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      /  SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 31-Jan-2021 10:48:09
#161 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@DiskDoctor

Quote:
Not yet.

I run it on Vampire V4 Standalone, core RELEASE 5.

Ah, OK. It's safe to say that it's a hardware emulation problem, not only because of what I reported above, but also because I've found this thread where the same guy who had reported me the issue discusses it with other Vampire users - quick summary:
* in the opening post he says that the THE CURE, SkillGrid and Elysium have "disturbed audio";
* in this post another user reports that SkillGrid works flawlessly with the latest core (the post is dated Sep. 29, 2020);
* in his reply, the first user says: "SkillGrid works for you?!? Which core are you using, the beta one? Don't you experience audio glitches?";
* in his second answer, the other user says: "No, no problem whatsoever. With the previous core it suffered from graphical glitches, but everything is OK with the latest core".

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DiskDoctor 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 31-Jan-2021 11:11:37
#162 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 3-Feb-2009
Posts: 632
From: Rzeszow, Poland

@saimo

Thanks for quoting all this.

Most probably the core issue (however indeed, I read it, too that, "most recent core fixed numerous audio issues in games").

The game is fine and playable, I will thus wait, most likely for the core R6, to have it fixed.

Thanks again for your kind help and all hints!

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 31-Jan-2021 12:33:44
#163 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@DiskDoctor

You're welcome!


@all

Given that the latest posts pushed back my call for help, I'm posting it here again.

I'm looking for somebody to test an update that I've been working on for a while now. It seems that the custom NVRAM code doesn't work fine on all the Amiga CD32 machines, and I don't have that machine to make tests myself.

Requirements:
* Amiga CD32 machine with a 2.5 V or less version of the EEPROM chip (it's marked "AT24C08" and, among various other codes, it has also the voltage printed on it - for example, the chip at the middle bottom of this picture, just under the Alice chip, has a "25" meaning that it's a 2.5 V chip);
* easy storage support (HD/CF/floppy/etc.) - CD-ROM alone won't do;
* knowledge of AmigaOS, some basic technical skills, ability to provide clear reports and patience.

If interested, please send me an email to postmaster at retream dot com.
Thank you!

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 8-Sep-2021 15:10:35
#164 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

Apart from the new package artwork (which is being worked on), the only thing that is holding up the release of SkillGrid v1.1 is the new Amiga CD³² NVRAM custom routines: they work under WinUAE, but they don't on all the real machines out there. Or better, that was what used to happen in the past: now I have rewritten the routines once again, and I have no idea of what happens on real machines. Therefore, I have prepared a proper test suite to have the routines tested... by anyone who feels like giving it a go on a real Amiga CD³² Not having one of those machines, the fact that they mount different EEPROMs and the lack of official documentation makes developing this stuff quite difficult. Any feedback will be much appreciated.

Click here to download the suite.
This short video shows what the suite does (the operations will be surely slower on real machines).

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW

This is a test suite that purposes to verify whether my custom routines for
direct access to the Amiga CD³² NVRAM work.
Developing them is quite challenging because:
· I do not have an Amiga CD³², so I have to rely on emulation, which is not
100% exact;
· different machines mount different EEPROM chips, which behave differently;
· there is no official documentation (my references are the documentation that
has been thankfully produced by who studied the behaviour of Akiko and the
EEPROM datasheet from ATMEL, the maker of the EEPROM).
The routines work perfectly under emulation, but that is no guarantee that they
work also on real machines. Indeed, previous versions worked under emulation and
on a couple of machines, but failed on another machine.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT DOES THIS DO?

This suite will perform several read/write operations from/to the NVRAM, whose
DATA WILL THUS BE ALTERED (unless the routines fail to access the NVRAM
altogether). At the end, it will attempt to restore the NVRAM data exactly as it
was at the beginning.
Given that the routines are experimental, though, first it will check if a
backup of the NVRAM items exists and ask you whether to make a (new) backup, so
that the NVRAM items can be restored after the tests if the custom restore does
not succeed or execute at all (only OS-compliant NVRAM items will be backed up;
the backup and restore operations are done by means of the OS-legal, reliable,
third-party tools DumpNVRAM and RestoreNVRAM - check out NVRAM_Tools.doc).
You will be informed about the backup status and asked what to do and whether to
continue.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REQUIREMENTS

· An Amiga CD³² with a writable media drive (DO NOT TRY ON OTHER MACHINES)
· The AmigaDOS Copy, Delete and Execute commands in the commands path.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTRUCTIONS

To perform the tests:
1. copy the NVRAMRTS directory from the archive to anywhere on the drive;
2. from shell, enter the NVRAMRTS directory;
3. run the "test" script and follow the on-screen instructions.

