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Hydra "Pic of the Day" Video Journal Start — Parallax Forums

Hydra "Pic of the Day" Video Journal Start

AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
edited 2006-08-11 18:46 in Propeller 1
I am winding down the development of the Hydra, the book is getting near completion in a couple more weeks (my part at least). So, before there is nothing more to record, I thought I might start doing a "pic of the day", and show you my dev station and see if you can figure out what I am doing [noparse]:)[/noparse] If course, 90% of the book and demos are all done, so all that stuff we can't take any pics of, but the new stuff I can. Thus, I will try and take a pic a day of what I am doing in a high enough rez that you can zoom in and see if you can read my code and or see what the apps are doing [noparse]:)[/noparse]

So to start here's what I am doing right now at 2:56AM --

Andre'
hydra_pod_7_20_06.jpg
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Comments

  • JavalinJavalin Posts: 892
    edited 2006-07-20 10:14
    Hay Andre,

    Well if nothing else you've certainly got plenty of kit - I thought my "bedroom/workshop" was bad!!

    James
  • sharpiesharpie Posts: 150
    edited 2006-07-20 10:23
    Is that pitfall? Just as I wrote that I noticed the "Loading map file pitfall_demo_map_04.map"
    Very cool.
  • ESPESP Posts: 25
    edited 2006-07-20 10:23
    Hi Andre/All,

    perhaps a 2600 emulator? Looks like Pitfall?

    Robin

    P.S. How long till the Hydra???? [noparse]:)[/noparse]
  • ESPESP Posts: 25
    edited 2006-07-20 10:24
    Sharpie you beat me by 2 seconds [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Robin
  • T&E EngineerT&E Engineer Posts: 1,396
    edited 2006-07-20 12:28
    I have wanted to do this for years. It·will finally be available to the public. All I have right now is Emulators on my XBOX. I want to write my own games without having to be a C/C++ programmer in a stand alone configuaration unit. Hopefully the Propeller programming will be more drag and drop and not heavy duty code writing. Lets see. I'm willing to learn!

    Great job!
  • Kaos KiddKaos Kidd Posts: 614
    edited 2006-07-20 14:25
    I caught that within seconds of seeing it...
    Way cool!

    Added:

    Just another reason to drool over the Hydra system...· [noparse]:)[/noparse]



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    Propeller + Hardware - extra bits for the bit bucket =· 1 Coffeeless KaosKidd

    ·
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-20 19:21
    Well, there is no drag and drop programming or RAD on the propeller -- sorry [noparse]:)[/noparse] The tool chain shown is mine and for asset management, generation, but in the future someone can always write a drag and drop GUI, so you can program like in VB etc. with objects and images and it compiles down to propeller compatible code. However, game development will NEVER be simple [noparse]:)[/noparse] It just gets more and more complex each day. But, in this case for this chapter I am showing a tool chain and wrote some extra export tools to help convert bitmaps, tile maps, and other stuff into a file format the hydra can understand as an entree to show what you need to do to create a tool chain to make games.

    Andre'
    ·
  • JT CookJT Cook Posts: 487
    edited 2006-07-21 04:51
    Hey Andre, you should mirror this thread in the xgamestation forums.
  • Fabian NunezFabian Nunez Posts: 29
    edited 2006-07-22 04:21
    Pitfall, cool [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Question: Is that weird fringing on the display an artifact of the digital camera used to take the picture, or a result of using composite video?
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-24 07:31
    Well, its 12:29am on monday and now its time to "think". One can't write/code 24/7, I have to stop sometimes to think about what I want to write next.

    To answer the poster about the photos, they are purposely taken to be hard to see. When photographing images on computer screen first you must use the right speed, etc. and use a tripod, so things don't shake. On top of that, the light meter at night over compensates for the darkness around, and washes the image out. In real life everything looks perfect, but I don't want everyone to see everything yet!·Anyway, here are a couple more things I was working on --

    Andre
    hydra_pod_7_21_06.jpg
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    hydra_pod_7_23_06.jpg
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  • T&E EngineerT&E Engineer Posts: 1,396
    edited 2006-07-24 10:51
    The first pic looks like it could be a Centepede clone game and I'm not sure about the other one. Very nice.
  • sharpiesharpie Posts: 150
    edited 2006-07-24 11:16
    The one on the right reminds me of an old amiga game I can't remember the name of..
  • BuddhaBuddha Posts: 25
    edited 2006-07-24 13:27
    Andre, it looks like you've been able to get some great results out of the Propeller. That's a nice Commodore monitor you've got there. I spent about 5 years staring at one of those when I was younger and growing up with the Commodore 64.

