There's always a challenge, always ..

But with Blitz you're not aiming to make Pong, you're aiming at a full-blown RPG, or first person shooter.. and regardless of the language: something like that is always a challenge!

POISONIC the real point of this topic was to show the real (practical) speed of the v9990. And
to compare it to other vdp's is merely to have a reference, like that boot is 3 eifeltowers long.
With those test results you can figure out for yourselve if something is either possible or not
before finding out halfway your project. In my case I have to drop a few initial ideas that included
background animations, 3 layers, lots of frames, etc. I have to go a bit more easy on that.
And BTW it is 'only' about 21 times faster in a worst case vs best case senario.

And Maggoo finding ways around them is exactly what I am going to do. And just to clear thing up
about the expression "easy", in my context I meant that the v9990 could copy the amount of
bytes easiely, and not that it would make it particuarly easy on me to program. It is merely about
IF the v9990 can actualy do it WITHIN the time I want (have). We are proppably on the same line
on this but it might clear things up for other readers.

I always love a challenge, and besides it is always fun to explore a 'new' video processor. To
approach it's limmits to get maximum result is something that is done on v9938/58 for decades.

One more thing, is a 20 Hz framerate acceptable 'cos than a B mode might
be an option. I presonally feel that things either have to run smooth otherwise there is no
point on making it on v9990 is theire? We all know wanderers of Ys (10-12.5Hz).
(ps. 20 Hz is I think 'Bombaman speed' but don't hang me up on that)

20fps is fine, heck, even 15fps is pretty good. Having a high framerate does not make for a good game. Having a nice colorful playfield with good graphics and nice background animations can.

Just tested that, might work for a tilescroll (akin/ys3/sod), otherwise awfull!
I had to increase the stepsize to get the same scrollvelocity... it doesn't look good.
But nice to see that not everybody has such high standards concerning v9990.

It is difficult to decide what screenmode to use, both have theire pros and cons. I know it can
be smooth in P1 wich I think will end up in a better gameplay. However it can look 'better' in B1
where I can use up to 18 colors more, with a lower framerate (15-20fps) though.

What to do?

Question is: do you actually -need- those extra colors. I think more/smoother on-screen action is more important (and stunning) than more colors.

Look at Space Manbow... 16 colors and patterns.. and those gfx are GOOD ! Limitation leads to creativity, I'm sure it's possible to make a good-looking shooter, graphicwise, while having smooth animation.

well, unless you have a very good graphician, you'll need more colors. It's a lot easier to draw with 16bit colors than it is to draw with just 16 colors. Now I don't know what kind of blazing speed you're looking for, but 20fps is a great deal smoother than the average Anime title. It's also just 5 frames shy of the average DVD you may watch at home. I don't see the problem. If you need things to move *that fast*, just step up the movement per frame a little. There's really nothing wrong with 2 or 4 pixels/frame. Which is another point by the way, your eyes would hardly see the difference between something moving 30 times per second at two pixels per step and something moving 60 times per second at one pixel per step. Just check the average MSX RPG, pick any of your favorites... you know, any of those games we've all come to love, and you'll find half of them don't even hit 10 frames per second.

That is two 'votes' for smooth and one for none (or less) smooth gameplay.
I am a good graphics atrist (*ahum*) at least on pixel level. And I already use up to 15
colors just for the main charracter .
The difference between 60 fps and 30 fps is very noticeable.
And for tile scroll engines like in Fray it is amazingly less important, the lower the framerate
the steadier the scroll.

Quote:

well, unless you have a very good graphician, you'll need more colors. It's a lot easier to draw with 16bit colors than it is to draw with just 16 colors.

And in P1 you'd have 16 colors for the background and 3 additional 16 color palettes for all your sprites!

Quote:

20fps is a great deal smoother than the average Anime title. It's also just 5 frames shy of the average DVD you may watch at home.

Which actually might just be the problem: that it's *almost* the same frame rate as the tele. I'd say: try 12 or 15 fps... more than enough for the average RPG or even for a shooter!

One thing to remember, especially for shooters, is that the lower the game (not necessarily scroll) framerate, the larger the jumps sprites will make. Especially fast moving sprites will become a bit nasty.

Any good title to play?
Maybe some game.

the whole problem with the GFX9000 is that there is little to no software available for it. With some proper coding, you could accomplish quite some amazing stuff with it, though, and I'm still hoping for someone to make that actually happen ^_^

Maybe some kind of GFX9000 developing contest with luxury prizes? ^_^

What could be better than a working MSX?
Maybe with some money ...

my famous formula: developmenttime=systemspecs^2

The problem is that ppl put the qualitybar way too high.., thus nothing gets finished