Subj : Assembly Game Development
To   : All
From : unixl0rd
Date : Wed Aug 03 2022 21:01:01

Hello,

I've written a few simple games in 8086 assembly using Turbo assembler, and I like it. To create my sprites, I use MtPaint. If it's a CGA game, I use a 4-colour palette, otherwise, a 256-colour palette. Once I'm done, I save the image as an XPM file, then I run
the file through a PHP script that cuts it up into 8x8 byte arrays. The output is then copied into my source code (I use a custom
label called Tilemap to reference the array). To render a sprite, I create an array of tile indices, and I pass it to a subroutine
that loops over the individual pixels of each tile and copy them into video memory.

The process was a pain in the ass to come up with, but it works really well. I wonder if game developers back in the 80s used a similar technique. I don't have a game development background, so I don't know the 'right' way to do things when it comes to retro game development.

By the way, Turbo debugger is a must have. I don't think I would be able to write assembly without it.

.... "Yes, Tanis, I PROMISE I won't touch it." - Tasslehoff Burrfoot

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