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General Category => Games => Topic started by: Neil79 on 23:33, 21 August 14

Title: Buggy Boy
Post by: Neil79 on 23:33, 21 August 14
Let's Compare: 1943 - C64 vs. C64 vs. CPC vs. ST vs. Amiga - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmJwHqVG_dM)


Must admit, I prefer the speed of the C64 version and the graphics of the Amstrad version, can we mash the two up?  ;D
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: mr_lou on 06:12, 22 August 14
I'd be happy to see the game working on the CPC+.

Could just be me of course, but I seem to be unable to control the buggy on my CPC+.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Ast on 10:26, 22 August 14
Try this one. it seems working on cpc plus.


After correction, here is the file patched. Have a good fun !
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: mr_lou on 11:29, 22 August 14
Sorry, I don't know what to do with a sna.
I can't copy a sna to my CPC+.
And I don't have any emulators on Linux that allows me to save a sna to anything useful.

I'd need a dsk in order to test.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Ast on 12:38, 22 August 14
it's not a problem for me. here is the special version made for you!
may the force be with you!
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Neil79 on 13:13, 22 August 14
Can the original Amstrad Buggy Boy be sped up like the C64 version?
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Ast on 13:34, 22 August 14
I don't know because i don't really read the code of this game but i think no, because of these old lazy routins.


but, did it really run on cpc plus ?
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: mr_lou on 13:44, 22 August 14
Quote from: Ast on 12:38, 22 August 14
it's not a problem for me. here is the special version made for you!
may the force be with you!

Thanks!
I will check it out soon (I hope).
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Puresox on 19:00, 22 August 14
The Amstrad version was so lazy , they didn't even put the feature of collecting the flags in the right order.!? A game which is very similar and infinitely better is Live and Let Live , which I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been a project that was to do with Buggy Boy in the first place?
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Nich on 19:56, 22 August 14
Quote from: Puresox on 19:00, 22 August 14
A game which is very similar and infinitely better is Live and Let Live , which I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been a project that was to do with Buggy Boy in the first place?
Both games were developed by the same team (Andy Williams doing the programming, and Pete Tattersall doing the graphics).

Apparently the game was originally being developed by Elite as Aquablast, but Domark's in-house version of Live and Let Die was proving rather disappointing, so they collaborated with Elite and Aquablast was given a James Bond theme and renamed.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Puresox on 21:54, 22 August 14
Ah Interesting thanks,surprise surprise , a Domark game being not up to scratch!Mind you , they were good at presentation ,I'll give them that on a lot of there games , there were some nice touches.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Ast on 18:28, 27 August 14
sorry, but my first version was bugged. here comes the new one. Hope it will work right this time.


bye.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Sykobee (Briggsy) on 09:50, 28 August 14
Unbuggy Boy
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: arnoldemu on 18:12, 31 August 14
Amstrad version:

Mode 0 using the same kind of sprite drawing method as mission genocide and ghost n goblins.

No double buffer. Colour splits used to get more colour.

Sprite drawing could be speeded up a little because of the smaller screen.

poke 5792,0
poke 5793,0

may give more speed but it may slow down and speed up when there is more/less on screen.

Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Ast on 22:56, 31 August 14
Well done!  ;D
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Neil79 on 23:22, 31 August 14
Quote from: arnoldemu on 18:12, 31 August 14
Amstrad version:

Mode 0 using the same kind of sprite drawing method as mission genocide and ghost n goblins.

No double buffer. Colour splits used to get more colour.

Sprite drawing could be speeded up a little because of the smaller screen.

poke 5792,0
poke 5793,0

may give more speed but it may slow down and speed up when there is more/less on screen.


Nice does that mean I can play a buggyboy C64 speed version, with the colours of the Amstrad on my CPC 6128? :D
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: arnoldemu on 08:53, 01 September 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 23:22, 31 August 14

Nice does that mean I can play a buggyboy C64 speed version, with the colours of the Amstrad on my CPC 6128? :D
Maybe.

There are other pokes that could be used to give a little more speed increase but without analysing the whole game it's difficult to know what to optimise. Time for me to get 40Crisis' code into new arnold code and to add some more additions of my own.


Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Neil79 on 23:43, 01 September 14
This is what I want the Amstrad version to run like! It already looks  good  :-[


C64 HD! Buggy Boy - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyTnk57TYYU&list=PLD2E2B7EA5EC9FEEC&feature=player_embedded)


Instead we get this piss poor effort (SLOW!) Buggy Boy (more) - Amstrad CPC - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKjcwhQhSU)
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: arnoldemu on 13:09, 02 September 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 23:43, 01 September 14
This is what I want the Amstrad version to run like! It already looks  good  :-[


C64 HD! Buggy Boy - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyTnk57TYYU&list=PLD2E2B7EA5EC9FEEC&feature=player_embedded)


Instead we get this piss poor effort (SLOW!) Buggy Boy (more) - Amstrad CPC - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKjcwhQhSU)
looks like all the road "furniture" is expanded sprites on the c64.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: mr_lou on 14:23, 02 September 14
Quote from: arnoldemu on 13:09, 02 September 14
looks like all the road "furniture" is expanded sprites on the c64.

I always wondered how the hardware sprites could mean such a big difference in speed. How a machine that's supposedly 4 times faster - but doesn't have hardware sprites, isn't faster anyway.

Does this mean that the CPC plus could have a super fast car game?
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Optimus on 15:52, 02 September 14
Quote from: mr_lou on 14:23, 02 September 14
I always wondered how the hardware sprites could mean such a big difference in speed. How a machine that's supposedly 4 times faster - but doesn't have hardware sprites, isn't faster anyway.

Does this mean that the CPC plus could have a super fast car game?



I guess that's because the CPC has double the videoram. I think the most pain in these games is how to fill the road fast. That's already an overkill for CPC. Then you have the sprites. And then the fact that C64 might be roughly 2x times slower than CPC (4x times less mhz, but opcodes take less cycles, 2 for a NOP, 4 for a typical mem operation, while on Z80 4 cycles for a NOP and 8 cycles for a typical mem write). And maybe there is better programming from the side of the C64 too. Although, I consider the CPC version quite smooth and impressive, if you compare it with the majority of racing games on the CPC.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Carnivius on 16:26, 02 September 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 23:43, 01 September 14
Instead we get this piss poor effort (SLOW!) Buggy Boy (more) - Amstrad CPC - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKjcwhQhSU)
Quote from: Optimus on 15:52, 02 September 14Although, I consider the CPC version quite smooth and impressive, if you compare it with the majority of racing games on the CPC.
Yeah Neil, I'm a lil puzzled by your definition of 'piss poor effort' is.  Have you not played Outrun on CPC?  Buggy Boy might run slower on CPC than C64 but it's still very smooth and most importantly still very playable.  In some areas the graphics look somewhat better too (those rocks sure get super blocky on the C64 version for example).  I'd hardly class it among the numerous lousy ports.
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: Neil79 on 17:06, 02 September 14
Could really do with a side by side comparison in speed, the Amstrad version feels like your car is limited to a 30mph residential area. Whereas the C64 feels like a motorway
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: mr_lou on 17:35, 02 September 14
Quote from: Carnivac on 16:26, 02 September 14
Yeah Neil, I'm a lil puzzled by your definition of 'piss poor effort' is.  Have you not played Outrun on CPC?  Buggy Boy might run slower on CPC than C64 but it's still very smooth and most importantly still very playable.  In some areas the graphics look somewhat better too (those rocks sure get super blocky on the C64 version for example).  I'd hardly class it among the numerous lousy ports.

I wouldn't call it a "piss poor" speed either. But I admit I found it rather slow too, when I tried it again after many many years. I definitely didn't remember it being this slow.
But I have some good memories of playing Buggy Boy, and looking forward to try it again soon, when I find time to try out the fixed CPC+ version.  :)
Title: Re: Buggy Boy
Post by: arnoldemu on 17:55, 02 September 14
Quote from: mr_lou on 14:23, 02 September 14
I always wondered how the hardware sprites could mean such a big difference in speed. How a machine that's supposedly 4 times faster - but doesn't have hardware sprites, isn't faster anyway.

Does this mean that the CPC plus could have a super fast car game?
Drawing sprites on the CPC means drawing using the CPU. You need to do both drawing of sprites and then erasing them so they don't leave corruption on the screen.

Hardware sprites are overlaid with hardware so that no cpu time is required to erase where they were. In addition with hardware sprites, you can often magnify them with no penalty.

On the c64 the hardware sprites will be stored in memory, so to display one you need to write x coordinate, y coordinate and where to fetch the sprite from.

On plus, you need to download the graphics into sprite ram, but after that you only need to write x coordinate and y coordinate.


So for example, drawing a sprite and erasing it again could take many hundreds of cycles to do. Positioning a hardware sprite takes no more than about 30 cycles or so. It's a massive difference.

If you use hardware sprites there is more cpu time to do other things, or this means it takes less time to draw a complete frame so the game can run faster.

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