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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Vampire Versions Market Share?

Antony Coello

Posts 153
29 Jan 2021 22:10


Hi Apollo team.

Would it be possible to get an idea as to the ratio of v500/v600/v1200/v4sa users/sales, for game dev 'market research' purposes!  ;)

Im also looking at angles like game controller support.etc, so it would be useful to know.


Nick Fellows

Posts 176
31 Jan 2021 20:29


In terms of Game controllers  - i think its about time we broke away from one button joysticks.


Antony Coello

Posts 153
31 Jan 2021 21:16


nick fellows wrote:

In terms of Game controllers  - i think its about time we broke away from one button joysticks.

Well, actually, one of the reasons for asking was I was looking at whether or not to implement:

1. Using 2 buttons for the Amiga version of my game along with dual paddles and...

2. The feasability of using the parallel port for extra control surfaces; hence the original question.




Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
31 Jan 2021 21:19


Antony Coello wrote:

nick fellows wrote:

  In terms of Game controllers  - i think its about time we broke away from one button joysticks.
 

 
  Well, actually, one of the reasons for asking was I was looking at whether or not to implement:
 
  1. Using 2 buttons for the Amiga version of my game along with dual paddles and...
 
  2. The feasability of using the parallel port for extra control surfaces; hence the original question.

The V4 comes with USB Joypads supporting 6+ buttons
 
What type of game do you work on?


Antony Coello

Posts 153
31 Jan 2021 21:36


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

  The V4 comes with USB Joypads supporting 6+ buttons
 
  What type of game do you work on?

Its a 2D platformer.

However, I was looking for some sort of A>D converter in the controller for extra control precision. Has the V4s USB system got anything that I can use like this? (Equivalent of Playstation analog controllers)


Kamelito Loveless

Posts 260
01 Feb 2021 19:42


@Gunnar
Is the Vampire able to handle twin stick joystick to be able to play game like Robotron 2084 or more recently game like XenoCrisis? One stick to move the other to shoot all that in 8 directions.


Kamelito Loveless

Posts 260
02 Feb 2021 09:47


Even if you know that, many users have more than one card so you don’t know the number of individual users.
The best way to handle it if you don’t have those numbers is to target the lowest target with options for more powerful ones like it is done on PC games.


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
02 Feb 2021 12:46


Kamelito Loveless wrote:

@Gunnar
  Is the Vampire able to handle twin stick joystick to be able to play game like Robotron 2084 or more recently game like XenoCrisis? One stick to move the other to shoot all that in 8 directions.

Right now the V4 supports the following
- the digital 8-way
- 8 fire buttons
- start/back button
- analog translated to LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN digital

We also look into exposing the ANALOG stick to a new register for the next release.


Antony Coello

Posts 153
02 Feb 2021 14:19


@Kamelito: Well any idea of numbers is better than guesswork. Generally, I would have thought that people dont have more than one of each type, so the numbers should be quite accurate anyway.
 
  @Gunnar: That would be great. Ideally if there could be 2 Analog to Digital converters (only need 8-bits each for both 'enough' range) per controller that would be a good start.
 
  Although I dont have a V4SA, (yet!) if you are looking at creating an anolog control, perhaps you could give the option of allowing access to either a byte or an enhanced word value (or at least 12-bits if register/memory space is tight).
 
  16 or more bits would open up new possibilities for things like accurate 1st person controls, VR tracking and you could even double up with a simple interface as a 16-bit sound sampler.
 
  8-bit paddles were ok for 320x200 8-bit systems, but you guys are pushing out up to 1280x800 ish resolutions. 8-bits is just not going to be precise enough control of something on a screen (e.g. Arkanoid game).


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
02 Feb 2021 16:16


Antony Coello wrote:

16 or more bits would open up new possibilities for things like accurate 1st person controls, VR tracking and you could even double up with a simple interface as a 16-bit sound sampler.
   
    8-bit paddles were ok for 320x200 8-bit systems,

Not sure I understand the question.
The USB analog Joypads that I know provide 8bit and not more.


Antony Coello

Posts 153
02 Feb 2021 20:06


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

   
    Not sure I understand the question.
    The USB analog Joypads that I know provide 8bit and not more.
 

 
  Its not a question, but rather a suggestion for the future.  :)
 
  If you look at all the mainly 8-bit machines that had paddles/pots, they generally had 1 or 2 josticks with up to 2 8-bit A-D converters on each controller. Some had none, of course.
 
  Thats ok for the older machines (including old 486/Pentium machines) that games were at 320x200; 256 levels is probably just about ok to control something on a max 320 wide screen.
 
  However, doing this for much higher resolutions decreases the controlled objects screen location precision.
 
  All I was asking for was AT LEAST 2 8-bit A-D converters per controller.
 
  However, if you made a higher precision A-D input (even if its shared between ports or whatever way you need to fit it in) then there is scope for future projects... see suggestions in previous post.
 
  Remember how Atari (more or less) randomly included MIDI on the ST range? Now see how far that took them. Some of the MIDI software for that is still not matched on a PC to this day.
 
  You could bring in unseen uses for the Vampires with higher precision A-D inputs and if they are there, people will use them. Thats all Im saying. :)

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