Arcade Game Designer
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Thanks hikoki. On a side note, it would be much better if some of the members of the AGD facebook group could also post here (and on the AGD forum) examples and code snippets. I really can't stand that downright mess that facebook groups generally are, trying to follow a discussion or to retrieve useful information from any of them is a Sisyphean task to me.
- UltraNarwhal
- Drutt
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Recently discovered that Blimpgeddon & OctuKitty when played on ULAplus hardware has incorrect colours. When making these games the first thing I did was change ULAplus palette to look like standard palette, but the emulator (ZXSpin) I used wasn't really showing me correct colours.
So if you've made a game in AGD and want it to look correct for players using ULAplus use this tool to fix the palette.
https://xor-rox.itch.io/nuagcf
So if you've made a game in AGD and want it to look correct for players using ULAplus use this tool to fix the palette.
https://xor-rox.itch.io/nuagcf
Re: Arcade Game Designer
Thank you for sharing my tool. I'm very glad you're finding it usefulUltraNarwhal wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 6:07 pm Recently discovered that Blimpgeddon & OctuKitty when played on ULAplus hardware has incorrect colours. When making these games the first thing I did was change ULAplus palette to look like standard palette, but the emulator (ZXSpin) I used wasn't really showing me correct colours.
So if you've made a game in AGD and want it to look correct for players using ULAplus use this tool to fix the palette.
https://xor-rox.itch.io/nuagcf
Everyone can read the What, How, Why of almost all AGD games showing strange colours on ULAplus devices including the ZX-HD (500+ sold) and ZX-Uno and how to fix it on the tools page, including a multi-page article with images explaining and illustrate everything.
For testing, SpecEmu, Retro Virtual Machine (with a ZX-Uno virtual machine) and ZEsarUX should give you quite accurate ULAplus colours. I created an overview with (Windows) Spectrum emulators that support ULAplus and how to turn ULAplus on in them.
For the non-Facebook users, I put it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p7xq9zxcmg9oc ... 9.pdf?dl=0
For people that do use Facebook: you're more than welcome to join the official ULAplus group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ULAplus
Is there a special section for AGD on this forum, or is it being considered?
Re: Arcade Game Designer
I think it's bad that ULA+ is automatically installed in the finalised game - it should be a choice. In my last AGD game I forgot, but I usually disable it myself with Poke 32698,201.
I think we should stick to this subforum for now (programming), and only consider a new one if we get more AGD specific threads.
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
We do not need a subforum dedicated to AGD, since AGD already has its own forum. A duplicate would be not only unnecessary, but also confusing, because the AGD forum is already full of code snippets, suggestions, downloads etc. and people would have to go back and forth from here to there and vice versa to get everything.
- Ast A. Moore
- Rick Dangerous
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Seconded.Alessandro wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:04 pm We do not need a subforum dedicated to AGD, since AGD already has its own forum.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
I totally agree. As you can read in the article, that's one of my suggestions to AGD maintainers.
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Hi [mention]XoRRoX[/mention], I wrote you an answer on the AGD forum.
[mention]R-Tape[/mention] Thanks for suggesting that "cure". Applying it will require a lot of time and cause major headaches, but at least I am going to get rid of that nasty unwanted colors.
[mention]R-Tape[/mention] Thanks for suggesting that "cure". Applying it will require a lot of time and cause major headaches, but at least I am going to get rid of that nasty unwanted colors.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
Dear god—you mean you're going to correct every version, of every AGD game you've done?Alessandro wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:16 pm @R-Tape Thanks for suggesting that "cure". Applying it will require a lot of time and cause major headaches, but at least I am going to get rid of that nasty unwanted colors.
- Einar Saukas
- Bugaboo
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!R-Tape wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:52 pmDear god—you mean you're going to correct every version, of every AGD game you've done?Alessandro wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:16 pm @R-Tape Thanks for suggesting that "cure". Applying it will require a lot of time and cause major headaches, but at least I am going to get rid of that nasty unwanted colors.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
I should mention in advance that I will be on holiday when this happens.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
Just to be clear - is this an issue with ZXSpin or with AGD games in general?UltraNarwhal wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 6:07 pm Recently discovered that Blimpgeddon & OctuKitty when played on ULAplus hardware has incorrect colours. When making these games the first thing I did was change ULAplus palette to look like standard palette, but the emulator (ZXSpin) I used wasn't really showing me correct colours.
