Mord's Blog - (Action RPG) Version 0.015

RSS Bot · September 1, 2007

And done. Mostly it seems a couple of the glitches that cropped up were just me confusing the meaning of some variables. :ponder: And then "fixing" things that weren't broken. In the end I refreshed some of the code I was fixing and found the real culprit. (A comparison on the Heart AI and unnecessary checks on hardware sprites on the key AI)

Flicker works as expected although I can think up a few ways to help reduce flicker. Right now, for instance, even if the key isn't displayed on the screen due to being too close to the right it is still using up an object slot as far as the object manager is concerned. Thus causing just 2 sprites to flicker on the screen.

I was also pondering newer display kernels and ways to make the screen scroll from one screen to the next instead of instantly loading the new frame. The horizontal scrolling would require async playfield use which would be impossible if the sprites are being displayed but I figure it would be acceptable. It makes sense to not display the sprites or update them while the scrolling is taking place anyway. (time is technically stopped during this visual effect! )

Something to ponder at any rate. I would like to experiment with async playfields anyway so this would be a good enough reason to tinker with it in a future version.

But for version 0.016 I want to tinker with the room loader itself. Optimize it a little. Perhaps alter the room format to use fewer bytes or enable the format to make use of existing data more often. (It can already do that for the playfield data itself as noticed by the castle rooms. One castle room points to the castle data of the other instead of explicitedly using bytes of rom for it's own copy.)

Additionally Room Objects will be implimented. These are local objects that are loaded when the player enters the room, as specified in the room data itself. Eventually it'll be possible to load objects that are in the room's specs after certain conditions are met. (They would remain offscreen and non-flickering until that condition is met.) This keeps ram use regarding these objects to a minimum even tho they may be something that is always in existance - or at least must remember it's current state all the time.

I've already thought of several potential uses for this. One of the easier uses of those you'll see in the next version!

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