| --- Log opened Thu Aug 30 00:00:40 2018 |
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| 04:45 | <&McMartin> | OK, here we go |
| 04:45 | <&McMartin> | https://bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com/2018/08/30/an-arbitrary-sprite-positioning-routine-for-the-atari-2600/ |
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| 16:03 | <~Vornicus> | Okay! Sutherland-Hodgman time. |
| 18:58 | <~Vornicus> | fuck I forgot my winding direction |
| 19:09 | <~Vornicus> | Okay I have remembered my winding direction. |
| 19:42 | <~Vornicus> | https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/474705430434807819/484794686758846464/unknown.png Okay clipping is in. Got some more bugs, but clipping is, nonetheless, in. |
| 19:44 | <~Vornicus> | and a spectacular demonstration of phantom colors, smack dab in the middle. that horizontal line is not actually there |
| 19:48 | <~Vornicus> | okay. Bug: sometimes, distant points end up on the wrong side. I'm not entirely certain how that happens, but it's "natural" in that technically the two distant points that are opposite of each other are really the same point! |
| 19:48 | <~Vornicus> | Fuckin' math. |
| 20:54 | <@TheWatcher> | That looks pretty neat! |
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| 21:42 | <&McMartin> | It's just occurred to me that a lot of the posts I make on Bumbershoot Software boil down to a form of literate programming |
| 21:43 | <&McMartin> | Since I'm usually working through an entire program line by line and the whole program is there by the end |
| 21:44 | <@TheWatcher> | (on a related note - I should say that, even though I never actually comment, I do read through all your posts there, and find them very interesting) |
| 21:47 | <&McMartin> | Yeah, it's kind of funny how my attitude towards the posts varies between "crackling with eldritch power" and "huge case of impostor syndrome" |
| 21:48 | <@Tamber> | Crackling with eldritch power and not being quite sure how you managed to get to that point, or if you really know what to do with it? |
| 21:49 | <&McMartin> | "Not sure whether I am in fact crackling with eldritch power or have merely managed to complete the traditional first rite of passage" |
| 21:51 | <&McMartin> | That said, I've been adopting a pretty consistent tone on the blog that wizardry doesn't exist |
| 21:51 | <&McMartin> | There is only the machine, its mode of operation, and the instructions it is given, and all of these things can be characterized |
| 21:52 | <&McMartin> | Now |
| 21:52 | <&McMartin> | 'the machine' is basically never 'the capabilities it was specced for' or 'the capabilities that were documented', and neither of these turns out to be 'the capabilities intentionally designed in' |
| 21:53 | <@Tamber> | But of course. |
| 21:54 | <&McMartin> | Those aren't a strict hierarchy either |
| 21:54 | <&McMartin> | Sometimes intended designed-in capabilities end up too buggy to use |
| 21:54 | <&McMartin> | Sometimes things people consider advanced techniques - like the C64's ability to use raster-split effects to get more than 8 sprites on screen at once - were designed in in the sense that the chip would make sure they were possible, but the work to do it was always intended to be done in software |
| 21:55 | <&McMartin> | I take a *real* dim view of treating splitscreen effects like that as wizardry >_> |
| 21:56 | <&McMartin> | But some of that is because the rite-of-passage advanced techniques for the C64 basically involve exploiting aspects of the graphics chip's timings that were never supposed to matter in normal operation |
| 21:57 | <&McMartin> | But which they kept consistent across all steppings of the chip, which is good because otherwise a lot of really basic effects would not work |
| 21:57 | <&McMartin> | Like, uh, stable split-screen displays |
| 21:57 | <&McMartin> | Meanwhile, the ZX Spectrum actually did what it said on the tin and nothing else, to a frankly astounding degree |
| 21:57 | <&McMartin> | And tragically that means it is *no fun at all* |
| 21:58 | <&McMartin> | The hardware wasn't really powerful enough to be a comfortable target for most modern retro-projects, and it doesn't have any dark corners of note |
| 21:59 | <&McMartin> | The weird thing the C64's graphics did that pretty much inform 90% of the demoeffects that aren't "oh, it's actually doing totally intended behavior, just using it creatively" all involve vertical scrolling |
| 21:59 | <&McMartin> | Because it's not actually "shift the display this many scanlines" |
| 21:59 | <&McMartin> | It's "If the current scanline lines up with the vertical scroll value, start a new line of text" |
| 21:59 | <&McMartin> | Which lets you get almost complete control of the chip's DMA behavior |
| 22:00 | <&McMartin> | Meanwhile, the Atari 8-bit guys get to laugh at that because its graphics chip just accepted a program that *defined* its DMA and interrupt behavior, so you just kind of asked for what you wanted. ALso, it was two generations older~ |
| 22:00 | <&McMartin> | The Amiga (and the, uh, "Copper" chip? I'm bad at Amiga) were based more on the A8 computers than on the C64. |
| 22:05 | <&McMartin> | Oof |
| 22:05 | | * McMartin proofreads his latest post while stuff compiles, finds some fairly serious errors in the explanation |
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| 22:29 | <&McMartin> | Oh yeah, other Atari silliness, from the home computers again |
| 22:29 | <&McMartin> | I've been reading through the old magazine articles and books and such about it |
| 22:30 | <&McMartin> | It's easy to forget that Atari's pioneers were, you know, a bunch of pioneers, and thus kind of went on become big deals |
| 22:30 | <&McMartin> | So I was learning about what the Atari 800 has instead of normal sprites, and typed in a little program that animates little pixelly cowboys to wander across the screen |
| 22:30 | <&McMartin> | ... and then I notice the byline and said pixelly cowboys were by Sid Meier |
| 22:36 | <@Tamber> | nice! |
| 22:36 | <&McMartin> | (Likewise, Chris Crawford wrote most of the earliest core documentation, but that was less of an after-the-fact surprise) |
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| 22:42 | <&McMartin> | Huh, now I need to check something |
| 22:43 | <&McMartin> | Hm |
| 22:43 | <&McMartin> | That was either just before or just after he founded MicroProse. |
| 22:44 | <&McMartin> | Published February and August 1982 |
| 22:45 | <&McMartin> | Meier had gotten his first Atari in 1981, apparently, and founded Microprose to make videogames for it some time in 1982 |
| 22:45 | <&McMartin> | I dunno if it was early or late, but he clearly took to it quickly` |
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| --- Log closed Fri Aug 31 00:00:41 2018 |