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#1
I use GIMP for most of my graphics including pixel art.
You can easily set up the pixel aspect ratios and I find it comfortable to work with.
You can easily set up the pixel aspect ratios and I find it comfortable to work with.
#2
Sounds and looks great! Any sampling facilities yet? ( :
#3
paint dot net... I created a CPC palette for it. It's simple to use and efficient.
(also the EGA RGB 4x4x4 palette)
Always use PNG format.
(also the EGA RGB 4x4x4 palette)
Always use PNG format.
#4
Equivalent to 320x240 could be nice actually... (160x240 on Mode0 then) or even some PCW-like 360x240 equivalent could work well (PCW allows for 720x256 mode2). But extra "overscan/fullscreen) but will eat extra RAM used as VRAM, especially if you go for double buffering... still quite manageable if you get at least 128ko RAM and game engine and main assets stored into 512ko Cartridge/ROM solution... or X-MASS+extended RAM configuration as many/most users own these days (and emulator can do them as well).. let's live in 2025, not 1985 anymore !
Mode1 can be better than expected, fine text and detail work well too.
See Head Over heels for a proper use of it.
Yeah getting limited to speccy48's 256x192 sucks when you can expand into 320x200 or 360x240 or 394x256 or whatever (better to play it safe so keep a bit of border though)... Also they often fail to put a smaller font and keep to speccy like 8x8 characters letters, while some compact font/lettering, even in 3 colours, is fine and allows for more informations displayed on screen...
Good exemple : Black Land from Bollaware. Looks like 360x200 to me... (not sure, should check this)
not sure the game is that great to play but it shows the technical possibilities for Isometric RPG on CPC with extended specs and display.
CPC with 512ko ROM and 128ko RAM and floppy/HxC save and extra datas/campaign/maps multiload option combo may provide a game with 16bit system level deepth. Would be like some game on CGA PC, yet on a CPC.
or CPC with 512ko RAM and any modern mass data storage solution.
keeping to mode1 and 360x240 resolution would be great as it would enable a PCW port.
Really, Heroquest got good reviews in its time because it was a somehow faithfull adaptation from the boardgame but honestly it was coded with feets by someone who couldn't know better about the CPC. Shameful shameful shitful engine and painfull to play even in the 90s, the man thought he was still coding on a spectrum ZX81 or what ?
Mode1 can be better than expected, fine text and detail work well too.
See Head Over heels for a proper use of it.
Yeah getting limited to speccy48's 256x192 sucks when you can expand into 320x200 or 360x240 or 394x256 or whatever (better to play it safe so keep a bit of border though)... Also they often fail to put a smaller font and keep to speccy like 8x8 characters letters, while some compact font/lettering, even in 3 colours, is fine and allows for more informations displayed on screen...
Good exemple : Black Land from Bollaware. Looks like 360x200 to me... (not sure, should check this)
not sure the game is that great to play but it shows the technical possibilities for Isometric RPG on CPC with extended specs and display.
CPC with 512ko ROM and 128ko RAM and floppy/HxC save and extra datas/campaign/maps multiload option combo may provide a game with 16bit system level deepth. Would be like some game on CGA PC, yet on a CPC.
or CPC with 512ko RAM and any modern mass data storage solution.
keeping to mode1 and 360x240 resolution would be great as it would enable a PCW port.
Really, Heroquest got good reviews in its time because it was a somehow faithfull adaptation from the boardgame but honestly it was coded with feets by someone who couldn't know better about the CPC. Shameful shameful shitful engine and painfull to play even in the 90s, the man thought he was still coding on a spectrum ZX81 or what ?
#5
Quote from: robcfg on Yesterday at 17:27If you find yourself low on resolution but aim for a 128KB machine, you could maybe use an overscan screen as isometric games rarely have scroll.
Resolution is ok, original used 32 char width screen, but I use 40.
