Hello Brian,
you wrote:
BP> - You are correct, the whole game is basically "fun with playfields" except
BP> for the cursor, which is player 1. I tried to integrate player 2 to mark
BP> the important car, but ran into problems. (See below)
BP> - I consider myself very lucky on this game, as I started to reach the end
BP> and integrate nice little things I wanted to put in, I ran out of memory.
BP> After reshuffling my graphics and sound data to avoid crossing pages, I had
BP> about 16 bytes left out of the 4K on the current version of the game.
After a quick look at your code (Distella), i think,
you still have plenty of room for improvements, which
would save you a lot of bytes.
Examples:
lda #$00 lda #$00
sta PF0 sta PF0
lda #$00 sta PF2
sta PF1 sta PF2
lda #$00
sta PF2
4 bytes saved
DEC $D4 lda $D4
DEC $D4 sec
DEC $D4 sbc #6
DEC $D4 sta $D4
DEC $D4 lda $D5
DEC $D4 sec <- necessary?
DEC $D5 sbc #6
DEC $D5 sta $D5
DEC $D5 tax
DEC $D5
DEC $D5
DEC $D5
LDX $D5
11-12 bytes saved
The following block could be improved even more:
LF09D: LDA #$00
STA $D3
LDA #$40
BIT SWCHA <- try shifting instead of many BITs/ANDs
BNE LF0AF
LDA #$03
STA $D3 <- store only once _after_ JMP to LF0F2
JMP LF0F2 <- use Bxx is such cases (BNE here)
LF0AF: LDA #$80
BIT SWCHA
BNE LF0BD
LDA #$04
STA $D3
JMP LF0F2
LF0BD: LDA #$10
BIT SWCHA
BNE LF0CB
LDA #$05
STA $D3
JMP LF0F2
LF0CB: LDA #$20
BIT SWCHA
BNE LF0D9
LDA #$06
STA $D3
JMP LF0F2
LF0D9:
If you change the expected results in $D3 a bit, it
could look like this (saves more than 75%!):
ldy #4
lda SWCHA
.loop:
asl
bcc LF0F2
dey
bne .loop
...
LF0F2:
sty $D3
There are other places too (positioning of player 0,
...), were the code could be compressed.
You should also try to use the wasted space where you
align your code/data.
I think you should investigate some time in optimising
your code a bit, as this would make your game even
better.
If not, others (me?) might even want to make that better
version, the concept of the game is just too good to be
"wasted" ;-)
BP> - If you follow the links for Philip Cheng on my web site, he has a few
BP> links to other Rush Hour websites, including a fellow that has a java
BP> version that has different puzzles each week.
I already did this and found a lot of very challenging
puzzles. Thanx.
BP> Also, I have added additional content to my Crazy Valet web page, including
BP> a download page at which you can download a demonstration version of the
BP> game to decide if you want to request a cartridge.
BP> And as always, questions or comments are welcome.
I tried your demo and i think the puzzles are far to
easy (for me?). I expect, that they are getting more
difficult at higher levels, so maybe you should
demonstrate this in your demo, too. Just use every
5th puzzle.
Thomas
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