New ST project - Pole Position arcade conversion

[marss]

thanks

[chicane]

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...

I don't think there's anything in the code that varys the car handling between qualifying and race. I suspect that the frame rate is a little lower during the race session (due to the higher number of cars being moved around the track) and that this has an effect on how the car feels to drive. If this is the case, you'd notice the car handling becoming more volatile in the later laps of the race session when up to 8 (I think) CPU cars are being moved around.

This is brilliant! Amazing work, man.

Thanks!

thanks

Pleasure!

[Eero Tamminen]

I just tried the new version quickly and it's great! And I haven't yet even tried it with sound (as my speakers are currently otherwise occupied).

[bober]

Trying version 'Sept23_2017'.
Switching to lores when desktop is in midres still doesn't work.

[vebxenon]

Oh, I'm going to test the new version. Thanks .

[vebxenon]

I'm really impressed! Thanks veryy much!

[tcat]

Hi,

Just discovered this game, that I only know from Speccy, althought it debuted on 8-bit ATARIs. I tried the Sep'2016 version on my real thing STFM, TOS1.04 with addon Blitter. Plays very well. So I can confirm STE code seems working with STFM blitter too, later versions possibly not, as there is DMA specific code, and that piece of h/w is missing on plain STFM machines.

I wonder how many clolours I can see, as ST palette is 16 colours, I feel can see quite more than 16, is it at all possible?

Many thanks for sharing.
Tomas

[jury]

From what I see on the screens attached to this thread, its rather max 16 colors ( but I could be of course wrong )
But if it goes for the 16 colors palette in ST series, well, there are quite some tricks which allow to display more. Look at background here:
https://youtu.be/_K195FwUi2g?t=7m34s
Just background in this game has more that 16 colors. And there were many games displaying more than 16 colors at once.

[tcat]

Hi,

well, there are quite some tricks which allow to display more. Look at background here

Amazing, I wonder what these tricks are. When I look at NEO drawing prog, there is a spectrum of dots in a colour picker palette. This also appears to me as more than 16, possible?

Tomas

[Marakatti]

Photoshop says Gods uses between 55-60 colors onscreen on STe if the sky gradient is counted.

[chicane]

24 colours in this screenshot:

polepos.png

Tcat - the ST is capable of 16 on-screen colours from a palette of 512 if no "tricks" are used. In Pole Position, I've used "Timer B" interrupts to change some of those 16 colours at certain vertical positions on the screen. I imagine Neochrome and Gods do something similar.

[JCCyC]

I just looked at the cover art, and I recognize that car! It's a Renault RS10, from 1979/80.

[Daveeeboy]

Hi Guys,

I am new here so this might be a silly question!

Which is the best machine to play this on and which control method ??

[chicane]

Hi Daveeeboy,

A 1 Meg STE (or emulation of this machine - e.g. Hatari) is required. Joystick is the only control option available - although if you're playing using emulation this may well involve using the keyboard to emulate the joystick.

[Daveeeboy]

Hi Chicane,

Thank you for your reply.

Pole Position was my all time favourite arcade game back in the 80's.

I am not very technical so what is the best way for me to get your game playing on my home pc or should I buy an Atari STE and where can I buy your game from please?

Many thanks
David

[Eero Tamminen]

Pole Position was my all time favourite arcade game back in the 80's.

I am not very technical so what is the best way for me to get your game playing on my home pc or should I buy an Atari STE and where can I buy your game from please?

If you use Linux, Hatari emulator is typically available from the default distribution repositories. Here's for example Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Hatari package info: https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal/hatari

For Windows and Mac you could download a version from here: https://download.tuxfamily.org/hatari/

On Windows, you might prefer STeem emulator instead of Hatari (unless you want in addition to Atari ST + STE emulation, also Atari TT + Falcon emulation which are offered only by Hatari).