Images generated by RastaConverter

[Gunstar]

Ikari Warriors. 68 colors.

IkariWarriors.xex

Edited October 7, 2020 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

Telengard. 44 colors.

 

 

Telengard.xex

[Goochman]

1 hour ago, Gunstar said:

Telengard. 44 colors.

 

 

Telengard.xex 22.15 kB · 4 downloads

That came out great.  I first played this on my friends C64 and thought it looked good and was fun to play.  A few months later I got it on the Atari and lets just say it was a disappointment..........

[Gunstar]

37 minutes ago, Goochman said:

That came out great.  I first played this on my friends C64 and thought it looked good and was fun to play.  A few months later I got it on the Atari and lets just say it was a disappointment..........

I used to be disappointed in some game graphics (which is what I assume you were disappointed with on the Atari version) that were not quite as good as the C64 versions, more to due with a lack of color on-screen, but then I got a C64 about 15 years ago and started trying C64 games that I liked on the Atari, but were more colorful or used a higher resolution (probably due to 48K instead of 64K in most cases), but with most C64 versions, they just didn't control as good, or didn't animate as smoothly, or something else was lost in game play. I'm no longer disappointed in most of those Atari versions for having less color or inferior graphics because they are so much better in the game play department.

 

I haven't played the C64 version of Telengard, but I have fun with the Atari version, even if the graphics are just simple keyboard character graphics. So is there something else to the C64 version that improves the gaming experience besides slightly better graphics? Because these days, playing everything from the 2600 to the Xbox 1, when I look back at the comparatively minute graphical upgrades between one old 8-bit and another, in light of newer systems with far superior graphics, slightly worse graphics don't bother me anymore. Better is good, but with graphics so primitive on 8-bits, by newer standards over the past few decades, the differences seem almost inconsequential to me these days. It's all about GAME PLAY.

 

With Telengard being a BASIC game, it should be quite simple for someone to go hack it for better looking character graphics these days.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Gunstar

[Goochman]

1 minute ago, Gunstar said:

I used to be disappointed in some games have graphics (which is what I assume you were disappointed with on the Atari version) that were not quite as good as the C64 versions, more to due with a lack of color on-screen, but then I got a C64 about 15 years ago and started trying C64 games that I liked on the Atari, but were more colorful or used a higher resolution (probably due to 48K instead of 64K in most cases), but with most C64 versions, they just didn't control as good, or didn't animated as smoothly, or something else was lost in game play. I'm no longer disappointed in most of those Atari versions for having less color or inferior graphics because they are so much better in the game play department.

 

I haven't played the C64 version of Telengard, but I have fun with the Atari version, even if the graphics are just simple keyboard character graphics. So is there something else to the C64 version that improves the gaming experience besides slightly better graphics? Because these days, playing everything from the 2600 to the Xbox 1, when I look back at at the comparatively minute graphical upgrades between one old 8-bit and another, in light of newer systems with far superior graphics, slightly worse graphics don't bother me anymore. Better is good, but with graphics so primitive on 8-bits, by newer standards over the past few decades, the differences seem almost inconsequential to me these days. It's all about GAME PLAY.

The better thing is the player and monsters are graphics with some animations.  I think there is a better save mechanism also - I seem to remember the Atari not being as good in terms of save and restore.  I agree with the "control" aspect.  Alot of 8bit versions seem tighter

[Gunstar]

2 hours ago, Goochman said:

The better thing is the player and monsters are graphics with some animations.  I think there is a better save mechanism also - I seem to remember the Atari not being as good in terms of save and restore.  I agree with the "control" aspect.  Alot of 8bit versions seem tighter

I see. Well, remember that the Atari version came out before the C64's version, and the competition at the time vs. Atari 40K cassette version and 48K disk version (which version did you play? I have the disk version, never seen the 40K cassette version to see if it is different) were the TRS-80, PET, both 32K cassette and Apple's 48K version. All the earlier versions before the C64 used character graphics. The Atari and Apple 48K versions were the first to use red-fined character graphics at least. The C64 version benefited from more memory and a redone game engine. I bet the C64 version also used machine language instead of BASIC used in all previous versions.

