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From: norlin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Norman Lin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit,rec.games.video
Subject: Re: SYNAPSE, DROPZONE, and 4096 colors on 8-bit?
Message-ID: <1991Mar16.033956.1570@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
Date: 16 Mar 91 03:39:56 GMT
References: <91071.172859DEEJ@MAINE.BITNET> <1991Mar15.182741.1322@grape.ecs.clarkson.edu>
Distribution: all
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Lines: 67

walshm@clutx.clarkson.edu (Clutch CARGO,Spinner,Paddlefoot,Silver Skuder,Spinner,Paddlefoot, ,2173988593,2173988593) writes:

>in reverse order...


>a poster recently posted a program that supposedly allowed the 8-bit to have
>4096 colors.  HOW IS this possible?!?! I though 256 was the limit.  Anyone
>know why this program is only coming out now and how technically this color
>extension is possible?

This piqued my interest and I contacted the author, whereupon he informed me
he was rapidly flipping between display pages with a DLI on one line.  This
technique actually has been around at least since the early 80's when 
Compute! magazine published an article to get 10+ colors on the old CTIA
chips (though it used a VBI instead of a DLI but the results are practically
the same).

>RE: Dropzone anyone remember this game? it was basically a Defender-clone,
>except with a big spaceman as your ship.  Some incredible multicolored
>sprites, smooth as silk animation/scrolling, a title page which was incredible, 
>and a sound effect for your exploision which was downright INCREDIBLE! the
>best sound effect ever on the 8-bit and one that holds up against anything
>I have heard today anywhere!  

Yeah, this game did impress me so I disassembled parts of it.  Actually the
majority of the animation is... hold your breath... done with CHARACTERS.  The
whole field (except for the bottom landscape part) is an ANTIC mode 4 field.
You'll notice that the main enemeies (the Nemesite and the other one that looks
like the Nemesite except his eye goes the other way) are very small, so that
redefining blocks of characters to move them finely presents no problem.  If
you look closely, you can notice that when two enemies overlap, they flicker
as one set of block characters or another takes precedence.  It was quite easy
to "lift" the character set from the game and incorporate it into some neat
demos...  The Nmeye and the Blunder Storm, as well as your player, are P/M
graphics.

>Anyone know what happened to the company and/or programmers? this was one game
>WAY ahead of its time!

>RE: SYNAPSE

>along the same lines, the graphuics and games put out by this company were
>downright amazing...blue max, fort apocalypse, encounter, rainbow walker,
>drelbs, necromancer! any of these programmers go on to games today still?

Agreed.  Encounter is one of the few 8 bit games (others include Rescue on
Fractalus and The Eidolon, with their fractals) that, to this day, has still
totally eluded my comprehension.  HOW on Earth do they do those graphics, and
so fast? I tried disassembling it but got hopelessly lost.  I believe it is
done in ANTIC mode D (graphics mode 7), and I suppose that since the figures are
geometrically simple (diamonds, circles) and consist largely of white space
on the interior with no detail, the graphics could be done in real time
rather than having preset graphical shapes overlayed onto the screen.  How
is the perspective handled?  How are collisions (i.e. missile hits) detected?
Any programmers out there care to comment?

>MTM "Matt the Man" Walsh;alias: THE CLAW,SCOOTER,SKUDER,GILLIGAN,TAIL DRAGGER
>mail all editorials, responses, donations, junk mail to: 
>                        walshm@clutx.clarkson.edu
>                This has been a program-length advertisement


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