Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread David Sanders
On 23 April 2012 21:34, Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.com wrote:

 If it's for some sort of quick attempt at multipart megademo (albeit
 with all the parts being extremely similar), would it be safe to
 assume that someone [else] is working on the music? I'd love to be
 able to contribute but music is completely beyond me.


I'm loathe to put myself forward for this, but what the hell. I'll convert
the music :-)


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Aleš Keprt
My conversion of original graphics is already finished, so I look forward to 
your music. :-)
I wanted to ask for help the people who did music for some other 8bit 
conversion(s).
Aley

From: David Sanders 
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:59 AM
To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no 
Subject: Re: Nyan Cat


On 23 April 2012 21:34, Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.com wrote:

  If it's for some sort of quick attempt at multipart megademo (albeit
  with all the parts being extremely similar), would it be safe to
  assume that someone [else] is working on the music? I'd love to be
  able to contribute but music is completely beyond me.



I'm loathe to put myself forward for this, but what the hell. I'll convert the 
music :-)

-
Mgr. Aleš Keprt, Ph.D.
private: a...@keprt.cz, www.keprt.cz
office: Moravian College / Moravská vysoká škola Olomouc, ales.ke...@mvso.cz


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Thomas Harte
I had a brief look at it; given that the originals are 400x400 (and,
as you noted, not actually simply an upscaling of a smaller size,
despite consciously adopting that look), I assume you repainted by
hand?

On 24 April 2012 11:13, Aleš Keprt a...@keprt.cz wrote:
 My conversion of original graphics is already finished, so I look forward to
 your music. :-)
 I wanted to ask for help the people who did music for some other 8bit
 conversion(s).
 Aley

 From: David Sanders
 Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:59 AM
 To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no
 Subject: Re: Nyan Cat


 On 23 April 2012 21:34, Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.com wrote:

 If it's for some sort of quick attempt at multipart megademo (albeit
 with all the parts being extremely similar), would it be safe to
 assume that someone [else] is working on the music? I'd love to be
 able to contribute but music is completely beyond me.


 I'm loathe to put myself forward for this, but what the hell. I'll convert
 the music :-)

 -
 Mgr. Aleš Keprt, Ph.D.
 private: a...@keprt.cz, www.keprt.cz
 office: Moravian College / Moravská vysoká škola Olomouc, ales.ke...@mvso.cz


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Simon Owen
On 23 Apr 2012, at 21:35, James R Curry wrote:
 Just port the original.

I've had a quick look and there are oodles of unrolled code blocks and fixed 
delay loops for display timing.  Getting most of it running probably wouldn't 
take very long, but getting the timing right could be a challenge.  It might be 
worth a try, if I find the time, and if someone else hasn't already done it by 
then.

It'd still be nice to have a native SAM version to add to the official list, 
but it sounds like others on the list have that covered :)

Si



Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Aleš Keprt
Oh yes, I repainted it a bit to let it fit to Sam's screen and still look 
99% like original. Or as much as possible. I would rather stop this 
discussion until it is published.

Aley

-Původní zpráva- 
From: Thomas Harte

Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 8:56 PM
To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no
Subject: Re: Nyan Cat

I had a brief look at it; given that the originals are 400x400 (and,
as you noted, not actually simply an upscaling of a smaller size,
despite consciously adopting that look), I assume you repainted by
hand?

On 24 April 2012 11:13, Aleš Keprt a...@keprt.cz wrote:
My conversion of original graphics is already finished, so I look forward 
to

your music. :-)
I wanted to ask for help the people who did music for some other 8bit
conversion(s).
Aley

From: David Sanders
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:59 AM
To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no
Subject: Re: Nyan Cat


On 23 April 2012 21:34, Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.com wrote:


If it's for some sort of quick attempt at multipart megademo (albeit
with all the parts being extremely similar), would it be safe to
assume that someone [else] is working on the music? I'd love to be
able to contribute but music is completely beyond me.



I'm loathe to put myself forward for this, but what the hell. I'll convert
the music :-)

-
Mgr. Aleš Keprt, Ph.D.
private: a...@keprt.cz, www.keprt.cz
office: Moravian College / Moravská vysoká škola Olomouc, 
ales.ke...@mvso.cz


-
Mgr. Aleš Keprt, Ph.D.
private: a...@keprt.cz, www.keprt.cz
office: Moravian College / Moravská vysoká škola Olomouc, ales.ke...@mvso.cz 



Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread James R Curry
The strangest decision regarding Mode 2 is keeping the BRIGHT and FLASH
attributes.  Without those, the Ink and Paper colours could each be any of
the sixteen colours.  As it is, the select colours have to both be in the
range 0-7 or 8-15, not one in each range.