So if you've made a game in AGD and want it to look correct for players using ULAplus use this tool to fix the palette.
https://xor-rox.itch.io/nuagcf
Re: Arcade Game Designer
It's the latter. AGD automatically OUTs a ULA+ palette whether the author chose one or not. I've seen the same thing happen on the Vega nonplus - unusually coloured AGD games.
Another good reason to choose SPIN 0.666 though.
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Stay calm, I won't do that anytime soon, neither will all of my games be corrected at once. Like I wrote, it will take a lot of time, moreover I have other priorities at this time.
- Einar Saukas
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Even if you update only one of your games, it still means hundreds of files!!!Alessandro wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:28 pm Stay calm, I won't do that anytime soon, neither will all of my games be corrected at once.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
Hope Einar doesn't mind my sharing, but he sent me this selfie after the third update of Sophia...
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
Heh. Think about what does it mean to depack, patch, repack and test each one of them. And all because of a hidden feature that it was not possible to disable and that is actually used by 20 titles or so.Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:33 pmEven if you update only one of your games, it still means hundreds of files!!!Alessandro wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:28 pm Stay calm, I won't do that anytime soon, neither will all of my games be corrected at once.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
I initially thought you could streamline this using ZX-Blockeditor to avoid having to rebuild things, but where you have compressed the data blocks it might not work—and I think that's most of your games.Alessandro wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:32 am Heh. Think about what does it mean to depack, patch, repack and test each one of them. And all because of a hidden feature that it was not possible to disable and that is actually used by 20 titles or so.
The POKE is not the same for different versions of AGD btw.
AGD 4.6 games: POKE 32667,201
AGD 4.7 games: POKE 32698,201
For info, if you can use ZX-Blockeditor as a shortcut, you need to find these bytes: 1,59,191, 62,64,237,121, and then replace the first '1' with '201.
Good luck
- Alessandro
- Dynamite Dan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
That's the case with all of them unfortunately, at least the tape versions. Disk versions usually host the uncompressed files, therefore I can change the relevant first byte with a RET in the ZX-Blockeditor editor (I did that myself for other reasons during the development of later titles).
Thanks. Most if not all of my games, due to more recent revisions, have been authored with either AGD 4.7 or AGDx 4.7, which share the same source basically. I already found the ULA Plus routine starting from that address and in the AGD source code, which is included with MPAGD. For future releases, in order to enhance the compression ratio, the whole space from 32699 to 32733 will be set to 0.R-Tape wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 1:20 pm The POKE is not the same for different versions of AGD btw.
AGD 4.6 games: POKE 32667,201
AGD 4.7 games: POKE 32698,201
For info, if you can use ZX-Blockeditor as a shortcut, you need to find these bytes: 1,59,191, 62,64,237,121, and then replace the first '1' with '201.
Good luck
Coming to think of that, I found a new use for .POK files, which some people here probably don't even know what they are Since I have been using custom sound and/or color effects from Lost In My Spectrum 2.0 on, I need to alter the AGD code sometimes. The .POK file allows you to alter several values in memory at once, without having to manually change them in the emulator's debugger window. For example, you can substitute a routine inside the standard AGD code with a custom one, by inserting a JP [address] instruction at the start of such routine.
Re: Arcade Game Designer
That's basically what I do with my patcher but on a binary-file level. After the 201 I put a value though to compensate for the checksum byte so that doesn't have to be recalculated.
The situation is unfortunate as it creates the impression that ULAplus is a nuisance which it itself is obviously not, the AGD approach actually is.
It would be better if an appropriate default palette would be set and an option to switch it on/off, also in the games' menu.
- Daveysloan
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Re: Arcade Game Designer
This is superb! Thanks for this, wish I'd spotted it months ago, would've saved watching all those online playthroughs on a MiSTer with weird AF colours.UltraNarwhal wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2019 6:07 pm Recently discovered that Blimpgeddon & OctuKitty when played on ULAplus hardware has incorrect colours. When making these games the first thing I did was change ULAplus palette to look like standard palette, but the emulator (ZXSpin) I used wasn't really showing me correct colours.
So if you've made a game in AGD and want it to look correct for players using ULAplus use this tool to fix the palette.
https://xor-rox.itch.io/nuagcf
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