Over the past week or so, I've been playing around with C and the z88dk (z80 development kit), and I've finally got something stable enough to run on an emulated Sinclair ZX81 +16K, which I released yesterday and can be downloaded from here - I recommend the EightyOne emulator (just search for it). If you want to see the source code, a partially commented version is posted on pastebin. Bounce is freeware, by the way.
The great thing about programming for a limited platform - and they don't come much more limited than the old ZX81 now, do they? - is that it forces you to focus on the gameplay as the graphical capabilities don't really exist, and there's no sound chip or anything fancy. So, I think I have developed a fun but simple game (with Bounce) in no time at all really, and one that would work well on a portable device, such as a smart phone or something similar, as simple games work well to relieve the boredom of travelling. As the source is in C, this makes all of the logic very portable too!
Well, what next? I think I might do a shooty thing.
I've started on my new simple game Shoot, and have found a way to use my print() function in the code for Bounce so that I don't have to use the #define stuff. Basically, my new function converts the z88dk stored chars and converts them to ZX81-friendly codes, and it sends them. This has allowed me to add an inverse function (or, in ZX81 speak, graphics mode on) too.
ReplyDeleteShoot should hopefully be finished soon, and the code will be posted here. You'll see how much easier I've made things for myself... and of course, providing the latest nightly build is stable, the zx_setcursorpos(x, y); function might now work too. Bonus!