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atic atac

Started by shaymanjohn, 18:54, 15 May 20

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Xyphoe

Is this now the official release?

I'm putting together a video and stream of the best Amstrad games of '2020' so want to know if I can include this or not :)

shaymanjohn

Hey Xyphoe, hard to say if it's the official release - it's not really had too much testing outside my own - when you doing the video?

alexh

#77
I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this loving port. I wanted to see if it would be possible (technically) to replicated the ZX Spectrum sounds.

I found a post here :

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/spectrum-emulator-on-an-amstrad/msg50181/#msg50181

That describes a method of emulating the buzzer/beeper using the original Z80 code from Spectrum games but changing two writes to Spectrum HW to the CPC AY chip.

The Spectrum version of Atic Atac has been re-sourced and commented, the sound routines for everything look reasonably well documented.

https://github.com/mrcook/zx-spectrum-games/tree/master/atic-atac

So *in theory* it should be possible to lift the sfx routines "as is" and use them in the CPC version.

I appreciate that nothing is that easy and depending on the CPU demands of the game there may not be enough CPU time left per frame.

Good luck even if you decide not to investigate this.
Nostalgia is worth more than money

Targhan

If the original game is using the AY, then converting the music and sfx shouldn't be too hard. You can use, for example, Arkos Tracker 2 to play both (see my signature). I'm sure you can find someone to convert the songs and sfxs.
Targhan/Arkos

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Xyphoe

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 20:53, 26 December 20
Hey Xyphoe, hard to say if it's the official release - it's not really had too much testing outside my own - when you doing the video?

I suppose it doesn't really matter when I do the video, I'm just looking at '2020 releases' ... so let me know if it should be included or not. :)
If the game is 'complete' (ie you can complete it to the end, it has all the features, etc) and you're only thinking of future minor releases to fix bugs in the future then perhaps I should?

shaymanjohn

Quote from: Xyphoe on 18:44, 27 December 20I suppose it doesn't really matter when I do the video, I'm just looking at '2020 releases' ... so let me know if it should be included or not.
 If the game is 'complete' (ie you can complete it to the end, it has all the features, etc) and you're only thinking of future minor releases to fix bugs in the future then perhaps I should?

OK no worries - there's a new bug fix release here: https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases/tag/v1.4

Like you say, everything after this will be minor tweaks etc, so would be great if you could include this one - thanks Xyphoe.

shaymanjohn

Quote from: Targhan on 17:00, 27 December 20
If the original game is using the AY, then converting the music and sfx shouldn't be too hard. You can use, for example, Arkos Tracker 2 to play both (see my signature). I'm sure you can find someone to convert the songs and sfxs.


Hi Targhan, the original game doesn't use the AY chip I'm afraid.

shaymanjohn

Quote from: alexh on 15:13, 27 December 20
I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this loving port. I wanted to see if it would be possible (technically) to replicated the ZX Spectrum sounds.

I found a post here :

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/spectrum-emulator-on-an-amstrad/msg50181/#msg50181

That describes a method of emulating the buzzer/beeper using the original Z80 code from Spectrum games but changing two writes to Spectrum HW to the CPC AY chip.

The Spectrum version of Atic Atac has been re-sourced and commented, the sound routines for everything look reasonably well documented.

https://github.com/mrcook/zx-spectrum-games/tree/master/atic-atac

So *in theory* it should be possible to lift the sfx routines "as is" and use them in the CPC version.

I appreciate that nothing is that easy and depending on the CPU demands of the game there may not be enough CPU time left per frame.

Good luck even if you decide not to investigate this.


Hi Alexh, I'm also a big fan of the original sounds, but I think this is beyond my capabilities as a dev to try and achieve. Saying that though, the code for my version is freely available, so more than happy for you or anyone else to pick it up and make changes / improvements.

Mr. DVG

I try to explain what happened on this screen. The character died at the entrance to the door on the right and reappeared in the center of the screen with the trap door open and then got stuck in that position, unable to move until he lost his life!

