Gfa Basic 32 game demos

[larrybtoys]

This is a 40 minute video of about 20 of the over 100 PC games I have written using GfA Basic 32 in the last 3 years or so. What an awesome language.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m2dtG-HhGU


Enjoy!

[(X)]

10 PRINT "You have achieved the goal of many an aspiring programmer. Well done!"
20 GOTO 10

[(X)]

Nice job on the editing. What app/tool did you use?

[larrybtoys]

The Screen Recording program I used was OBS Studio. Pretty easy to use and free....

[dragonjim]

Very nice selection. Nice to see GFA put to such good use.

[larrybtoys]

Apr 24, 2023 22:47:08 GMT 1 dragonjim said:

Very nice selection. Nice to see GFA put to such good use.

Thank you. I love GB 32. Just wish it had traditional sprites...

[larrybtoys]

Apr 24, 2023 13:46:43 GMT 1 (X) said:

10 PRINT "You have achieved the goal of many an aspiring programmer. Well done!"
20 GOTO 10

Thank you very much. That was a small selection of my works.

[larrybtoys]

OMG. I would love most of these features in Sprites....I have many games tabled in need of actual Sprites. Is GB32 getting an upgrade or is there some separate Sprite package being developed?

[Mork]

Hi Larry,
I was also very disappointed after purchasing the DOS-Version of GFA-Basic when I noticed, that it lacks the sprite-command which the Atari-Version has.
But your sprite in Lunar Lander looks and moves quite nice - how did you program it?

Many regards,
Mork

[larrybtoys]

I have a black mask of the ship with a white background that I place using SRCAND and a full color ship with a black background that I place using SRCPAINT. I have several versions of both with varying thrust levels. I read what is going to be under the ship prior to placing it in order to restore the background under the ship after it moves. Sorta like a sprite but with sprites you can have many of them at a time with little or no slowdown.

[Mork]

Yes, those sprite-routines should be written in machine-language.

[larrybtoys]

For sure. I would love to see GB32 support sprites and would even pay for addition. There are several game ideas I have aborted due to the lack of sprite support in GB32. I can simulate most of the sprite functions however it's too slow with more than just a few on the screen at a time. If it were handled in the background sorta like a mouse pointer it would be awesome.

[Mork]

Maybe using an Atari-ST emulator to get access to the sprite-commands of GFA-Basic 3.5 ?

[larrybtoys]

I dug out my manual for GFA Basic 3.5 for the Atari ST and it does not appear to have sprite support. It seems that the only sprite it has is nothing more than customizing the mouse pointer which I can already do. I would like to have 10-20 sprites moving around the screen with priority layers, collision detection, etc.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

[Mork]

Hi, the SPRITE-command uses the same BIOS-routines as the mouse-pointer but you can produce several sprites with this command, not only one.
archive.org/details/GFA_BASIC_Quick_Reference_Guide_for_the_Atari_ST/page/n159/mode/2up

[larrybtoys]

Can GB32 do the same?

[(X)]

I'd bet that GB32 can do that and more!

[larrybtoys]

I will look further into that. Perhaps it can have multiple MousePointers/Sprites...

[(X)]

One of the google results from: GFA Sprite editor...

A screenshot of a GFA programmer's Sprite editor.

github.com/edwinm/SPR_EDIT/blob/main/screenshots/screenshot-1.png

Here is information about GFA SPRITE according to ChatGPT Bing, so far I haven't seen anything that GB32 couldn't do or mimic:

In programming, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animated image that plays a specific role within a larger image environment⁴. Sprites can be used to represent objects or characters in a game⁴. They are often used in 2D video games and are integrated into a larger scene⁷.

In GFA-BASIC, which is an interpreter for the Atari ST, sprites are used in a similar way. There are resources available that delve into the theory behind pre-shifted sprites and how to use them in your sprite routine¹². There's also a sprite editor for the Atari ST written in GFA Basic available on GitHub³.

Sprites can be positioned or altered by setting attributes used during the hardware composition process⁷. They can be stored in a variable with a label, allowing you to store many related values all under the same label⁴[^10^]. This makes them very versatile for creating animations and interactive elements in your programs.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 9/19/2023
(1) What is a Sprite? - Definition from Techopedia. www.techopedia.com/definition/2046/sprite-computer-graphics.
(2) Sprite (computer graphics) - Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28computer_graphics%29.
(3) GFA Basic part 36b: Using pre-shifted sprites in our sprite routine. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYEUgzuUdEE.
(4) GFA Basic part 36a: The theory behind pre-shifted sprites. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDmJLoNA78.
(5) GitHub - edwinm/SPR_EDIT: Sprite editor for the Atari ST written in GFA .... github.com/edwinm/SPR_EDIT.
(6) undefined. studio.code.org/docs/concepts/game-lab/sprites/.
(7) . bing.com/search?q=what+are+sprites+in+programming.
(8) Sprite Lab | Code.org. code.org/educate/spritelab.
(9) Sprites I: Introduction to using sprites (C & ASM with SDCC) - CPCMANIA. www.cpcmania.com/Docs/Programming/Sprites_I_Introduction_to_using_sprites.htm.
(10) Tutorial: Programming Sprites in JavaScript | CodeHS. codehs.com/tutorial/andy/Programming_Sprites_in_JavaScript.
(11) undefined. www.geeksforgeeks.org/pygame-creating-sprites/.
(12) undefined. realpython.com/lessons/creating-sprites/.

