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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : PicoMiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS release candidates

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Volhout
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Posted: 06:06pm 09 Dec 2023
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All,

The VGA version of PETSCII ROBOTS for PicoMite with keyboard control is complete enough as to become release candidate 1.

Changes from the last beta (pet25p.bas)
- uses the larger MOD files where needed (up to 180kbyte)
- fixed a bug with the trash compacter (thanks Tom).

Setup required:

PicoMiteVGA version V5.08.00b4 installed

OPTION CPUSPEED 252000
OPTION MODBUFF ENABLE 180
OPTION SDCARD your own gpio's
OPTION AUDIO your gpio's


Unzip the attached file to SD card, drive B

B:
CHDIR "PETROBOT_RC"
RUN "ROBOTS_RC1.BAS"


Happy gaming.....

PETROBOT_RC.zip

Martin_H
Volhout
Edited 2023-12-10 04:12 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Martin H.

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Posted: 06:49pm 09 Dec 2023
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Harm,
Runs great on GameMite.
I only noticed one small thing.
I can kill the EVILBOT with just one timebomb. If I place them in the wall from the outside
Is it correct that way?

Cheers
 Martin
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Volhout
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Posted: 06:53pm 09 Dec 2023
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Hi Martin,

No, not correct
Found it, typing error when I made the change for the plasma gun.
In fact all time bomb damage was inaccurate, but since it in most cases is directly killing that was not easy to see.
Now it takes 7 blasts (77 damage) to kill the evilbot. And yes.. through the wall.

robots_rc2.zip

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-10 19:13 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Martin H.

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Posted: 02:10pm 11 Dec 2023
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Nice   ... I tested it but killed myself while trying to shoot the last (roller)Bot with the Plasma gun  
If I dont change the Level, it starts in "easy" Mode (Should be "normal")
cheers
Martin

PS: in case you missed it, I posted a modified version of the Intro screen in the development thread

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thwill

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Joined: 16/09/2019
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Posted: 02:32pm 11 Dec 2023
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  Martin H. said  Nice   ... I tested it but killed myself while trying to shoot the last (roller)Bot with the Plasma gun  


Yes, I find the plasma-gun more lethal to myself than the robots, what exactly is going on with it (not a new issue, and may be a feature rather than an issue, I was struggling with it last weekend too).

Best wishes,

Tom
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Volhout
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Posted: 02:38pm 11 Dec 2023
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Tom,

Yes, the plasma gun is lethal if you are within its blast range. I killed myself also once.
The issue with plasma was that you could shoot at a wall, and kill bots on the other side of the wall.
The DOS game did not have that.

I.e. You could be in the kitchen in level a, shoot at the wall, and kill the vertical rollerbot at the other side of the wall with 2 blasts.

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-12 00:43 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
lizby
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Joined: 17/05/2016
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Posts: 3150
Posted: 04:19pm 11 Dec 2023
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I just want to say what a terrific achievement this group effort is, with Harm doing the major game play implementation, Martin adding the images and sound, Kevin aligning the code with the LCD, Tom working to integrate controller usage, Peter repeatedly remedying chokepoints in the MMBasic firmware, and others adding their 2 cents.

Very impressive, all.
PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed
 
Volhout
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Posted: 10:09pm 11 Dec 2023
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Thanks ro you also for your initial LCD debugging Lizby. You opened the path for the non VGA platforms.
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
lizby
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Posted: 11:33pm 11 Dec 2023
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I was looking at proof of concept, which seemed within reach. I'm afraid I came too late to the game, as it were, to actually play these sorts of things. I was in my mid-twenties when I first interacted with a (mainframe) computer, and in my thirties when I had my first home (home-made) computer (though an early adaptor) so I didn't learn the needed motor skills as a teen or pre-teen, as I suspect most of the Petski Robots team did. It's been fun seeing how it has progressed to this "release candidate" stage.
PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed
 
Volhout
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Posted: 08:07am 12 Dec 2023
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Again a super minor change....

We default "Difficulty=1".
Then use the variable "Diff_level" to adjust and determine the difficulty.
Just renamed to "Diff_level=1" and all is cosy...

robots_rc3.zip

I'll start the documentation while I wait for the Aliexpress parts to arrive for David's kit build PicoMiteVGA (Thanks Mick, I started to put the first one together, when I get the last parts (all connectors) I'll show  photo). Since Peter adjusted the modplayer PWM frequency to 48kHz, the filter can stay the same.

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-12 18:09 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Martin H.

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Posted: 12:59pm 12 Dec 2023
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Harm,
My suggestion to the behavior at the end of the game:
Player enters the transporter platform and is "beamed away", dissolves.. (the Player particle Sprites). could be used every time the transporter platform is used

Fade out

fade in to the end Screen.

After 10 seconds (or less) "Play Stop" so that the music does not repeat.
Waiting for button/Key press,
end screen  fadeout,
back to game start.

Just a suggestion to make the overall impression more rounded, if it means too much work then leave everything as it is
Edited 2023-12-12 23:08 by Martin H.
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Volhout
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Posted: 02:13pm 12 Dec 2023
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Hi Martin, Vegipete, Tom,

I will look at this. Seems do-able.