Apart from that, other things I have not found. I'm not very good at this game, but I have explored (with the servo character) about 71% of the areas and it seems to work all right, but it would need to give a test by who Atic Atac knows it well, to try all the variables and the possible combinations!

It still remains a great conversion of a cult game!

I really like the new sound effects, but I understand it's just a matter of taste ! ;)

shaymanjohn

Quote from: Mr. DVG on 17:42, 28 December 20
I try to explain what happened on this screen. The character died at the entrance to the door on the right and reappeared in the center of the screen with the trap door open and then got stuck in that position, unable to move until he lost his life!

Apart from that, other things I have not found. I'm not very good at this game, but I have explored (with the servo character) about 71% of the areas and it seems to work all right, but it would need to give a test by who Atic Atac knows it well, to try all the variables and the possible combinations!

It still remains a great conversion of a cult game!

I really like the new sound effects, but I understand it's just a matter of taste ! ;)


Thanks Mr DVG - updated build here: https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases/tag/v1.5


alexh

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 09:40, 28 December 20I'm also a big fan of the original sounds, but I think this is beyond my capabilities as a dev to try and achieve.
Ok. I am not a CPC or Z80 coder but I have lots of low-level experience on embedded platforms. I will try and make a small CPC test demo to see if I can lift the Z80 sound code direct from spectrum version and replace the buzzer code with AY code. Key press to trigger each sound.

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 09:40, 28 December 20Saying that though, the code for my version is freely available, so more than happy for you or anyone else to pick it up and make changes / improvements.

I did have a look at the SFX code and it seemed quite "high level". I'm not familiar enough with the code, CPC architecture or Z80 ASM to try to replace something. Maybe if I can get the proof of concept working on CPC then you could help integrate it?
Nostalgia is worth more than money

reidrac

Not sure it matters, but I like the AY sounds as they are.

I mean, it has personality. It is a CPC version (has colours already!), if I wanted to play the original... well, it is available on speccy.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick and Hyperdrive for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

Carnivius

I prefer the sound effects presently in the CPC version.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

shaymanjohn

Final release build available here:
https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases/tag/v1.6


Thanks to everyone who's helped along the way, in particular:

       
  • Neil79 on here for alerting Ste Day right at the start of the project
  • Ste Day for doing the amazing mode-0 graphics (and believing that mode-0 was the way to go). Without these, the project would be nothing.
  • Saul Cross for the fantastic music and sounds
  • Targhan for Arkos tracker/player and help with my random questions
  • Richard Duffy (D77Gaming) for all the play testing / bug tracking
  • Mr DVG for his general bug reporting on here
  • arnoldemu for the z80 sample programs on here
  • RetroVirtualMachine for being an excellent emulator, with nice debugging capabilities (and being Mac compatible)
  • roudoudou for Rasm (and being Mac compatible)












STE86

Gratz to John in bringing this in under the wire for a 2020 release inside 6 months  ;D

Neil79

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 16:07, 29 December 20
Final release build available here:
https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases/tag/v1.6


Thanks to everyone who's helped along the way, in particular:

       
  • Neil79 on here for alerting Ste Day right at the start of the project


Thank you so so much for the credits! - Wonder what the game would've like if Ste Day was never notified  :o . What a glorious release all round, well done  8)
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Geco

Thank you very much for this great game :-)
During Enterprise conversion i found 3 bugs, 1 cause freeze, other 2 are small bugs.
- max food item is 5 included crosses too, there is a room where 4 mushroom, and a food by default, and if the player dies there, it contains 6 food item, if player returns the game gets frozen, because food item counter is overwritten by the last food item. i increased max food item to 6 and checks it in food item checking list in a room, if it is reached, then no further food item check.
- game completed % shows wrong result if over than 8eh (142) rooms were visited, because after cp 8eh a jr nz occurs, jr c solves the problem.
- player hangs if he dies on the room where are 2 tables, because after init his legs goes into the table, i changed player init y position from 57h if i remember well to 53h, but if you like i will check it.

