Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgeezer
Would you get any gains by multiplexing the background layer with sprites (similar to Risky Woods?) I know RW points to the same graphics data per sprite but due to only needing 4 colours does it not make it possible?
Pretty sure you covered this in one of your cool videos about a free-form sprite layer.
|
I did cover a free-form sprite layer, yes
And you're right that it could display a background like the one Xenon 2 does.
However, there's an issue with that particular approach which might make it a bit less useful here: it is really DMA heavy. You're looking at over 8400 copper moves (plus some 200 copper waits) per frame*, plus the cost of updating the graphics in the layer. This really limits the number of bobs you can still display (my example managed only 9 bobs@32x32 pixels per frame).
The idea I posted above will also have a fairly high DMA cost (an extra bitplane and a full mask of a bitplane every two to four frames or so), but the advantage it has is that you still have the hardware sprites left to offset this a bit. I haven't done any calculations, but my gut feeling is that it'll end up being more efficient than my sprite layer.
*) I did later have an e-mail exchange with someone and it does appear the effect can be done somewhat more efficiently. Even so, it's still going to be a lot.