Keatah Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 (edited) The rock blowing up just before going offscreen was likely a collision with a saucer coming in from the same location. I've seen that before where it will actually blow up before you see the saucer. So it's like that new warp drive theory, where a ship is coming into town at warp speed, and unleashes a barrage of exotic sub-atomic particles that blows everything away. Yeh? Makes sense to me. All this talk of ships and rocks makes me want to go watch "Pegasus". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pegasus_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29 A ST:NG episode where a cloaking device fails and the ship is partly embedded in an asteroid. Thank god this game here is much more merciful, that if you materialize in an asteroid you explode. Edited November 13, 2012 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Probably changing the shield enabled graphics (blinking between solid and vector ship) would help here too and make things more obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 The rock blowing up just before going offscreen was likely a collision with a saucer coming in from the same location. I've seen that before where it will actually blow up before you see the saucer. Just checked the code and the saucer doesn't start processing collisions until the frame after it appears. However, it appears within the HMOVE bars so that it can smoothly enter the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 You know what..? I bet there's nothing wrong with the collision detection. Isn't this a normal behavior? It takes the ship a few moments to finish rezzing-up or materializing after it gets all blowed up from a previous collision. And during that time it's an opportunity for U to get away from impending doom. It also flashes various brightness levels as it does this. Takes a few seconds to totally solidify. I bet that's what we're seeing. That's probably it. We'll let BigO confirm. Probably changing the shield enabled graphics (blinking between solid and vector ship) would help here too and make things more obvious. Don't know if I can do that. Surprisingly I've got 25 bytes free in the ARM code after yesterdays revisions, but I need to track down and fix the "jumping sprite" issue I noticed last night and who knows how much space that'll take. Respawn and shields are also different functions which work and show themselves differently (respawn cycles luma, shields cycles color unless the game is monochrome in which case it also cycles luma). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Just checked the code and the saucer doesn't start processing collisions until the frame after it appears. However, it appears within the HMOVE bars so that it can smoothly enter the screen. So it can be hidden on the left side of the screen then? That's probably where I've seen it happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 (edited) So it can be hidden on the left side of the screen then? That's probably where I've seen it happen. it actually happens on both sides, the HMOVE hides 7 of the 8 pixels when the saucer first appears as it starts out with X=1 (when moving right) or X=159 (left). X=0 is used to end the saucer's current appearance. The large saucer spans the full 8 pixels, but the small one occupies the left 5 pixels so it's "offscreen" for 3 extra pixels when entering from the left side. It might make sense to shift those graphic over a pixel or two to better center it Edited November 13, 2012 by SpiceWare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 I prefer to play with the vector asteroids as the occasional flicker is less noticeable on my C= 1084S. I played a round of Space Rocks on my RF based 7800 last night, and I now I can see why some prefer the solid asteroids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 14, 2012 Author Share Posted November 14, 2012 Fix to prevent saucer from hiding out in the vertical wrap zone updated "label by" in easter egg centered small saucer graphic fixed the sprite jump glitch menu tweaks to style and color Release Candidate 6 ROMs - Harmony or Stella1 spacerocks20121114_NTSC.bin spacerocks20121114_PAL.bin 1 Requires Stella ver 3.7.1 or later. See first post for instructions on how to reduce flicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Just gave RC6 a spin on my Harmony/7800...looks good...I will play it some more this WE and see if I find any issues! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 Thanks! There's going to be at least one more RC, we're currently working on this: That's a screen grab from the latest build with Nathan's first attempt at the title graphics. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+HatNJ Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Very Nice ! Am really enjoying this on my Harmony along with many others always a sucker for an Asteroids variant This would have been the ultimate version if released in 1981 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Very Nice ! Am really enjoying this on my Harmony along with many others always a sucker for an Asteroids variant This would have been the ultimate version if released in 1981 What do you mean "If released in 1981?" It is the ultimate version, now or anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+HatNJ Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 What do you mean "If released in 1981?" It is the ultimate version, now or anytime. Well that was what I meant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Darrell-played more last night and made it over 30K a couple of times...no issues. My only feedback at all is that sometimes rocks appear over top of each other and don't look the best when in the multi-color mode. This is one awesome game for the 2600!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 (edited) My only feedback at all is that sometimes rocks appear over top of each other and don't look the best when in the multi-color mode. This is one awesome game for the 2600!!! Funny how much opinions can vary. I have no problem with rocks flickering when passing one another, and the multi-color solid mode is the only way I'm willing to play. Oh, and that title screen logo looks great. It's nice how you've coordinated it with the label. I thought I posted that last night, but apparently it didn't go through. Edited November 17, 2012 by KevinMos3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Funny how much opinions can vary. I have no problem with rocks flickering when passing one another, and the multi-color solid mode is the only way I'm willing to play. Don't get me wrong...this is an awesome game and just fine as it is!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 My only feedback at all is that sometimes rocks appear over top of each other and don't look the best when in the multi-color mode. This is one awesome game for the 2600!!! Yeah, sometimes the color blending due to flicker can look odd, but there's nothing that can be done about that. I normally play with vector style and it's not as noticeable then. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 Oh, and that title screen logo looks great. It's nice how you've coordinated it with the label. I thought I posted that last night, but apparently it didn't go through. That was always the plan, the prior logo was just something I threw together as a placeholder. Thomas Jentzsch has been working his magic again and freed up enough space to hold the larger, 2 frame logo that Nathan's been working on. The two frames are flickered to get the red outline around the yellow letters as there's no other way to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 A little PR for Space Rocks.... http://retrogameguy.com/2012/11/20/asteroids/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakogame 箱亀 Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Just wondering... Would it be possible to shift "space" 8 pixels left, and shift "rocks" 8 pixels right? Like this: I think that would make the logo look less confined to the center column of options. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Yes, but most likely with at least a one line gap between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Just wondering... Would it be possible to shift "space" 8 pixels left, and shift "rocks" 8 pixels right? That looks great. I'd need to write a number of new routines to do that and I'm out of space for them. Thomas' has some additional optimizations that might help, but I'm quite pressed for time and I'm not willing to push Space Rocks' release date into next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 I can have a look... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 23, 2012 Author Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) I squeezed in some time last night and applied the rest of Thomas' ARM optimizations. That probably freed up enough space to do the title shift, though I'll have to relocate some data out of the 6507 bank into the ARM bank before that can occur. Edited November 23, 2012 by SpiceWare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I have found some more optimizations for main.c. Just need the latest source code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.