[Coco] Phoenix IDE gaining sprite/tiles/map editor

[Steve Bjork]

Back in the early day of creating computer games, we did include the 
graphics data code as part of the source code.  There was no graphics 
support programs and would hand code the data statements.  (Well, there 
was not much graphics in those first games.)

MicroPainter was first created to aid in the drawing the graphics for 
the games.  Since I did not want to hand code the growing graphics data, 
I wrote a program that convert into the data source code. Remember, with 
the 4-color graphics mode of the CoCo 1/2 used 4 shifted images for 
every moving graphics.  This was starting to become a great deal of data 
to assemble every time.

The next step was to have my graphics utility built the reference data 
(look-up tables) as part graphics data. (The game code only needs to 
link into the tables to find the right graphic image to draw.)  Even the 
graphic's object animation (walk left, stand, jump, ect) was controlled 
by data tables inside this block of graphics data.  Since all this data 
was self-contained, it could be a standalone binary block of data to 
load and no longer part of the source code.  This offloading of graphics 
data help speed up the code writing cycle since most of the source had 
become mostly graphics data.

In the final days of CoCo work, I was using PC for the graphics (sprite, 
tile/map and fonts), the Amiga for sound and the CoCo for creating the 
source code.  This IDE took 5 computers to get the job done and boy did 
the office get warm.

We can't use the graphic utility from when I was writing CoCo games.  
(It's too old and I can't find them.)  But a modern version could be 
written.  While I could write it under windows, maybe a web app could 
work in this modern day?  I will have to look into it.

The bottom line, I need to come up with a modern graphics utility before 
I can write a new game for the CoCo.

Steve Bjork


On 5/9/2011 9:30 PM, Roger Taylor wrote:
> It's a great time, indeed.  I have just integrated a very nice 
> sprite/tile/map editor into the Phoenix IDE.  There's still more work 
> to do but the editor is a full function utility that can output data 
> and even assembly code in preset and custom formats.  I plan to have 
> it output in binary at first so the MMUINC function can be used in 
> CCASM to embed the data during the build process.
>
> The first thing I did was import my own hand built sprite set for the 
> Agent C game which was 12 people/characters, a filing cabinet, some 
> papers, a key, etc. into the editor.  It broke apart my solid BMP 
> image of all the sprites into their own sprites.  I then copied each 
> single sprite into it's own sprite set so I could give each character 
> 3 or 4 different variations, like smiling/talking/eyes moving, etc. to 
> give them a little bit of "character".  Very easily done in the editor 
> especially with the copy/paste/duplicate/selection editing, etc!
>
> This is what I'll be using the sprite editor for, but others may want 
> to use it to create a tile based Mario Bros style game.  The editor 
> comes with some sample files that have a map and sprites if anyone 
> wanted to take some existing sets and make a game out of those.
>
> I'll probably end up having to buy an audio editor for the IDE.  The 
> font editor already outputs in binary format so it looks promising.  
> With fonts, sprites/maps, and sound, would these features convince you 
> to try building your next CoCo game completely from a PC?
>