> From: Dan Knapp [mailto:dankna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Incidentally, this (256x256) is the exact size of
> Britannia, at least in
> > the Commodore 64 and PC versions of Ultima IV (and
> probably all versions).
> > Before I wrote a map decoder for Ultima IV and deciphered
> the game map
> > file on the floppy I would have sworn that the surface of
> Britannia had to
> > have been larger than that since 256x256 doesn't sound
> very large, but in
> > practice it does yield quite a large world.
> Oh, yes. It may be sacrilege to mention it on this list,
> but Hyrule is
> only 16*16 (in Zelda 1), plus the dungeons which are really
> just a few
> basic room-patterns used multiple times. So 256*256 is more
> locations by a
> factor of 256. However, you can't possibly fit that many
> distinct locations
> in 16k - at a byte per location that would be 64k; multiply
> by 10 or more.
Speaking of sacrelige - never say something can't be done on the 2600 in
this list! A 256*256 grid fully populated would need 65536 cells to be
encoded true, but mapping that much area is going to be very
time-consuming, and not worth the effort. Instead, all you would have to
do is create a sparse-array of "populated" cells, and have a handful of
"generic" "empty" cells which could be used for cells not in the
sparse-array. You could use a simple function to map broad details
(desert, water, forest, mountain, snow) and have maybe two or three
generic examples of each type. When a cell is referenced that is not in
the list, pick a random cell of the relevant type and use that one.
I could envisage a 256*256 world being able to be encoded in 16K.
Admittedly only a small percentage of it would be actually defined (say
10% - still a large number of cells) but most users would not notice
this, and the world will seem incredibly rich and "explorable".
Personally, I think 256*256 would be overkill on the VCS, but I'd love
to see someone do it. (And I am sure someone will.)
--
Amos Bannister
Principal Developer
Stratagem Infobase
West Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
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