Atari ST to Amiga: Starquake Amiga Conversion - Page 18

Codetapper · 19 November 2018, 05:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko

If the "engine" could be easily adapted to others games, may you consider Road Runner for a next shot (after the Starquake 68000 optimisation) ?

Have you seen the ST version of Road Runner? It's diabolical and unplayable due to the scroll position being so far to the left that you get no warning of hazards. It would need a complete rewrite from scratch to do it justice. Also I'm pretty sure Galahad is not a fan of the original arcade game!

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tomcat666 · 19 November 2018, 07:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codetapper

Have you seen the ST version of Road Runner? It's diabolical and unplayable due to the scroll position being so far to the left that you get no warning of hazards.

I am sure a simple change from if (RRscreenX < 30) scrollRight(); to if (RRscreenX < 100) scrollRight(); would fix that in a jiffy

Also the C64 version of the game is pretty much the best of them all (including the arcade), very playable and fun to play

malko · 19 November 2018, 10:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

There is no "engine", its called hacking. There is no solution that fits all conversions.
[...]

I was kidding a little bit with the "engine"

, but it was tempting with :

Quote:

[...] So basically look for colour pallete routines and replace, find the vblank routine and pointer to screen memory and redirect to something [...]

I know it's not that easy as a search/replace with a text editor but looked like

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codetapper

Have you seen the ST version of Road Runner? It's diabolical and unplayable due to the scroll position being so far to the left that you get no warning of hazards. It would need a complete rewrite from scratch to do it justice. Also I'm pretty sure Galahad is not a fan of the original arcade game!

[...]

Back in time I played it on the ST with a good friend of mine (which had an Atari ST (no Amiga vs ST war between us

). Was not an easy game as far as I remember it (or maybe we were just "bad"

) but was playable and fun . Later I did play the GBA version (poor Wile E. Coyote

).
Anyway not the topic here, let's close this RR parenthesis that I opened despite me and return to Starquake

.

meynaf · 19 November 2018, 10:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko

I know it's not that easy as a search/replace with a text editor but looked like

.

While it's true there is nothing that could be called an engine, there is normally still some small amount of code reuse.
But one sure thing is that the process can not be automated. Porting a game involves scanning all code by hand, to find and alter whatever will not work directly on the target platform.

Predseda · 19 November 2018, 18:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Jason Brooke did the music, David McLachlan did the graphics, still trying to work out the programmer.

Eeerm, Steve Crow?

Galahad/FLT · 19 November 2018, 18:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

Eeerm, Steve Crow?

No, he only did select 8bits

Predseda · 19 November 2018, 18:30

In this article they say David McLachlan was also a coder (for PC), so maybe he coded it even for Atari

https://archive.org/stream/thegamesm...e/n67/mode/2up

But obviously the article is not precise, the screenshot is CGA, not ST, so not much trusty source.

Galahad/FLT · 19 November 2018, 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

In this article they say David McLachlan was also a coder (for PC), so maybe he coded it even for Atari

https://archive.org/stream/thegamesm...e/n67/mode/2up

But obviously the article is not precise, the screenshot is CGA, not ST, so not much trusty source.

No, ive spoken to David two days ago. He was given the Spectrum graphics and simply updated them.

kamelito · 19 November 2018, 20:21

@Galahad,
You were in touch with Paulie, does he knows? Did you asked Mark Jones?

DrBong · 19 November 2018, 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

I don't suppose your Atari version in the documentation has the full credits for the ST version does it?

Jason Brooke did the music, David McLachlan did the graphics, still trying to work out the programmer.

My best guess is a guy called Dave Collins. Apparently, he was responsible for the Amstrad and Tatung Einstein conversions (and, by association, may have done the MSX conversion too); both machines are Z80-based and it's a hop, skip and a jump to convert to the Atari ST. Dave Collins also coded the Atari ST conversion of Last Ninja 3, sooooo......

Is there anyone you can ask about the extent of Dave Collins' involvement with the Starquake conversions?

Galahad/FLT · 19 November 2018, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBong

My best guess is a guy called Dave Collins. Apparently, he was responsible for the Amstrad and Tatung Einstein conversions (and, by association, may have done the MSX conversion too); both machines are Z80-based and it's a hop, skip and a jump to convert to the Atari ST. Dave Collins also coded the Atari ST conversion of Last Ninja 3.

Is there anyone you can ask about Dave Collins and the extent of his involvement with the Starquake conversions?

Im following up a lead about Stephen Curtis who is a possibility. He did Classic Invaders on Amstrad and Amiga for Bubble Bus who did Starquake, and I get the impression he worked on quite a few Amiga titles but is hardly credited.

