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A New twist on Pac Man?


1980gamer

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Okay OX,

It only took 2 lines being changed and 3 being added, However, I have memory full errors.

I have changed a BUNCH of stuff to try to squeeze ANY space at all...

I think I am only a couple of bytes away.. But I am still working on it!

 

In XB I have over 3K before running and just under 3K after running.

But compliled, I only have 352 bytes free before running. After running, I get memory full while executing!

 

I will keep digging... But I don't know if this is going to work?

 

Hopefully you will have a new version tonight!

Gene

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This little 2 line change and 3 additional lines turned into 10-15 hours of looking for ways to free up a few bytes!

Well, I think I have it! Not play tested very much though.

 

So, PAC2-C is the OX version.

If you enter a tunnel using S or D it will mirror and you play the backside of the maze.

If you enter a tunnel using J or K, the MODE will change, but pacman also makes it through the tunnel.

I can see this helping escape, but it did not help me!!! I am very used to the normal mirror mode now.. and playing left handed.

 

This zip contains both versions... PACM-C is my vision of the game and PAC2-C is the OX edition of the game.

 

To Vorticon... Please add this to the Gameshelf! Let me know if you need any additional info. Oh and don't send NAMCO after me! This was only a demo!!!!!

Gene

PAC2-C.zip

Edited by 1980gamer
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Thanks Harry,

I have been playing with the TI for 30+ years now.

I have made some very complex stuff, but would never consider anything COMPLETE.

Mostly do to the fact that collision detection was so poor. I would kill reaction times with coinc statements.

 

With the compilier, not only do you not need a bunch of coinc statements, but the speed of execution

would allows for many lines of execution with great collision detection and key/joyst response etc.

 

Thank you for your great compilier and your help on a few of my sticking points.

 

This is my first actual program I consider complete and I am happy about!

 

I am already looking to push the limits of the compilier with my new endevor!

I hope a lot of the math functions work... LOG, TAN etc. If not, I am certain, I'll figure something out!

 

I will need to figure out your XB256 Demo at some point also... Scrolling is a dream of mine!

Gene

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I used Wilhelm's compiler on some items a few years ago and had moderate success. It lacked several features I wanted/needed and so I focused primarily on optimizing straight XB to run efficiently. The problem, as you well know, is that it's difficult to do any type of arcade design in straight XB... It is simply not fast nor efficient enough to be effective (90% of the time). There are some excellent exceptions to this truism though... Walid's gameshelf site is full of brilliantly crafted XB games.

 

My last game offering, Riding for the Brand, suffered because of the limitations of Extended BASIC as an arcade medium. I still enjoy playing it, and it IS beatable, you just have to care enough to want to play it and beat it, and I don't think the interface was good enough to force users to want to play it. sometimes99er summed it up best a couple years ago. Good music, good presentation, lousy user interface. That's arcade XB for the most part.

 

Seeing what's going on with the new compiler, though... That is very exciting stuff!

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  • 7 months later...

It has been a while... I was out of space and ok with how this came out.

 

After seeing some other work here... I was no longer satisfied with some of the bugs andshort comings of mirror maze/pacman.

 

I have redesigned the ghost chase logic completely.

It is also a re-useable code block for each ghost saving a ton of space.

With the added space:

I have added Joystick 1 and 2. Joystick 1 is mapped as keys i,j,k,m that is, whatever direction you push, you go, No matter what mode you are in.

Joystick 2 is mapped as e,s,d,x where in normal mode, left is left and right is right. in MIRROR MODE ( thru a tunnel ) left is right and right is left.

 

I also started adding 2 player logic.

 

All it does right now is a dot count of the board after you loose a man, The count was a bit buggy when you loose a man while eating a dot. ( not a problem now )

 

Each ghost has it's own speed and they slow a little more when you eat a power pill.

 

I played joystick 1 a few times and it seems pretty bug free.

 

I am much happier with this version. I can add a few things before running out of room again, I did have 5 mazes at 1 point, it is 3 now. With inviable walls kinda making 6 screens.

 

It's not scramble... But I liked to do a few more things (test) and maybe beg for one of you guys to build me a cart of this! I always wanted to make my own cart/game.

Hopefully it doesn't cost toooo much!

 

Gene

 

 

pacsmall.zip

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  • 3 months later...

It has been a while... I was out of space and ok with how this came out.

 

After seeing some other work here... I was no longer satisfied with some of the bugs andshort comings of mirror maze/pacman.

 

I have redesigned the ghost chase logic completely.

It is also a re-useable code block for each ghost saving a ton of space.

With the added space:

I have added Joystick 1 and 2. Joystick 1 is mapped as keys i,j,k,m that is, whatever direction you push, you go, No matter what mode you are in.

Joystick 2 is mapped as e,s,d,x where in normal mode, left is left and right is right. in MIRROR MODE ( thru a tunnel ) left is right and right is left.

 

I also started adding 2 player logic.

 

All it does right now is a dot count of the board after you loose a man, The count was a bit buggy when you loose a man while eating a dot. ( not a problem now )

 

Each ghost has it's own speed and they slow a little more when you eat a power pill.

 

I played joystick 1 a few times and it seems pretty bug free.

 

I am much happier with this version. I can add a few things before running out of room again, I did have 5 mazes at 1 point, it is 3 now. With inviable walls kinda making 6 screens.

