Author Topic: Chase HQ : how did they manage ? (Read 8061 times)

Sykobee (Briggsy) · « **Reply #25 on:** 20:50, 18 February 13 »

Quote from: sigh on 19:52, 18 February 13

Interesting. So am I right to assume that if one were to design a racing game, that real-time sprite scaling would be more preferable than drawing the sprites individually?

I don't think that is really possible for a game like Chase HQ, without dropping the frame rate. You have all the maths of scaling the object on top of the maths of rendering the result to screen memory.

Compared to drawing a lot of small tiles that make up a larger object, anyway.

Vertical scaling is fairly easy however. Maybe that would explain the way objects grow in Chase HQ? (I still think it's just rendering lots of smaller tiles as quickly as it can)

TFM · « **Reply #26 on:** 22:39, 18 February 13 »

It is doable, just use pre-calculations. However you will need A LOT of memory. Bye, bye CPC464 and 555 then.

sigh · « **Reply #27 on:** 10:49, 19 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:39, 18 February 13

It is doable, just use pre-calculations. However you will need A LOT of memory. Bye, bye CPC464 and 555 then.

So - 128kb only then

arnoldemu · « **Reply #28 on:** 11:09, 19 February 13 »

The objects are prescaled in chase hq.
the road is drawn a line at a time using push.
no idea about the scrolling background.

TFM · « **Reply #29 on:** 22:53, 19 February 13 »

Quote from: sigh on 10:49, 19 February 13

So - 128kb only then

That would be a fair compromise between speed and memory-usage. However to make it really quick I think about 256 KB or even more.

As an example. Once I did a 3D ego shooter for CPC (using 16 KB screen RAM). It runs quick (about 18 fps.), because it needs 512 KB (sic) RAM. Pretty much everything is precalculated (screen elements, not whole screens ;-)). But it's not really usable, if you have to boot from disc. Well...

redbox · « **Reply #30 on:** 23:13, 19 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:53, 19 February 13

However to make it really quick I think about 256 KB or even more.

Imagine the tables you could fit into a 512kb cartridge.
I always try and do calculations bit wise if I can but sometimes you can't beat a page-aligned table. However, fitting them into a 16kb game might pose a bit of a challenge

Back to topic though - I think that Chase HQ is a remarkable feat, but also it also relies heavily on the illusion of speed - you can see this if you focus on one part of the playing area and look at the frame-rate an actually what you see being drawn.
I'd like to know if the programmer did this by 'seeing' if it looked fast or if he actually did some real life calculations on perspective etc and then incorporate this into the game.

TFM · « **Reply #31 on:** 04:58, 20 February 13 »

Nice to see you "back" / more often here again!

arnoldemu · « **Reply #32 on:** 11:23, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:53, 19 February 13

That would be a fair compromise between speed and memory-usage. However to make it really quick I think about 256 KB or even more.

As an example. Once I did a 3D ego shooter for CPC (using 16 KB screen RAM). It runs quick (about 18 fps.), because it needs 512 KB (sic) RAM. Pretty much everything is precalculated (screen elements, not whole screens ;-)). But it's not really usable, if you have to boot from disc. Well...

is this shooter released?

I would like to see it.

Or, if it's not complete, I would like to play a demo version of it.

mr_lou · « **Reply #33 on:** 16:10, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: redbox on 23:13, 19 February 13

Imagine the tables you could fit into a 512kb cartridge.

I'd love for game-developers to do a 512kb cartridge game-development competition. :-D
But is such a thing even possible?

sigh · « **Reply #34 on:** 16:43, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: redbox on 23:13, 19 February 13

I think that Chase HQ is a remarkable feat, but also it also relies heavily on the illusion of speed - you can see this if you focus on one part of the playing area and look at the frame-rate an actually what you see being drawn.
I'd like to know if the programmer did this by 'seeing' if it looked fast or if he actually did some real life calculations on perspective etc and then incorporate this into the game.

