+Pat Brady Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 6 hours ago, PacManPlus said: What I ended up doing overnight was completely rewriting the 'dostars' routine. It's about as bare essentials as you can get, no loops, doesn't use X or Y. It takes up quite a bit more code space, but as long as it is more efficient, that's what I need. I also found out during this that the INC I was using, uses 3 times the cycles (6 total) as an ADC (2 total) which I now use. All this time I thought it was the other way around. Sounds good. Out of curiosity, is the new way an unrolled version of the old one? If so, some of my suggestions (especially #3 and #5) could still save a couple hundred bytes (8 per zone) and nearly as many cycles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 10 hours ago, Pat Brady said: 7 Ensure the branch to DOSLOOP does not cross a page boundary. Crossing pages costs a cycle per zone. Just to expand on this suggestion, doing indexed addressing across page boundries also adds a cycle, so try to position frequently accessed tables so they don't cross pages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) Hey Guys! 18 minutes ago, Pat Brady said: Sounds good. Out of curiosity, is the new way an unrolled version of the old one? If so, some of my suggestions (especially #3 and #5) could still save a couple hundred bytes (8 per zone) and nearly as many cycles. 13 minutes ago, tep392 said: Just to expand on this suggestion, doing indexed addressing across page boundries also adds a cycle, so try to position frequently accessed tables so they don't cross pages. It was a complete rewrite of 'DOSTARS'. I was able to remove X and Y, and the 'STARS' array I held in RAM. To answer your earlier question, there are 27 zones of 8 scanlines each: 'LOADSTARS' gets called once just after all of the initialization at the beginning, and 'DOSTARS' gets called at the end of every frame, the last thing before the interrupt at the bottom of the screen: ; LOADSTARS - INITIALIZES THE STARS ON THE SCREEN LOADSTARS LDA #$80+$1F ;MAKE EVERY OTHER ZONE A DIFFERENT COLOR FOR THE STARS STA DLIST01+$01 STA DLIST03+$01 STA DLIST05+$01 STA DLIST07+$01 STA DLIST09+$01 STA DLIST11+$01 STA DLIST13+$01 STA DLIST15+$01 STA DLIST17+$01 STA DLIST19+$01 STA DLIST21+$01 STA DLIST23+$01 STA DLIST25+$01 LDA #$05 ;EVERY TWO ZONES ARE DIFFERENT PALETTES FOR THE STARS STA DLIST02+$00 STA DLIST03+$00 STA DLIST06+$00 STA DLIST07+$00 STA DLIST10+$00 STA DLIST11+$00 STA DLIST14+$00 STA DLIST15+$00 STA DLIST18+$00 STA DLIST19+$00 STA DLIST22+$00 STA DLIST23+$00 STA DLIST26+$00 LDX #$00 ;STARTING ZONE LOSLOOP LDA DLLO,X STA TEMP0 LDA DLHI,X STA TEMP1 LDY #$02 LDA #>(STAMPS)+$00 STA (TEMP0),Y INY JSR RAND AND #$7F ;RANGE 0-127 CLC ADC #LEFTSIDE - 8 ;NOW IT'S 16-144 STA (TEMP0),Y INX CPX #LASTZONE BMI LOSLOOP RTS ; DOSTARS - PROCESS THE BACKGROUND STARS ONCE EVERY OTHER FRAME DOSTARS LDA RTLOCAL+1 AND #$01 BNE DOSTARS_VERTICAL RTS DOSTARS_VERTICAL CLC LDA DLIST00+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST00+$02 LDA DLIST01+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST01+$02 LDA DLIST02+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST02+$02 LDA DLIST03+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST03+$02 LDA DLIST04+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST04+$02 LDA DLIST05+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST05+$02 LDA DLIST06+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST06+$02 LDA DLIST07+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST07+$02 LDA DLIST08+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST08+$02 LDA DLIST09+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST09+$02 LDA DLIST10+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST10+$02 LDA DLIST11+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST11+$02 LDA DLIST12+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST12+$02 LDA DLIST13+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST13+$02 LDA DLIST14+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST14+$02 LDA DLIST15+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST15+$02 LDA DLIST16+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST16+$02 LDA DLIST17+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST17+$02 LDA DLIST18+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST18+$02 LDA DLIST19+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST19+$02 LDA DLIST20+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST20+$02 LDA DLIST21+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST21+$02 LDA DLIST22+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST22+$02 LDA DLIST23+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST23+$02 LDA DLIST24+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST24+$02 LDA DLIST25+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST25+$02 LDA DLIST26+$02 ADC #$01 AND #$F7 STA DLIST26+$02 DOSTARS_HORIZONTAL LDA DLIST00+$02 CMP #>(STAMPS)+$00 BEQ DOSTARS_MOVE RTS DOSTARS_MOVE LDA DLIST25+$03 STA DLIST26+$03 LDA DLIST24+$03 STA DLIST25+$03 LDA DLIST23+$03 STA DLIST24+$03 LDA DLIST22+$03 STA DLIST23+$03 LDA DLIST21+$03 STA DLIST22+$03 LDA DLIST20+$03 STA DLIST21+$03 LDA DLIST19+$03 STA DLIST20+$03 LDA DLIST18+$03 STA DLIST19+$03 LDA DLIST17+$03 STA DLIST18+$03 LDA DLIST16+$03 STA DLIST17+$03 LDA DLIST15+$03 STA DLIST16+$03 LDA DLIST14+$03 STA DLIST15+$03 LDA DLIST13+$03 STA DLIST14+$03 LDA DLIST12+$03 STA DLIST13+$03 LDA DLIST11+$03 STA DLIST12+$03 LDA DLIST10+$03 STA DLIST11+$03 LDA DLIST09+$03 STA DLIST10+$03 LDA DLIST08+$03 STA DLIST09+$03 LDA DLIST07+$03 