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Santa, Hydra and 3D Game Programming — Parallax Forums

Santa, Hydra and 3D Game Programming

GiemmeGiemme Posts: 85
edited 2008-01-15 23:51 in Propeller 1
Dear Hydra Community,

this year Santa brought me as present an Hydra game machine.

I·was so exited to navigate into the content of the CD in particular I am very impressed of·"Back Art of 3D Game Programming" e-book that Andrè added as gift.
Many idea to develop are floating into my mind:
- zx81 emulator (this was my first home computer 28 years ago)
- 3D game engine (porting Andrè's 3D Engine)
- mandelbrot engine (circuit cellar ciarla's engine)
but where shall I start?

I wish to everybody for this year health, success and Hydra passion..

In Xing you can find more information·about me:
http://www.xing.com/profile/Gianni_Metitieri

Regards
Gianni

P.S. Thaks Andrè to have produced this kit
hydra.jpg
492 x 369 - 56K

Comments

  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2008-01-06 01:00
    Welcome Gianni! [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    Glad you like the Hydra Kit and Propeller Chip. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    There is already a small simple 3D engine that people have been playing with on the Prop.
    I don't remember where it was posted, But it was a spinning hat.

    Our guru coder Baggers also has been playing around with 3D.

    I think the best place to start is by learning SPIN (It's much like the BASIC of your old ZX81). From there playing around with simple programs and what not.
    Also over in the Propeller part of this forum you can find all kinds of useful information about SPIN and propeller ASM!

    Thanks!

    --Andrew Arsenault.

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    Share the knowledge: propeller.wikispaces.com
    Lets make some music: www.andrewarsenault.com/hss
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2008-01-06 05:05
    Ym2413a said...
    There is already a small simple 3D engine that people have been playing with on the Prop.
    I don't remember where it was posted, But it was a spinning hat.



    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=605385


    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • GiemmeGiemme Posts: 85
    edited 2008-01-08 00:04
    Hi Andre, Paul

    thanks for your advice and for the link to the 3D engine
    I will start programming with something easy like a ZX81 emulator to move then later into a 3D engine.
    After 3 days full immersion into the Hydra and Propeller manuals I get the basics to programm into Spin code (last time that I was reading so quickly a book was the DaVinci Code.... but this is another story).

    I know that spin programming is not 100% object oriented but I will start the emulator with a clear class model.
    The model is designed with Sparks Enterprice Architect: http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/

    I will produce a prototype during the next days because:
    - firstly I want to establish that I have the skills required to produce an emulator
    - secondly I need to test Spin's speed when running cut down emulator to gauge if it would be possible through optimisation to fulfill my speed requirements.

    Regards
    Gianni
    ZX81Emulator.jpg
    909 x 543 - 58K
  • JT CookJT Cook Posts: 487
    edited 2008-01-08 00:17
    One thing you have to remember is that you have only 32k for the entire system, and it looks like you have a framebuffer anlone setup for 98k.

    The biggest problem with either an emulator or a 3D engine is going to be the graphics because you aren't left with much room for frame buffer and code.
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2008-01-08 09:53
    You'd be better off using a character map for the display as that would only use 768 bytes ( + rom font of 64 characters 512 bytes ) slightly smaller than the 98k [noparse];)[/noparse]

    Good luck with this project giemme, as a ZX81 emulator would be great for the prop. to see 3D Monster maze again would bring happy days to many [noparse];)[/noparse]

    Baggers.
  • GiemmeGiemme Posts: 85
    edited 2008-01-08 13:39
    Hi Baggers

    thanks. I will use the a character map. In the meantime I ordered 512K Hydra memory card... just in case.

    Gianni
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2008-01-08 14:01
    ok cool [noparse]:D[/noparse]
    Out of curiosity, do you know asm? another thought I had a while back,
    when people were talking about the C64 emu, I was thinking Spectrum emu,
    to get anywhere near 1mip for the Z80 you'd need to do it in ASM,
    and most likely with the large instruction set it has, you'll have to use LMM or some kind of derivative.

    Can't wait to see this pan out though, looking forward to it [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Baggers.
  • GiemmeGiemme Posts: 85
    edited 2008-01-08 17:38
    I dream in assembler [noparse]:)[/noparse]
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2008-01-08 19:38
    Snap, Cool [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Well, it'll have to be done in asm, for speed reasons, and because of the size of asm, you'll probably be best using that HX512 for ram, and use all the HUB ram for the emulator [noparse];)[/noparse]

    You should easily be able to get the display in a single cog including font as ZX81 only had 64 chars in rom [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Baggers.

    Getting excited now, to see good ol' T'Rex's return [noparse];)[/noparse]
  • GiemmeGiemme Posts: 85
    edited 2008-01-09 07:05
    Hi
    I startet a new topic: ZX81 emulator on HYDRA
    http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=33&m=241640

    Your feedback is welcome.

    Regards
    Gianni
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2008-01-09 08:51
    Like always, if anyone needs any sound programming. *lol*
    Just send me a buzz. [noparse];)[/noparse]

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Share the knowledge: propeller.wikispaces.com
    Lets make some music: www.andrewarsenault.com/hss
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2008-01-15 23:51
    Giemme,

    Glad you like the HYDRA [noparse]:)[/noparse] Also, there is a HYDRA 512K memory card. If you need to use a large memory that card facilitates that.

    Andre'
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