Skool Daze

Want to talks about games you like, would like to see developed on the Oric, it's here.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Dbug wrote:Did you try in the WIP3 version I sent you when I was working on the IRQ benchmark?
Just did so and indeed it works. So the bug was corrected in the WIP version you sent me. So this bug was found while looking for the incorrect IRQ timins... great.

Also tried it on a real oric and it worked.

Any idea why we have not seen a 0.8 version yet?

If people (beta testers amongst others) cannot play Skool Daze on Oricutron, then I will still be in trouble :)
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Xeron
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Post by Xeron »

I wanted to fix more stuff before doing another release, but recently i've spent any spare development time working on a game for my HP Touchpad.

I'll probably look at the disk bug and push out a 0.8 release sometime this week.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

That would be extraordinary Xeron... thank you very much indeed!
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SkoolKid
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Post by SkoolKid »

Hello all.

As the author of the Skool Daze disassembly that's being referred to for this port to the Oric, I thought I'd chime in and say that it's great to see the disassembly being put to such good use!

Chema, I hope you can get this working on Oricutron soon so that we can all try it out. :)
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Dbug
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Post by Dbug »

SkoolKid: Nice work you did there :)
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

SkoolKid, it is a pleasure to see you here. Your work is indeed astonishing and it came to me as a revelation.

I have nearly translated routine by routine (mainly in the AI) and all your comments and notes have been key in this development.

I had in mind to send you an email (as well as citing your work) when the game is released, but you were faster :)

Thanks indeed.

I am still tweaking things before releasing a beta, but be sure that the game will run on the next version's of Oricutron.
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SkoolKid
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Post by SkoolKid »

Chema wrote:I am still tweaking things before releasing a beta, but be sure that the game will run on the next version's of Oricutron.
Excellent, I can't wait!

It's been fascinating to follow your progress in this thread. One question, though (since I have no knowledge of 6502 assembly and couldn't figure out the answer myself): are you using the space-saving trick from Back to Skool of only storing the graphic data for the left-facing sprites (animatory states 0-127), and flipping it when needed to obtain the right-facing sprites (animatory states 128-255)?
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

SkoolKid wrote: It's been fascinating to follow your progress in this thread. One question, though (since I have no knowledge of 6502 assembly and couldn't figure out the answer myself): are you using the space-saving trick from Back to Skool of only storing the graphic data for the left-facing sprites (animatory states 0-127), and flipping it when needed to obtain the right-facing sprites (animatory states 128-255)?
I didn't know this was used in Back2Skool, to be honest :oops: but I used it before on my Space:1999 game. However I dropped it in this case because I was afraid it could slow things down a bit too much.

When I started with all this I was not sure that I could give it the necessary speed in the drawing routines and flipping each byte (even with a table, as I did in Space:1999) was something I thought I could not afford.

But yeah... it would be a good idea.

Worst problem here is that only 6 bits per byte are used as screen data, so as I wanted to keep the same graphics as in the original (or nearly) I need to move more memory (4 bytes for a 24 pixel-wide sprite per row, instead of 3).
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Little progress lately, unfortunately, but still moving.

I have been removing a couple of bugs and also toying with some timings to get closer to the original game. Also Dbug is working on a tape inlay which is looking really nice!

I wish I could do something to enhance the sfx, but my efforts so far did not produce better results, so I keep on trying...

Anyway the game is 99% finished. As soon as we have the new version of Oricutron I will probably release a beta for those of you interested in testing.
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Dbug
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Post by Dbug »

Coming Soon:
Image

The final game will be available on http://skooldaze.defence-force.org, both as an emulator friendly TAP file, but also has a pre-converted audio files for easy recording and playing (guess both standard speed and fast speed).

Also you will have the high definition inlay picture file ready to print, with line markers to indicate where to cut and fold :)
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Post by Godzil »

Wow a new casette game !
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SkoolKid
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Post by SkoolKid »

Chema, I don't know if you are using the main timetable from the original Spectrum game, but if you are, you might want to fix the bug in lesson 227 (MR ROCKITT - EXAM ROOM):

http://pyskool.ca/disassemblies/skool_d ... s/227.html

Note how little boys 4-8 go to the White Room, but no teacher will ever arrive to start the lesson! Perhaps those boys should be directed to the Revision Library instead, or Wacker, Withit or Creak could be sent to the White Room. I just noticed this bug recently, and it will be documented in the next update to the Skool Daze disassembly.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Thanks indeed again.

I was using the original timetable yes, and therefor I have that bug. I tried to correct all the bugs you spotted so far in your website, except those which may not be so (such as the empty seat).

Will probably send a teacher there.

On another note and following Dbug's advice now by pressing 'C' during the game session it is possible to change the color combination. For now it cycles between CYAN/YELLOW, CYAN/GREEN and Monocrhome (b&w), but will test more and think about which to keep.

Also pressing 'A' disables/enables audio (sound effects). Dbug suggested this to avoid waking up neighbors when using a real Oric, but I am not sure he did because of the not-so-good sfx :evil:
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Post by Godzil »

Chema wrote:Thanks indeed again.

I was using the original timetable yes, and therefor I have that bug. I tried to correct all the bugs you spotted so far in your website, except those which may not be so (such as the empty seat).

Will probably send a teacher there.

On another note and following Dbug's advice now by pressing 'C' during the game session it is possible to change the color combination. For now it cycles between CYAN/YELLOW, CYAN/GREEN and Monocrhome (b&w), but will test more and think about which to keep.

Also pressing 'A' disables/enables audio (sound effects). Dbug suggested this to avoid waking up neighbors when using a real Oric, but I am not sure he did because of the not-so-good sfx :evil:
You know what? You detect his own Oric, and when he try to press the A button, you do a screamer :twisted:
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Silicebit.
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Post by Silicebit. »

Chema, you are doing a great work. I'm impatient!! :)

¡Animo!
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