My 7800 Vertical Shooter - Heofonfīr

[SlidellMan]

Here are the updated ROM files with movement and collision detection.

New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.a78 New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.bin New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.list.txt

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier, press the fire button to get the sprites to display, move, etc.

Edited August 27, 2020 by SlidellMan
Forgot to mention something earlier.

[+mksmith]

Good start @SlidellMan! Now your up and running as @Muddyfunster said take it a step at a time.  Next up could be firing the bullets from the ship for example.

 

Let the fun begin!

[+Muddyfunster]

@SlidellMan that's a big step forward, nice job

[SlidellMan]

Here's the latest version, and with screenshots to go with it.

Vertical Shooter 8-28-2020.zip

Second Edit: I found out what I did wrong. I put the 'lose_a_life' subroutines in the mainloop instead of after.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by SlidellMan
Fixed.

[SlidellMan]

Here's the latest version of the demo, this time with lose_a_life and gameover subroutines. This Vertical shooting demo is open source, by the way.

Vertical Shooter 8-29-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

This new demo includes a 1up item, and I'm planning on adding switchleftb, switchrightb, and switchselect routines for this engine. (How to use them is something that isn't mentioned in the 7800Basic manual.) If you guys want to take a gander at the code and critique it, feel free to do so.

Vertical Shooter 8-30-2020.zip

[+SmittyB]

switchselect, switchreset, switchleftb, and switchrightb aren't routines that you define like topscreenroutine or pauseroutine, rather they return a value that when used in an IF statements acts like a true or false answer.

 

The below example checks if the left difficulty switch is set to A by saying "if not switchleftb". If you wanted to check that it's set to B you'd just take out the 'not' (!). The other switches work the same way.

if !switchleftb then goto skipSetMusic thisbank

 

[SlidellMan]

@SmittyBThanks, and I just updated with a gameover_loop test by pushing the left switch to the B position.

New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.bin

[SlidellMan]

I originally was hesitant to even work on this given that Curt Vendel has passed. However, might as well work on it some more...

As usual, you can look through the code to see what I did right and wrong.

Vertical Shooter 8-31-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

Here's a new version, now with DMA!!

With that out of the way, I need help with the Sound Effects, shot code, etc.

Vertical Shooter 9-02-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

I've decided to do a re-write of my vertical shooting demo.

The good news: The dim segments are much more organized.

The bad news: This new ROM I compiled now displays weird garbage.

Vertical Shooter 9-03-2020.zip New_Vertical_Shooter_Rewrite1.bas.a78 New_Vertical_Shooter_Rewrite1.bas.bin New_Vertical_Shooter_Rewrite1.bas.list.txt New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.list.txt

[SlidellMan]

Here's what happens when I try to compile the original engine with Sound effects and DMA:

--- Unresolved Symbol List

0.SetBulletHome          0000 ????         (R )

sfx_bling_length         0000 ????             

sfx_pulsecannon_length   0000 ????             

playsfx                  0000 ????         (R )

sfx_pulsecannon          0000 ????         (R )

sfx_bling                0000 ????         (R )

SGRAM                    0000 ????         (R )

dmahole_1                0000 ????         (R )

0.gameover_loop          0000 ????         (R )

0.skipL0190              0000 ????         (R )

0.skipL0191              0000 ????         (R )

 

Just how can I alleviate this?

[RevEng]

Make sure SetBulletHome actually exists in your basic source, and is spelled correctly everywhere. Otherwise post the generated list file.

[Mord]

When calling SetBulletHome you're forgetting to add the gosub keyword. I've made that mistake countless times.

 

(well, gosub/goto, whichever is intended. :))

Edited September 5, 2020 by Mord

[SlidellMan]

List files included in the zip.

@RevEngSetBulletHome is in the actual source, and have made corrections in that regard.

vertical Shooter 9-05-2020.zip New_Vertical_Shooter_Rewrite1.bas_00.bmp New_Vertical_Shooter_Rewrite1.bas_01.bmp

Edited September 5, 2020 by SlidellMan

[RevEng]

You're using "dmahole 1" and "dmahole 2", but those holes don't exist in your rom layout. (i.e. you don't have enough graphics to create those holes.) If you stick code in non-existing dmaholes, 7800basic/dasm won't see that code ever.

 

I got rid of dmahole 1+2, and moved dmahole 0 to where dmahole 2 was (because otherwise dmahole 0 would be stuffed) and it compiled.

 

Also, this isn't valid syntax...

   if joy0fire && joyposup=1 then bulletY=bulletY-5 && playsfx sfx_pulsecannon
   if joy0fire && joyposdown=1 then bulletY=bulletY-5 && playsfx sfx_pulsecannon
   if joy0fire && joyposleft=1 then bulletY=bulletY-5 && playsfx sfx_pulsecannon
   if joy0fire && joyposright=1 then bulletY=bulletY-5 && playsfx sfx_pulsecannon

...I'm guessing you meant to use a colon in place of the second && in each of these lines.

[SlidellMan]

RevEng, thanks for pointing that out. To clarify, I was following Atarius Maximus' examples in the 7800Basic manual. Sorry for not pointing that out earlier, and here's the latest builds and List file.

New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.a78 New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.bin New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.list.txt

[SlidellMan]

Confirmed: Collision detection with the enemy now works.

New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.a78 New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.bin New_VerticalShooter_Test.78b.list.txt Vertical Shooter 9-22-2020.zip

[+Muddyfunster]

This bin / a78 doesn't run

[SlidellMan]

Hmm...that's odd. It compiled and run successfully, but upon running it in regular A7800, it doesn't. I've included the latest source file in this .zip file, so if you want to take a look at what's causing that bug, you're free to do so.

Vertical Shooter 9-23-2020.zip

Update: I ran it on the outdated and inaccurate ProSystem emulator, and it works, but with graphical glitches.

Edited September 23, 2020 by SlidellMan
ProSystem Test

[Trebor]

9 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Update: I ran it on the outdated and inaccurate ProSystem emulator, and it works, but with graphical glitches.

When running it under A7800 and BupSystem, both end up with the same result.  A black crash screen with a stuck high pitch tone playing in the background.

 

The ProSystem emulator does not properly account for and is far too generous with system timings and available clock cycles, among other issues.    Dollars to donuts the file would behave exactly the same or very similarly on real hardware and...
 

*Uploads to MCP DevCart*

 

...it does:  

On my A1 serial console -  black crash screen with the same high pitch tone.  Exact same results as A7800 and BupSystem.

On my AT 84 serial console - red crash screen with no high pitch tone.  Nearly the same results as A7800 and BupSystem.

 

At the very least, don't use and especially don't test under ProSystem - Use BupSystem instead.  It contains a interface very similar to the ProSystem emulator, but much closer to hardware accurate emulation.

[SlidellMan]

The good news with this new release: Explosion animation is a go.

The bad news is getting it to function right and figure out what is causing it to crash.

Vertical Shooter 9-24-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

Parts of my current build:

    characterset vertical_shooting_font

    alphachars ASCII

I decided to switch from atascii from a font I made just so it can display properly.

New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b Vertical Shooter 9-26-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

Here's the latest build. As said before, you guys are free to look into the code in-depth to find anything I did wrong.

New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b.a78 New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b.bin New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b.list.txt Vertical Shooter 10-6-2020.zip

[SlidellMan]

Now with proper text display.

New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b.a78 New_VerticalShooter_Test_sprani.78b.bin Vertical Shooter 10-14-2020.zip