At the end of the tests or if the tests hung:
1. reboot the machine;
2. if the NVRAM data is not restored correctly or you are not sure, and a
backup exists:
2.1. from shell, enter the NVRAMRTS directory;
2.2. run the "restore" script;
3. pack the NVRAMRTS directory into an archive;
4. send your Amiga CD³²'s specifications(*), the archive and, if the tests
hung, the color of the screen at that point to postmaster@retream.com.

(*)The marking on the EEPROM would be particularly helpful, but, since that
requires opening the machine, do not worry if you do not feel like going that
far.

Thank you!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CORE TOOL

The tests are performed by means of a tool called WriteReadNVRAM. It is a shell
program that allows to access any arbitrary chunk of the Amiga CD³² NVRAM.
It works as follows:
1. if requested, it writes some data from an input file to the NVRAM;
2. if requested, it saves some data from NVRAM to an output file.

The shell arguments are:
· INPUTFILE=IF/K : input file (unspecified = do not write data to NVRAM)
· WRITEADDRESS=WA/K/N: NVRAM address in [0, 1023] to start writing from
· WRITESIZE=WS/K/N : number of bytes in [1, 1024-WRITEADDRESS] to write
· OUTPUTFILE=OF/K : output file (unspecified = do not read data from NVRAM)
· READADDRESS=RA/K/N : NVRAM address in [0, 1023] to start reading from
· READSIZE=RS/K/N : number of bytes in [1, 1024-READADDRESS] to read
· QUIET/S : do not print any information to the standard output

These values are used for unspecified arguments:
· WRITEADDRESS: 0
· WRITESIZE : 1024
· READADDRESS : 0
· READSIZE : 1024

These values are used for invalid arguments:
· WRITEADDRESS: 0
· WRITESIZE : 1024-WRITEADDRESS
· READADDRESS : 0
· READSIZE : 1024-READADDRESS

If QUIET is not specified, the following information gets printed:
· startup code : <NVRAM startup code (see below)>
· input file : <input file path, if specified>
· write address: <(corrected) NVRAM address for writing>
· write size : <(corrected) number of bytes for writing>
· load code : <load code (see below)>
· output file : <output file path, if specified>
· read address : <(corrected) NVRAM address for reading>
· read size : <(corrected) number of bytes for reading>
· save code : <save code (see below)>
· elapsed time : <elapsed time expressed in color clocks>

Operation code:
:| = no operation
:( = operation failed
:) = operation succeeded

No data is written to the NVRAM if loading fails.
No data is read from the NVRAM and saved to file if the NVRAM startup fails.

During execution, AmigaOS is disabled entirely. Also, the screen gets blanked
and repainted dynamically as follows:
· blue : writing;
· cyan : preparing to read;
· green: reading;
· red : starting an operation.

THIS TOOL IS BASED ON THE CUSTOM ROUTINES WHOSE VALIDITY IS TO BE VERIFIED WITH
THIS SUITE, SO IT IS BY NO MEANS RELIABLE.

Last edited by saimo on 10-Sep-2021 at 07:50 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 09-Sep-2021 at 09:14 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 09-Sep-2021 at 09:14 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 09-Sep-2021 at 08:54 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 09-Sep-2021 at 11:58 AM.
Last edited by saimo on 08-Sep-2021 at 09:03 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 08-Sep-2021 at 03:27 PM.

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 27-Sep-2021 19:46:52
#165 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

Want to have a look at SkillGrid v1.1? Here's a huge rollercoaster longplay for you to enjoy!
The video is quite long, but if, you go through it all, you'll get a perfect idea of how varied and dynamic the gameplay is. (By the way, I did catch on purpose some maluses in order to show their features, but I just couldn't force myself to catch all of them )

Last edited by saimo on 27-Sep-2021 at 07:56 PM.