DrBong · 19 November 2018, 21:52

@Phill
Fair enough - keep us posted. Nick Jones might be another contender worth looking into. His early games from 1986-88 for Bubble Bus were mostly on the Amstrad, and he worked with Steve Crow on Earthworm Jim at Shiny Entertainment in the U.S. after Bubble Bus was wound up.

high-5 · 19 November 2018, 22:13

Thanks for this cool project. Not a fan of Starquake (yet) but it's great to see the involvement of so many people in this and get some background information on it!!

Predseda · 19 November 2018, 22:18

@Galahad Are you going to fix the cheat for v1.2?

Galahad/FLT · 19 November 2018, 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

@Galahad Are you going to fix the cheat for v1.2?

No, i thought id leave it broken

Predseda · 19 November 2018, 22:28

I mean not necessary it there will be one in WHDLoad.

emuola · 20 November 2018, 08:20

Great conversion

Awesome project all the way. Galahad, you're a wizard

But you already knew that

I had one hiccup, though:

1/5 times of the times I tested (2nd time), the game hung right before the eab screen. Floppy disk drive light stayed on and screen went black. No guru or something like that. On next boot, it again worked ok. haven't noticed problems with some other floppies, e.g. Lotus 2 and Turrican 2. Performance of Starquake is very smooth, but I suppose it is as expected with this hw.

A600 1.1 recapped by Amigakit
Ray Carlsen psu
Furia 33Mhz and SD card (no stability issues)
2MB chip
9,5MB fast
New floppy drive
Starquake 1.1 written with ADfer to a fresh floppy.

This is not a complaint, just a report if it indicates something.

oRBIT · 20 November 2018, 18:19

@Galahad: Impressed by your work, you have too much sparetime?

Would be interesting to hear some kind of behind-the-scenes stuff with these conversions..?

Galahad/FLT · 20 November 2018, 19:19

This thread has now run its course and you are invited to go here:http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...12#post1286212

For all things support and release for future iterations of Starquake.

DamienD · 20 November 2018, 19:53

So you want this thread closed Sir Galahad?

20 November 2018, 08:20	#357
emuola Registered Whdload user Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Finland Age: 48 Posts: 532	Great conversion Awesome project all the way. Galahad, you're a wizard But you already knew that I had one hiccup, though: 1/5 times of the times I tested (2nd time), the game hung right before the eab screen. Floppy disk drive light stayed on and screen went black. No guru or something like that. On next boot, it again worked ok. haven't noticed problems with some other floppies, e.g. Lotus 2 and Turrican 2. Performance of Starquake is very smooth, but I suppose it is as expected with this hw. A600 1.1 recapped by Amigakit Ray Carlsen psu Furia 33Mhz and SD card (no stability issues) 2MB chip 9,5MB fast New floppy drive Starquake 1.1 written with ADfer to a fresh floppy. This is not a complaint, just a report if it indicates something. Last edited by emuola; 20 November 2018 at 08:38.

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19 November 2018, 18:30	#347
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,539	In this article they say David McLachlan was also a coder (for PC), so maybe he coded it even for Atari https://archive.org/stream/thegamesm...e/n67/mode/2up But obviously the article is not precise, the screenshot is CGA, not ST, so not much trusty source.

19 November 2018, 20:21	#349
kamelito Zone Friend Join Date: May 2006 Location: France Posts: 1,801	@Galahad, You were in touch with Paulie, does he knows? Did you asked Mark Jones?

19 November 2018, 21:52	#352
DrBong HOL / AMR Team Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 2,632	@Phill Fair enough - keep us posted. Nick Jones might be another contender worth looking into. His early games from 1986-88 for Bubble Bus were mostly on the Amstrad, and he worked with Steve Crow on Earthworm Jim at Shiny Entertainment in the U.S. after Bubble Bus was wound up.

19 November 2018, 22:13	#353
high-5 Zone Friend Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cologne, Germany Age: 49 Posts: 52	Thanks for this cool project. Not a fan of Starquake (yet) but it's great to see the involvement of so many people in this and get some background information on it!!

19 November 2018, 22:18	#354
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,539	@Galahad Are you going to fix the cheat for v1.2?

19 November 2018, 22:28	#356
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,539	I mean not necessary it there will be one in WHDLoad.

20 November 2018, 18:19	#358
oRBIT Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Gothenburg/Sweden Age: 48 Posts: 339	@Galahad: Impressed by your work, you have too much sparetime? Would be interesting to hear some kind of behind-the-scenes stuff with these conversions..?

20 November 2018, 19:19	#359
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	This thread has now run its course and you are invited to go here:http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...12#post1286212 For all things support and release for future iterations of Starquake.

20 November 2018, 19:53	#360
DamienD Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London / Sydney Age: 47 Posts: 20,420	So you want this thread closed Sir Galahad?

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