I know not much has been stated here about any "official" CaDan workings, but I'm just letting y'all know that I've decided to restart the project. The aim is to make it easier to modify its assets so anyone can modify the project without much hassle. Also, to squish bugs and get it compiling under SPASM, which is my new favorite assembler/compiler.

So, to start things off, I'm taking a poll on what I intend on doing with the script system. The following is a crosspost from Omnimaga:

Quote:
...
Engine details:

* (NOTE) : Henceforth, the term "register" is referred to with respect to the virtual chunks of memory with which the script system has to work with.
* Four one-byte registers reserved.
* All bullet trajectories are done in polar coordinates, with a fixed velocity.
* Instructions used to load a register with the angle needed to shoot a bullet that would intersect with the player's current position.
* Mathematical operations. At the moment, only ADD is supported, since one can always add with a negative number to achieve it.
* Bitwise logical instructions. Only AND is supported.
* Program flow changing instructions, including an unconditional jump (goto) and conditional jumps (jump), with which mathematical operations may affect the "flags". Contains subroutine instructions, but they aren't very intuitive, and requires quite a bit of keeping track of.
* Pause instructions, both single cycle and multi-cycle.
* Special memory access, given a table of allowed values to change. Originally a way to coordinate attacks between boss scripts and enemy scripts.
* Boss setup and spellcard instructions, used to load special pattern tables. They get their own registers.
* Boss takedown and special effects, including explosions and return to stage.
* Stage setup and progression instructions, including background changes, and enemy/boss creation.
* A way to run actual Z80 ASM code.

What is planned in the reboot:
* Full 8 register setup. Stage scripts will be allowed to have two banks of these, accessed by special exchange instructions.
* Spellcard animation scripts, including a fully working sprite routine and background change instructions. They get their own set of registers. Spellcards have been rather... neglected.
* Register to register support for load and math/logic instructions.
* Support for XOR and OR routines, along with actual subtraction routines. We'll go for some real multiplication and division routines, while we're at it.
* Rotation. For extracting nibbles.
* Support for relocatable scripts and associated assets.

What has been suggested in the reboot:
* Support for jump tables and loops similar to C's SWITCH command.
* Second 128 bullet table and modified interrupt scheme to handle it, accessible via slowdown command.
* Tilemapped dynamic backgrounds

What do you think? Would you suggest something else? Or more?


The real reason why I'm redoing CaDan is so geekboy can continue with his wonderful take on what the game was supposed to have been. He's complained (with good reason) that the current state of things is ... inadequate. Anyone listening in on HWCP this April 6th, 2011, will have an idea.

Also, it'll be a while before I can get screenies of the new code in action, because... code hasn't been written yet! I'm just announcing my intentions.
I'm going to try to keep this one and omnimaga's one updated with cross posts respectively so heres cross post 1 ^-^ (for ideas at least
Quote:
Well a few things graphical wise i would like implemented is masking for character images possibly as having the white box around them made things kinda icky looking mid game

Another thing is the ability to change bullets directions after they move not based on the players position granted i would expect this more for spell cards or something but a way to define bullet types would be real nice

even if we lose some speed when using them of course as in the every thing just gets slower with more bullets on the field. to see what i mean http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/rr_e.html <-- play a harder level in that danmaku it does the effect i'm talking about

this would allow the devs to make more complex patterns and such with a saner chance of being able to survive them ^_^


Iambian
Quote:
The real reason why I'm redoing CaDan is so geekboy can continue with his wonderful take on what the game was supposed to have been. He's complained (with good reason) that the current state of things is ... inadequate. Anyone listening in on HWCP this April 6th, 2011, will have an idea.

I don't Think I nagged to much Wink only enough to push the boundrys of what I could do with it xD
Quote:
[...]
I don't Think I nagged to much Wink only enough to push the boundrys of what I could do with it xD

Ehh. I don't think you were nagging, but seeing the holes in one of my better projects isn't very... encouraging. Especially if one of those holes cannot be fixed without some serious study and loads of luck.

