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Cosmic Prison Commando

Started by Carnivius, 20:33, 19 June 14

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Carnivius

Quote from: Captain Past on 10:22, 29 March 15
That screen shot is damn pretty. Would be so cool to play CPC on a CPC one day.

Getting more likely each time I revise and redo bits to make it more efficient and realistically able to run on real CPC hardware.


Just realised a mistake in that screenshot.  Jack's still wearing the pinkish/magenta trousers he had since the very start in 2008.   I switched them to green/orange a while ago for two reasons.  One being green is more a Commando colour and the other being I'm gonna use magenta as the transparent colour for the sprites.  So while tiles may have that colour those that do won't need transparency.  Having it as the transparent colour on the sprites negates the need for memory consuming seperate masks.  Or that's my understanding from the advice I've had on this site over the years. :P
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

arnoldemu

Quote from: Carnivac on 13:19, 29 March 15
Getting more likely each time I revise and redo bits to make it more efficient and realistically able to run on real CPC hardware.


Just realised a mistake in that screenshot.  Jack's still wearing the pinkish/magenta trousers he had since the very start in 2008.   I switched them to green/orange a while ago for two reasons.  One being green is more a Commando colour and the other being I'm gonna use magenta as the transparent colour for the sprites.  So while tiles may have that colour those that do won't need transparency.  Having it as the transparent colour on the sprites negates the need for memory consuming seperate masks.  Or that's my understanding from the advice I've had on this site over the years. :P
Correct if:
1. that colour is not used in any other part of the sprite - because those pixels too would become transparent
2. there are no more than 15 other colours used in the sprite - because using 1 pen index for transparent means you have one less colour.

My games. My Games
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Carnivius

Quote from: arnoldemu on 13:27, 29 March 15
Correct if:
1. that colour is not used in any other part of the sprite - because those pixels too would become transparent
2. there are no more than 15 other colours used in the sprite - because using 1 pen index for transparent means you have one less colour.

Yep.

Just out of curiousity does that transparency thing work on a sprite by sprite basis?  I mean if that colour is being used as transparency on one sprite, can it be used on another sprite as a non-transparent colour if that sprite doesn't need transparency (say if it's block shaped like a crate)?
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

arnoldemu

Quote from: Carnivac on 13:32, 29 March 15
Yep.

Just out of curiousity does that transparency thing work on a sprite by sprite basis?  I mean if that colour is being used as transparency on one sprite, can it be used on another sprite as a non-transparent colour if that sprite doesn't need transparency (say if it's block shaped like a crate)?
It's possible, but that would mean a different mask table. So in most cases I would say not.

Anything that doesn't require a mask (e.g. background tiles) are free to use it.

If I were to convert the colours I would setup an image which contained each colour from the palette in a 16x16 block, side by side.
This allows me to
1: extract the palette into a form the cpc can use
2: I can use this as the palette to which all sprites and images "map" to.
The images can then be 16 colour or 256 colour and you don't have to worry about making sure they all have the same colours in the same position, just that you have used the same palette for all - the tool handles the remapping.

The transparent colour I would normally put at pen index 0, but any can be nominated and the mask table generated as appropiate. Then when I display the sprites I use the  single mask table.

Background tiles are not masked, so are not drawn using the mask table so are free to use the colour.

So in general 15 colours for sprites and 16 for backgrounds. A lot of games use this method.

Now, if compressed sprites were used, which contain mask bytes only where required (i.e. not for each byte), then you could swap and change as you need, because when the compressed sprite data is generated you can tell it which is transparent, or even give it a mask sprite to define it accurately - in this case the draw routine doesn't use a mask table and the mask data is embedded within the compressed data. Compressed sprites are more tricky to cut to screen dimensions when drawing.

It depends on the sprite drawing method used.

My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Carnivius

Hm. Ok cool.  So what about 'foreground' stuff?   Like the bridge pieces?  At the moment I have that pasted down as tiles but they have a transparent colour and are on top of the sprites.   I noticed games like SwitchBlade have foreground parts that the player character walks behind and can be seen through.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

arnoldemu

Quote from: Carnivac on 14:09, 29 March 15
Hm. Ok cool.  So what about 'foreground' stuff?   Like the bridge pieces?  At the moment I have that pasted down as tiles but they have a transparent colour and are on top of the sprites.   I noticed games like SwitchBlade have foreground parts that the player character walks behind and can be seen through.
They would need to be masked so generally treated like sprites. If it was rectangular and stopped the legs being seen they could be treated like tiles.

The draw order would be:

- tiles (no mask)
- sprite (masked)
- overlay sprites (masked)


My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

ssr86

#56
Quote from: arnoldemu on 13:27, 29 March 15
Correct if:
1. that colour is not used in any other part of the sprite - because those pixels too would become transparent
2. there are no more than 15 other colours used in the sprite - because using 1 pen index for transparent means you have one less colour.


Well, if you store the sprite in a "pixel byte, mask value byte,.." format then you can use all colors for the sprite. But then the sprite data takes twice the memory and you can't share the mask data between sprites (like you do with mask tables).

arnoldemu

Quote from: ssr86 on 16:27, 29 March 15

well, if you store the sprite in a "pixel byte, mask value,.." format then you can use all colors for the sprite. But the sprite takes twice the memory then and you can't share the mask data between sprites (like you can use one mask table for all).
yes.

The only way to know is to convert the sprites, tiles and map into various data forms and discover how much ram it will take.
Then take into account the space needed for the screen, music and code.
My games. My Games
My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

Carnivius

Added a couple extra small tiles & now the buildings can look fancier.


Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Ast

Really good...
Do you think to release this one?
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ervin

Quote from: Carnivac on 00:07, 30 March 15
Added a couple extra small tiles & now the buildings can look fancier.

Holy cow that looks amazing!
Really, just absolutely magnificent.

Carnivius

Quote from: Ast on 00:58, 30 March 15
Do you think to release this one?

Release?  Well yeah when it's finished.  :)
Progress on all my projects has sped up a fair bit thanks to the new level maker I mentioned.   In Game Maker's default room editor that screen would have taken me hours cos it's so crappy (and mistakes have to be totally redone rather than simply moved).  GMare (Game Maker Alternative Room Editor) has all the crucial tools for making level creating fun and quick.  Made that screen in 20 minutes (including all the lil changes I made to improve the building).   :)
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

kawickboy

you're a mode0 magician.

Carnivius

Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Neil79

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Carnivius

Lil preview of the main NPC character in the game.  She's intentionally a bit strange looking colour-wise and I ain't gonna reveal too much yet about what her role is.   Man, it's difficult doing a distinctive looking female character with wide-pixels.   :)

Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

remax

Quote from: Carnivac on 20:45, 06 April 15distinctive looking female character with wide-pixels.   :)

At least, she must have wide boobs  :P
Brain Radioactivity

Carnivius

Heh.  I introduce the female character of the game and the very next comment was about boobs.   Oh, internet...   ::)
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Bryce

Even more amazing, the comment wasn't from MacDeath :D

Bryce.

Carnivius

#69
Exploring caves.


Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Neil79

The latest in Indie & Retro News!!! IndieRetroNews - Indie Retro News on twitter

VincentGR


remax

Nice, the filter is closer to real CPC than the usuals scanlines  8)
Brain Radioactivity

Carnivius

Thanks. I put far too many blue/purple rock tiles in the backdrop though.  Will cut down on those.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Carnivius

Ok updated the image.   Less clutter.   

Also left the black border in so you can see how much it would take of a real CPC screen.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

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