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klx300r 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 30-Sep-2021 3:13:01
#166 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 4-Mar-2008
Posts: 3833
From: Toronto, Canada

@saimo

cool gameplay vid

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Jose 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 1-Oct-2021 19:04:25
#167 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 992
From: Unknown

@saimo

I'd be interested in another game that explores the chipset to the max like Lionheart, but in vertical shoot'em up form like Battle Squadrom with realistic explosions. Maybe you can use the skills your learned to make one ? I think that would have more interest than the type of game that is skillgrid..
Cheers

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 1-Oct-2021 19:21:00
#168 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@klx300r

Thanks!


@Jose

Sorry, there's plenty of typical shoot'em-ups already, so I'm not interested in making yet another one. Plus, I like to do innovative things and not to redo things I've already done (if you check all my games, you won't find any two similar ones)

Last edited by saimo on 01-Oct-2021 at 07:21 PM.

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 12-Mar-2022 14:30:33
#169 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

I have just released SkillGrid v1.1beta! Like all the RETREAM games, SkillGrid can be downloaded freely, with the kind request of offering some help to the victims of Putin's attack to Ukraine.

This version enhances the game greatly, as documented by the huge changelog below. It has been held back for a long time by a problem of the bootable version for the Amiga CD³² (which is why it is still a beta). The owners of such machine can help. For details, please see the readme file in the package.

SkillGrid
website · YouTube

RETREAM
website · Twitter

RGCD
website · Twitter

Changelog

v1.1beta (12.03.2022)

1. Fixed the asteroids activation (they could activate also after a reset of their timer, e.g. when they were postponed and, in the meanwhile, a milestone was reached).
2. Fixed the milestone handling (it replenished the shield and the charge in those extremely rare occasions when the ship had just been destroyed, preventing the game over to execute).
3. Fixed the assignment of points when the MUSIC MODE cell was caught while the Boltspitter was active (25 instead of 5 points were awarded).
4. Fixed the audio decompression routine (due to forgetfulness, 1 byte was not changed in one of the two routines involved; that caused noise during playback, but "luckily" the effects with SkillGrid's own music were not audible; in fact, the bug was discovered when the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition was made; also, due to INTREQ.AUD0 being used for multiple purposes, the very last tiny chunk of one-shot music was not played).
5. Fixed the dynamic selection of audio channels (under some rare circumstances, it could steal a channel from music).
6. Fixed the rendering of the halt sign (it processed 18 lines instead of 6).
7. Fixed a data file (it contained about 3 kB of useless data).
8. Fixed the (potential) malfunctioning caused by hiscore saving when the game booted from CD on an Amiga CD³² configured to have nonvolatile.library save data on a device other than NVRAM (i.e. when there is a volume that has Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/nv_location defined). See also the notes below about hiscore saving.
9. Fixed/improved/updated the manual (in particular: in one place it erroneously said that the scrolling speed is halved when the Skull activates, which is false; it failed to mention that the TURN cells award 25 points in music mode).
10. Changed the BRAKE cell type from bonus to undefined (as it has a negative effect when time is running out, given that it delays the appearance of cells, and thus also of the TIME cell); graphically, now the cell has a yellow border.
11. Changed the BOOST cell type from malus to undefined (as it has a positive effect when time is running out, given that it accelerates the appearance of cells, and thus also of the TIME cell); graphically, now the cell has a cyan border.
12. Replaced the 30 seconds grace period at the beginning of a game with progressive introduction of the various cells types (this makes for a gentler introduction for beginners and allows to improve/maximize the spaceship power and thus be ready for what will follow).
13. Added the TRIPLE BEAM cell.
14. Changed the look of caught cells so that they appear disabled (instead of flat-filled).
15. Tweaked the transparency of cells when asteroids, Mothership, Skull and music mode are active to preserve their double-color look even if painted in a single color.
16. Fixed one pixel of the POINTS BONUS cell.
17. Made background layer more vivid (but still not obtrusive).
18. Changed flash color when the Boltspitter activates from green ($00ff00) to orange ($ff8000).
19. Improved the sprites: modified the palette to make sprites more vibrant and distinguishable; added 8 new UFO sprites; reworked spaceship, Boltspitter, Morthership and Skull graphics; reworked game start, pause and game over writings/icons.
20. Improved the music: changed a few volumes for a better mix; compressed the bass instrument a little bit; increased the S/N ratio by means of the changes above and by reducing some peaks (without causing any distortion); lowered by an octave the bass instrument in the "danger" tune; improved the compression algorithm for a better compression ratio; made the decompression routine faster; assigned to the Boltspitter the same tune of the other bosses; assigned the "danger" tune (previously assigned to the Boltspitter) to asteroids and missiles.
21. Improved the sound samples: removed clicks from a few of them; shortened a few of them; reworked the explosion sound; added the "charge low" speech warning.
22. Added cycling writings (including hiscore) to the title screen.
23. Touched up the graphics of 'M' and 'W' everywhere.
24. Improved the controls: replaced [REWIND] with [FIRE2]/[BLUE] so that also a normal 2-button joystick can be used; added support for [FIRE2] also to the installable version (which is crucial for running it on Amiga CD³² consoles that do not have a keyboard); added keyboard support (i.e. now the cursor keys act as joystick directions and [SPACE] as [FIRE1]).
25. Improved file loading so that, when the game is not running from floppies, the SkillGrid?: assigns and the launcher script are no longer needed.
26. Trashed AmigaOS on the Amiga CD³² to gain the RAM necessary to run the game (which requires more RAM than before, and unfortunately at boot the Amiga CD³² kernel steals quite a lot of RAM); as a consequence: removed the possibility of quitting to AmigaOS; hiscores are saved exclusively to NVRAM (i.e. Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/nv_location is ignored); implemented direct EEPROM access routines to save the hiscore to NVRAM (still, the NVRAM slot is allocated legally and nothing is touched outside of it; as a positive side effect, saving is now much faster). [This feature is disabled - see the beta release notice.]
27. Improved hiscore saving: restricted it to just when a new hiscore is made; reduced by 6 bytes the occupation in the Amiga CD³² (tiny) NVRAM.
28. Worked on the CD ISO image: minimized buffers (to gain RAM); laid out files/directories in a manner that will hopefully make the loading faster on the Amiga CD³²; added readme.txt to the root directory; added printable package artwork and documentation.
29. Made the startup and cleanup code more robust and more likely to succeed in low CHIP RAM situations.
30. Made various speed and memory optimizations.
31. Adapted the game to 3 floppies (unfortunately, due to the additional data, it cannot fit in 2 floppies anymore).
32. Added a strategy guide.
33. Improved the readme.txt files.
34. Worked on icons: added icons to all the user-relevant files/directories; redrawn / touched up the icons; made all icons 72 pixels tall; removed paths from the default tools where appropriate.
35. Updated/improved the installer.
36. Removed the "wd" bits from the files on floppies.
37. Reworked the package artwork.

