Development - I ask all

[matashen]

 

Hi Karri,

 

What do you mean by mixing asm and C freely? From my point of view, you can already do that with cc65 easily, as you can use in-line assembler or .s modules, but I know you know that, so I guess you mean something else?

 

We probably have different views on the cart issue, as I don't think it's worth trying to fit the round peg of the Lynx cart access into the square hole of POSIX i/o. Why not just provide some routines to access the cart, callable from both C and asm, and don't worry about implementing open/read? I guess cross-platform-ability is the goal there? Really though, anything non-trivial is probably going to be written to the Lynx hardware, and doesn't want/need the overhead of file i/o, IMO. On that topic I'd like to see the defines for the lynx hardware (_suzy.h, etc..) included in the lynx cc65 package too, like the Atari 8-bit and C64 has (_antic.h for 8-bit, _vic.h for C64).

 

I mean that lyxass cannot be compiled by cc65. To mix lyxass with cc65 I have to include it as a seperate binary blob. If I could compile the asm with the ca65 then I could link it with the linker.

 

The benefit is that C-code and asm could share cart access, sound support, screen update mechanism, ComLynx.

 

Today lyxass programs will copy the complete initialization and duplicate everything.

 

About the open/read it makes sense to use them. You can very easily get the same usability as the 42Bastian's code.

 

fno = open(filename, accessflags); // This also fetches the directory entry into RAM
status = read(fno, entry->loadAddress, entry->fileSize);

 

The Lynx has only one file open at a time (fno is always 1). So what the open really does is that it fetches the directory entry of file "filename" into RAM.

 

The file naming I planned to implement is "0", "1", "2",...

 

After the open call you have this entry-structure in RAM:

 

.byte blockNumber
.word byteOffsetInBlock
.byte hiBlockNumber
.word loadAddress
.word fileSize

 

Compared to the old way of doing this I believe it is easier to understand. And you can read more or less data from the cart depending on how your game works.

 

--

Karri

 

for cardaccess i use a new routine from sage, where i only write LoadFileTo(<filenumber>,<targetmem>)

it also supports compressed files.

The second routine is one that suports simple animation files and also do auto decompress it.

This is also code that i cannot use with the cc65.org compiler, cause most of the code is inline lyxass

 

Regards

 

Matthias

[Shawn Jefferson]

lyxass code could be converted to work with ca65 can't it? Just a difference in the syntax (and whatever libraries/macros are involved too I guess.)

 

@Karri, a simple file i/o like you described would be nice I guess, make the system more friendly for people... I guess the linker can build a cartridge, complete with directory structure? Coupled with a linker script and some custom segments I guess that's pretty easily doable.

[Turbo Laser Lynx]

A IK+ game for the Lynx would be really cool. I voted for including the original moves. One thing i come to think of that's not mentioned in the poll is that IK+ had outstanding music.

 

And for those (incl. me ) who really don't understand how the low level programming works but wants to create lots of games for the Lynx in C this:

 

I would sooo like to spend days on improving the cc65 and adding good cart support.

 

and this:

 

@Karri, a simple file i/o like you described would be nice I guess, make the system more friendly for people...

[matashen]

A IK+ game for the Lynx would be really cool. I voted for including the original moves. One thing i come to think of that's not mentioned in the poll is that IK+ had outstanding music.

 

And for those (incl. me ) who really don't understand how the low level programming works but wants to create lots of games for the Lynx in C this:

 

I would sooo like to spend days on improving the cc65 and adding good cart support.

 

and this:

 

@Karri, a simple file i/o like you described would be nice I guess, make the system more friendly for people...

 

I dont have the resources to integrate cool MODMusic ingame. But its possible to integrate cool ABC-Musik.

If a great abc musician like "sampo" for example would compose abc files - i will do my best to get in best sound.

 

I actual go in cooperation with "IndieAlarm" to get professional artwork.

 

What i need is a name for the game cause i can not use IK or IK+ cause System3 already have the rights.

 

I think "Karate World Tour" would be a cool name

 

I waiting for an opinion and ideas from the community.

 

Regards

Matthias

[Turbo Laser Lynx]

I dont have the resources to integrate cool MODMusic ingame. But its possible to integrate cool ABC-Musik.

 

Yeah the sound of the modmusic is ofc superior, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the mod music in Alpine Games, its so freakin' great. However normal (abc) Lync music does have it's charm too. The Lynx sound chip obviously does not sound as good, and is not as famous as the commodore 64:s sid chip but it sure sounds better than the gameboy and game gear and a lot of other ones too.

 

 

If a great abc musician like "sampo" for example would compose abc files - i will do my best to get in best sound.

 

Thank you, thank you. I can't promise anything yet 'cause I have both work and I have to start writing my examination paper for school so I'm very busy. But it would be fun trying to write a song in the "80s Asian" style of IK+ and/or Last Ninja (and a pain to manually convert it to abc haha). I'll let you know right away if I get anything done.

 

One thing about abc-music for the "old" newcc65 is that there was no endless repeat, instead you have to loop (restart) the song manually with a counter. I tested that trough trial and error in conquistador and artillery to get the right time I noticed that half of the chorus in my song in space dance was cut of in "yastuna 2" probably due to this problem.

 

What i need is a name for the game cause i can not use IK or IK+ cause System3 already have the rights.

 

I think "Karate World Tour" would be a cool name

 

I agree that "Karate World Tour" is a good name.