 

I remember back when I first got into the Atari 8-bit in 1985 with the 130XE (having only the VCS and Timex/Sinclair 1000 before), I was bigoted towards most games for the Atari 8-bit made before  '83/84 time period because they looked too primitive and not enough of a step-up, graphically from the 2600 which I was tired of and wanted more "state-of-the-art" graphics of 8-bits of the day. I looked at C64, Nintendo, Master System games and they were my bar, graphically, or at least close (maybe less colors). Of course that bigotry was no longer an issue when I got back into the 8-bit in the 2000's and I had a whole new world of older domestic software and from England and Europe to explore...these days if it's a fun game, I don't care about the graphics as much, though better graphics are always preferred.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

Exodus: Ultima III. 49 colors.

ExodusU3.xex

[+MrFish]

New feature request for Altirra: Ability to rotate screen in 90° increments.

 

[Gunstar]

That would be a nice feature in Altirra, since these horizontally oriented images allow subject matter such as game-box & poster art that had to be cropped far more or in a 3:4 windowed box on the Atari screen and far less pixels for far less detail. Though since I'm doing more of these images now, I've already planned on fabricating a DIY stand for my 21" LCD I use with my 800, that will allow me to just turn the actual TV screen 90 degrees and back at any moment.

 

I plan on doing some of my own art with Atari graphics programs that will use this orientation too, an Atari touch-tablet is perfect for working this way as I can just turn it 90 degrees for drawing. I know these images aren't for everyone who view them on real Atari's due to the bodily contortions required or hardware abuse to see the images properly, but I like what I can do with this orientation and intend to do more, though it will probably only be about 25% of my over all Rasta image conversions. I just happen to have a few I'm running right now at once.

Edited October 10, 2020 by Gunstar

[Wrathchild]

If you are running windows then try CTRL-ATL-<arrow key> to rotate the display (CTRL-ALT-UP to restore)

[Gunstar]

I just tried it, and it's better than nothing, I suppose, but Altirra is in a much smaller window itself in that orientation, instead of a much larger image if you physically turn the monitor. Though going full screen in Altirra helps get a larger image in either orientation.

 

Here is what my set-up looks like, currently, when I display these images. The monitor's stand braces it against my wall.  Though since I'm using the same monitor for my PC, and the 800 isn't booted at the moment, I just used Altirra for the screen shot instead of the real thing:

Edited October 10, 2020 by Gunstar

[+MrFish]

19 hours ago, Gunstar said:

That would be a nice feature in Altirra, since these horizontally oriented images allow subject matter such as game-box & poster art that had to be cropped far more or in a 3:4 windowed box on the Atari screen and far less pixels for far less detail. Though since I'm doing more of these images now, I've already planned on fabricating a DIY stand for my 21" LCD I use with my 800, that will allow me to just turn the actual TV screen 90 degrees and back at any moment.

 

I plan on doing some of my own art with Atari graphics programs that will use this orientation too, an Atari touch-tablet is perfect for working this way as I can just turn it 90 degrees for drawing. I know these images aren't for everyone who view them on real Atari's due to the bodily contortions required or hardware abuse to see the images properly, but I like what I can do with this orientation and intend to do more, though it will probably only be about 25% of my over all Rasta image conversions. I just happen to have a few I'm running right now at once.

 

Vertically oriented screens can be useful for any type of computer system.

 

[+MrFish]

19 hours ago, Wrathchild said:

If you are running windows then try CTRL-ATL-<arrow key> to rotate the display (CTRL-ALT-UP to restore)

 

Doesn't work in Windows 7, for me. I'm sure there's some way to "hotkey" it there though.

 

I'm not really too keen on have the whole display turned for one app/window. Although in full screen mode it would be fine.

 

[Gunstar]

It works for me with Windows 7.

[Gunstar]

3 hours ago, Gunstar said:

It works for me with Windows 7.

Though I prefer just turning my monitor as pictured for just viewing Rasta Images. Though I am finding I like surfing the net with my monitor and Windows 7 vertically oriented at the same time as it's meant to be.