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klx300r 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 13-Mar-2022 3:51:08
#170 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 4-Mar-2008
Posts: 3833
From: Toronto, Canada

@saimo

thanks for the update

I hope some CD32 owners can help you out

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 10-Apr-2022 20:54:16
#171 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@klx300r

Quote:
thanks for the update

I hope some CD32 owners can help you out




@all

Wanna see how the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE Edition of SkillGrid v1.2 looks and sounds like? Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-CSu78Vqe4

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 12-Apr-2022 14:14:02
#172 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

SkillGrid v1.2 is out! This version improves the game further and, above all, brings also the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition, a special version whose soundtrack is the rockin' tongue-in-cheek song "Man with the Gun" by the Commodore 64 revival band PRESS PLAY ON TAPE!

VIDEO

Like all the RETREAM games, SkillGrid is 100% free. However, who likes it is kindly asked to offer some support to somebody who is a victim of any kind of violence.

CHANGELOG

v1.2 (11.04.2022)
1. Added the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition.
2. Made the BOOST cell increase the scrolling speed by just 50% (instead of 100%).
3. Fixed the chasing of the spaceship (due to a bhi in place of a bhs, downwards missiles would chase the spaceship as a consequence of catching the CHASE cell).
4. Improved the "escapes critical" speech warning.
5. Replaced the title screen writings.
6. Worked on the manual: improved/fixed/extended the setup/launch instructions; added information relative to the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition.
7. Moved history to separate file.
8. Updated/improved installer.
9. Moved 'S' and 'G' one pixel down and inverted pixels at the bottom of 'r' in the small logo in the bonus directory icon for perfect baseline alignment.
10. Added drawer icon where applicable (the real reason is to ensure that the drawers are shown as intended when browsing the CD from Workbench; however, it can be used also as the icon of the drawer the game is installed in - the installer now even asks if the user wants it; this icon had been omitted until now because it is impossible to provide an icon that suits the styles of all the iconsets available for AmigaOS).
11. Improved the icons layout on the CD.

