What's wrong with the compressor exe that is already included with spiffy?

"Spiffy compression" is actually very bad. I'd gladly purge it from the face of the internet if I could.

Anyway, I'm just responding to let you know about a new compression method I've been trying out since then.

A while ago, I was reading a neat article about image data compression, this page suggests using prediction combined with bit-level RLE to compress images:
http://hbfs.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/ad-hoc-compression-methods-rle/

So I had implemented this compression method, I wanted to see how well it did. I had to modify this compression method for 1-bit images.

I used this test image:



The compression method works by creating a predicted image by looking at the current pixel, the pixel to the left, and the pixel above the current pixel.



After you make a predicted image, you can compress that, and it compresses better than a regular image.
After you decompress it, you need to also un-predict it back to a normal image.

The compression method used is RLE, when you see two of the same bit, it starts an RLE run, just like the algorithm described on that page.

The Bubble Bobble title screen there compresses to 601 bytes, which beats WinRAR by 36 bytes.

I've written a compressor in C#, but I haven't written any decompressors in Z80 yet. Are you interested in me writing one?
By the way, the compression method works much better on higher bit depths, like NES or Gameboy 2bpp images, because the predictor emits far more zeroes than anything else, and you can take advantage of that.

Good luck on your game!

Not much has progressed with CaDan, other than setting up just the basics to get the thing to run.

Why? I found out the hard way that one shouldn't put the stack pointer in the user RAM area ($9D95+) when unarchiving variables. For some reason, archiving them seems just fine, but unarchiving them causes problems for some reason.

[...]
That's odd, and quite unexpected. I wouldn't be surprised at all if TI moves the stack pointer all over willy-nilly anyway. Actually, when you move the stack pointer, you stick it at the highest memory of some reserved memory like a program or appvar, not in empty space, right? If it was in empty space then the program being unarchived could happily overwrite it, but I'm sure that you thought of that.

Thats actually looking really promising i wonder what the requirements on calc would be though ram wise? More emailing away xD

With the reboot of CaDan comes a request for characters to star in the official rebuild. A total of eight playable characters is possible in the selection screen, though I'm going to have to slim it down to three if I can't get anyone to provide stuff. I'm also requesting bosses and their information, of which there will be 6 main bosses and 6 mini bosses. Though I don't have the sprites with me, I'm also requesting a 32x32 portrait sprite and mask (I'll fill in the details if you don't want to do that part), and a corresponding 8x8 game play sprite.

So far, I have three player characters. One serious and two jokes.

1. DevBlock - The unfortunate test character in almost every one of my games. First featured in Fishy, and often mistaken for a puzzle piece from another unrelated game, he gets thrown into the CaDan universe, where he's totally clueless, as usual. His script tells him to be annoyed at everyone and fight anyone for any reason, so that there will be conflict, even if unjustified. The first boss tells him this right then and there.

2. Netham45 (pre-lobsterification) - Completely unaware of the new environment. Won't move unless fully focused with the task at hand, and tends to give everything he's got once that focus is there. Strange things are flying at him, so his natural response is to blast 'em out of the sky. Takes the form of a spork.

3. Netham45 (post-lobsterification) - The future of Netham45, his temperament has changed dramatically after becoming a blue lobster and becoming the proud owner of his own FISHTANK CITY. The enemies all claim that he owes them payments on some sort of mortgage that doesn't exist. This Netham wants these guys to "Produce the Note" and prove once and for all that these guys are frauds and they have absolutely no claim to his city / 50-foot-tall-giant-fighting-robot. Lobster-y type attacks ensure the enemy's demise.

So far, I have one boss character:

1. 404 Boss Not Found - The placeholder boss for the series. A repeat occurrence until all boss and miniboss slots are filled. Each time it appears, it'll let the players in on some of the details about the environment all the player characters are trapped in, and discuss the fact that they NEED to fight to please the gods of CaDan. Always have flimsy as hell excuses for fighting, but at least they're more real than any other excuse other bosses can come up with. They ought to be.

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So, let's get creative here. I understand that Geekboy has already gathered a bit of information for his own edition of CaDan. I'm not trying to compete with that, but I do have permission from him to copy over some assets. What I want is verification that the appropriate owner of those assets provide that permission as well.

Uh. Wow. That was a little long.