Incidentally, has anyone thought about clever use of Mode 2 and attributes
to create a game that runs at a super low resolution, like 64 x 96 (using
4x2 pixel blocks)?

It could run at a high frame rate...  it might be an interesting experiment

Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Thomas Harte
I guess it was easy to put in something like an optional shift right
by three to compose scan line number and column number when fetching
attributes, hence to allow Mode 1 and 2, but would have been harder to
have alternative attribute interpretation logic? I'm unsure why they
decided to go bright + flash in the Spectrum, to be honest. Was
flashing a must have feature of the 1982 computer market?

I think I'm right to say the American Timex machines have the
equivalent of Mode 2?

A pretend 64x96 mode could allow for some neat effects. I'll wager you
could do Wolfenstein in it, based on the CPC seemingly being to cope
in its 64-bytes-for-128-pixels mode, per YouTube. Following that line
of logic through, anything on the CPC that isn't using a hardware
scroll should be an option.

2012/4/24 James R Curry 8...@itdoesntsuck.com:
 The strangest decision regarding Mode 2 is keeping the BRIGHT and FLASH
 attributes.  Without those, the Ink and Paper colours could each be any of
 the sixteen colours.  As it is, the select colours have to both be in the
 range 0-7 or 8-15, not one in each range.

 Incidentally, has anyone thought about clever use of Mode 2 and attributes
 to create a game that runs at a super low resolution, like 64 x 96 (using
 4x2 pixel blocks)?

 It could run at a high frame rate...  it might be an interesting experiment


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Aleš Keprt

Oh, you are right. I forgot this. Bright and Flash.

The only thing I regularly used mode 2 for were text scrollers, because it 
is very easy to make a slow 1 pixel per frame scroller in mode 2, and it is 
a bit more harder in mode 4 because it's slow. (I switched to mode 2 only 
part of the screen to show to text and then switched back to mode 4.)


Aley


-Původní zpráva- 
From: James R Curry

Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 12:33 AM
To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no
Subject: Re: Nyan Cat

The strangest decision regarding Mode 2 is keeping the BRIGHT and FLASH
attributes.  Without those, the Ink and Paper colours could each be any of
the sixteen colours.  As it is, the select colours have to both be in the
range 0-7 or 8-15, not one in each range.

Incidentally, has anyone thought about clever use of Mode 2 and attributes
to create a game that runs at a super low resolution, like 64 x 96 (using
4x2 pixel blocks)?

It could run at a high frame rate...  it might be an interesting experiment=

-
Mgr. Aleš Keprt, Ph.D.
private: a...@keprt.cz, www.keprt.cz
office: Moravian College / Moravská vysoká škola Olomouc, ales.ke...@mvso.cz 



Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Ian Collier
On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 04:16:28PM -0700, Thomas Harte wrote:
  I'm unsure why they
 decided to go bright + flash in the Spectrum, to be honest. Was
 flashing a must have feature of the 1982 computer market?

No but you forget one thing... the cursor. :-)

imc


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Thomas Harte
Agreed on James' comments re:Wolfenstein; from here in 2012, I'm much
more able to suspend by disbelief for Elite, though I think
Wolfenstein's problems go far beyond merely the style of graphics.

I'd also forgotten the Manic Miner loading screen! Thank goodness for
the flash attribute!

On 24 April 2012 16:41, Ian Collier ian.coll...@cs.ox.ac.uk wrote:
 On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 04:16:28PM -0700, Thomas Harte wrote:
                                                  I'm unsure why they
 decided to go bright + flash in the Spectrum, to be honest. Was
 flashing a must have feature of the 1982 computer market?

 No but you forget one thing... the cursor. :-)

 imc


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread david

Quoting Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.com:


I'd also forgotten the Manic Miner loading screen! Thank goodness for
the flash attribute!


Wish we could have done a MODE 2 version of that with the SAM Version! :)


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread James R Curry
Given that, at least going from my memory, there was space to spare in the
original ZX Spectrum ROM, the flashing cursor in Spectrum BASIC could have
quite easily been implemented with interrupts and each character square
could have had complete freedom to pick any two of sixteen colours.

