Discussion: Rygar AGA Edition

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by roondar

I'll be honest, I'm rather looking forward to seeing the background water animate. It's a tiny effect, but it would really 'sell' the look for me - though the masses of flying bats added also helped

Yeah, yeah, I know - gameplay is more important, right

Well i have to make a batch of graphics changes tonight so i will see if i can squeeze it in, i might as well! Watch this space.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Well i have to make a batch of graphics changes tonight so i will see if i can squeeze it in, i might as well! Watch this space.

Done the graphics update.... went into the code and it isn't straight forward to do the animation using repeatable code.

Here's the problem....

This is the table that creates the copper list for the gradients on round 2/3.

; 	LINE NUMBER, COLOUR REG, 24BIT VAL, COLOUR REG, 24 BIT VALUE,-1 (TERMINATE)
	;	-2 = Terminate.
ROUND2_COLOUR:
		dc.l	45,1,$6867ff,-1				; Sky Gradient
		dc.l	50,1,$726cff,-1
		dc.l	55,1,$7c71ff,-1
		dc.l	60,1,$8676ff,-1
		dc.l	65,1,$907bff,-1
		dc.l	70,1,$9a80ff,-1
		dc.l	75,1,$a485ff,-1
		dc.l	80,1,$ae8aff,-1
		dc.l	85,1,$b88fff,-1
		dc.l	90,1,$c294ff,-1
		
		dc.l	95,1,$8080ff,-1	

; Top of the waterfall animation pointers
; 		dc.l	100,1,WATERTOP_BG_COL01,0			; Store pointer to WATERTOP_BG_COL01 here	
; 		dc.l	100,6,WATERTOP_BG_COL06,0			; Store pointer to WATERTOP_BG_COL06 here			
; 		dc.l	100,7,WATERTOP_BG_COL07,0			; Store pointer to WATERTOP_BG_COL07 here	

; Mid section of waterfall animation pointers
; 		dc.l	120,1,WATERMID_BG_COL01,0			; Store pointer to WATERMID_BG_COL01 here	
; 		dc.l	120,6,WATERMID_BG_COL06,0			; Store pointer to WATERMID_BG_COL06 here			
; 		dc.l	120,7,WATERMID_BG_COL07,0			; Store pointer to WATERMID_BG_COL07 here

; 		dc.l	156,1,WATERBOT_BG_COL01,0			; Store pointer to WATERBOT_BG_COL01 here
; 		dc.l	156,5,WATERBOT_BG_COL05,0			; Store pointer to WATERBOT_BG_COL05 here	
; 		dc.l	156,6,WATERBOT_BG_COL06,0			; Store pointer to WATERBOT_BG_COL06 here			
; 		dc.l	156,7,WATERBOT_BG_COL07,0			; Store pointer to WATERBOT_BG_COL07 here

; 		dc.l	169,1,100-105-250,0			; Reset Water Colours
; 		dc.l	169,5,36-50-252,0			; Reset Water Colours	
; 		dc.l	169,6,236-193-188,0			; Reset Water Colours			
; 		dc.l	169,7,252-254-252,0			; Reset Water Colours



		dc.l	170,1,$1010dd,-1			; Water Gradient
		dc.l	172,1,$0000ff,-1
		dc.l	173,1,$3010ff,-1
		dc.l	174,1,$3818ff,-1
		dc.l	175,1,$4020ff,-1
		dc.l	176,1,$4828ff,-1
		dc.l	177,1,$5030ff,-1
		dc.l	178,1,$5838ff,-1
		dc.l	179,1,$6040ff,-1
		dc.l	180,1,$6848ff,-1
		dc.l	181,1,$7050ff,-1
		dc.l	182,1,$7858ff,-1

		dc.l	-2

As the gradients are no longer static so I need to have pointers in place where the code can update the colours for the animation. The commented out bits are how I propose to do this but the code/handler isn't in place yet to do it because well..... I haven't written and only just thought about how to do it.

Probably take a couple of coding sessions to do it...maybe for the weekend (Then Damien and Roondar will be happy )

Geezer

[van_dammesque]

This is looking very good mcgeezer!
What about the later levels when things get hectic? i.e round 19? Will graphical or otherwise sacrifices be made or a slow down or no problems?

RE: A1200 AGA version, I come from an 8 bit ZX Speccy to 16-bit A500+, WOW!
Bought an A1200, ok but the same step up (yes better games in 3-d the likes of Frontier, F1GP and Wing Commander, even a 040 was needed for a good Doom experience when I 'towered' up) was never the same impact! People who whine about AGA vs OCS must be technically illiterate. OK then, name a game on the A500 that was as hard to convert as this game and at even at this stage was as accurate?!
So to summarize going from 8 to 16 bit WOW! 16 to 32 bit not so much wow!

[hooverphonique]

@Geezer: My antivirus (Kaspersky) blocks your url "http://109.228.4.199/rygarproj1.png". It isn't really clear what it doesn't like about it, but just wanted to let you know.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by van_dammesque

This is looking very good mcgeezer!
What about the later levels when things get hectic? i.e round 19? Will graphical or otherwise sacrifices be made or a slow down or no problems?

RE: A1200 AGA version, I come from an 8 bit ZX Speccy to 16-bit A500+, WOW!
Bought an A1200, ok but the same step up (yes better games in 3-d the likes of Frontier, F1GP and Wing Commander, even a 040 was needed for a good Doom experience when I 'towered' up) was never the same impact! People who whine about AGA vs OCS must be technically illiterate. OK then, name a game on the A500 that was as hard to convert as this game and at even at this stage was as accurate?!
So to summarize going from 8 to 16 bit WOW! 16 to 32 bit not so much wow!

