Release Vektar For Pandora

[Pickle]

Heres the first release of the Vektar port to Pandora.

Repo: Here
Apps: Here

Vektar was written by Dzz and Craigix for the GP2X. Thanks to Craigix he allowed me to tinker with the source and I have ported vektar to use a SDL backend allowing us to play vektar just about anywhere.

I have also added:
pixel scaling (scale2x),
extended the viewing area to support the wider screen
scaled or offset the menus to look better on the widescreen
added full SDL input so nubs are supported
pandora vsync

 

[DaveC]

Thanks Pickle, looks great!

 

[skeezix]

No screenshot in the pnd (ie: repo)? tsk tsk

Will check!

Thanks as always old friend

jeff

 

[Pickle]

No screenshot in the pnd (ie: repo)? tsk tsk

Will check!

Thanks as always old friend

jeff

Yeah noticed after i started uploading, so if you donate to my isp for them to upgrade my upload speed I will put as many screenshots as you want :rolleyes:
But I do have one there if i update it.

 

[crow_riot]

awesome!

i've always wanted to try that out but never had a gp2x - so now's time for it

 

[Esn]

Neat! Thanks! I look forward to trying it soon.

 

[Pickle]

ive updated both apps and repo with the next version, the speed is proper now.

 

[DaveC]

Cool, thanks.

Would it be possible to run it at native Pandora resolution, or would that be too slow? It isn't bad now, I thought it look more pixelly scaled up but native would be crisper.

 

[Pickle]

Cool, thanks.

Would it be possible to run it at native Pandora resolution, or would that be too slow? It isn't bad now, I thought it look more pixelly scaled up but native would be crisper.

Its possible in fact ive run it at 640x480 while developing on the pc. But keep in mind it would be a viewing area that would be enlarged, so everything would be pretty small.
It would be difficult to get everything to render at 800x480 at the same scale. This is the mode your refering to.

 

[crow_riot]

tried it yesterday, pretty cool game - thanks for the port.

but i agree with DaveC - i'd appreciate to have it at pandora's native resolution

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi !

Thanks Pickle for porting Vektar to the Pandora, and thanks Craigix for allowing him to do so

What caused the slowdowns in the razors level, in the previous version ?

And do you plan to add new features (community imput), or will it be "just" a 1:1 port ?

EDIT: Notaz's SDL has vsync and hardware scaling support, could it be useful ?

EDIT2: I've found some bugs:

- Downtime mode: the clock goes too fast and doesn't stop between the waves.

- End of stage screen: text is not centered, and words are written over each other: "bonus 3000 points" gives "bonus 300oints" or something like that...

EDIT3: the screen "vibrates" sometimes

Bye, and thanks again !

Magic Sam

 

[Schnatterplatsch]

I'd also love to see this in native resolution!

 

[Pickle]

Hi !

Thanks Pickle for porting Vektar to the Pandora, and thanks Craigix for allowing him to do so

What caused the slowdowns in the razors level, in the previous version ?

Well i had the vsync check after the screen update, also rebuilding/and or adding neon opto flags made even faster.

And do you plan to add new features (community imput), or will it be "just" a 1:1 port ?

I dont really intend to change any of the gameplay, but i think changes like extending the viewable area could be considered a new feature,

EDIT: Notaz's SDL has vsync and hardware scaling support, could it be useful ?

maybe the hw scaling, but maybe it might be better to just add is in directly.

EDIT2: I've found some bugs:

- Downtime mode: the clock goes too fast and doesn't stop between the waves.

hmm, maybe I did not fix the speed as expected. I will do some double checking.

- End of stage screen: text is not centered, and words are written over each other: "bonus 3000 points" gives "bonus 300oints" or something like that...

Ok i must have missed adding scaling/offsets to those strings.

EDIT3: the screen "vibrates" sometimes

yeah ive seen this too, i think its some jitter in the camera code.

 

[Magic Sam]

@ Pickle: will you backport this upgraded version to the good ol' GP2X, and / or port it to Caanoo, Wiz and Dingoo ? I assume this game would set the GP32 in fire, am I right ?

Bye, Mgic Sam

 

[Pickle]

@ Pickle: will you backport this upgraded version to the good ol' GP2X, and / or port it to Caanoo, Wiz and Dingoo ? I assume this game would set the GP32 in fire, am I right ?

Bye, Mgic Sam

Wiz and Caanoo for sure, ive built versions for both but i have an issue i need to look into first.
Theres really nothing that would benefit the gp2x, i think the original release is still fine.
I do not have a dingoo, at one point I had a toolchain setup (may still). Its possible it could run on it, but without hw its difficult. I could try and make a build and someone could test it.
I do not have a gp32 either, I have no idea if it would run and at what speed. It would need to support SDL and SDL_mixer. Ive never even built a gp32 bin before.

 

[DaveC]

Cool, thanks.

Would it be possible to run it at native Pandora resolution, or would that be too slow? It isn't bad now, I thought it look more pixelly scaled up but native would be crisper.

Its possible in fact ive run it at 640x480 while developing on the pc. But keep in mind it would be a viewing area that would be enlarged, so everything would be pretty small.
It would be difficult to get everything to render at 800x480 at the same scale. This is the mode your refering to.

640 x 480 would be fine as that would be the correct aspect ratio. I am not sure why everything would be small, I would think since it is vector the coordinates would just be farther apart and the vectors that are drawn in between points would just have more pixels. I would think it would be like in MAME if you render vector games at higher resolution the play area is the same size but the lines are sharper, but maybe there is something I am missing.

 

[Blue Protoman]

I don't think the graphics were actually done with vectors.

 

[Pickle]

640 x 480 would be fine as that would be the correct aspect ratio. I am not sure why everything would be small, I would think since it is vector the coordinates would just be farther apart and the vectors that are drawn in between points would just have more pixels. I would think it would be like in MAME if you render vector games at higher resolution the play area is the same size but the lines are sharper, but maybe there is something I am missing.

The game works by creating a 768x768 surface for the playable area and uses a camera to 320x240 area of the playarea. Everything is hard coded to these sizes. I hacked enough to where I can use any size camera. That was so I can do 400x240 on the pandora.
I think it would take a lot of hacking to increase the size of the 768x768 and scale everything bigger.

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi

@ Pickle (and others): Happy Independence Day !

Now, some more stuff about Vektar:

- When you start the game, the music seems to begin 2 times...
- Could you improve loading times please ?

Bye and thanks, Magic Sam