VScreen rocks

Ascended (15187)

21-09-2003, 14:08

I've been playing around a bit with Maggoo's VScreen (related newspost) and I just have to say... it ROCKS!. I can't wait until enemy collision detection is working.

The improvements suggested by Olivier himself on his website should make it a very interesting platforum game engine for novice developers. However, since there are many developers and end-users around here... maybe you have some suggestions which can improve VScreen even more?

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Van anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

21-09-2003, 14:34

Using DEFINT A-Z in the convertors (like SC5TOSPR.BAS) speeds them up a lot

Vscreen itself is fast and smooth and I like it

Support for MSX2+ SCREEN5 or SCREEN10 would be a very nice addition.

Van mighty.m

Expert (116)

21-09-2003, 17:18

One word: Awesome!

Very interesting for us non coders who've always (still) dreamt about making a MSX-game sometime...

Now, I feel this urge to start makin' some tilies and toying around with the thingie, hope the project will keep progressing nicely

Also if I understand it correctly the 'fastness' is deu to the fact it uses screen 4... but can someone refresh my memory on how you need to draw for this mode? I know it's diffirent as in screen 5 but I can't quite remember how it works

On a last note:

It's great to see so much MSX-activity the last few months... it's amazing! Also lot's of "famous" people are making some sort of comeback (i mean, they regulary visit the forums and participate in the discussions)... 2003 has been a good MSX-year so far and it's getting better every day (since 2000-2002 was sort of a big dip IMHO)

thaz all

Van chaos

Paladin (809)

21-09-2003, 17:30

screen4 is pattern based screen
screen5 is bitmap based screen

It goes a bit far to explain the details of screen 4, but here's why it's so fast:
screen 4 consists out of 32*24 pointers, each pointing to a tile (which is a little bitmap size: 8*8 pixels).
If you want to build an entire screen 4 page, you can just change those pointers. (32*24 bytes).
If you want to build an entire screen 5 page, you have to change every pixel. (128*212 bytes)

a disadvantage of screen 4 is that you can only use 2 colors per 8 horizontal pixels, while in screen 5 every pixel can have it's own color

Van snout

Ascended (15187)

21-09-2003, 17:51

There's an interesting SCREEN5 to SCREEN4 convertor (and a SCREEN5 to Sprites convertor) on Maggoo's website though

Indeed, 2003 has been a very good year for MSX so far. Who knows what the future brings us.

Van anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

21-09-2003, 18:25

Indeed.. 2 pixels per 8 horizontal pixels is the limit in screen 4. It's easiest to draw in AGE or your other favourite screen 5 application and use a converter

btw, screen 4 == screen2 with msx2 sprites

Van wolf_

Ambassador_ (10096)

21-09-2003, 18:32

The bigger your gfx-objects, the less it becomes a problem.. that is, ofcourse it's a problem, it's a limit, but you still get impressive results..

Take Space Manbow for example, perhaps the best msx2-gfx for an msx arcade game ever, and all screen 4.

Van snout

Ascended (15187)

21-09-2003, 18:38

When using metatiles (also see this forum thread) VScreen could easily become some sort of multiple purpose game engine. Games like Space Manbow, Laydock Last attack?? Why not!!

Van chaos

Paladin (809)

21-09-2003, 18:42

When using metatiles (also see this forum thread) VScreen could easily become some sort of multiple purpose game engine. Games like Space Manbow, Laydock Last attack?? Why not!!

You can actually do quite a lot in screen 4!
I guess it's just not much used because Screen 5 is easier to code for (at least I think it is), and it's harder to get good graphic results.

Van Maggoo

Paragon (1217)

21-09-2003, 18:50

When using metatiles (also see this forum thread) VScreen could easily become some sort of multiple purpose game engine. Games like Space Manbow, Laydock Last attack?? Why not!!

In theory you can use it for whatever you want... What you'd have to modify is the way the main character is handled and the enemies of course.

Well one thing at a time anyway, let's get a platform game going (there aren't so many for MSX) and then I'll see what else can be done with it.

It was designed to work in Pattern mode only, screen 5 would have been way too slow for scrolling on MSX2 (at least the scrolling speed would have been limited).

On the other hand, it wouldn't be so hard to port it to V9990 and use the cool pattern mode on it it :)

Van msd

Paragon (1510)

21-09-2003, 19:03

Supporting v9990 would be very cool indead