Re: [stella] Atari Life

Subject: Re: [stella] Atari Life
From: jvmatthe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 23:52:10 -0400 (EDT)
> > Uhmm.. a 40 x 20 display takes up 100 of 128 available bytes (5 bytes
> > per line x 20 lines).  I seem to recall Video Life by Commavid, but
> > who actually has seen one?   Life traditionally requires a copy of the
> > screen to work correctly, but since we lack 72 extra bytes, I think a
> > "floating" update window of 3 or 5 lines will work.

I have a partially working life game that works on a 32x16 grid  that uses
only 128 bytes.  I still have some bugs to work out and I won't be working
on it anymore until Fall since I have my PhD preliminary exams in August
but it is certainly possible to optimize and probably squeeze in 32x20 or
more.  The trick is in the updating routine.  I don't recall all the details,
but I think my routine used 64 bytes to hold the grid and only used 3 or so
to do the update.  I recall being under 100 bytes completely, but I could
be wrong.

But I agree with Glenn that if you are going to work in the SuperCharger
environment, you should probably make the most of the extra RAM.  I wanted
to see what I could do with 128 bytes if I tried, so that is how mine ended
up.

matt

===========================================================================
 |||  John V. Matthews, III                             | PO Box 50355
 |||  NCSU Mathematics Graduate Student                 | Raleigh, NC 27650 
/ | \ http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/j/jvmatthe/www     | (919) 515 7324
===========================================================================


--
Archives updated once/day at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
Unsubscribing and other info at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html

Current Thread