MLS, a new graphics system

[dschallock]

Super cool!

[saimo]

@dschallock

Thanks! (I must have missed your post)


@all

I have released a minor bugfix update for ALS which fixes a few minor issues.

v1.89 (21.03.2021)
* Fixed bug in ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE_SEGMENT[], which caused the low 12 bits of the colors to be set to the same value as the high 12 bits (because the instruction Areg(0)=PSA was placed just after the beginning of a loop, despite the comment just above said: "Areg(0) is set only once before the loop thanks to the fact that it is updated by Call with the value returned by ALS_SETCOLORXXRANGE()").
* Replaced all End/Pop Proc[False] with End/Pop Proc[0], as False might crash the Compiler in some circumstances.
* Fixed a comment in the ALS code.
* Fixed the metadata of a couple of ILBM files.
* Added a note to the demo3 program.

[saimo]

Working on Follix ( [ Show youtube player ]), which uses ALS, inspired a few improvements.

v1.94 (06.06.2021)
* Added ALS_CHECK_LAYER_INDEX[].
* Added ALS_COPY_PALETTE_SEGMENT[].
* Added ALS_CREATE_LAYER_AS_CLONE[].
* Added ALS_SET_LAYER_A_AND_COLORS_FROM LAYER[].
* Made check on layer index in ALS_DESTROY_LAYER[] and ALS_MAKE_LAYER_DESCRIPTOR[] more robust.
* Removed check on layer index from ALS_GET_LAYER_DEPTH[].
* Simplified ALS_OPEN_FILE[].
* Updated manual.

https://www.retream.com/ALS

[roondar]

Nice stuff, the transperancy effects in Follix look quite good

[saimo]

Thanks, roondar! Glad your tech-savvy eye appreciates the effects
Insider fun stuff: I tried to add also color cycling to the logo (which already has alpha cycling and fade-in/out applied to it), but it was too confusing to the eye; an instance of less-is-more, in practice.

[saimo]

Just released another update.

v1.95 (4.7.2021)
* Optimized ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE[] and ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE_RANGE[] a little bit.
* Removed wrong comment from ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE[].

https://www.retream.com/ALS

This is the last version that supports also OCS and ECS. ALS v2 will be AGA-only. The reason is that supporting all the chipsets requires lots of additional code and also slows down execution in many places, while functionality is still very limited on OCS and ECS due to the fact that they offer only 6 bitplanes and 32 color registers. ALS is much more useful on AGA, so it makes sense to have a leaner and faster version for that chipset.

Also, I decided to postpone the release of Follix to after ALS v2 is done, so that the game can benefit from it.

[kriz]

Thanks for another update!!

[saimo]

@kriz

My pleasure!


@all

v1.96 and v2.0 released

As announced recently, here is ALS v2, whose main difference with the previous versions is that it's for AGA only and, therefore, can benefit from faster and smaller code (the compiled binary is about 3.5 kB smaller).
Besides the work done for the AGA-only transition, there are also a few more improvements, many of which made it also to a new v1 library (v1 is supposed to be end-of-line, but still I couldn't resist fixing/improving what surfaced along way). The changelogs below detail the changes.

https://www.retream.com/ALS

v2.0 (6.7.2021)
* Removed useless code from ALS_COPY_PALETTE_SEGMENT[].
* Removed OCS/ECS code.
* Removed OCS/ECS palettes support.
* Removed ALS_CHIPSETID, ALS_MAXLAYERCOLORSNUMBER, ALS_MAXPLANESNUMBER, ALS_PALETTECOLORSNUMBER, ALS_ADDRESSABLECOLORSNUMBER.
* Optimized code for AGA.
* Optimized ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_FROM_PALETTE[], ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE[] and ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE_SEGMENT[] a lot.
* Added ALS_BUILD_DISPLAY_COPPERLIST_HEAD[] and ALS_BUILD_DISPLAY_COPPERLIST_TAIL[].
* Made various other improvements.
* Revised/extended manual.

v1.96 (6.7.2021)
* Removed useless code from ALS_COPY_PALETTE_SEGMENT[].
* Optimized ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_FROM_PALETTE[] a little bit.
* Added ALS_BUILD_DISPLAY_COPPERLIST_HEAD[] and ALS_BUILD_DISPLAY_COPPERLIST_TAIL[].
* Made various other improvements.
* Revised/extended manual.

I have tested both version extensively through their test/demo programs and by means of ArtPazz and Follix. All tests have been done on a real Amiga 1200 (with and without accelerator board) and in UAE, and ran both from interpreter and as compiled programs. No issues were found, so it looks like the massive work didn't break anything.


@admins

Could you replace "MLS" with "ALS" in the thread title, please?

