Super Sprint AGA

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Dev update #13 now...

Main updates are all internal - hence voice over on this one (plus I have a stotting head ache).

- All scenes now included in the A1200 memory (this was difficult)
- Ross' loader used to read packed race track data, this means making custom race tracks is easer.
- Level configuration included in the game.

Enjoy, Geezer

Might release and ADF... not sure yet.

[ Show youtube player ]

My god, this is such a good work. holy crap, Domark would had $$$ in the eyes with someone like you to convert the atari games softs on the Amiga.

I even wonder if Badlands could benefit from your source code, since it works more or less the same !

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

My god, this is such a good work. holy crap, Domark would had $$$ in the eyes with someone like you to convert the atari games softs on the Amiga.

I even wonder if Badlands could benefit from your source code, since it works more or less the same !

The funny thing is that I didn't even know Bad Lands was an Atari arcade game, I thought it was a rip off of Super Sprint to the Amiga.

Bad lands arcade has a resolution of 336x240 so the port that was already done looks pretty decent, I've not played it though. I don't understand why Atari dropped the resolution as it's pretty much the same game with different gfx.

The nice thing about my version of Super Sprint is that it's in hi-res lace mode, I don't remember many/(if any) games with that setup.

Some more tech detail.

One 512x384x16 colour screen buffer takes up 98kb of ram, I have to double buffer the upper and lower tracks so that's 400kb of chip ram eaten up, i also keep a post buffer so that's another 196kb so near 600kb of chip ram just in screen buffers!!!

While the explosions and choppers look small, they'll actually 64x116x16 colour sprites so in Amiga terms they are quite huge. Some may ask why I chose to use the cars as the hardware sprites and not use the 64 wide sprites for the explosion and chopper, the reason was down to the colour palette - I simply didn't have enough colours for all of the cars and track in the upper 16 colours for the cars so I had to use the extra AGA capability of a completely seperate pallette bank for sprites.

As part of the executable I keep all of the scene assets compressed, when the non-ingame scenes appear I unpack them into that 400kb screen buffer - so in effect I have my own custom memory management going on inside that 400Kb.

The music modules I have to keep unpacked in ram, you'll notice they start playing straight away at the end of the race - nothing I could do about that.

Still lots of performance improvement can be made. I'm enjoying codng this game for sure.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Bad lands arcade has a resolution of 336x240 so the port that was already done looks pretty decent, I've not played it though. I don't understand why Atari dropped the resolution as it's pretty much the same game with different gfx.

Yup, Badlands on the Amiga is a great port... same as Indy Heat and Ivan ''Ironman'' Stewart's Super Off Road

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

The nice thing about my version of Super Sprint is that it's in hi-res lace mode, I don't remember many/(if any) games with that setup.

That's great and all, but if the game "flickers" constantly like in your videos then it won't be fun to play unfortunately.

[nikosidis]

DamienD: Flicker fixer

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by DamienD

That's great and all, but if the game "flickers" constantly like in your videos then it won't be fun to play unfortunately.

Fortunately, the Youtube videos make the interlace look horrible.

You can download example ADF's from the Zone.

[nikosidis]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Fortunately, the Youtube videos make the interlace look horrible.

You can download example ADF's from the Zone.

It is very difficult to record from CRT exactly how it looks. I'm sorry to say but the flicker is annoying. I would recommend a flicker fixer for this game, not that I have one. It's been talk about this before. There are other AGA screenmodes that flicker less but there are drawbacks. I'm here if you like someone to test with other screenmodes etc. Multiscan - Productivity might be perfect if fast enough. Got the same resolution.

[AMike]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

The nice thing about my version of Super Sprint is that it's in hi-res lace mode, I don't remember many/(if any) games with that setup.

I can only think of three games. (Super Skidmarks, Biing, Darkseed)
Great work - looking forward to the game.

[mcgeezer]

The screen mode will be staying, if people don't like it then I'm afraid the game won't be to your liking so would advise not to play it (the Amiga has plenty of top down racers in standard resolution).

I calculated this issue being a risk when I started developing the game and I deemed it still being worthwhile to code, some will disagree with my decision but I can live with that.

No more talk about flicker please, I've heard it already.

Edit:- I'll add an option in the game to select for a VGA monitor, this will switch it to 640x480 mode with non-interlacing.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by AMike

I can only think of three games. (Super Skidmarks, Biing, Darkseed)
Great work - looking forward to the game.

Probably "Sim City 2000" and "Wet: The Sexy Empire" also.