I asked:"What features can you list as a framework for a GFA-BASIC Sprite"

GFA-BASIC is a powerful programming language that was popular on the Atari ST. It has a number of features that make it suitable for creating sprites and using them in your programs:

1. **Pre-shifted Sprites**: GFA-BASIC supports the use of pre-shifted sprites, which are a technique used to speed up the drawing of sprites¹². This involves creating multiple versions of each sprite, each shifted by one pixel, which can then be drawn quickly without needing to shift the sprite at runtime¹².

2. **Assembler-Level Calls**: GFA-BASIC allows for extreme optimizations for execution speed, supporting some direct assembler-level calls³. This means you can write parts of your program in assembly language, which can be used to optimize the drawing of sprites³.

3. **Embedded Assembler Code**: In addition to assembler-level calls, GFA-BASIC even allows you to embed sections of assembler code directly within the BASIC source code³. This can be used to further optimize your sprite routines³.

4. **Integration with GEM and TOS**: GFA-BASIC integrates neatly into GEM and TOS, the Atari ST's operating system, providing menus³. This means you can create programs that have a graphical user interface, which can interact with your sprites³.

5. **Sprite Routines**: There are resources available that delve into the theory behind pre-shifted sprites and how to use them in your sprite routine¹². This can help you understand how to best use sprites in your GFA-BASIC programs¹².

6. **Sprite Editor**: There's also a sprite editor for the Atari ST written in GFA Basic available on GitHub³. This tool can be used to create and edit your sprites before using them in your program³.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 9/19/2023
(1) GFA Basic part 36b: Using pre-shifted sprites in our sprite routine. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYEUgzuUdEE.
(2) GFA Basic part 36a: The theory behind pre-shifted sprites. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDmJLoNA78.
(3) GFA BASIC - Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFA_BASIC.

Again.  I don't see why GB32 couldn't do as much or better.

---

I am currently focusing on a GFA Editor Extension framework that should let GB32 coders easily develop their own GLL (Gfa Editor Extensions) to speed up their GB32 coding and offer virtually unlimited customisation of the GFA Editor.  

Imagine:

• a built-in sprite editor,
• an HSL to RGB color picker,
• a Refactor utility activated by a "right click on selected text" for quick text substitution from 'all occurences' to 'user provided substitute'.

I am working on some basic preliminary features: 

• A one button click macro that saves, compiles, removes and reinserts the GLL under development in a split second.
• An easy to manage TreeView utility that should serve as a neat and tidy place to store and recall all manner of utilities and features.
  
• A visual WYSIWIG form editor and an Event response editor.

No small task, but, I believe, worth it in the end.

[larrybtoys]

I still need to research some more but even if GB32 can mimic most sprite functions it would be much easier if they were available as specific features. Example:

SPRITE(X_Position, Y_Position, Width, Length, Priority, Transparent_Color)

Then some additional features: SPRITE_COLLIDE(Priority) would be a number of the sprite that the sprite collided with.

Stuff like that would make building a game MUCH easier for a novice programmer. I may not be a novice programmer but I am not an expert. I would like to see some beginner programmers get into GB32 instead of some of the game engines out there.

[(X)]

I think GB23 is up to the task. I can't see why any GB23 coder couldn't write all the SPRITE commands as functions/procedures and even export them into a GFA LG32 library for any coder to import. A little ChatGPT here and there and Robert's one of your parent's brother!

[larrybtoys]

I do agree although that may be a bit above my skill set. The only problem I can think of is that sprites need to be extremely fast as in machine language fast (usually when there are more than just a few on the screen at once). I don't think they would be fast enough in a compiled version of a GB32 program. I could be wrong and frankly I would like to be wrong. If they could be fast enough to be simply called using procedures, that would be great...

[(X)]

How fast do we need to go?  Perhaps using Direct2D in GB32, might open the door to lightening speed because D2D automatically takes advantage of High Speed Graphic Card Rendering capabilities.

However, I'd be surprised if even multiple SPRITE functionality absolutely requires D2D.

As I've show, the PaintPicture command is no slouch at handling even 20 'sprites' in the Road Runner demo.

We can even define a 'sprites' as a 'borderless form' and implement color keying, variable transparency, scaling, and even rotation fairly easily.

The trick would be to implement the older sprite commands into GB32 so one could in theory copy and paste GFA-BASIC sprite code into GB32. But, I think it could be done. And it might be the impetus to get the wheels of progress turning so more people might think of developing games/sims in GB32.

On the other hand, there are plenty of low to no cost cutting edge game dev platforms out there. Why reinvent the wheel unless you are looking for a challenge. Which I am always curious about seeing if GB32 can do it.

[larrybtoys]

I have always loved GFA Basic all the way back to the Atari ST version 3.5 and don't want to learn any new language/platform. I like the idea of being able to create features that I want not what the developer of the specific platform wants me to create. I used to develop specialized database/point of sale style programs back in the late 80's and early 90's and created some really crazy specialized features, including AI...Yes AI. I even designed some AI features in my databases that would accurately predict the outcome of your choices based on 12 months of data...