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I realize my final goal of this whole noodlings thing is to make a 'functionally accurate but visually muddled' version of Space Harrier, including proper scaling maths to figure just how many blocks to draw at any given time, BUT really, even though the scaling math is accurate as hell, it's still boxed into MZX character graphics...

Basically, this but in MZX form:

https://www.youtube....h?v=8iNSqY4qjSU

This isn't a journal entry as much as it is a statement of understanding my own flaws and weaknesses.

Take your time on tying it together. You already saw UFO50 prove that a collection of smaller games tied together smartly can really make a disparate collection of ideas cohesive...so yeah...take your time on this part...this might be the most IMPORTANT part of this game's creation (NO PRESSURE! LOL)

No video for this one, just copy and past it into a new board with a robot so you can see what it does.

I'm basically playingn around with 'subpixel' stuff, treating character blocks as 'pixels' and the actual screen resolution as where things are...this is possibly a different approach to a shooter....

ANyway, the demo just takes some variables with a brush point being a pixel on the screen that bounces around the edges, but when it draws, it is divided by character block sizes to know where to PUT things. That's it. What I hope to do next is to do subpixels with half blocks and sprites to basically make an 80x50 pixel screen to play with. It's not my ideal for a shooty, but I'm also opting to put it in the worst display format, so I guess I get what I'm inviting lol...

set "mzx_speed" to 2
. "subpixel xy locations"
set "local1" to 30
set "local2" to 30
. "subpixel directions to move"
set "local3" to 1
set "local4" to 2


: "do"

inc "local1" by "local3"
inc "local2" by "local4"

if "local1" > 639 then "bounceLeft"
if "local1" < 0 then "bounceRight"
if "local2" > 349 then "bounceUp"
if "local2" < 0 then "bounceDown"

. "make copies to get character location through division of pixel to block"
set "local5" to "local1"
set "local6" to "local2"
divide "local5" by 8
divide "local6" by 14

if c?? Robot p?? at "local5" "local6" then "do"
put c0f CustomFloor pdb at "local5" "local6"
cycle 1
goto "do"


: "bounceUp"
set "local4" to random 3 to 8
multiply "local4" by -1
goto "do"

: "bounceDown"
set "local4" to random 3 to 8
goto "do"

: "bounceLeft"
set "local3" to random 2 to 8
multiply "local3" by -1
goto "do"

: "bounceRight"
set "local3" to random 2 to 8
goto "do"

Anyway, the subpixel bouncy code thingy...If you increase the range of random beyond a character size, it will skip blocks, but this is fine for sprites. Drawing a line, not so much, and if drawing is your goal, you will need to modify the tracking of the last and current positions and PUT character from last to current position on every frame. That's not anything I'm interested in right now. Maybe for the ANSI editor, which I sorta did a version of subpixel on it...

I'm not even sure why I would call it subpixel...it's 'subchar'...right? What's the terminology for this? SubNormal? lol Abnormal is more like it! "I'm going to figure out where I am, but on an atomic scale!" And most people would be like, "How about you're in a room? There's a proper location." And I'm like, 'NO! WHAT MICRO ATOMIC MEASURMENT IS MY LEFT ELBOW AT!? I NEED TO KNOW!"

And thus, a programmer was born.

Oh and to folks who are not using sprites, you can GOTOXY a robot to the final location. This was actually the point of this excersize cause I'm trying to make Discs of Tron but make it in a format that ZZT could possibly deliver...but at MZX speeds...lol

So...I've always been into demoscene-ish ansi/ascii art (if you couldn't tell already) and one of the things I hate about MZX, TheDraw, PabloDraw, etc. is that none of them work in the way I think and create, so like any other mofo ever in the world of computer program software design, I decided to make new software that does the same things other software already does but differently because of course.

Anyway, part of getting there is tackling mousepx/mousepy and doing the big money feature of modern ANSI editors, which is 'pixel style editing' using half blocks...

I'm almost there...Still trying to figure out the robot, but it's code is short...

set "mzx_speed" to 2
char '„'
char edit '„' to 248 240 240 248 156 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

set "spr0_unbound" to 1
set "spr0_refx" to "thisx"
set "spr0_refy" to "thisy"
set "spr0_width" to 1
set "spr0_height" to 1


: "do"
put c0f Sprite p00 at "mousepx" "mousepy"
if "buttons" = 1 then "draw"
goto "do"

: "draw"
set "local1" to "mousepx"
set "local2" to "mousepy"
divide "local1" by 8
divide "local2" by 14
set "local3" to "mousepy"
dec "local3" by 7
divide "local3" by 14
if "local3" < "local2" then "doNormal"
goto "#checkOldPix"
put c0f CustomFloor pdc at "local1" "local2"
goto "do"
: "donormal"
goto "#checkOldPix"
put c0f CustomFloor pdf at "local1" "local2"
goto "do"


: "checkOldPix"
if c?? CustomFloor p?? at "local1" "local2" then "bigPix"
goto "#return"

: "bigPix"
put c0f CustomFloor pdb at "local1" "local2"
goto "#return"

And here's the result:
https://youtu.be/FQtRW5B_FD0

It's ALMOST works but one direction doesn't work...so I'll sort that out...next up is 'shader mode', but after that I'm going to do some wacky stuff these ANSI editor folks never thought of because I'm THAT cool.

ALso, I"m not that cool, I just have weird ideas and lots of beer.

That difference is what probably broke it, the 16 vs. 14. There's no need to convert it, it wouldn't be the actual intended characters at that point. Thanks for pointing that out.