    BTW, right after I got a PC and the Borland Turbo C++ compiler in 1994, I picked up "Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus" and read it until both covers fell off. (Being a 14 year old kid, it took a while for all of the concepts to sink in.) And while it took a hell of a lot more than one reference book to get here, I'm now a professional game programmer in the industry, with two shipped titles to my name. Your work definitely had something to do with that success. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-24 19:04
    That's cool. I am glad all the pain and sacrifice to write all these game dev books makes a difference to people [noparse]:)[/noparse] Of course this Hydra stuff is for beginners since my target reader might not know anything about games or be a student, so its basic game dev stuff, but still a lot of neat things and demos. Of course "basic" in game dev means spliting atoms more or less [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Andre'
  • Kaos KiddKaos Kidd Posts: 614
    edited 2006-07-24 19:34
    I'd give quite a few of my not so spair bits to see some code...
    [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    Propeller + Hardware - extra bits for the bit bucket =· 1 Coffeeless KaosKidd

    ·
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-07-24 21:04
    Looking at those pictures makes me feel like a kid again.
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-25 00:50
    The code for everything is surprisingly simple (the single cog tile/sprite engine isn't) for the most part, its all straightforward stuff. The use of my tile engine saves a lot of space. The trick really is the "intergration" of assets, that's the hard part, getting from the PC to the Hydra (propeller), there are no tools, so myself and the demo coders have to write everything which is REALLY time consuming. Anyway, finishing this chapter today and tomorow starts AI.

    Andre'
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-27 10:14
    Here's what I am working on at 3.14am in the morning... from the chapter on sub-tile animation techniques....

    Andre'
    hydra_pod_7_27_06.jpg
    1728 x 1152 - 491K
  • Kaos KiddKaos Kidd Posts: 614
    edited 2006-07-27 12:41
    Looks like a knock off of space invaders...
    I love the graphics... reminds me of the "older" arcade games...

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    Propeller + Hardware - extra bits for the bit bucket =· 1 Coffeeless KaosKidd

    ·
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-07-27 16:54
    I like how the sprites look. (lol)
    Has anyone had any luck with getting more then 4 colors out of every 16x16 screen area yet?
    I'm just wondering.
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-27 19:19
    It depends on the driver. We have drivers that do 4-colors per tile/sprite and drivers that do all 86 colors per pixel as well.
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-07-27 20:26
    Yeah, since the system is all firmware, there is going to be a lot of variety between games and programs depending on what mixture of firmware people use.

    Using different GPU drivers and sound engines would almost be like changing the system's sound and video hardware!
    Making the system very scalable.

    Also it leaves room for firmware updates and improvments!
    Much Fun! ^^
  • James AndersonJames Anderson Posts: 52
    edited 2006-07-27 21:58
    that is a thing of beauty.. @smile.gif

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  • El PaisaEl Paisa Posts: 375
    edited 2006-07-29 12:26
    Andre',

    Will be interesting to know if You or Parallax will come out first with a Hydra system.

    Any comments?
  • T&E EngineerT&E Engineer Posts: 1,396
    edited 2006-07-29 12:47
    I'm confused. I thought that Andre was designing the Hydra as a Parallax product.

    Is there 2 Hydra systems?
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2006-07-29 20:11
    T&E Engineer said...
    I'm confused. I thought that Andre was designing the Hydra as a Parallax product.

    Is there 2 Hydra systems?

    There might be. It all depends on how the first one sells and if there is enough of a following.
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-07-29 20:33
    I am the designer and developer of it, they are the manufacturer and marketer of it. So, first all the assets have to be complete, product manufactured, then it will go up for sale on their site, and then shortly after all the distributors that want it will pick it up. And of course it will go for sale on my site as well.

    Andre'
  • T&E EngineerT&E Engineer Posts: 1,396
    edited 2006-07-29 22:03
    This is what I was thinking. Thank you for the clarification.
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-08-08 05:10
    Well, the Hydra book is coming to a close, I am working on the last chapter right now which is on Physics, AI, and Collision detection. I am actually editing it and should be done with it tonight/tommorow. That's the end of the book's technical matter, everything else is narrative (an overview of one of my engines and the demo coder showcase chapter), appendices, etc. Then we do what's called "author review", where I edit the editors edits (like recursive writing), I make the master CD, and that's it. All done. Also, the Hydra's should be back from manufacturing very soon and once I verify the first articles then manufacturing can begin in quantity.

    Here's an image of what I am playing with right now...

    After this week, I will start posting random images from the book and games until launch of the product.

    Andre'
    physics_demo_640_480_ss01.jpg
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  • El PaisaEl Paisa Posts: 375
    edited 2006-08-08 11:33
    Robotics arm positioning?

    COOL man.
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