New game: VIC-Splatform, now with MUSIC!

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:38 am

And yet I removed the need of one BIT $xxxx instruction by rearranging the surrounding instructions. Perhaps the C64/SID version of the routine could not be optimized in the same way, because it needs to modify more registers. If you could coax (?) out the original Splatform music source from Steve, you could've compared it with the zeropage version and see where it differs.

I'll download the new beta during the weekend and playtest it on PAL. I was considering if you want two sets of music notes for PAL/NTSC. It could be checked vs Kernel ROM (or perhaps you have more sophisticated methods) which kind of VIC the game is played on.

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:41 pm

psssttt... just hoping someone (carlsson or otherwise) could let me know if it really does play okay on PAL hardware.

Or if someone wants to set me up with a PAL VIC, I'll do it myself

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:42 pm

Sorry, I forgot.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:03 pm

Ok. After a lot of trouble (*), I have play tested Splatform on a real VIC. It works wonderful. I reached phase 4. Is it my imagination, is the first phase twice or thrice as long as the following phases?

I must admit I never played Splatform 64 or 2600 very much. For some reason, I think this game gets better due to the lower resolution - fewer platforms, larger graphics - on the VIC-20.

(*) At first, my four-way parallel port switch didn't like to play with the XM1541 cable. I had to plug it directly into the parallel port. I've had this kind of problem before, and need to investigate if it is permanent.

Then, my old memory expansion refused to work properly again. I'll try to re-solder the old capacitor again. Fortunately I have a small supply of other memory expansions, so I'm not stuck.

Add to that a desktop that is full of junk and general chaos in an apartment waiting for fixing a water leak and subsequent full restoration.

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 5:15 pm

carlsson wrote:Ok. After a lot of trouble (*), I have play tested Splatform on a real VIC. It works wonderful. I reached phase 4. Is it my imagination, is the first phase twice or thrice as long as the following phases?

Thanks very much for trying it out

All phases should be exactly the same length, 256 characters, but I have found that depending how "in the zone" I am when playing can affect my perception of the level's length.

Or I guess there could be some weird bug I've never noticed.

I must admit I never played Splatform 64 or 2600 very much. For some reason, I think this game gets better due to the lower resolution - fewer platforms, larger graphics - on the VIC-20.

I certainly enjoyed the different look it has on the VIC. It was more appealing to my kids too for whatever reason, probably because of the larger graphics.

re: the trouble you had with transferring, I've had times where problems have compounded like that too. I used to get frustrated, but now (as long as I'm not under time pressures for e.g. work) I now just laugh at the combination of coincidences. Thanks for toughing it out

So, I guess that's it for VIC-Splatform. I don't know if there's any point making more noise about it as this is probably the whole audience for it, unless maybe some people were waiting until it was "completed" to try it out.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:24 pm

Perhaps you should post a note on the MiniGame forum, in case there are some remaining Splatform fans over there.

I guess the bigger distance of platforms one quickly can skip past, the shorter the level feels like. If you have to stop and choose your way all the time, it appears to be longer.