New ST project - Pole Position arcade conversion

[catmando]

Any chance you can add some animation movement to the wheels like the arcade version?

[catmando]

Also, if anyone is handy at making some STE music this would make a nice 80's soundtrack (quite catchy if you remove the lyrics) to add to it (always thought the arcade could have done with some music)

[vebxenon]

I've tested last WIP version. What a great game!! Thanks for your great work!

[MiggyMog]

@catmando I hear that in my head every time I see this thread lol

[chicane]

Any chance you can add some animation movement to the wheels like the arcade version?

Probably not for this release - it's a surprising amount of work!

Maybe once I've got the initial release of Pole Position out of the way, I'll be motivated to do a second release that converts all of the remaining C code to 68000 and catches all of the remaining fine details of the arcade version. Maybe

[Atari030]

Pole position on the 800XL was one of my most flogged games. That had (sort of) animated tyres too. Flashes of white across the top every few frames. I'd have to put PP in the top 10 all time games. This version looks great.

[tjlazer]

Tried it on my Mega ST4 with 4MB and it loads but crashes with two bombs on title screen. Any idea if the game is truely for the STE hardware or just uses the Blitter?

[chicane]

Any idea if the game is truely for the STE hardware or just uses the Blitter?

It makes use of the DMA sample playback capability of the STE so it's most definitely STE only. Sorry!

[tjlazer]

ok thanks, no worries I have an STE too.

[vebxenon]

Any news?

[chicane]

Any news?

Nothing right now sorry - real life keeps getting in the way!

Having said this, I think the version in the most recently released disk image is more or less feature complete - there are just some minor code optimisations I plan to put in place to improve the frame rate before I consider a "final" release.

Once I've done that, it's onto the next project - a properly done version of Out Run for the ST! (Maybe).

[Marakatti]

Out Run! WOW!!! Please do it, please please please!!!

[vebxenon]

Any news?

Nothing right now sorry - real life keeps getting in the way!

Having said this, I think the version in the most recently released disk image is more or less feature complete - there are just some minor code optimisations I plan to put in place to improve the frame rate before I consider a "final" release.

Once I've done that, it's onto the next project - a properly done version of Out Run for the ST! (Maybe).

Thanks for your great work

PS: That's the last version? http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 30787.html

[AtariCrypt]

I'm still laughing at Marko's comment above!!! It's just an Atari ST thing I guess.....

[Ragstaff]

Registering my moral support for an Outrun remake!

[chicane]

Thanks for your great work

PS: That's the last version? http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 30787.html

Thanks! The version you've linked to there is indeed the most recent version.

[bober]

Thanks for your conversion.

However, I've found one small issue - you should switch to lowres (especially, when current is midres on).

[moebiusrising]

Can't wait to see the final version, this was incredibly fun to watch this WIP and I'm blown away the STe is comparable to an arcade release considering those arcade boards had dedicated processing for audio, sprites. Great job!

[liqmat]

Any chance you can add some animation movement to the wheels like the arcade version?

Probably not for this release - it's a surprising amount of work!

Maybe once I've got the initial release of Pole Position out of the way, I'll be motivated to do a second release that converts all of the remaining C code to 68000 and catches all of the remaining fine details of the arcade version. Maybe

How much money would it require to motivate you to finish this with the "remaining fine details"? It is such a great piece of work you have created it would be a shame to stop just short of complete.

[chicane]

Hi everyone, OP here.

I've finally managed to carve out some more time to work on the remaining issues and get the game into a state that I think might be considered for a 'final' release. Lots of small annoyances have been resolved (full list is below) and there's a significant frame rate boost from the October 2016 preview release - partially thanks to the new GCC 7.1 compiler kindly made available by ggn, dml and co.