But what do they say about hindsight?

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 6:41 PM, Ian Collier ian.coll...@cs.ox.ac.ukwrote:

 On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 04:16:28PM -0700, Thomas Harte wrote:
   I'm unsure why they
  decided to go bright + flash in the Spectrum, to be honest. Was
  flashing a must have feature of the 1982 computer market?

 No but you forget one thing... the cursor. :-)

 imc




-- 
James R Curry
8...@itdoesntsuck.com


Re: Nyan Cat

2012-04-24 Thread Thomas Harte
Per The Register's extended article celebrating the Spectrum's
birthday yesterday, there was more than a kilobyte of spare space in
the ROM but they intended to put the Microdrive stuff in there before
shipping. In the event it wasn't ready in time and the machine sold
too well for the intended free ROM upgrade to make economic sense.

So, with hindsight:
• no flash attribute (ideally starting on the Spectrum, but at least in Mode 2);
• a graphics mode that uses the Mode 2 amount of data for 128
non-attributed pixels per line;
• hardware scrolling.

Hooray for hindsight!

On 24 April 2012 16:45, James R Curry 8...@itdoesntsuck.com wrote:
 Given that, at least going from my memory, there was space to spare in the
 original ZX Spectrum ROM, the flashing cursor in Spectrum BASIC could have
 quite easily been implemented with interrupts and each character square
 could have had complete freedom to pick any two of sixteen colours.

 But what do they say about hindsight?


 On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 6:41 PM, Ian Collier ian.coll...@cs.ox.ac.uk
 wrote:

 On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 04:16:28PM -0700, Thomas Harte wrote:
                                                   I'm unsure why they
  decided to go bright + flash in the Spectrum, to be honest. Was
  flashing a must have feature of the 1982 computer market?

 No but you forget one thing... the cursor. :-)

 imc




 --
 James R Curry
 8...@itdoesntsuck.com


XOR now completed!

2012-04-24 Thread Balor Price

Hello everybody

I'm proud to present my conversion of the 1987 Spectrum game XOR.  I 
finally kept my promise to my teenage self to finish a SAM game!


You can download it for free from the revived http://cookingcircle.co.uk

I hope you enjoy it (and yell in frustration).  It's 25 years old and 
still as rock-hard as I remember.


Any feedback/initial bugs found would be greatly appreciated.  :D

Cheers
Howard


Re: XOR now completed!

2012-04-24 Thread Thomas Harte
I played it for five minutes and it all looked very impressive. That
being said, I don't actually know the original game so I was quite
lost. Looking at the incredibly sparse World of Spectrum inlay scan
though, I think I'm meant to work things out for myself?

On 24 April 2012 18:00, Balor Price toberm...@cookingcircle.co.uk wrote:
 Hello everybody

 I'm proud to present my conversion of the 1987 Spectrum game XOR.  I finally
 kept my promise to my teenage self to finish a SAM game!

 You can download it for free from the revived http://cookingcircle.co.uk

 I hope you enjoy it (and yell in frustration).  It's 25 years old and still
 as rock-hard as I remember.

 Any feedback/initial bugs found would be greatly appreciated.  :D

 Cheers
 Howard


Re: XOR now completed!

2012-04-24 Thread James R Curry
I remember ordering the original from one of those ZX Spectrum mail order
places.  They were never able to deliver it, for some reason, and offered
me the choice of another game, instead.

No idea what I wound up buying.

Now I can finally play it.  Looks good!  Is it in Mode 4?

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 8:21 PM, Thomas Harte tomh.retros...@gmail.comwrote:

 I played it for five minutes and it all looked very impressive. That
 being said, I don't actually know the original game so I was quite
 lost. Looking at the incredibly sparse World of Spectrum inlay scan
 though, I think I'm meant to work things out for myself?

 On 24 April 2012 18:00, Balor Price toberm...@cookingcircle.co.uk wrote:
  Hello everybody
 
  I'm proud to present my conversion of the 1987 Spectrum game XOR.  I
 finally
  kept my promise to my teenage self to finish a SAM game!
 
  You can download it for free from the revived http://cookingcircle.co.uk
 
  I hope you enjoy it (and yell in frustration).  It's 25 years old and
 still
  as rock-hard as I remember.
 
  Any feedback/initial bugs found would be greatly appreciated.  :D
 
  Cheers
  Howard




-- 
James R Curry
8...@itdoesntsuck.com