 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : PACMAN for Maximite
  Page 4 of 8   |
|||||
| Author | Message | ||||
Nick Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
No need to press any keys until it actually asks you. 
Try holding the key down a bit longer rather than a quick tap. I'll note it as a area for improvement (faster key response at start) for a version 1.1 Nick |
||||
Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Well Nick I have to say, excellent work! 
Works find for me. Top job. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Ok. I have a version with instant key response time to start the game. Will wait to see if there are any more updates to be done before releasing it as a version 1.1 The problem involved the flashing of the "INSERT COIN" text. The code printed the text then PAUSED for a bit and then scanned for a key. This cycle repeated. Have now removed the PAUSE and added a loop that creates the delay but constantly scans the key. Ta daa! Instant response for those too eager to get into the game. Hopefully, in the next version of MMBasic, Geoff will bless us with a LOADBMP command so that the screen load can occur faster. Nick |
||||
VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Well done nick. Works perfectly on my Altronics Maximite! Awesome job. Lots of fun. Matthew Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
The only suggestion I have is regarding the screen loading. Instead of using a BMP file, which as we know takes time to load, I would be inclined to draw the screen using graphic line commands. There's not really that much to it, and remember the screen is a mirror image left and right. A few data statements would take care of the dot positions, and there's only 19 internal walls. Plus I think it would look cool. Another way to speed up the screen draw is drawing the entire screen in a font file as a single character, then just positioning that character on the screen at 0,0. Not sure on the limitation of the font command though, if it would handle a character that big, or if it would be faster than the BMP load routing. If it was faster to use a font character, you could write a routing to load the BMP data into a font file. Or you could create a set of characters that look like dots, corners and straights, and draw the screen using those font characters. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Thanks Gizmo. I like the idea of creating the screen as a font (suggested by Darthmite some time ago). There is a limit to the size of font so it will take a few characters that will need to be connected. Drawing lines will be very code consuming. There are also the dots not to mention the graphic at the side. Building tiles is another way as you mentioned but it's so much easier and creative to just load up a graphics editor on my PC and simply draw it. All of this can be accomplished with a single LOADBMP command if it appears in a version 3.2 MMBasic. Not to mention the ease of updating/changing the screen (during development mainly). With a LOADBMP command, a screen can be as complex/artistic/detailed as you want it to be and it would only take up a single command. Fingers crossed Geoff decides to put it in. Nick |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I would call this program Annoyingly Addictive. I keep switching it on and playing a few games. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
darthmite Senior Member  Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: FrancePosts: 240 |
So good and so addictive 
Just too bad that in my actual hotel i don't have a TV with VGA input ... he he he ... Graphics are really fine pitch done !! , everything run fluid. It must be added in the MM library ! Cheers 
Theory is when we know everything but nothing work ... Practice is when everything work but no one know why ;) |
||||
| cosmic frog Senior Member Joined: 09/02/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 284 |
Excellent job! Working nicely on my UBW32. |
||||
| mookster1 Regular Member  Joined: 10/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 81 |
Hi Nick Kudos on the Maxman project: it works incredibly well and is AWESOME! . The only suggestions I would make are, as mentioned above, the loading screen being vector-based, and also the keyboard: I don't know what it's like on the original Pacman but maybe having Maxman move only when you press its corresponding key i.e. stopping until you press a key again? I don't have a speaker plugged into the board yet so it was all without sound but the graphics are really smooth... +1! 
Re vector graphics: when I have time (school holidays are coming up soon so I'll probably work on it then) I will work on a program and file format that stores graphics objects as characters, with parameters, so that game graphics can be easily made with the Maximite. Capacitance is futile - roll on 2012! |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Thanks "mookster1". I hope to have a fix for the slow loading of the screen in the next version (v1.1). It will be either: converting the screen to several large screen font characters OR Geoff adds a LOADBMP command to complement the SAVEBMP command (this is my preference). The operation of the keys is the same way real Pac-man works... the character keeps moving until it bumps into something. This is what adds to the game challenge and forces the player to think fast. Otherwise, the play has too much time to think and plan.
Yes, keyboard is a pain... although my game playing kids seem to be more dextrous than me.
Joystick (currently Atari type) is easier and the preferred method for the lucky ones who have this. Nick |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Has anyone with a Maximite SM1 been able to get MaxMan running? |
||||
| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Hi Nick, Not sure if this helps or not but I have MAXMAN working on a Maximite EV. Looks and sounds fantastic! I did have some trouble with it at the start, but after finding that I only had MM ver 2.7b on the EV..... I flashed in ver 3.1 and I've had no problems since. Regards, Matthew Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
||||
Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
I've been trying for over a day now nick to try and upgrade my SM1 to V3.1 so I can try your great program and both my young girls are keen as mustard to play too. hopefully I can get my problems sorted and report back with everything running fine Regards Bryan |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
The reason I asked was that someone else was having trouble getting it to work on the SM1. I hope, for your daughters sake, that it works for you. |
||||
djuqa Guru Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447 |
Woohoo MaxMan running on Maximite SM1 with MMBasic 3.1 Firmware. 
Sorry about fuzzy, shaky photo of Maximite I was too excited, I wanted to get back to the game. VK4MU MicroController Units |
||||
| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Well, that proves it. It *does* run on the SM1. (on a wide LCD, looks stretched) For those of you hooked on MaxMan... try beat my current high score of 32390!
Nick |
||||
| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
I wonder if Glenn or anyone else for that matter would mind if we started a topic just for high scores? Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
||||
crackerjack Senior Member Joined: 11/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
Hey Nick - let me join the many others in congratulating you on a job well done. It is a wonderful showpiece for what can be done with some ingenuity and plenty of hard work on the amazing little 'Mite - and in MMBasic! And most amazingly it seems to only use about 17% of program memory. One for YouTube and Hackaday, I'd say. Nice one! |
||||
| djuqa Guru Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447 |
Send them to me I will post on Maximite.com.au VK4MU MicroController Units |
||||
| Page 4 of 8 |
|||||
 Print this page |
