ELITE
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 6:52 pm
Please -- don't scroll away. I'm serious.
There's a really good project by Mark Moxon at https://www.bbcelite.com/ where he's created a disassembly of the original BBC Elite. As well, he's detailed other versions, including C64 Elite, (S?)NES Elite, Arc Elite and a rebuild/remake I've never heard of called Elite-A, which still runs on a BBC but has way more content, and the ability to buy different ships.
I played Elite on the Arc (I went straight from the Vic to the A3000) and I've played all the games since. And it's really ground my gears all my life that there's no version for the VIC. I understand why. The bitmapping makes it next to impossible. Yet something else on Mark's site caught my attention and got me thinking: Teletext Elite. That's right. Elite in Teletext mode, blocky 3x2 characters and all.
One more piece of background, and it's not something I'm proud to admit: I'm not the coder I used to be. Without going into details, I've been ill, and my ability to focus, my stamina, and my ability to figure out logical problems has been impaired.
I'm here to try to ask for help. I think on this forum there are the greatest VIC20 minds on the planet. If the VIC can run DOOM, surely we can find a way to make it run Elite if we all pull together? I've even got a couple of ideas for how the bitmap graphics could be managed, and I've been working on design: screen layouts (which I've been tinkering with), game ideas (extra ships, more components, damageable ship components).
I can't do this on my own. I just can't. Stars know I've tried, for 3 months, and every night I come away exhausted and disheartened. I know, too, that I'm new here: this is just my second post. Yet my searches for info in bitmapped graphics, VIC raster tricks and other things all led me here, so here I am.
Please. Don't dismiss this out of hand. I know it can be done. Let's make it happen. Let's bring Elite to the VIC.
Thank you.
There's a really good project by Mark Moxon at https://www.bbcelite.com/ where he's created a disassembly of the original BBC Elite. As well, he's detailed other versions, including C64 Elite, (S?)NES Elite, Arc Elite and a rebuild/remake I've never heard of called Elite-A, which still runs on a BBC but has way more content, and the ability to buy different ships.
I played Elite on the Arc (I went straight from the Vic to the A3000) and I've played all the games since. And it's really ground my gears all my life that there's no version for the VIC. I understand why. The bitmapping makes it next to impossible. Yet something else on Mark's site caught my attention and got me thinking: Teletext Elite. That's right. Elite in Teletext mode, blocky 3x2 characters and all.
One more piece of background, and it's not something I'm proud to admit: I'm not the coder I used to be. Without going into details, I've been ill, and my ability to focus, my stamina, and my ability to figure out logical problems has been impaired.
I'm here to try to ask for help. I think on this forum there are the greatest VIC20 minds on the planet. If the VIC can run DOOM, surely we can find a way to make it run Elite if we all pull together? I've even got a couple of ideas for how the bitmap graphics could be managed, and I've been working on design: screen layouts (which I've been tinkering with), game ideas (extra ships, more components, damageable ship components).
I can't do this on my own. I just can't. Stars know I've tried, for 3 months, and every night I come away exhausted and disheartened. I know, too, that I'm new here: this is just my second post. Yet my searches for info in bitmapped graphics, VIC raster tricks and other things all led me here, so here I am.
Please. Don't dismiss this out of hand. I know it can be done. Let's make it happen. Let's bring Elite to the VIC.
Thank you.