[amarok]

Peacock, 77 colors.

 

 

amarok_peacock.xex

[drpeter]

Daphne

 

Screengrab from 'Scooby Doo'

 

62 colours

 

 

drpeter_Daphne.xex

Edited October 17, 2020 by drpeter

[drpeter]

Gimli

 

John Rhys-Davies as Gimli son of Gloin, a dwarf warrior in Peter Jackson's film trilogy of JRR Tolkien's fantasy novel 'The Lord Of The Rings'.

 

56 colours.

 

Here he laments departing Lothlorien, the realm of the beautiful Elf-Queen Galadriel:

 

“Tell me, Legolas, why did I embark upon this Quest?

Little then did I discern where danger chiefly lay!

Apt were the words of Elrond,

saying that we knew not what trials might test us on our way.

Torment in the dark I feared the most, though it stayed me not,

yet ne'er would I have set my foot upon this road

had I but foreseen the mightier perils of light and joy.”

 

 

drpeter_Gimli.xex

Edited October 19, 2020 by drpeter

[Mr Robot]

This thread on Twitter is currently showing off graphics from various computers and no one has posted an Atari 8bit example yet. Here's the control image, what can we do with that?

 

 

 

 

 

[Gunstar]

2 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

This thread on Twitter is currently showing off graphics from various computers and no one has posted an Atari 8bit example yet. Here's the control image, what can we do with that?

 

 

 

 

 

Attempting a conversion now. Though it's cropped to 4:3 for maximum resolution, hopefully that's OK. I'll do a full letter-box version second, but it won't look as good losing about 27 lines of resolution...

[Mr Robot]

If you've looked at the thread there are a couple of 8-bit systems that do a great job of this image, but it really doesn't start to look accurate until the 16-bit era. I hope the Atari can change that

[+Stephen]

I'd cheat and post a VBXE copy in 160*240, 320*240 @ 256 colours or 640*240*16 but I guess that's not really in the spirit (wrong thread too).

 

Interesting to see what comes of this.

[Gunstar]

1 hour ago, Mr Robot said:

If you've looked at the thread there are a couple of 8-bit systems that do a great job of this image, but it really doesn't start to look accurate until the 16-bit era. I hope the Atari can change that

I guess you haven't seen any of my previous automobile images if you have to hope...

[Gunstar]

Here is my first attempt. This is a cropped 4:3 ratio 160x240x120* color PAL mode. Though I intend this to be more of an example and intend to convert it again to achieve better results. But also, after looking at the twitter thread, it appears all computer conversions are using the full original image and are all probably sacrificing resolution with a letter-boxed image on 4:3 ratio graphic modes. So I am working on a full original image ratio that is converting to 160x213x120 color PAL mode now.

 

Another key difference here, I think, in "Rasta" mode on the Atari is that it is capable of showing the full palette on-screen, but most conversions use less, averaging about half the colors of the palette, but always different. And other computer images on twitter they seem to be labeling all converted images with the maximum number of colors allowed on-screen, like the Amiga's 32 colors from a palette of 4,096, or the Genesis/MegaDrive's 61 colors from a palette of 512. This particular conversion on the Atari has 44 colors of a possible 120 out of a palette of 120. 

 

I'm just making a point of all of this because I'm not sure how the Atari's color should be classified/labeled as. It appears all other versions on twitter are just giving the maximum screen resolution of the graphic mode that is used, regardless if the image is letter-boxed and not using all of the vertical resolution like in the Atari Rasta version of the full original control image.

 

Again, I don't think this image should be the one posted as the Atari example on twitter; either my full control image version, or some one else's (if anyone else is working on one) full control version should be the official example. I'm only unsure of the labeling/classification of number of colors possible or used and if it's considered a 120* or 128 color palette.

 

*I think, IIRC, PAL Atari's only have 120 color palette instead of NTSC's 128, as one color and it's 8 shades levels are doubled.

 

 

 

OUTATIME. 44 colors.

OUTATIME.xex

[Mr Robot]

We were too slow, someone else posted an atari800 pic, this is now the representative example of the atari 8bit