A zipfile containing the .ST disk image is attached to this post - please take a look and let me know if there's anything that you think should stop this from being a final release of the game. As with the previous release, an STE with one meg is required.

polepos_ste_1meg_rc1.st.zip

Here's a list of all the improvements I can think of that have been implemented since the last release - it might not necessarily be exhaustive:

- Game logic now runs at 60 frames per second instead of 50, bringing the speed and difficulty in line with the arcade game;
- The sky gradient is back;
- The final billboard on the right before the start line is now correct;
- The volume of the skid sound sample has been reduced to a reasonable level;
- Mount Fuji in the background is now rendered in the correct colour;
- Several optimisations mainly around text rendering;
- The 'EXTENDED PLAY!' and 'POLE POSITION!' in-game text now has the exclamation mark as per the arcade version;
- Puddle sprites no longer overlap car sprites;
- Code compiled with GCC 7.1 for a significant performance increase.

Sorry to all the people who have requested the wheel spinning animation - I'm struggling to find a way to do this in a reasonable amount of time so it's unlikely to make the cut.

[Marakatti]

Wow! Amazing improvement. This is superb version. Many thanks

[catmando]

It's so close to being spot on but I'm still a +1 for the wheel movement as it gives the feeling of speed.

Also is there a reason why the gameplay structure doesn't follow the qualify then race format of the arcade? This version starts with the 'prepare to qualify' speech but takes you straight to the race as there are other cars on the first lap and the lap doesn't finish after 1 complete run of the circuit.

[chicane]

Wow! Amazing improvement. This is superb version. Many thanks

Thanks!

Also is there a reason why the gameplay structure doesn't follow the qualify then race format of the arcade? This version starts with the 'prepare to qualify' speech but takes you straight to the race as there are other cars on the first lap and the lap doesn't finish after 1 complete run of the circuit.

Are you sure that the game format doesn't match that of the arcade?

Upon starting a new game, you'll be launched into a qualifying session. This qualifying session does feature opponent cars (as per the arcade), and your car will come to a stop after finishing the first lap, assuming that your lap time falls below the qualifying threshold (under 72 seconds I think). Following this, the game will proceed to the race session. Alternatively, if your lap time doesn't fall below the qualifying threshold, the qualifying session continues until you run out of time.

All of this logic is taken directly from the code of the arcade version and should therefore be behaviourally aligned with that of the arcade version. The only thing that may cause it to differ is that the arcade version you've played (either the real thing or MAME-based) might have different dip switch settings that set a different number of laps, qualifying threshold time etc.

Would you mind taking another look and confirming that ST Pole Position definitely differs from the arcade version in the ways you've described?

[catmando]

Also is there a reason why the gameplay structure doesn't follow the qualify then race format of the arcade? This version starts with the 'prepare to qualify' speech but takes you straight to the race as there are other cars on the first lap and the lap doesn't finish after 1 complete run of the circuit.

Are you sure that the game format doesn't match that of the arcade?

Upon starting a new game, you'll be launched into a qualifying session. This qualifying session does feature opponent cars (as per the arcade), and your car will come to a stop after finishing the first lap, assuming that your lap time falls below the qualifying threshold (under 72 seconds I think). Following this, the game will proceed to the race session. Alternatively, if your lap time doesn't fall below the qualifying threshold, the qualifying session continues until you run out of time.

All of this logic is taken directly from the code of the arcade version and should therefore be behaviourally aligned with that of the arcade version. The only thing that may cause it to differ is that the arcade version you've played (either the real thing or MAME-based) might have different dip switch settings that set a different number of laps, qualifying threshold time etc.

Would you mind taking another look and confirming that ST Pole Position definitely differs from the arcade version in the ways you've described?

I apologise, my gaming needed improving, it does indeed go to race mode if there's 28 seconds or more left on the clock.

Again, maybe it's my gaming but I it did feel like there was something different in the control-ability of the car between qualifying and race. The car feels more controllable in quali, race mode feels seems to see-saw between sluggish and too responsive. But maybe I just need more practise...

[junosix]

This is brilliant! Amazing work, man.