[saimo]

Just released an update aimed at improving the terminology and the documentation.

v1.97 & v2.1 (16.7.2021)
* Renamed "palette segments" as "segments".
* Renamed: ALS_COPY_PALETTE_RANGE[] as ALS_COPY_SEGMENT_FROM_PALETTE_RANGE[]; ALS_EXTRACT_PALETTE_SEGMENT[] as ALS_CREATE_SEGMENT_FROM_PALETTE_RANGE[]; ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_PALETTE_SEGMENT as ALS_SET_DISPLAY_COLORS_RANGE_FROM_SEGMENT[].
* Updated/revised in-code documentation.
* Updated/revised/fixed manual.

https://www.retream.com/ALS

[saimo]

A quick heads-up to let you know that I released a couple of littles updates.

v1.99 and v2.3 (20.2.2023)
* Changed the conditions of many If, Until and While statements and turned For ... Next loops into Repeat ... Until loops to have the AMOS Professional Compiler produce shorter and faster code.

v1.98 and v2.2 (19.2.2023)
* Added CPU caches clearing after machine code routines generation in ALS_INITIALIZE_SYSTEM[].

https://www.retream.com/ALS
https://retream.itch.io/als

[saimo]

Ring around the World received an update yesterday. Today is ArtPazz's and Follix's turn - but first comes the library they're built on: ALS.

v1.100 & v2.4 (18.3.2023)
* Removed dependency on mathtrans.library by replacing CN=2^LD with CN=1 : Rol.l LD,CN.

[Retro1234]

So you can have a Dual Layer effect without using Dual Layer?

How many colours per layer on ECS?

[saimo]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

So you can have a Dual Layer effect without using Dual Layer?

Yes and no - key points:
* the number of layers can be any from 1 to 6 on OCS/ECS and 1 to 8 on AGA;
* the layers must have all the same width and horizontal scrolling offset;
* each layer has a freely defineable degree of transparency;
* each color has a freely defineable degree of transparency.

How many colours per layer on ECS?

The only restrictions are that the total number of bitplanes used by the layers can be at most 6 and that the final colors with index >=32 are EHB (those are hardware limits that can't be broken). So it all depends on how many layers one chooses to have and their depth.
If one needs just 2 layers (as per your first question), all the possible allocations of the bitplanes are (first layer depth + second layer depth):
* 1 + 1/2/3/4/5
* 2 + 1/2/3/4
* 3 + 1/2/3
* 4 + 1/2
* 5 + 1

Example with 3 layers and 6 bitplanes:
* bottom layer (for background graphics): 2 bitplanes -> 4 colors;
* middle layer (for foreground graphics): 3 bitplanes -> 8 colors;
* top layer (for shadows): 1 bitplane -> 2 colors.

The first example in this video shows a 2-layer example that uses a 4+2 bitplanes split on OCS/ECS:

[ Show youtube player ]

The other examples are for AGA and help understand the system further.

[Retro1234]

Shame the Horizontal offset has to be the same. Don't think I've ever heard of anything quit like it.

[saimo]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

Shame the Horizontal offset has to be the same.

In theory it's possible to create a specific system that supports strictly only two playfields, without restrictions on horizontal offset and width - in practice, a Dual Playfield mode with transparencies. (It's not in my plans, though.)

[saimo]

A couple of experiments done while brainstorming about a new game made with ALS.
The first effect is obtained basically at no processing cost, while the second one requires only the minimal cost of blitting a 2 bit mask. A stock Amiga 1200 can handle this without breaking a sweat.

[ Show youtube player ]

To be honest, I'm at a loss regarding which game to make.
It all started with the itch of remaking the second game I ever made (and never publicly released), but while fiddling with ALS these effects came to mind - and they don't happen to be very suitable for that game.
So, I tried to think of alternatives, and the best idea I came up is a game where: there are two parallel worlds, a real (dangerous/dark) one and an illusory (pleasant/nice) one; the screen mostly shows the illusory world, but the character controlled by the player is inside a bubble around it that shows the real world or there's some mechanism that allows the player to somehow reveal the real world - e.g. with a sort of torch light. The problem with this idea is designing the game and producing the content (double graphics work!) - it's something I can't undertake now.
Also, a sports game is sorely missing from my catalogue, but so far I couldn't think of anything interesting.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by saimo

A couple of experiments done while brainstorming about a new game made with ALS.
The first effect is obtained basically at no processing cost, while the second one requires only the minimal cost of blitting a 2 bit mask. A stock Amiga 1200 can handle this without breaking a sweat.

[ Show youtube player ]

To be honest, I'm at a loss regarding which game to make.
It all started with the itch of remaking the second game I ever made (and never publicly released), but while fiddling with ALS these effects came to mind - and they don't happen to be very suitable for that game.
So, I tried to think of alternatives, and the best idea I came up is a game where: there are two parallel worlds, a real (dangerous/dark) one and an illusory (pleasant/nice) one; the screen mostly shows the illusory world, but the character controlled by the player is inside a bubble around it that shows the real world or there's some mechanism that allows the player to somehow reveal the real world - e.g. with a sort of torch light. The problem with this idea is designing the game and producing the content (double graphics work!) - it's something I can't undertake now.
Also, a sports game is sorely missing from my catalogue, but so far I couldn't think of anything interesting.

Most of those games that use dark/light to reveal obstacles/tools seems good here for me

[saimo]

Originally Posted by saimon69

Most of those games that use dark/light to reveal obstacles/tools seems good here for me

It's a good concept per se, indeed. But its requires careful and smart design to make the game intersting and fun.

[skan]

Hey, that's my concept for a Lovecraft-inspired action-cinematic-platformer!

[saimo]

More experiments with ALS...

[ Show youtube player ]