Software sprites?

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carlsson
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Post by carlsson »

I'm most excited about some sort of support for other assemblers. For a while now I've been meaning to try SSS, but I'm unwilling to drop DASM in favor of the CC65 assembler.
Anders Carlsson

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nippur72
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Post by nippur72 »

carlsson wrote:For a while now I've been meaning to try SSS, but I'm unwilling to drop DASM in favor of the CC65 assembler.
the SSS package has "fixed" binaries that can be bulkly inlcuded in the DASM source. Works pretty well and it's actually faster than compiling + linking via CC65.
rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

FYI, another extension! Although I think I will make this a compile-time option, too, because it is a bit specialized and probably not something that would be re-used very often. And even though it only takes a few more bytes of code, I'd like to have it automatically filtered out if it was not going to get used in a game. It is in the sprite's definition as an inverted image flag -- during rendering, it will modify standard OR operations with EOR; and combined with collision detection, it will modify EOR with OR. It will also NOT write its sprite color register, but keep whatever is already present in the PLAYFIELD.

In Berzerk, Evil Otto passes through walls in the same manner, so I wanted to duplicate that same effect. If you watch carefully. even the bullets do the same effect when in contact with a wall. I can see where this could be useful for other clever tricks, like shooting from a submarine, whereas the object transitions from black submerged in the water to white as it breaks the surface. Useful for other "ghost"-like effects to "see" the object moving behind the playfield.

The code works, but now I need to cleanup a few color cells in my maze generator to avoid the bullets / otto from inadvertently changing from the robot color of that level to blue at certain spots. Should be no big deal to correct.
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rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

I have posted the MMX edition as a release here. Enjoy!
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rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

I updated the latest source archive, which improves SSSPRINTS for text output with color control.

I am also writing a tutorial via a game cartridge... does this format appeal to anyone? I can write quite a bit more short snippets like this to demo how the registers work with the effect next to it. It may inspire another retro-programmer out there, you never know. :wink:
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

I've noticed on a real VIC that the volume of the voice seems to change from time to time. Sometimes, it goes really quiet only to return again in the next stage.
High Scores, Links, and Jeff's Basic Games page.
Progra
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Post by Progra »

rhurst wrote: I am also writing a tutorial via a game cartridge... does this format appeal to anyone? I can write quite a bit more short snippets like this to demo how the registers work with the effect next to it. It may inspire another retro-programmer out there, you never know. :wink:
Amazing stuff!! Thank you so much. Please when you can write some more snippets. :D
vicassembly
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Post by vicassembly »

Robert... This is some amazing work you have been doing.
As we have conversed via email, I am more interested in understanding how the wheel was made as opposed to just using the wheel. 8)

I love the demo!

Jonathan
rhurst wrote:I updated the latest source archive, which improves SSSPRINTS for text output with color control.

I am also writing a tutorial via a game cartridge... does this format appeal to anyone? I can write quite a bit more short snippets like this to demo how the registers work with the effect next to it. It may inspire another retro-programmer out there, you never know. :wink:
8) 8)
rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

FYI, I have created a subversion repository for this project (vic-sss)... I actually went back to the 1.0 codeset and commited / tagged each release to current from this thread.

I will still make archives for download, but the latest will simply be checked-in here from time-to-time. Use the typical checkout command to retrieve the latest:

svn co https://robert.hurst-ri.us/svn/vic-sss/trunk .

... and the latest stable release:
svn co https://robert.hurst-ri.us/svn/vic-sss/tags/release-mmx .
... I am more interested in understanding how the wheel was made ...
Well, I think this entire thread speaks to the 'how', unless I am misunderstanding your request. My primary development environment is a Fedora Linux workstation using the ca65 assembler found in the cc65 compiler suite -- I debug using VICE and MESS emulators. And each VIC-SSS archive contains decent how-to documentation (PDF) for more on the technical how's. Please expand upon your request if the above does not suffice.

Enjoy!
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Kananga
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Post by Kananga »

rhurst wrote:FYI, I have created a subversion repository for this project (vic-sss)...
Great, thanks!
rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

Progra wrote:Please when you can write some more snippets.
Ok, updated the demo cart and prg today with two screens. Note, the cart version might not do 'ghost mode', because I use a self-modifying code technique, and that address space is typically ROM -- unless you map/use RAM at that 8k block.

Download the latest archive for source, binaries, and documentation.
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rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

Just a teaser post ... :P

But I wanted to leak out that I just added (cleverly, if I may be so bold) a new feature that may make my next arcade action game doable. The early results are very, very promising -- so I will wait until I implement it in the new game(s) I envision that will take full advantage of it.
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vicassembly
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Post by vicassembly »

You are such a tease! ;-)
rhurst
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Post by rhurst »

I cleaned up the new feature and got a new game using it at 85% complete... it's looking really good, but alas, I won't have too much time to work on it this coming week. Hopefully it won't be too much longer. And I expect to have another game with it out shortly after that one.

And when this is done and working to my satisfaction, I'll post updated documentation and downloadable archives, per usual.
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

rhurst wrote:and got a new game using it at 85% complete...
Any anticipation :roll:
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