SkillGrid
https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTcu31bC_SYniQ9YcaT5p-L-GQqnAyt9h

RETREAM
https://www.retream.com
https://twitter.com/R37R34M

RGCD
https://www.rgcd.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/rgcd.co.uk

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
https://pressplayontape.com
https://www.facebook.com/ppotband

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pixie 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 15-Apr-2022 9:46:58
#173 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 3115
From: Figueira da Foz - Portugal

The youtube videos are from real amigas or from winuae? On my Winuae setup the scrolling is
is a bit jerky.

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 15-Apr-2022 11:26:35
#174 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@pixie

The videos are recorded from WinUAE losslessly at 50 Hz, and uploaded again losslessly to YouTube at 1920x1080 @ 50 Hz. I test the game on a real A1200 and scrolling is always smooth - the game is made to run constantly at 50 fps.
I guess you need to tune your WinUAE settings.

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pixie 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 15-Apr-2022 12:57:27
#175 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 3115
From: Figueira da Foz - Portugal

@saimo

That's a great relief! The game looks awesome!!

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 15-Apr-2022 20:52:13
#176 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

@pixie

Thanks!

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 6-May-2022 11:47:12
#177 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

Somebody on itch.io reported that SkillGrid hangs on his/her A4000 (with 68060), but provided no details. Luckily, one of my friends/testers has an A4000 equipped with a 68060 and managed to reproduce the problem (if not exactly the same, I hope a strictly related one).
What he found out is that if he had Roadshow running, the game would hang in the title screen shortly after starting up. Given that SkillGrid takes over the system entirely, the first thing that came to mind was that his network board (an X-Surf-100), after being activated/used by RoadShow before the startup of the game, was triggering an INT2 interrupt and keeping on doing so continuously as it was not getting an ack due to the fact that my level 2 interrupt handler, which only cares about the keyboard, simply cleared the INTREQ.PORTS bit and returned. I searched for information about the X-Surf-100 on the net and I got confirmation that it uses the INT2 line (and seemingly also the INT6 one, but that is not relevant to SkillGrid as it has the level 6 interrupt disabled). I provided him with a version of the game with the level 2 interrupt disabled and it turned out to work just fine, even with RoadShow running at startup.
Therefore, I have now prepared a new version (1.3) which handles the keyboard through the level 3 interrupt and which is thus immune to any expansion hardware (except for hardware that continuously triggers NMIs, that is).

Doing this work got me started once again, and so I also made some other improvements - you can find the details in the changelog at the bottom of this post, but here's the most important one:



For who is not familiar with the game: the addition is the BEAM/ULTRA cell, which makes the spaceship weapon exceptionally powerful (getting rid of the bosses with it is extra easy).

I seized the occasion to also add this little paragraph to the manual which clarifies how beams work (it has been so since day 1, but it had never been explained):



The new version is practically ready, but before releasing it I'd really really really like to get the Amiga CD32 NVRAM issue fixed! In fact, hiscore loading/saving is still disabled for the version that boots on Amiga CD32 directly from CD. Unfortunately, having no such machine, I can't test my code, so I need help. More precisely, I need someone with an Amiga CD32 equipped with an HD/CF/SD to run this test suite and report the result (it's all very simple - basically: download the archive, unpack it on the drive, run the script from shell, follow the on-screen instructions and report the result).
Thanks in advance to the good souls who will help!

