Getting back into the swing.
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:32 am
Since the day I set foot on this site I have wanted to start and finish a project for Uzebox. I have attempted 3 and hit roadblocks on all of them. Part of it is my approach to coding, the other is my lack of exp. I'm a BS of IT with a minor in software development.
Since the time of my graduation 4 years ago I have done nothing but try to get into the field. About 6 months agao I went to an interview that was brutal and I've spent some time just drinking my life away.
I have limited time these days but I'm just trying to rekindle that spark I once had for C code. I doubt I have the time to make a project for the code challenge this year but I do have a couple ideas that may be worth pursuit. So I'm going to drop two of them in your laps and let those who know the kernel best tell me their feasibility.
First, would be an Atari 2600 type game and accompanying video mode. The 2600 or VCS could only display 1 bit sprites but got around this by changing that one color per scan line. So what I'm thinking is define the color first then the array of bits second. Of course this would require custom graphics data. Demon Attack and H.E.R.O. are two games worthy of conversion IMO.
The next option is a limited color mode to save flash and ram space. Something like 5 bits then store the data in 16 bit clusters. Use bit masks to remove the 3 pixels from a 16 bit int and buffer the extra bit for use in stuff like collision data. I don't know if it's possible to do a duo-tone or monochrome mode like this but that is kinda what I envision. It might even be charming to pad every pixel with something like white or light green to give it that old school gameboy or LCD feel. I don't have a project for this mode yet but I've been around long enough I'm sure I could come up with something.
Tell me what you think.
Since the time of my graduation 4 years ago I have done nothing but try to get into the field. About 6 months agao I went to an interview that was brutal and I've spent some time just drinking my life away.
I have limited time these days but I'm just trying to rekindle that spark I once had for C code. I doubt I have the time to make a project for the code challenge this year but I do have a couple ideas that may be worth pursuit. So I'm going to drop two of them in your laps and let those who know the kernel best tell me their feasibility.
First, would be an Atari 2600 type game and accompanying video mode. The 2600 or VCS could only display 1 bit sprites but got around this by changing that one color per scan line. So what I'm thinking is define the color first then the array of bits second. Of course this would require custom graphics data. Demon Attack and H.E.R.O. are two games worthy of conversion IMO.
The next option is a limited color mode to save flash and ram space. Something like 5 bits then store the data in 16 bit clusters. Use bit masks to remove the 3 pixels from a 16 bit int and buffer the extra bit for use in stuff like collision data. I don't know if it's possible to do a duo-tone or monochrome mode like this but that is kinda what I envision. It might even be charming to pad every pixel with something like white or light green to give it that old school gameboy or LCD feel. I don't have a project for this mode yet but I've been around long enough I'm sure I could come up with something.
Tell me what you think.