Maybe more ideas will come to me once I sleep on it.
Yeah i know the feeling T.T and sleep always helps does for me at least ^_^
Iambian wrote:
The real reason why I'm redoing CaDan is so geekboy can continue with his wonderful take on what the game was supposed to have been. He's complained (with good reason) that the current state of things is ... inadequate. Anyone listening in on HWCP this April 6th, 2011, will have an idea.
It didn't seem inadequate to me at all, just insufficiently tested like any beta piece of software. Smile I was very happy to have you guys use HCWP so effectively for its intended purposes of fostering cooperation and development!
Yeah now we just have to get the reboot sparked in HCWP oh the horrors of ideas and patterns that can be born from a bunch of nerds coding all at once in the intent
to make it so you YOU WONT LIVE >:F
Good luck, you two. I hope the reboot means that more people will be able to use the engine for their own devious purposes Smile
_player1537 wrote:
Good luck, you two. I hope the reboot means that more people will be able to use the engine for their own devious purposes Smile
Absolutely agreed, I think that would be an admirable goal! I look forward to contributing my two cents were appropriate in future HCWP sessions.
Crossposting my own posts thats allowed right Just Joking Wink
geekboy wrote:

more ideas these are ones we have discused over irc a bit so just reiterating

1) External level support i mean we have that CaDanite thread down below ^_^ (once the scripting system is finalized and we have the set up for external scripts maybe ill make that as an asm project I want to learn asm now so might be a good idea)

2)Replays got to have replays and if the system is like it was this time that shouldn't be to hard to add

3) a easy way to add NoClip for practice/tasing / pure lazyness

^_^ more coming eventually xD
Cross post table updated some one willing to add it in ^_^

Iambian wrote:


What has been suggested in the reboot:
* Support for jump tables and loops similar to C's SWITCH command.
* Second 128 bullet table and modified interrupt scheme to handle it, accessible via slowdown command.
* Tilemapped dynamic backgrounds
Edit made. Also, I think that those suggestions are excellent. I question whether the backgrounds might be abused to be a bit too distracting, but I suppose at least having the capability available is a good thing.
I'm feeling like the backgrounds are now going to be like they were in firetrack

detailed and pleasing and helping to immerse you more in the game. where as my Ying Yang symbol was just there for experimentation purposes xD
Oh good, because I really like the Firetrack 2 backgrounds in particular (kudos as always to Benryves for his talents!). Will the backgrounds be grayscale, or always white/gray instead of white/black, or something else?
I think there going to be a single grey not sure if were doing 4 this time

but my best guess is single grey for backgrounds just a nicer look for them than before as its not one giant image I'm just scrolling threw
geekboy1011 wrote:
I think there going to be a single grey not sure if were doing 4 this time

but my best guess is single grey for backgrounds just a nicer look for them than before as its not one giant image I'm just scrolling threw
Indeed, not to mention more flexible backgrounds in a smaller space using tilemaps, in my opinion. Smile
Definitely seeing as they will also be compressed with PuCrunch if I'm not mistaken (yeah he really loves that now xD)

Hmm does mean more graphics making for me though xD
I suppose that means I'll have to return to trying to fix up SourceCoder to make the kind of graphics that Iambian needs. The last time I tried, I failed miserably, so I ripped my attempt back out of SourceCoder.
Actually no real need its all done with bmps they way were doing it.

This time for the EndUsers' sanity every thing will be given in .bmp format and on compile it will all be converted over on the fly during compiling then compressed with PuCrunch or at least thats the plan. This means no fancy converting or copy and pasting edit the images and call it done. Lifes easier this way xD
Ok so we are faced with the options of using PuCrunch
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/pucrunch/

Or Spiffy

http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/178/17865.html

For compression.

The problem PuCrunch's compression routines are to complex/intense to be sanely executed in a 6mhz calculator but it has a cli/batch script ready compressor and gets good compression all around.

Spiffy on the other hand gets decent compression rates and even better compression rates on bitmaps then PuCrunch. The issue is we do not have a batch file ready compressor for it nor a z80 compression routine for it.

So I/Iambian and I/ME are wondering if some one would be willing to write spiffy compressor that works via command line arguments for us so we can use spiffy for CaDan again.

All the info needed is in the TiCalc.org link but its sparse at that sadly. Hope fully some one is willing to help. Thanks ^_^

(And if someone is feeling really nice and wants to make a z80 spiffy compression routine for me I would be very happy ^_^)
I'd be happy to work on this, but you'll have to keep nudging me to make progress, as I have 13 days until the end of the semester and I have a lot of stuff due. I looks like I could figure it out pretty easily from the z80 decompressor. I assume you'd like a C++ compressor? What's wrong with the compressor exe that is already included with spiffy?
  
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