shaymanjohn

Quote from: Geco on 22:29, 10 January 21Thank you very much for this great game :-)
During Enterprise conversion i found 3 bugs, 1 cause freeze, other 2 are small bugs.
- max food item is 5 included crosses too, there is a room where 4 mushroom, and a food by default, and if the player dies there, it contains 6 food item, if player returns the game gets frozen, because food item counter is overwritten by the last food item. i increased max food item to 6 and checks it in food item checking list in a room, if it is reached, then no further food item check.
- game completed % shows wrong result if over than 8eh (142) rooms were visited, because after cp 8eh a jr nz occurs, jr c solves the problem.
- player hangs if he dies on the room where are 2 tables, because after init his legs goes into the table, i changed player init y position from 57h if i remember well to 53h, but if you like i will check it.

Hi Geco,

Thanks for the info, that's great. If you have a github account can you raise a pull request with your fixes in? Let me know, thanks!

XeNoMoRPH

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Geco

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 07:37, 11 January 21
Hi Geco,

Thanks for the info, that's great. If you have a github account can you raise a pull request with your fixes in? Let me know, thanks!
Hello John
Unfortunately i do not have, but i can upload the modified sources, both the CPC and EP, because i created 1 ASM file from your great code for page 0.Or i can copy and paste here the bugfix modifications, because i made modification in other places too, ex changed sprite drawing from XOR method, this has a disadvantage, sometimes the game slows down when there are 4 sprites on the screen.

shaymanjohn

Quote from: Geco on 08:43, 11 January 21Hello John
Unfortunately i do not have, but i can upload the modified sources, both the CPC and EP, because i created 1 ASM file from your great code for page 0.Or i can copy and paste here the bugfix modifications, because i made modification in other places too, ex changed sprite drawing from XOR method, this has a disadvantage, sometimes the game slows down when there are 4 sprites on the screen.

Hey, no worries - maybe you can DM me the changes in that case. You're right about the XOR sprites, I'm not keen on them but they gave best performance and are fine in most scenarios.
Nice work on the Enterprise conversion - I don't know much about that machine - is the screen mode and sound chip the same/similar to the cpc then?

Geco

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 09:24, 11 January 21
Hey, no worries - maybe you can DM me the changes in that case. You're right about the XOR sprites, I'm not keen on them but they gave best performance and are fine in most scenarios.
Nice work on the Enterprise conversion - I don't know much about that machine - is the screen mode and sound chip the same/similar to the cpc then?
Ok, i will send you the modifications in DM probably tonight.Enterprise have the same video modes also like CPC, pixel colour 2, 4, 16, and it has additional video modes also, pixel 256 colour, low pixel colour 2 ,4, 16, 256, Attribute mode (like Speccy, but with 8x1 attributes), HW character modes also. Video addressing is different by default, it is contiguous, but an LPT (line parameter table, which is responsible for screen definition) can be made to CPC addressing also, i did not use this method, because in this case the screen definition LPT would be over 3KB, i changed CPC addressing to contiguous, in this case screen definition is 16 bytes + 128 bytes VSYNC definition. It has a disadvantage in colour 16 mode, because the last 8 colour can not be chosen freely from the 256, it can be chosen from 32 8colour groups, you can see it in the conversion also, some colours are brighter, some are darker.
Sound: Similar like AY, but Dave does not have HW envelopes, it has high and low pass filters, ring mod, and some other interesting stuffs.

shaymanjohn

Updated bug fix release here:
https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases/tag/v1.7


Thanks to Geco for the fixes, and the great Enterprise version.

Geco

Thank you very much for you, Ste Day and Saul Cross for the great CPC version, i think it is better than all other versions. Plays ultra fast, sounds great, and has the best graphics.

Nomad

Quote from: shaymanjohn on 15:54, 14 October 20
I'd also like to know if this works on an expanded 464 - if the bank switching works the same as the 6128 it should do...
Just thought I'd confirm that it works on an expanded 464.

I loaded the .DSK img from my DDI-5 and the game ran without a hitch. :)





Good job btw.

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