This I find the most important aspect of any racing game regardless of the techniques used. I was watching 3D Grand Prix on the CPC and that feels very fast due to the smooth and rapid red and white lines round the edges of the road. If you look at Enduro Racer, the lines around the edges hardly look as though they are moving, so it gives it a slow feeling.

TFM · « **Reply #35 on:** 22:30, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: arnoldemu on 11:23, 20 February 13

is this shooter released?

I would like to see it.

Or, if it's not complete, I would like to play a demo version of it.

Stopped it long time ago, because the gfx are ugly and it has some pixel errors, and I just don't know why. So it was too frustrating and new projects always make more fun. I may come back to it though, if I can get some better gfx (which is basicly walls ;-))

TFM · « **Reply #36 on:** 23:21, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 16:10, 20 February 13

I'd love for game-developers to do a 512kb cartridge game-development competition. :-D
But is such a thing even possible?

Depends how you define it? 512 KB RAM or ROM? And ... what's the price?

mr_lou · « **Reply #37 on:** 23:24, 20 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 23:21, 20 February 13

Depends how you define it? 512 KB RAM or ROM? And ... what's the price?

I define it as "a cartridge that can just be plugged into a CPC+ or GX4000", so ROM.

TFM · « **Reply #38 on:** 23:34, 20 February 13 »

Ah, ok. So the classical standart Cartridge for the CPC Plus or GX4000.
Well, the Plus has 128 KB RAM which could be an advantage over the 64 KB of the GX4000 - when using double buffering and overscan. I just mention it

For such an contest you need a real teasing price and at least two years of time - IMHO.

AMSDOS · « **Reply #39 on:** 11:17, 21 February 13 »

All good as long as someone has 512K in their real CPC.

arnoldemu · « **Reply #40 on:** 11:18, 21 February 13 »

Quote from: mr_lou on 23:24, 20 February 13

I define it as "a cartridge that can just be plugged into a CPC+ or GX4000", so ROM.

Let's see how the 16k rom game competition goes first. Then this could be also done.
one year 16k rom competition, other year, plus cart competition.

arnoldemu · « **Reply #41 on:** 11:19, 21 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:30, 20 February 13

Stopped it long time ago, because the gfx are ugly and it has some pixel errors, and I just don't know why. So it was too frustrating and new projects always make more fun. I may come back to it though, if I can get some better gfx (which is basicly walls ;-))

release it now in it's ugly state and forget about it... clear your mind.

sigh · « **Reply #42 on:** 13:03, 21 February 13 »

Quote from: TFM/FS on 22:30, 20 February 13

Stopped it long time ago, because the gfx are ugly and it has some pixel errors, and I just don't know why. So it was too frustrating and new projects always make more fun. I may come back to it though, if I can get some better gfx (which is basicly walls ;-))

What sort of wall do you need? I'm very busy with the beatem up project but if it's just a simple wall texture to get you going then I can do that for you.

TFM · « **Reply #43 on:** 19:50, 21 February 13 »

Thanks!!! I keep that in mind. But first let's finish the 16 KB ROM game thingy

Quote from: arnoldemu on 11:19, 21 February 13

release it now in it's ugly state and forget about it... clear your mind.

Ah no. We here at the FutureSoft headquarters have a quality standart and QC is not left to the customer

. And further... it will be the ideal candidate for Mr. Lou's 512 KB Cart. compo

sigh · « **Reply #44 on:** 12:26, 11 April 13 »

Knowing that the CPC version is a spectrum port and that the game manages a very fast pace - how much faster would it have been if it was coded from scratch? Would the difference be huge or neglible? Would we have been able to get Martech's Nigel Mansell/Super cycle smoothness with the hills and dips?

TFM · « **Reply #45 on:** 18:19, 11 April 13 »

In this case it really matters if you work with 64 KB only or with 128 KB.

sigh · « **Reply #46 on:** 23:14, 11 April 13 »

...and whether it was the 48k or the 128k version that was ported depending if there are any differences between them apart from speech and music.

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Author Topic: Chase HQ : how did they manage ? (Read 8061 times)