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New game for the Beeb
http://www.retrosoftware.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=624		 Page 2 of 6
Author:  Samwise [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
KianV wrote:
I still want to create some more room for my code - especially if Dave gets his way for a level designer - so can anyone tell me if there would be any impact on extra hardware configs &c if I bring the start address down below &1900 ?
I can get it to compile and run successfully down as far as &1100,( not that I expect to need an extra 8 pages ), but I don't want it to mess with anyone's setup.

Kian,

If you're not bothered about ADFS users, then you can go as low as &1100 on DFS machines - but beware that your !BOOT file needs to be built with this in mind.

I think to keep it working with ADFS it needs to be higher ... is it &1300? Someone will be along to confirm shortly, I'm sure.

Sam.
Author:  TomW [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
ADFS is $1D00 - you can't go lower like you can on DFS as ADFS checksums its workspace and gives Bad Sum errors if any of it is changed.

Obvious answer here is to limit ADFS to Master 128/Compact users, as on those machines PAGE is always $E00 and everyone is happy.
Author:  KianV [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Thanks Sam & Tom for the info.
For now I only intend to drop it by 1 page to squeeze in my missing level - (only a couple of dozen bytes) - and allow room for any little tweeks,so I should be on safe ground.

As it is not yet happy with the Master I shall look into that when I come to it.

This should at least allow me to get to what I would be happy with as a 'release' version.

In order to implement a level designer I will probably end up loading in levels from the disc, so the wriggle room will be that bit bigger.

Cheers,
Kian
Author:  TomW [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
WRT the Master, I noticed through a quick disassembly that you're using OSBYTE $87 to read characters for collision detection, and presumably you've got a custom character set. How are you loading it? Most of the VDU locations have changed on the Master so if you're not doing everything through OS routines it's almost guaranteed not to work.
Author:  RichTW [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Also, just to say that you can safely use &400-&7FF and &900-&BFF for code and data as you please. If you're using user-defined characters (by VDU 23) then you'll have to leave &C00-&CFF untouched though. That frees nearly another 2k.

If you don't need the disc system at all once the game is running, you can do what most games do and load to &1900 onwards, but assembled as if from &E00 - and then once it's loaded, select *TAPE, copy the code down to &E00, and JMP to the entry point. That'll win you back nearly another 3k!!

The reloc.asm demo that comes with BeebAsm shows one possible way to do that.

Great game by the way, very original. I totally suck at it!
Author:  Samwise [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
You now have a wiki page:

www.retrosoftware.co.uk/mazezam

Feel free to go in and add to it, however you want. Have a read-through the FAQ and Help pages, to help you get started and check out the other titles to see how other people are using them. Feel free to give me a yell either direct or in the Retro Software Feedback and Site-Specific Chat forum, if you have any questions.

Sam.
Author:  KianV [ Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
TomW wrote:
Most of the VDU locations have changed on the Master so if you're not doing everything through OS routines it's almost guaranteed not to work.


Thanks Tom. I'm most impressed by the fact that you could actually work out what did what from my jumbled mass of code.
The blocks are printed as UDGs which are defined using vdu23 within the program.
Will probably delve into this at the weekend.

RichTW wrote:
That'll win you back nearly another 3k


That should give me more than enough room for what I want to do. :D

Thanks to Samwise for the lovely new wiki page.

Kian
Author:  KianV [ Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Hi all,
I've just uploaded v1.3 which should hopefully be the complete - for now- version.
I've squeezed in the missing level ( it is now level 36) and jiggled the code about a bit but everything should still run just the same.
Please be brutal with it in case there are any little bugs that need ironing out.

Kian
Author:  KianV [ Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
This one is especially for Martin and Steve.
Its 1:30 in the morning and I have just uploaded v1.31 which is now compatible with the Master 128 :D
As Tom alluded to, the problem was with the call to OSBYTE &87.
It took me a while when writing the first version to work out that on the Model B this call returns a value of &9F for character &FF, &9E for &FE and so on. After a few wrong turns I discovered that the Master actually returns the values which I expected in the first place.
A minor tinker with the code has now resolved the problem.