 

It's not scramble... But I liked to do a few more things (test) and maybe beg for one of you guys to build me a cart of this! I always wanted to make my own cart/game.

Hopefully it doesn't cost toooo much!

 

Gene

 

 

 

I was testing your great PacMan variant for the Gameshelf and noted that this latest version is significantly slower than your original one even when compiled under Classic 99. Still playable, but a bit too slow for extended play. Is there a reason for this substantial slow down? Also, what title do you want to give this game? I think Pac Man is already taken :)

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Hi Vorticon,

I noticed it was slower as well.

I believe it is because of the reworked ghost logic.

It has a bunch of very slow randomized commands... I could maybe remove some of those?

It also has a bunch of if then logic.... I can look that over as well. Maybe fall out of false results sooner.

 

I guess, Mirror Maze should be the name. That is how I started it, but the graphics are just SO ORIGINAL...LOL :)

 

I Think I have a newer version that I have not yet posted as well.

I'll try to take a look at it today.

 

I Have been toying around with XB Racing for the past few days, maybe a little break from that will help both programs!

 

Take care,

Gene

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Hi Vorticon,

I noticed it was slower as well.

I believe it is because of the reworked ghost logic.

It has a bunch of very slow randomized commands... I could maybe remove some of those?

It also has a bunch of if then logic.... I can look that over as well. Maybe fall out of false results sooner.

 

I guess, Mirror Maze should be the name. That is how I started it, but the graphics are just SO ORIGINAL...LOL :)

 

I Think I have a newer version that I have not yet posted as well.

I'll try to take a look at it today.

 

I Have been toying around with XB Racing for the past few days, maybe a little break from that will help both programs!

 

Take care,

Gene

 

Mirror Maze it is! If you want to post the latest version by end of day today I'll be able to include it with the update.

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Hi Vorticon,

I think it is so much of pacman, that I am going with Pac Man - Thru the Tunnel.

Maybe AKA Mirror Maze.

 

I tried tweaking the ghost logic to increase speed and it did not go well...

 

I am looking at a re-rewrite of this code. ( I can also lower some built in level delays, but then the game will max out sooner... I'd rather not touch that if I can help it. )

 

I guess, this misses the latest update :( but maybe I'll have 2 games ready for the next update?

 

Gene

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally finished the rewrite of the ghost chase logic.

 

The ghost's are much smarter now. The slower the ghost the smarter they are.

Also, played some original pacman in mame and noticed a few things I did not do.

Fixed, if you eat a second power pellet:

1. The power up time restarts

2. The Multiplier restarts

3. ?? Can't remember right now? LOL

 

The major "speed up" attempt:

Changed the order of IF THEN's to have most likely items to be false be first , second etc.

Replaced formulas that where used over and over to be simple variables of 1 or 0. No more calculations on the fly.

 

I know it "is" faster.. Well, my logic tells me it should be faster. But playing it, it is hard to tell.

Plus it is so much harder now. The attraction of the ghosts seems pretty good now.

even if it is not faster, the few fixes were well worth the effort.

 

It is now officially Mirror Maze with a title screen....

Thanks for pushing me Vorticon. I liked the writeup as well! Thanks.

 

I have play tested...But I am not getting to the hire levels as easy now. Made it to screen 5 but that was it.

 

OH. Did find a bug! When playing only with the joystick, the screen blanks and you must press a key to get it back.

I have no idea how to fix this?

 

 

MIRROR-C.zip

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That's the screen timeout happening - if no key is pressed, the screen blanks (I always hit this one, even Mr Chin triggered it ;) ). You can prevent it from happening by setting >83D7 to an odd number -- but every time a key is pressed it will be reset again. The safest way in XB is probably to set >83D6 to 0 in your main loop (so keep resetting it). Not sure if the compiler supports CALL LOAD, but CALL LOAD(-31786,0) should work.

 

Interestingly... I notice that the XB interpreter resets the counter to zero by itself except when waiting for input, so that made it hard to test that this was the right address. It also means that XB programs never blank unless waiting at an INPUT or an ACCEPT?

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I added this as the first line of the program CALL LOAD(-31786,0)

 

The problem still happens. I tried the fire button and it didn't seem to restore the screen. When I pressed the S key, it restored the screen.

 

I included the XB code, source code, object code and compiled code in the zip. Regarding the INPUT command problem.

Included a screen shot... Had to reset to get out of this.

Gene

MMMM-M.zip

post-7434-0-70077600-1393975625_thumb.jpg

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It can't be the first line -- it has to be in the main loop so that you keep resetting it. The value is a timeout since the last keyboard key was pressed (joystick buttons don't count) - every time a key is pressed, it's reset by KSCAN to >0000 (and VDP register 1 is reset), and every interrupt it is incremented by 2. When it wraps around, the interrupt code blanks the screen. (This is why you have to put a copy of VDP register 1 in scratchpad RAM - KSCAN uses that value to "restore" the screen on keypress).

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Hi all !

I'm new to ti99, how can I run MIRROR-C on classic99 ?

 

Extract files to a folder.. folder DSK1 would be easiest as it's pre-configured as DSK1 in classic 99

load classic99 - insert extended basic, select extended basic on boot menu, type in RUN "DSK1.MIRROR-C"

(with the "s)

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