Question: on the unit I send to David, I want to include some extra's to promote the PicoMite(VGA). Any suggestions ?
The SD card can hold whatever you think of, I will even put a CD ripped WAV on it to demo sound quality.

PicoFrog ? (by you)
ChemiChaos ? (by Vegipete)
Logic Analyzer ? (by me)
Sprite Editor (yours and Vegipete's)
Laser Cycle ? (by Tom, when it can be controlled from keyboard)
Other suggestions ? There was an oscilloscope written (for LCD) ?
Circle ? (by me)

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-13 00:15 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Colin Ames
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Joined: 04/12/2023
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Posted: 02:33pm 12 Dec 2023
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I would just like to compliment everyone involved with this project. I will never figure out the game, but I am very impressed with how well it runs. Great work!
Colin Ames
 
thwill

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Joined: 16/09/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4036
Posted: 02:51pm 12 Dec 2023
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Hi @Volhout,

It seems like you're basically talking about creating a "Welcome Tape" for the PicoMiteVGA, great idea, but take it from me, a lot of work to curate.

Note that the Game*Mite menu-system will in theory come up on the PicoMiteVGA (with some transpiling or IF THEN ELSE additions).

  @Volhout said  Laser Cycle ? (by Tom, when it can be controlled from keyboard)


It can already be controlled by 2 players on the keyboard, and can be played by up to 4 players if you add two NES controllers and/or Atari joysticks. It's been a while since I've had it "up" on the PicoMite VGA so it may need a kick.

However I do wonder what you hope to gain with this that you wouldn't get by just sending him PETSCII Robots and perhaps getting a thank-you and a brief mention in a video (though he has said "no more PETSCII Robots videos")?

I really doubt he is going to do a video promoting a $30 boot-to-BASIC system when he is trying to hawk a $300-400 lump of fake nostalgia which performance wise (I'm not sure about sound/graphics) isn't a patch on the Pico. I really don't want to dis' David (love his channel) but he has pumped an awful lot of time and money into what looks like a white elephant that if being pushed by anyone without his social-media reach would just be another also-ran.

Just my 2p.

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-12-13 02:18 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
thwill

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Posted: 03:07pm 12 Dec 2023
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Deleted mistaken post.
Edited 2023-12-13 01:50 by thwill
Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures
 
Volhout
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Posted: 08:03pm 12 Dec 2023
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@Martin,

I may have missed something, but this should have fading player at transporter and changed ending with fading. The delay is timed to meet the win and loose mods.

robots_rc4.zip

Could I ask you a favour ?

The intro screen still has 4 entries in the menu. You proposed to remove the "controls" since controls would be configured different.
Could you bring back the menu's to 3 entries ?
Or replace entry 4 with "QUIT" as Tom proposed (a clean way to stop the program).

Thank you

Volhout

P.S. To test this you have help from F3 (cheat) and F4 (kill all robots). I tested the transporter stuff in "03 - the village". I think I got it right. Was quite more work than I realized. I even "crashed" MMBasic few times by blit memory that went out of range probably overwriting stacks...
Edited 2023-12-13 06:06 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Volhout
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Posted: 08:13pm 12 Dec 2023
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  thwill said  
I really doubt he is going to do a video promoting a $30 boot-to-BASIC system


You are probably right, but....
His income is from 1.43 million youtube viewers. Not from selling X16's, not from selling games (he looses money on them). And since he is only selling 500-1000 X16's there are 1429000 viewers who are less interested in X16. But they are interested in retro stuff.

So he may want to be looking for material that may be interesting for the other 1429000 viewers. And this may be something like that.
That is my hope at least.

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-13 06:14 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Volhout
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Posted: 08:21pm 12 Dec 2023
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@Martin, others,

I noticed when playing the VGA version with keyboard, that movements of the player is not fluent. When walking, every second there is a short stop, and immediate continuation. This does not happen when I use the terminal (teraterm/putty) as a keyboard. It also does not show when I use the NES controller, so it is not the game itself.

Does anyone of you see the same behavior ? It may be something with the keyboard repeat rate of my (home) keyboard. I will (tomorrow) also test the PS2 keyboard I have at work, if it shows the same behavior.

If you experience the same, I have to find out what causes it.

Volhout
Edited 2023-12-13 06:22 by Volhout
PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS
 
Martin H.

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Posted: 09:02pm 12 Dec 2023
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  Volhout said  @Martin,

Could I ask you a favour ?

The intro screen still has 4 entries in the menu. You proposed to remove the "controls" since controls would be configured different.
Could you bring back the menu's to 3 entries ?
Or replace entry 4 with "QUIT" as Tom proposed (a clean way to stop the program).

