Atari 8bit routine sprites by software

Using brutal force to get a fast 60fps sprites by software

[@RABBIDGamfan]

That's at least 660 sprites per second! I did the math in my head. I love calculating stuff like this. ^^

[@storerestore]

ah, 720! if you look carefully you can see that there are 12 sprites on the screen

[@ecernosoft3096]

Hello mcappp! I know this video is REALLLLY old, and you might not be around anymore, but if you are, please let me know how you did this or maybe send me the source code. I am trying to do something similar and just drawing a 4*8 sprite takes like 1/8 of the screen to do in ANTIC E. It's terrible. I'm trying to make it faster and was wondering if you could provide me with some source code. I've still got a long way to go optimization-wise.

[@TrockeyTrockey]

How you implemented this? It is very fast. No hardware accelerator?

[@cbmeeks]

How is this possible with the A8? Is there a reason it is in B/W? Great work!

[@ecernosoft3096]

I doubt it. It's probably for asthetic reasons- The Atari has no color RAM. That means if you are using a 2bpp mode, you get 4 colors.... period. (Now, you can get more through priority glitches with sprites, just using sprites period, or DLIs, but that's besides the point here.) Since he's using bitmap mode, you also don't get the 5th color that you get in all lowres character modes on the Atari. So, using one color in 4 luminances (like what he's doing here) can make the most out of having only 4 colors on screen. Now when the C64 came out, they used color cells to add color to things, and that's why no matter what mode you are using on the C64, you get all 16 colors. You just couldn't put them where you wanted them all the time. (though that's where the sprites come in.)

[@cbmeeks]

@@ecernosoft3096 Wow. Thanks for bringing up a 15 year old post! lol. I had no idea I was on KZbin for that long.

[@ecernosoft3096]

@@cbmeeks of course! I am an Atari programmer too and am working on a software sprite generator for it using ANTIC E (160 by 192 4 color) or ANTIC D (160 by 96 4 color) so I can port my 7800 games to it in monochrome.

[@ecernosoft3096]

@@cbmeeks also hi! I am also an Atari programmer, looking to make a software sprite generator in ANTIC E, so that I can port my 7800 games to it in monochrome easier. I’ve been wanting to address the huge Atari 8 bit user base but haven’t been able to due to the lack of power on the Atari 8 bit, and this might be the answer.

[@Corsa15DT]

The ST was shit Amiga, the 8bit Ataris are shir C64s :)

[@PiotrPilinko]

8-bit Atari was a predecessor of Amiga (Jay Miner enhanced his ideas during creation of Amiga). And creators of C64 made ST...

[@Corsa15DT]

@@PiotrPilinko well, tramiel was ceo of both commodore and atari...anyway commodore was the better company

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

@@Corsa15DT 8bit Ataris came 3 years earlier but "the modern " C64 never really managed to beat Jay Miner's architecture. When the 800/400 hit the market commodore was releasing the Vic 20 to compete with them. Now who cared about "better" companies...I was way to small to buy stocks.

[@Corsa15DT]

@@nickolasgaspar9660 Right. But c64 managed to do things right, made a better atari 8bit for half the price. Also, the atari 800 and c64 are much closer in design than the ST and the A500. The amiga was miles better.

[@ecernosoft3096]

The Atari 8 bit came out 3 years before the C64 did. It was the first for- Sprites Have over 16 colors Have color registers Have more than one or two modes for graphics sound that.. was sound Use a 6502 over 1 mhz be good for games use raster interupts be NTSC and PAL Last for over 10 years on the market (2600 doesn't count, it's a console) be good for games BE A MASSIVE PLAYER IN THE DEMOSCENE in terms of computers.