STA DLIST08+$03 LDA DLIST06+$03 STA DLIST07+$03 LDA DLIST05+$03 STA DLIST06+$03 LDA DLIST04+$03 STA DLIST05+$03 LDA DLIST03+$03 STA DLIST04+$03 LDA DLIST02+$03 STA DLIST03+$03 LDA DLIST01+$03 STA DLIST02+$03 LDA DLIST00+$03 STA DLIST01+$03 JSR RAND AND #$7F ;RANGE 0-127 CLC ADC #LEFTSIDE - 8 ;NOW IT'S 16-144 STA DLIST00+$03 RTS Edited March 28, 2021 by PacManPlus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) Ok... up next... I have the level number up top. Also, I *think* I have the difficulty close to the arcade (normal). I was never very good at the arcade game, so it's difficult for me to tell. (Where's @negative1 when you need him?) The 'Easy' mode should be quite a bit easier, and 'Hard' mode is absolutely brutal. Let me know. So, if this is ok, I have left: - Finish Sounds - Game Demo Galaxian.A78 Galaxian.BIN Edited March 28, 2021 by PacManPlus 11 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Just played all three difficulty settings with 5 ships on each. Gameplay is excellent! Two small things stood out to me, however: 'Hard' mode should have its name changed to 'HAHAHA YOU'RE GONNA DIE' Would it be possible to put a space between the score and the spare lives counter? It looks a little bunched up right now. Really like the level indicator at the top; it works well. Ditto the gradual change in tempo of the swarm sound. Overall, this specific build was one that I really liked. Can't really explain why; it just felt right. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Bob, you are a marvel and a blessing to this community! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 2 hours ago, PacManPlus said: Ok... up next... I have the level number up top. Also, I *think* I have the difficulty close to the arcade (normal). I was never very good at the arcade game, so it's difficult for me to tell. (Where's @negative1 when you need him?) The 'Easy' mode should be quite a bit easier, and 'Hard' mode is absolutely brutal. Let me know. So, if this is ok, I have left: - Finish Sounds - Game Demo Galaxian.A78 32.13 kB · 10 downloads Galaxian.BIN 32 kB · 2 downloads I’ll try to test this latest ROM tomorrow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Bob-just gave this a spin. I tried first on 'normal' and died pretty quickly. Next I tried 'easy' and survived a couple waves. Really nice work, can't wait to test the final version! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Just gave this a try on Normal and Hard. I think both diffs settings are right on. I made it to the third wave (Normal) but have a bug report. At the end of Wave 2, I had a Flagship and one other (non-red) enemy on the screen. I killed the Flagship and the wave ended, without giving me a chance to kill the last enemy. I wasn't able to recreate this, but will try to test again sometime today. Btw, this game is coming along nicely. Feels like the arcade, down to being able to juke/nudge the enemies left/right by a quick left/right movement of the joystick. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wavemotion Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Just gave this a spin on the A7800DS emulator and it plays great! The colors look a bit off - maybe it's on my end. In the arcade, the flagship is bright yellow center and blue outline and the guards that go with it are red and blue. Arcade: A7800DS: (sorry, phone screenshot) The play was outstanding - this is really awesome, Bob! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) @sramirez2008 - Thanks, Steve, I'll also see if I can recreate it. @llabnip - Yep, we worked on that one. 320B mode only has two palettes with 3 colors each. Also, one of the colors in each palette can only be used in certain situations. So, I had to come up with a compromise with all enemies, players, shots, and text colors: Palette 1 - Blue (special case color - can only be used next to red or yellow), Red, and Yellow Palette 2 - Red (special case color - can only be used next to aqua or purple), Aqua, and Purple. The special case explanation is a very quick one; it's really used in pairs, next to color 2 or color 3. i.e. it can't be used next to itself or background. Edited March 29, 2021 by PacManPlus 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wavemotion Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Thanks Bob - got it! A very reasonable compromise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said: Just gave this a try on Normal and Hard. I think both diffs settings are right on. I made it to the third wave (Normal) but have a bug report. At the end of Wave 2, I had a Flagship and one other (non-red) enemy on the screen. I killed the Flagship and the wave ended, without giving me a chance to kill the last enemy. I wasn't able to recreate this, but will try to test again sometime today. @sramirez2008 - What was their status? Both in the swarm, both in the air, or which one was in the air and the other in the swarm? Also, do you remember if the flagship originally had escorts and you shot them, or attacked without escorts? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 1 hour ago, PacManPlus said: @sramirez2008 - What was their status? Both in the swarm, both in the air, or which one was in the air and the other in the swarm? Also, do you remember if the flagship originally had escorts and you shot them, or attacked without escorts? Thanks! They were both at the top of the screen, then the flagship swarmed down (alone) while the the ship remained at the top of the screen (hadn’t started to swarm yet). I shot the flagship and the game moved onto the next wave, with the last enemy sitting at the top of the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Well I haven’t been able to recreate the bug. Been playing for the last hour and have to stop now and get back to work. I made it to wave 7 (could’ve been 8, but I remember 7 for sure) with 5 lives. Best I could get with 3 lives was ~12k. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpongeDan Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Great work @PacManPlus! I know it’s late in development at this point, but would it be possible to introduce a “rapid fire” option? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 Next WIP... Updated: Added 'demo game' to attract mode Added 'rapid fire' option Things left: Work on two sounds: Player Shot (the sound itself), and Enemy Dive (the 'lowest' part where it just loops) Possible Flagship + 1 enemy left issue. Haven't been able to recreate it as of yet. Maybe tweak 'Normal' difficulty a little more? Still seems too hard to me. Galaxian.A78 Galaxian.BIN 9 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Fantastic job Bob! Plays and sounds great - just like the Arcade ? 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Wow this is terrific! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGHMW Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Nice! It's just too bad that my CX24's left directional pop-o-matic contact is failing, BTW, can you tweak the 'rapid' fire mode to activate only when you hold down the fire button (like in Centipede/Millipede) as opposed to making it 'hands free'??? It'll allow more player control over when they decide to utilize the rapid fire mode, having it optional during gameplay, in other words holding it down for rapid fire would be much better than the 'auto-pilot' mode. Thanks and great job!!! BTW, I LOVE the opening screen graphic, especially the "Galaxian" logo, I'm just frustrated over my CX24's left directional control failing on me (it's the last fully-working one I have left), it may be time for a phone call to Best to get a pair of modded CX24's (along with a second modded CX52 for my 5200 so I can play my twin-stick games on her too), does anyone know their phone number??? After I get my 2002 Beetle GLS out of the shop (she's over in Bremerton at Haselwood VW/Hyundai 45 miles away from Port Townsend getting worked on) that'll be my first order of business. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Wow, this looks and sounds so good? I have not been able to recreate the 'Flagship + 1 enemy left issue'. Guess it was a fluke. 6 hours ago, PacManPlus said: Added 'demo game' to attract mode This is cool. Polishes off the game and really gives it that coin-op feel. 6 hours ago, PacManPlus said: Added 'rapid fire' option Setting this to 'ON' makes the ship auto fire (rapidly) on its own, as soon as the gameplay begins. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 1 minute ago, sramirez2008 said: Setting this to 'ON' makes the ship auto fire (rapidly) on its own, as soon as the gameplay begins. Yep, I already fixed that I'll be working on the last few items after work today. Should have an RC1 by tonight. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGHMW Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 (edited) 4 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said: Setting this to 'ON' makes the ship auto fire (rapidly) on its own, as soon as the gameplay begins. Nah, I wish the rapid fire mode be accessible when you hold down the fire button, much like in Centipede, so that you only get the repetitive fire while holding down the button rather than it being on 'auto-pilot' where it may fire out-of-control, but yes keep that as an option. Edited March 30, 2021 by BIGHMW spelling error 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGHMW Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, PacManPlus said: Yep, I already fixed that I'll be working on the last few items after work today. Should have an RC1 by tonight. Great, I'll be on the lookout for it. So far so great Bob. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 To use the MAME testers vernacular for a moment: this what I'd consider to be a BTANB (Bugs That Are Not Bugs). It's more of a human perception issue, though it is one that is both subtle but noticeable in gameplay. It has to do with how lives are displayed (and thank you for the space between the score and life counter ). Start a two-player game with 3 lives on 'hard' difficulty; this will be the fastest way to reproduce it. Let both Player 1 and Player 2 lose their first two lives. Note how the life counter decrements. When both players start on their third (and final) life, there are no lives showing on the life counter. Not a huge deal, but it does make it appear as though the player has zero lives left when the player's final life is still in reserve. What this leads to is thinking that the game is over (despite no 'game over' message having been shown), which in turn causes a scramble to get back into playing when the player's last ship does appear. Like I said: it's down to human perception, not the actual gameplay. I did check this behaviour against both galaxian and galaxianm in MAME, and neither one does this - they wait until the player's ship is first drawn to decrement the number of lives remaining, which avoids the issue. Other than that, it's playing great. I'll try to not lump too much to have to bang on into the crunch towards a final RC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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