I can probably push around 20 32x32 sprites, the arcade can push up to 24 - but those will include the disk armor so roughly the same. The complication I have is that I can only have hardware sprites in upper, mid or lower zones, so if a hardware sprite moves from an upper to mid zone then I need to swap it to a BoB.

In all honesty I'll be happy if I get levels 1 to 4 done for the end of February, the rest of the game will come before May.

Originally Posted by hooverphonique

@Geezer: My antivirus (Kaspersky) blocks your url "http://109.228.4.199/rygarproj1.png". It isn't really clear what it doesn't like about it, but just wanted to let you know.

Not sure why it flags up if it doesn't even know why it flags up. I guess if you're running Kaspersky you're of the opinion that if you can't beat the Russians then join them.

Personally I wouldn't run it as UK government does not recommend it.

Geezer

[van_dammesque]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

I can probably push around 20 32x32 sprites, the arcade can push up to 24 - but those will include the disk armor so roughly the same. The complication I have is that I can only have hardware sprites in upper, mid or lower zones, so if a hardware sprite moves from an upper to mid zone then I need to swap it to a BoB.

In all honesty I'll be happy if I get levels 1 to 4 done for the end of February, the rest of the game will come before May.

A good timescale, as I can only imagine the problems you are facing, but what a foundation you have built!!

[mcgeezer]

Here's my first stab at the background animation...

It's a bit buggy at the minute but hopefully you'll get the idea.

I'll need to modify the arcade pixels some more to get it to become more fluid.

Nearly there though.

http://109.228.4.199/rygarbg.mp4

Geezer

[buzzybee]

@mcgeezer: If I understood you correctly, you want to add color variations. May I suggest to prepare several color subtables as in copperlists-format, and then just jump from your main copperlist to the subtables currently needed using COP1LCH etc.? Speeds things up a bit, that´s how I do it in RESHOOT R ... also, in general, there is no need to write color regs within the copperlist, it´s sufficient to write them once via cpu. Unless of course you reuse color regs within one frame.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by buzzybee

@mcgeezer: If I understood you correctly, you want to add color variations. May I suggest to prepare several color subtables as in copperlists-format, and then just jump from your main copperlist to the subtables currently needed using COP1LCH etc.? Speeds things up a bit, that´s how I do it in RESHOOT R ... also, in general, there is no need to write color regs within the copperlist, it´s sufficient to write them once via cpu. Unless of course you reuse color regs within one frame.

Yes thanks for the tip, I currently do this for the bonus scene at the end of each round where I use the COPJMP registers and set different colours for the text.

The problem in game isn't too difficult to solve and using multiple copper lists doesn't really help with it because I need to factor the sprite registers at the correct vertical position, the routine has to be repeatable because different rounds have different copper lists.

To optimise the background fade when the time runs out I'll use multiple copper lists, at the moment it doesn't do that and is rather slow.

Geezer

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by malko

Don't blame them, back in time there was almost only A500 quick ports to A1200. People just were not able to figure out what these specs were all about ...

Exactly. It reminds me a discussion with one of the Super Street Fighter 2 Amiga coder on facebook. He was saying that the AGA Amigas we're perfectly able to do a nearly 1.1 conversion of the game, but that the lead developpement version was aimed to fit in the 512kb chip Amiga ram. In fact, the AGA version just benefits of some few extra colors and maybe SFX, but don't benefits at all of extra CPU power or 2mb chip ram of the 1200. The AGA version was just a recolorized OCS one, a quick and dirty port made for US Gold in few time (unlike they were saying in previews at that time).

[buzzybee]

The Amiga was never capable of a percect translation of any SF-game, simply because it lacked a sufficient and standardized game-controller. Visuals alone do not make a perfect game :-)

Having said that, I think there were a few AGA-games that did the Amiga justice. Skeleton Crew and Banshee are some examples of games that did more than just fill the background with a second AGA-only playfield. Also, Aladdin made good use of the 2 MB Chipmem to draw big and lively animated objects onto the screen.

[DamienD]

All discussion related to "arcade games that should be ported to the Amiga" have now been moved to this thread: Arcade games that should be ported to the Amiga, though I'm sure there's already a similar thread... need to search.

[mcgeezer]

I've branched off the background water fall animation as it was causing all manner of issues and I need to focus on the enemies...

Don't worry it will get done, it's just not a priority for the moment.

Geezer

[dlfrsilver]

ok

[AmigaHope]

Originally Posted by buzzybee

The Amiga was never capable of a percect translation of any SF-game, simply because it lacked a sufficient and standardized game-controller. Visuals alone do not make a perfect game :-)

Having said that, I think there were a few AGA-games that did the Amiga justice. Skeleton Crew and Banshee are some examples of games that did more than just fill the background with a second AGA-only playfield. Also, Aladdin made good use of the 2 MB Chipmem to draw big and lively animated objects onto the screen.

To be fair, the CD32 controller standard was perfectly adequate for SF (even if the controller itself was janky). The CD32 port of SSF2T did at least control correctly (although the game itself performed terribly).

[Solo Kazuki]

I said similar, but... well... it was moved here.

[mcgeezer]

Had a bit of time tonight to add in the small Rhino. Also added in is better enemy collision detection, you'll notice the enemies all respect the environment now like obstacles and platforms.

http://109.228.4.199/rygarrhino.mp4

Geezer

[malko]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

[...] UK government does not recommend it. [...]

since when do politicians know anything about anti-virus?
Probably a mistake on their part They have missed this :
Karpersky for Home users, for Business

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by malko

since when do politicians know anything about anti-virus?
Probably a mistake on their part They have missed this :
Karpersky for Home users, for Business

Politicians dont.
The National Cyber Security Centre does though.

[malko]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

[...] you'll notice the enemies all respect the environment now like obstacles and platforms. [...]

I have noticed that some enemies are able to walk over the hole.