Thank you

Volhout

as I allready posted:
  Martin H. said  @Volhout

Replace this Block and we have a Start Menu without the "Controlls" Entry.
Sub show_intro
 'load screen
 FRAMEBUFFER write l:CLS :FRAMEBUFFER write sc$
 Load image path$("images/introscreen.bmp"),0,10
 FRAMEBUFFER write l: fade_in: :FRAMEBUFFER write sc$
 Local integer puls(11)=(0,1,9,11,3,6,7,6,5,11,9,1),t,t2
 Local Message$(4) length 40

 'set Map to 0, Menu State to 1
 Message$(1)="...use UP & DOWN, Space or 'Start'      "
 Message$(2)="   ...use LEFT & RIGHT to select Map    "
 Message$(3)="  ...use LEFT & RIGHT cange Difficulty  "
 Dim DIFF_LEVEL_WORD$(2) length 6 =("EASY  ","NORMAL","HARD  ")
 Map_Nr=0:MS=1:Difficulty=1

 ' start playing the intro Music
 Play Modfile path$("music/metal_heads-sfx.mod")
 show_menu 1

 'Display Map Name
 Text 9,70,UCase$(map_nam$(Map_Nr))

 '--- copyright notices etc
 Text 0,224,Message$(1),,,,col(3)
 Local msg$ = String$(36,32)
 '  Cat msg$, sys.get_config$("device", "Generic " + Mm.Device$) + " - "
 Inc msg$, "Original Game by David Murray - "
 Inc msg$, "Port to Mite and MM-Basic by Volhout, Martin H and thebackshed-"
 Inc msg$, "Community - Music by Noelle Aman, Graphic by "
 Inc msg$, "Piotr Radecki - MMBasic by Geoff Graham and Peter Mather "
 flip=0
 MT=0

 'check player choice
 kill_kb
 Do
   If flip=0 Then Inc MT:If mt>Len(msg$) Then MT=0
   tp$=Mid$(msg$,1+MT,41)
   If t2=0 Then 'once every 4 cycles
     k$=read_input$()
     If k$<>"" Then
       Play modsample s_beep-2,4
       If k$="down" Then Inc MS,(MS<3)
       If k$="up" Then Inc MS,-(MS>1)
       If k$="use-item" Then
         Select Case MS
           Case 1
             FRAMEBUFFER write L:fade_out:FRAMEBUFFER write sc$
             Exit 'intro and go on with the Program
           Case 2
             'select map
             kill_kb
             Text 0,224,message$(2),,,,col(3)
             Do
               k$=read_input$()
               If k$<>"" Then
                 Play modsample s_beep-2,4
                 If k$="left" Then Inc Map_Nr,-(Map_Nr>0)
                 If k$="right" Then Inc Map_Nr,(Map_Nr<13)
                 If k$="use-item" Then
                   Text 0,224,message$(1),,,,col(3): Exit
                 EndIf
                 Text 9,70,"                "
                 Text 9,70,UCase$(map_nam$(Map_Nr))
                 If LCD_DISPLAY Then FRAMEBUFFER Merge 9,b
               EndIf
               Pause 200
             Loop
             kill_kb
           Case 3
             'select DIFFICULTY
             kill_kb
             Text 0,224,message$(3),,,,col(3)
             Do
               k$=read_input$()
               If k$<>"" Then
                 Play modsample s_beep-2,4
                 If k$="use-item" Then
                   Text 0,224,message$(1),,,,col(3)
                   Text 0,232,"      "
                   Exit
                 EndIf
                 If k$="left" Then
                   Inc Diff_Level,-(Diff_Level>0)
                 EndIf
                 If k$="right" Then
                   Inc Diff_Level,(Diff_Level<2)
                 EndIf
                 Text 0,232,DIFF_LEVEL_WORD$(Diff_Level)
                 Load image path$("images/face_"+Str$(Diff_Level)+".bmp"),234,85
                 If LCD_DISPLAY Then FRAMEBUFFER Merge 9,b
               EndIf
               Pause 200
             Loop
             kill_kb
            End Select
       EndIf
     EndIf
   EndIf

   show_menu MS,col(puls(t))

   Text 8-(2*flip),0,tp$,,,,col(2):flip=(flip+1) And 3
   Inc t: t=t Mod 12 'color change
   Inc t2: t2=t2 Mod 3 'reponse time keys
   If LCD_DISPLAY Then FRAMEBUFFER Merge 9,b
   Pause 50
 Loop
 Play stop
End Sub


 'remove duplicate keys and key repeat
Sub kill_kb
 Do While read_input$() <> "" : Loop
End Sub


 'start menu selection list
Sub show_menu(n1,FC)
 Local tc,BG=0,f2=col(10)
 tc=f2 :If n1=1 Then tc=FC
 Text 32,30,"START GAME",,,,tc
 tc=f2 : :If n1=2 Then tc=FC
 Text 32,38,"SELECT MAP",,,,tc
 tc=f2 : :If n1=3 Then tc=FC
 Text 32,46,"DIFFICULTY",,,,tc
End Sub


We might use the "Select" button /ESC to quit the Game in the StartMenu, if nessesary
Edited 2023-12-13 07:10 by Martin H.
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Bleep
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Posted: 09:49pm 12 Dec 2023
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Hi Harm,
No I do not see any pausing every second or so, I suspect you are correct & it is to do with the keyboard repeat rate. On mine I have to reduce the initial key press pause, before auto repeat cuts in, otherwise the player initially moves one position, then pauses, before running smoothly, once the auto repeat starts.
Regards Kevin
 
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