As usual I've tested on BeebEm and B-em. Would love to hear from anyone who gets it up and running on the real thing.

Kian
Author:  mga1103 [ Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
KianV wrote:
...
As usual I've tested on BeebEm and B-em. Would love to hear from anyone who gets it up and running on the real thing.

Kian

Kian, can't comment on the Master, but definitely up and running on a real beeb! I'm not a games type of guy, but I like this addictive piece of code! Well done!

Hope you've got a few more of these up your sleeve?!

-Martin.
Author:  SteveO [ Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Just running now on Master emulation, running great, and thanks for the effort in sorting it so quickly, having just played the first 4 levels it is so addictive, love it, wished I'd thought of it ! :)

Great stuff.
Author:  KianV [ Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Thanks for that Martin :D

Steve, I'm glad it's working for you now :D

A little update on the Electron version:
Its now in a playable state. I've redone the scrolling code and it's now running at a good speed.
I had to decrease the scroll resolution to 4 pixels to keep the speed up, but this meant that I could keep it in Mode 2.

At the moment I am just tinkering with a few bits of unsatisfactory code and then I shall upload it for testing.

Kian
Author:  KianV [ Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
***Electron version now available for testing***

If you would like to test this version then it can be found on the game's wiki page at http://www.retrosoftware.co.uk/wiki/index.php/MazezaM#Downloads_-_Electron_Version

Not as polished as the Beeb version I'm afraid, but playable nevertheless.

Dipstick alert:
:oops: Spent ages trying to work out why I couldn't find the right key mapping for 'f1' :oops:

Changes from Beeb version:
Lower scroll resolution to keep speed up.
Title screen now in B&W mode 6.
Quite a bit more flicker at the moment.

The Beeb version is now at 1.32 after the background drawing routine was given a bit of a greasing.

As always, please feel free to praise, comment or lambast at will.

Kian
Author:  MartinW [ Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
I'll dig the master back out and have a play on it this evening. Thanks for the quick support :)

Martin.
Author:  danielj [ Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Hello, just downloaded this after the headsup on stairwaytohell... Works perfectly on my M128. Nice one! Other half now addicted.

d.
Author:  KianV [ Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
danielj wrote:
Works perfectly on my M128.

That's great news. Thanks Daniel. :D

danielj wrote:
Other half now addicted.

Good to know you've also made another convert. Just make sure you get some quality time with your Beeb yourself. ;)

Kian

P.S. Thanks Arcadian for flagging this up on Stardot. :D
Author:  KianV [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
I really do have too much time on my hands.
I have tarted up the Electron version a bit.
The title is now a prettier Mode 1 affair and the movement speeds have been tweaked.
I have also reduced the delay upon completing a level.

Kian
Author:  DaveM [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Looking good, Kian!

The new increase in speed whilst drawing each new level (on the BBC version) really makes a difference. :)

Electron version coming along nicely, too! (in fact, it looks about finished to me - unless you've got any other improvements in mind?).
Author:  JoolsH [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
Nice, I like it :) - got to level 9 so far.
Author:  KianV [ Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New game for the Beeb
DaveM wrote:
Electron version coming along nicely, too! (in fact, it looks about finished to me - unless you've got any other improvements in mind?).

Funny you should mention that, Dave. I've just updated the Electron version to v1.2
Due to the double-sized shift in the scroll and the slower machine speed there was a noticeable amount of ghosting at the ends of the row. This has now been rectified and, as ever, provided that no-one finds any irksome little errors in there then it is good to go.

At the moment I'm working on a system for the level designer you suggested.
It's just at the throwing ideas at the screen stage but it is underway nevertheless.

Jools : I'm glad you like it :D
Thanks for the feedback.

Kian

Update : I have also now applied this change to Beeb version.(v1.33)
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