Changelog

v1.3 (unreleased)
1. Added the BEAM/ULTRA cell (shoots a big beam that is equivalent to 5 beams).
2. Moved lateral beams of the triple beam one pixel down (to match the shape of the ultra beam).
3. Reduced by 16.7% the occurrences of the DAMAGE cell.
4. Worked on the music playback: optimized the decoding; optimized the handling of the state; removed the pairing of channels on the same side (which caused the title and game over screens music to play louder than the in-game music - an originally intended effect which I have changed my mind about - and did not really work for channel 3 as that channel cannot sustain 28836.5 Hz).
5. Changed the keyboard handling so that it executes from a level 3 interrupt handler instead of a level 2 interrupt handler, in order to work around issues/lockups caused by expansion hardware sending INT2 interrupt requests.
6. Replaced [SPACE] with [LEFT ALT] and [RIGHT ALT] keys as [FIRE] button.
7. Made the startup procedure more robust (especially against audio playback performed with direct hardware access by other programs concurrently).
8. Made various little optimizations.
9. Worked on cells graphics: fixed colors of beams on BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells; fixed a pixel on the border of the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells.
10. Worked on manual and stragegy guide: renamed DOUBLE BEAM and TRIPLE BEAM as BEAMS/DOUBLE and BEAMS/TRIPLE, respectively; added the information for the BEAMS/ULTRA cell; adapted the information for the other BEAMS/* cells; added the BEAMS paragraph; updated the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells images; updated the controls table; fixed the outer antialiasing of the BEAM/TRIPLE, BOOST and BRAKE cells images; fixed the kerning of the last character of the italic strings.
11. Set default tool of manual and strategy guide icons to "Apdf".
12. Updated artwork to reflect the new beams graphics.

Last edited by saimo on 06-Jan-2024 at 03:32 PM.
Last edited by saimo on 06-Jan-2024 at 03:29 PM.

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klx300r 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 6-May-2022 16:04:15
#178 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 4-Mar-2008
Posts: 3833
From: Toronto, Canada

@saimo

congrats on fixing that bug Simone and I hope some CD32 owners can help you out soon

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saimo 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 22-May-2022 11:43:18
#179 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2450
From: Unknown

SkillGrid v1.3 is out!
This short video shows the new weapon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umw_pzdYJkk
Moreover, in addition to the other various improvements, I have given Amiga CD³² users the possibility to enable the hiscore loading/saving from/to NVRAM (I haven't received any feedback relatively to that, so the feature is completely experimental - see readme.txt on the CD).

https://retream.itch.io/SkillGrid

Changelog

v1.3 (21.05.2022)
1. Added the BEAM/ULTRA cell (shoots a big beam that is equivalent to 5 beams).
2. Moved the lateral beams of the triple beam one pixel down (to match the shape of the ultra beam).
3. Reduced by 16.7% the occurrences of the DAMAGE cell.
4. Worked on the music playback:
· optimized the decoding;
· optimized the handling of the state;
· removed the pairing of channels on the same side (which caused the title and game over screens music to play louder than the in-game music - an originally intended effect which I have changed my mind about - and did not really work for channel 3 as that channel cannot sustain 28836.5 Hz).
5. Slightly improved the standard music quality by re-downsampling the data after improving the amplification.
6. Changed the keyboard handling so that it executes from a level 3 interrupt handler instead of a level 2 interrupt handler, in order to work around issues/lockups caused by expansion hardware sending INT2 interrupt requests.
7. Replaced [SPACE] with [LEFT ALT] and [RIGHT ALT] as [FIRE] button.
8. Made the startup procedure more robust (especially against audio playback performed with direct hardware access by other programs concurrently).
9. Made various little optimizations.
10. Added the possibility of enabling the loading/saving of the hiscore from/to the NVRAM in the Amiga CD³² bootable version - EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE: CHECK OUT THE README ON THE CD FIRST!
11. Worked on cells graphics:
· fixed colors of beams on BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells;
· fixed a pixel on the border of the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells.
12. Worked on manual and stragegy guide:
· renamed DOUBLE BEAM and TRIPLE BEAM as BEAMS/DOUBLE and BEAMS/TRIPLE, respectively;
· added the information for the BEAMS/ULTRA cell;
· adapted the information for the other BEAMS/* cells;
· added the BEAMS paragraph;
· updated the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells images;
· updated the CONTROLS table;
· fixed the outer antialiasing of the BEAM/TRIPLE, BOOST and BRAKE cells images;
· fixed the kerning of the last character of the italic strings.
13. Set the default tool of the manual and strategy guide icons to "Apdf".
14. Updated the artwork to reflect the new beams graphics.

Last edited by saimo on 22-May-2022 at 11:53 AM.

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klx300r 
Re: SkillGrid (formerly SPEEDGRID) - new AGA game in the works
Posted on 23-May-2022 0:58:12
#180 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 4-Mar-2008
Posts: 3833
From: Toronto, Canada

@saimo

Thanks both versions working great here !

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c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

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