#6
I think its a actually an interesting discussion as to where a machine stops actually being the original machine. I guess when it comes to graphics its an extremely personal thing, so whereas you'd happily accept a wifi network card or SD card reader as still canon to the original CPC something that's as different as graphics is just too far. Lots of Spectrum Next guys were mighty annoyed with any game that decided not to have colour clash and that's understandable and personal
As part of the Symbos team for longer that I remember its been the ethos of Prodatron to support every bit of hardware possible, and thats become even more the case when the cross-platform with MSX and Enterprise etc became a thing. Personally I now see Symbos as its own thing that runs on various machines rather than a piece of software that say runs on a CPC, and consequently I now consider myself a symbos developer not a CPC/MSX coder etc. When it comes to the g9k it should be pointed out that its from exactly the same era as the plus machine 1991, so I think to claim it similar to a PI is a bit of a leap. The truth is that somebody could have have this running on a CPC in the early 90's so in many respects I think its a far more valid expansion than some FPGA boards people just seem to accept as fine.
Obviously its a personal viewpoint, but since the hardware exists we committed to supporting it.
As for Micro Machines itself, I'd be very happy to see it in native mode 0. All development should be applauded as nobody is doing it for the money, but the love and the challenge.
As part of the Symbos team for longer that I remember its been the ethos of Prodatron to support every bit of hardware possible, and thats become even more the case when the cross-platform with MSX and Enterprise etc became a thing. Personally I now see Symbos as its own thing that runs on various machines rather than a piece of software that say runs on a CPC, and consequently I now consider myself a symbos developer not a CPC/MSX coder etc. When it comes to the g9k it should be pointed out that its from exactly the same era as the plus machine 1991, so I think to claim it similar to a PI is a bit of a leap. The truth is that somebody could have have this running on a CPC in the early 90's so in many respects I think its a far more valid expansion than some FPGA boards people just seem to accept as fine.
Obviously its a personal viewpoint, but since the hardware exists we committed to supporting it.
As for Micro Machines itself, I'd be very happy to see it in native mode 0. All development should be applauded as nobody is doing it for the money, but the love and the challenge.
#7
General Discussion - Introductions / Re: Looking for contact with t...
Last post by BZHGames - Yesterday at 18:04Thank you for your reply. I just sent you an email.
Can you please confirm that you received it, so I can be sure I'm writing to the right address?
Can you please confirm that you received it, so I can be sure I'm writing to the right address?
#8
While I'm personally not interested in these Super Transformers Megazord versions of the CPC, I also admit they're pretty cool technologically speaking.
And there's also a lot of work behind this stuff, so it's probably wiser not to post negative comments about it... especially in the dedicated topic.
So I prefer to concentrate in something that both fans and not fans of this could share:
1) A regular Amstrad CPC version of Micro Machines or a similar game would be cool. I'm not sure if there's already any clone available, but I don't think so.
2) My only Micro Machines experience was pretty cool: Mashed, for the Playstation 2. I recommend everyone to try that game, it's a super fun 4 player experience and can be also enjoyed 1 player. The cars that "die" start controlling some helicopter missile crosshair.
And there's also a lot of work behind this stuff, so it's probably wiser not to post negative comments about it... especially in the dedicated topic.
So I prefer to concentrate in something that both fans and not fans of this could share:
1) A regular Amstrad CPC version of Micro Machines or a similar game would be cool. I'm not sure if there's already any clone available, but I don't think so.
2) My only Micro Machines experience was pretty cool: Mashed, for the Playstation 2. I recommend everyone to try that game, it's a super fun 4 player experience and can be also enjoyed 1 player. The cars that "die" start controlling some helicopter missile crosshair.
#9
If you find yourself low on resolution but aim for a 128KB machine, you could maybe use an overscan screen as isometric games rarely have scroll.
#10
Have you tried SamDisk? https://simonowen.com/samdisk/
Otherwise, maybe you could try booting the machine with a MS-DOS disk and then using the older CPDRead/CPDWrite and see if that works.
Otherwise, maybe you could try booting the machine with a MS-DOS disk and then using the older CPDRead/CPDWrite and see if that works.