XeO3: Polls!

I've added a couple of poll's on the right, please take a moment and fill them out. I'm also interested in what other platforms people are interested in seeing XeO3 ported too... I'd like a SNES version myself, and Amiga... aside from that I know there was interest in the Atari 400/800.

I'm busy writing scripting documentation, and will open it up to public viewing soon enough. Once this is done, I just need to clean up some internal code and then we can release it!

XeO3: Wiki!!!

I'm busy setting up an XeO3 wiki (with restricted user access) so that Luca and I can document everything in XeO3 properly. Previously Luca started out doing it on the main site, but that's hard to maintain. I use MediaWiki at work for blogs and its pretty flexible, not to mention that people can edit live and simoltaneously. So no longer will Luca or I (or Russell eventually) spot an error and have to wait for the correct person to edit it, we can do it directly outselves. Which is nice...

Aside from the fake BOSS at the end of the level, the scripting documentation is the only thing now holding up the release (I think). So I hope to push on and get it at least in a semi-usable state so we can finally get a working demo out there for you to play and play with!

XeO3: Mmmmm.....

I've been making more minor fixes in the game code as I come across them so the C64 port is almost complete. In fact all thats really left is the player Death sequence and the front end. Now, the death sequence will be the same but I'd like to do a new front end - mainly because I was so pushed on the Plus4's, so I hope to do something nicer.

I was doing some calculations to see how many sprites I'd have space for on the C64, particually since they take dounle the space (64 bytes over 32). I thought I was going to have to drop some, I dont want to get into doing a sprite cache on here and have to start copying data around - I did that in Blood Money and I dont think it really helped all that much. Sure I got a few extra sprites, but I lost a lot of RAM because of it. So the idea is to use ALL the 16K VIC space for graphics, then use the rest for other things.

Now the Plus4 has 167 sprites - quite a lot! So heres how the C64 stacks up...

Screens x2 = $400*2 = $800
CharacterSets x2 = $800*2 = $1000
Panel Characters = 96*8 = $300
Total space left ($4000- $800+$1000+$300) = $2500
Total sprites left = $2500/64 = 148.

Thats almost 20 less.... Oh well... I will probably push that a little when I move the panel into another VIC bank and swap banks as well as the character set. That gives me another 12 taking the total to 160. Still, these will be bigger, but thats still 7 less. Oh well....

I've also tried the C64 version on NTSC emulation, and the lack of vertical blank raster time really hurts! So I may have to try and come up with another solution... I guess... if I can setup the first 8 sprites quickly, I can overrun with the rest.. still its far from ideal. I wonder if its worth supporting NTSC... Always hated it...

XeO3: Another day... another bug fixed!

So I started to look into adding the panel functionality, and what do you know - its working already; its simply drawing to the wrong screen! The plus4 version sits the panel on screen 2, but on the C64 one I'd used screen 1...simple. However while fixing this, I happened to spot another bug and one thats again in the Plus/4 version.

The panel is only supposed to get updated when it needs to, in fact theres a set of flags set aside to enable updates of certain components of the panel. This means that when nothings happening, its all very quick. However, the flags don't appear to be getting set and the only reason it was working, is because they weren't getting cleared either! So, I've now got to go and set the flags whenever the panel needs changing (like adding to the score, losing a life etc...). Pretty simple fixes, but one that means Im not spending time doing stuff I simply dont have to do!

On the plus side, the panel code is unchanged from the Plus4 to the C64, which means I can fix it on the Plus/4, then simply copy it over and have a working C4 one too... cool :)

XeO3: Almost there!

I've made pretty good progress this evening and have managed to get all the player controls in and working; along with the player ship of course! This means you can now play the C64 version almost fully, shooting things and picking up coins etc. This now also now includes the shooting of turrets and mines, and they even explode correctly. I took a little while to get the player ship on as I had a bug in the Plus4 to C64 sprite conversion routine (all graphics are converted at startup so I can use the same data files), but once that was solved, I was able to move the ship around and start blasting away!

This leaves a few things left before its on par with the Plus4 version; Panel - power bar (shield and weapons), score, lives and coins, and testing ship to background collision. Once thats all done, it'll be at the same level as the Plus4 version. Its a pitty I dont have the old demo level still as I could make a video of it playing. Oh well...

I'd set myself 4 days to update and complete the port, and still expect to finish on time (for a change!) - although its probably because I've got a couple of days off which is making it easier...

However... don't get too excited, the Plus4 version will still be the only one released for now, but I might release the C64 version a few weeks after if theres enough demand.

XeO3: Things move a' pace!