There may be a few more, but can't be bothered thinking further.

[ross]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Fortunately, the Youtube videos make the interlace look horrible.

You can download example ADF's from the Zone.

Hi Graeme, it's been a long time since I tried a version of SuperSprintAGA. But with SuperSprint_EAB3 noticed a strange regular flickering on video sync (not present in the versions I had tried previously).
As if from time to time it fails to update one of the interlaced fields in time.

I hope to have time this evening to look at it better.

Cheers.

[nikosidis]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

The screen mode will be staying, if people don't like it then I'm afraid the game won't be to your liking so would advise not to play it (the Amiga has plenty of top down racers in standard resolution).

I calculated this issue being a risk when I started developing the game and I deemed it still being worthwhile to code, some will disagree with my decision but I can live with that.

No more talk about flicker please, I've heard it already.

Edit:- I'll add an option in the game to select for a VGA monitor, this will switch it to 640x480 mode with non-interlacing.

That is great. I really like the resolution. Very cool with the small cars!!

[AMike]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Probably "Sim City 2000" and "Wet: The Sexy Empire" also.

Right, I had forgotten these games.

@mcgeezer
The resolution is a plus - ideal for this kind of game.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Yup, Badlands on the Amiga is a great port... same as Indy Heat and Ivan ''Ironman'' Stewart's Super Off Road


That's great and all, but if the game "flickers" constantly like in your videos then it won't be fun to play unfortunately.

Badlands is an ST port. Just by looking the main title screen, you see the game has the usual ST palette bug problem.

[mcgeezer]

If you want to try what is showed in the video then you can look in the zone for a new ADF

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Badlands is an ST port. Just by looking the main title screen, you see the game has the usual ST palette bug problem.

So?

The game plays well and is fun. That's what I care about.

IMHO it's a decent port

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by DamienD

So?

The game plays well and is fun. That's what I care about.

IMHO it's a decent port

Ah well, it's just because Domark never shined on the Amiga really on Atari Games :/

[alpine9000]

I love the fact that this is interlaced.

Other than that, it' shaping up amazingly well, can't wait for it to be finished.

[agermose]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Dev update #13 now...

Main updates are all internal - hence voice over on this one (plus I have a stotting head ache).

- All scenes now included in the A1200 memory (this was difficult)
- Ross' loader used to read packed race track data, this means making custom race tracks is easer.
- Level configuration included in the game.

Enjoy, Geezer

Might release and ADF... not sure yet.

[ Show youtube player ]

Unbelievable . Where were you when the gaming industry were messing up arcade conversions, back in the day?

[jotd]

to be honest with old game devs, mcgeezer is talented and works hard, no doubt, but he also benefits from modern tools, emulator, cross assembler, debugger, plus internet, MAME & ripping tools, EAB community support, and all info on hardware, which makes the task (slightly) easier.

Back in the day, devs had lousy tools mostly, deadlines, bosses, and sometimes the only original material was the arcade cabinet in free play... And there's a lot of good arcade conversions (Ocean, Sales Curve). That doesn't mean that Tiertex doesn't suck though.

Don't get me wrong, Graheme is talented and works hard. With the same modern tools, a lot of people produced ... nothing I personally had a hard time pulling a very simple game off... and it's still not 50 fps on 68k.

(I hope I'm not going to be lambasted for this message. I love mcgeezer past & future work)

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by jotd

to be honest with old game devs, mcgeezer is talented and works hard, no doubt, but he also benefits from modern tools, emulator, cross assembler, debugger, plus internet, MAME & ripping tools, EAB community support, and all info on hardware, which makes the task (slightly) easier.

Back in the day, devs had lousy tools mostly, deadlines, bosses, and sometimes the only original material was the arcade cabinet in free play... And there's a lot of good arcade conversions (Ocean, Sales Curve). That doesn't mean that Tiertex doesn't suck though.

Don't get me wrong, Graheme is talented and works hard. With the same modern tools, a lot of people produced ... nothing I personally had a hard time pulling a very simple game off... and it's still not 50 fps on 68k.

(I hope I'm not going to be lambasted for this message. I love mcgeezer past & future work)

Yep, everything you said there is correct and i agree completely.
Other than coders on the ST i didnt have access to Amiga stuff other than the hardware reference manual, as a young lad with a paper round too i didnt have enough money for a harddrive.

If i had been a couple of years older i probably would have been a games dev and my life would be different, i’m not complaining though - i’d hate to do it for a living.