Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Work in progress.
I am having fun improving the classic Acornsoft Meteors game for the Acorn Electron.
So far I have optimised countless things and introduced a second screen buffer to achieve smooth & consistent movement with no sprite flicker at all.
Video comparing the original with my current enhanced version:
https://youtu.be/t6NOxR-rqPg
https://twitter.com/0xC0DE6502/status/1 ... 3994035233
https://bsky.app/profile/0xc0de.bsky.so ... hc4drz3c2w
https://mastodon.online/@0xC0DE6502/111935205464803459
I am having fun improving the classic Acornsoft Meteors game for the Acorn Electron.
So far I have optimised countless things and introduced a second screen buffer to achieve smooth & consistent movement with no sprite flicker at all.
Video comparing the original with my current enhanced version:
https://youtu.be/t6NOxR-rqPg
https://twitter.com/0xC0DE6502/status/1 ... 3994035233
https://bsky.app/profile/0xc0de.bsky.so ... hc4drz3c2w
https://mastodon.online/@0xC0DE6502/111935205464803459
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Good stuff. Quicker and smoother.
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Video looks great, an extremely worthwhile project! Can't wait to try the finished version, I'd definitely put this out at some of the big events I do!
Please subscribe to the ABug YouTube channel!
- daveejhitchins
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Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Brilliant, as always
Dave H.
Dave H.
Available: ARA II : ARA III-JR/PR : ABR : AP5 : AP6 : ABE : ATI : MGC : Plus 1 Support ROM : Plus 3 2nd DA : Prime's Plus 3 ROM/RAM : Pegasus 400 : Prime's MRB : ARCIN32 : Cross-32
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thanks for the kind words, David, Dave and Dave!
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
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Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
very well done. Before watching it I could not believe there could be such a difference.
How much memory have the dual screen left you to play?
How much memory have the dual screen left you to play?
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
No flickering ... great job .....
Did you rewrite the sprite routine?
Greetings
Kees
Did you rewrite the sprite routine?
Greetings
Kees
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thank you! The 2 full screen buffers take a total of 20K, leaving less than 12K for the code+data, but I'm used to thatnicolagiacobbe wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 8:10 pm very well done. Before watching it I could not believe there could be such a difference.
How much memory have the dual screen left you to play?
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thanks Kees! Yes, the "shape plotter" was already pretty clever, but I managed to make it slightly faster. But I also added a few custom non-clipping pre-shifted sprite plotting routines to speed things up for the small and medium-sized meteors, when they are not overlapping the edges of the screen. But the double screen buffer is crucial for eliminating sprite flicker.
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Excellent, but I would expect nothing less
I was going to add a shape plotter, well compiled sprites for the big rocks in my Asteroids, but then decided compiled sprites weren't much good if they moved especially in MODE 4
I was going to add a shape plotter, well compiled sprites for the big rocks in my Asteroids, but then decided compiled sprites weren't much good if they moved especially in MODE 4
- Multiwizard
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Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thank you very much!
Cheers, tricky! No pressure then
I really like the shape plotter in Meteors and it is very convenient when wrapping around the screen edges. However, it is certainly not the fastest way to plot sprites. I wish I had space left to add pre-shifted sprites for the large meteor as well.
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
I saw this on my YT feed, looks amazing, massive well done!
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
That looks great! The funny thing is, I don't have much recollection of it being that bad. The main thing that stood out to me about Electron Meteors was the way it wasn't in colour (like the BBC version) or with a blue background (like on the box)!
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
I was going to mention the colour difference between the BBC and Electron versions. I vaguely remember running the BBC version on the Electron. Again thanks to my friend who had a Beeb. I had several games from him.
Richard B
Acorn Electrons issue 4 and 6, MRB, Plus 1 x2, Plus 3, AP6 x2, AP5, Pegasus 400, BeebSCSI, Gotek, Raspberry Pi Co-processor, GoSDC MBE.
BBC B+ 64K (128K upgraded) with Duel OS, Raspberry Pi Co-processor and Gotek.
Acorn Electrons issue 4 and 6, MRB, Plus 1 x2, Plus 3, AP6 x2, AP5, Pegasus 400, BeebSCSI, Gotek, Raspberry Pi Co-processor, GoSDC MBE.
BBC B+ 64K (128K upgraded) with Duel OS, Raspberry Pi Co-processor and Gotek.
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thanks!
Cheers! Same here. It was fun to play and that was it. Now, looking at it with a technical eye, I see room for improvement
I may add a choice for different colour schemes...
I may very well attempt to create a MODE 5 version to have a little colour in the game, even though I rather like the monochrome look. A MODE 1 version will be excruciatingly slow on the Elk, not to mention nearly impossible to get it sprite flicker free...
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
I agree it's not really essential, but just a thought: could it perhaps be done by relocating all the code to sideways ram and executing it from there, at 2 MHz?0xC0DE wrote: A MODE 1 version will be excruciatingly slow on the Elk, not to mention nearly impossible to get it sprite flicker free...
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
It can be done, and there are some other speed tricks, but at the end of the day you still need to write to slow screen RAM
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Initial release of Meteors++
Disk/tape images: https://github.com/0xC0DE6502/meteors-enhanced-releases
Video on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/0xC0DE6502/status/1 ... 0224355401
Disk/tape images: https://github.com/0xC0DE6502/meteors-enhanced-releases
Video on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/0xC0DE6502/status/1 ... 0224355401
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Always thought Meteors was a solid conversion for the Elk but your update takes it to another level - it's so much smoother and more playable now.
Incredible achievement, thanks and well done!
I can't wait to take this version on the road with me to events (in fact, I've got a big one in a couple of weeks, are any more updates due over the next few days? Otherwise I'll ask Dave H to burn it to an Eprom for me)
Incredible achievement, thanks and well done!
I can't wait to take this version on the road with me to events (in fact, I've got a big one in a couple of weeks, are any more updates due over the next few days? Otherwise I'll ask Dave H to burn it to an Eprom for me)
Please subscribe to the ABug YouTube channel!
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Thanks Dave! It was a nice technical challenge and I now have a full understanding of how the game works.
That would be great! I hope this version is pretty solid, but you never know! I do intend to release a version with optional cheats included, but not sure when exactly.
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Awesome work! I still can't get past Sheet 4 though.
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
v0.2 released - bugs fixed and cheats/options menu added
Hold ESCAPE and tap SPACE to enter the Cheats and Options page, while on the initial screen (showing the controls). Then type the first letter of each cheat/option to change it.
https://github.com/0xC0DE6502/meteors-enhanced-releases
Hold ESCAPE and tap SPACE to enter the Cheats and Options page, while on the initial screen (showing the controls). Then type the first letter of each cheat/option to change it.
https://github.com/0xC0DE6502/meteors-enhanced-releases
0xC0DE
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
"I program my home computer / Beam myself into the future"
Follow me on Twitter
Visit my YouTube channel featuring my games and demos for Acorn Electron and BBC Micro
Re: Meteors++ (Enhanced Acornsoft Meteors for Acorn Electron)
Very cool, must find some time to have a play with it - I'm going to try some green or yellow on black for some old CRT vibes0xC0DE wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:01 am v0.2 released - bugs fixed and cheats/options menu added
Hold ESCAPE and tap SPACE to enter the Cheats and Options page, while on the initial screen (showing the controls). Then type the first letter of each cheat/option to change it.
https://github.com/0xC0DE6502/meteors-enhanced-releases
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