I've been making pretty good progress last couple of days... As it was my Birthday on Friday I took the day off and did quite a bit of retro coding, and I've managed to progress even further today! The C64 version now runs through the whole demo level with aliens and bullets flying around just like the Plus/4 version, and while the C64 version is smoother, they are very similar when you watch them side-by-side.

I've been busy tracking down a bug in the multiplexor, but it turns out I simply wasn't clipping the sprites once they went below the panel. This was causing a new interrupt to be generated in the middle of the panel causing some nasty flicker. That solved, there does still seem to be an issue somewhere, but I'll leave it for now as its not that important.

I also found a bug in the Alien Bullets where they were being clipped too early, so fixed this in both the C64 and Plus4 versions.

I did hope to be able to make a single source set that would compile for both, but theres many very small changes all over the place, so this now looks unlikely - but I'll wait and see nearer the time.

I'm also wondering if doing this demo is the right thing... it actually looks pretty good, and would be a valid "level1", but I guess the whole point was to release a level I could tweak then start again so that people would get a full proper game to play without having seen/played small sections so I'll carry on for now as planned.

The extra sprites on the C64 version are proving a boon as I can extend wave's a little and make them link a little better with the next wave coming, losing some dead space while I go - all in all, its progressing pretty well now.

And just a reminder when you look at the C64 screen shots; these are all using 16x16 sprites (or 8x16 if your a puirest!), so the final C64 game will look fuller as the sprites will simply be bigger! The player ship will probably reamain 16x16 so that we can keep the smaller gaps and passageways.

XeO3: C64 stars!

I've just spent an hour playing with the C64's starfield. I've never been terribly happy with it as it shimered a lot due to the 1 pixel smooth scroll. So I've finally gotten round to making them HIRES rather than MCM stars. This involves doing the stars in the VBlank and setting/clearing the colour depending on whats already in that location.

It also takes a good few scanlines to run, but I can't see anyway of making it faster! It simply has lots to do so I'm probably stuck with it! I'll have to be careful though, because if the multiplexor gets busy then it's probably going to need the time the stars are eating up. Theres probably a couple of places I can stick the stars routine, but due to the colour writes it has to be in the FLIP vblank!

Oh well, its okay just now as the multiplexor isn't getting taxed very much - in fact it hardly every gets used! This is because the Plus/4 version keeps sprites free so that if coins are falling, I can still bring on new baddies without having to worry about the coins eating up slots. Still, it looks reasonably busy and I can always add more I guess.

I'm wondering if I should upload a video of the C64 version playing... but I dont really want to spoil the demo by letting people see it play through. So I'll probably wait until the Plus4 version is out for a little, then release a video afterwards.....

So stars done.... Panel next!

XeO3: C64 progression

I've managed to get the bullets working on the C64 now, in much the same way as the Plus/4 version. So while its masked onto the screen, its no smoother really. However, because of this though it means I have to double buffer the character set as well now - pooh. Im not sure if its worth it though...I could do 8 proper masked sprites (8, 8x8 pixel sprites) which would allows bullets to move better... but I'd rather spend the CPU time elsewhere.

On the plus side though, its much smoother than the Plus/4 version thanks to its hardware sprites and theres plenty of CPU time AND memory left!

I need to get the player working next so that I can actually play it, then it would be only missing the front end. In the end, the C64 version will be better but thats to be expected... but I do hope that they are so different that you'll enjoy playing them both!

XeO3: C64 version lives again!

I've spent an hour or so porting the current code base over to the C64, and it IS running the demo, but there are lots of issues to solve. The scrolling works, but tile drawing has serious issues and is rendering corrupted tiles. All the firing and player movement/collision etc. is commented out (although the code compiles). Background animations work (so turrets rotate etc.) and the multiplexor is working properly.

All in all for an hours work not too bad.... I am tempted to now try and keep both in sync; not so that I do a dual release, but so when the plsu4 version is finished, Im, only really waiting on graphics for the C64 version. Most of the code is now written, so keeping it up to date shouldn't be too hard - but of course I still have lots of work to do to get it running properly in the 1st place....

IF I get it running okay, then I'll probably release the demo on the C64 as well (although at a later date).

XeO3: Busy night!!

Well, I've gotten on well tonight and no mistake! I've added a heap of new paths which means I only have to do the BOSS!! How cool is that!! I've also just added the FIRE flag to the baddies so I can now selectively pick which baddies I want to shoot. But what this means is that I'm actually almost done!!

I need to add a boss (kind of... SOMETHING at the end...).
Scripting Documentation.
Cleaning out the sprites(its a demo after all!)

And..errr... thats it I think... So almost there!!! Remember we are releasing a test suit not JUST a demo level! You will be able to play with paths and make your own level if you want to!

What I really hope is that we'll fine someone really good at making levels, and they can help on the actual game! (I HATE making levels... I may have mentioned this before...)