those ?
... recognizing some homebrews, all to sell via the AA Shop and Cosine doing a game to sell it on a tape...

When i started Reaxion i had planned to just release it, but since then people have asked for it and other Cosine titles on real tapes and disks so we and Cronosoft are merely reacting to that demand. There will be a web release on the Cosine site about a month afterwards (and an announcement here, natch), the delay is simply because Simon at Cronosoft is putting a lot of time and effort into the release so i feel it needs a bit of a head start. Similarly, most of the homebrews in the AA shop are also available for download but some people simply prefer having the physical media in their hands and things like the Turrican 3 release prove that a little hype goes a very long way to drawing people's attention to what 8bit developers are doing.

These recent troubles with Infogrames have highlighted something i've been saying about conversions for quite a while now; it's "safer" to write an original game with a bit of influence than try cloning something from another format, there's always the chance that someone'll appear with a copyright and bit you on the arse otherwise...

[urborg]

Hi Tezz!

I want to refresh this topic and ask if You did any progress? Do you still working on that project?

[Tezz]

Yeah, the project is still alive although I've been very busy with my job. I'm working on the main routines and the right approach to them as they will be used on the other game projects as well. It's good to work on more than one project at a time. Tests looking well. Will hopefully post some tasters soon.

Regards,
Tezz

[bjk7382]

Sounds great, I am can't wait to play this game.

[dinosaur]

Is there a disk image of the ST version available anywhere?
I would like to see what it looks like.

Believe it or not, I have never played this game!

[miker]

After almost 3 months of silence...

What's da progress?

[Tezz]

@ Miker, progress is continuing along with the game projects, I would like to have a working version to show you all rather than just another tantalising taster. I don't have as much free time as I would like too so progress is slow. I also work on several projects together so as not to get bored when working on the harder ellements of BB. The other projects are less work so perhaps more than BB will appear on AA soon.

I'm still not happy with the software sprite routine, I'm sure there is a more optimised routine already out there, perhaps the game will grind to a halt with my poorly writen routine

Well, patience is the game here! watch this space..

... Why did Atari not create modes with more colours available arrrrhh .. sorry, just had to say that again ..

[emkay]

Tezz said:

...    Why did Atari not create modes with more colours available arrrrhh .. sorry, just had to say that again ..

To be honest...
Modes with more colours would overall result in a higher CPU usage when moving graphics. 16 colours in a bitmap of 160x200 would make the 1,79MHz CPU to slow even for graphic-adventures.
Obviously the C64's techniques was/is superior to the A8 when it comes to colour usage. But when it comes to "speed", the A8 has it's advantages.

The usage with 4 colour bitmap-graphics and PM "underlay" (or the Charmode with PM underlay) is better for the performance at all.

[miker]

The key to succes is to write/obtain the fast possible proc for movable shapes. In the included pic flying objects (and fireballs) aren't really sprites and the game gets slower only if the amount of these sprites exceeds 16.

Attached Thumbnails

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[miker]

Ooops - the pic is here:

Attached Thumbnails

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[Heaven/TQA]

hmmm... miker...but is this nice? just 3 colours per sprite and each of them has the same + background... i don't know... but i have to check the game if its done in antic e...

i spend yesterday few hours to rethink my sprite multiplexor (esp. sorting routines) and i would like to setup a kind of "atari ST" demo like competition: who can display max amount of sprites... ok 1st we have to define what kind of sprites...player/missle, charmode or antic e and if highres which size???

[emkay]

miker said:

The key to succes is to write/obtain the fast possible proc for movable shapes. In the included pic flying objects (and fireballs) aren't really sprites and the game gets slower only if the amount of these sprites exceeds 16.

Here a quick theoretical screen:

All moved objects recommended as softwaresprites!
Border color dark grey, "710" is used as a PM - resolution filter
Horizontal position of the PMg is done by setting the PM-Shapes per DLI.
The screen is build to fit into Antic E.... Charmode "4" would give an enhanced colourdepth.
I changed only the important regions on the screen.

[Tezz]

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emkay Obviously the C64's techniques was/is superior to the A8 when it comes to colour usage

Yes indeed, even with the fixed pallette, I don't know why Atari never included similar modes. Atari dangles a 256 pallette under your nose with big limitations.

Quote

Miker The key to succes is to write/obtain the fast possible proc for movable shapes

ah yes, the holy grail

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Heaven ...but is this nice?  just 3 colours per sprite and each of them has the same + background

during it's commercial times, these 3 colour games were realy disapointing and let the Atari's capabilities down. I think it was the reason for it's demise. A few titles like Henry's house showed a well designed screen (Chris Murray ) but I guess, as has been discussed many times in AA, the market for the A8 was becoming low and a quickly rushed out game or even a bad port was all we saw in the end. Every new game was another nail in the coffin.

Quote

Heaven i would like to setup a kind of "atari ST" demo like competition: who can display max amount of sprites...

This is a good idea, there is a lot of coding tallent out there today, we should start a routine development thread.

Happy Easter ... and coding to all

[analmux]

Heaven/TQA said:

... and i would like to setup a kind of "atari ST" demo like competition: who can display max amount of sprites... ok 1st we have to define what kind of sprites...player/missle, charmode or antic e and if highres which size???

I would like to do something on softwaresprites in antic 4 charmode with PM-underlay. Shall I open a thread in the development zone???

[analmux]

I've opened a thread, however I don't quite like the idea of a contest, but more something like a development discussion:

http://www.atariage....pic.php?t=66811

[Heaven/TQA]

new v6 version of my engine available. look @ the programming forum. source code included.

[Tezz]

nice one Heaven, I'll check it out...

[Heaven/TQA]

for bubble bobble you would definitly go for software sprites i am afraid, tezz. as my one is definitly for hardware sprites only.

[miker]

8 months later...

How's BB?

Edited by miker, Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:18 PM.

[skem]

I would love a copy if you put it on a cart