Oh how I wish I still had a usb-TI83 cable, still have the calculator just not the cord to plug it into my computer...
Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#32The memory limitations are a bitch. It isn't that difficult to build your engine in that amount of space, but storing any decent graphics or level maps are nigh impossible. I had to quit working on a Zelda clone and JRPG because of memory issues. To this day, I've only seen one long game actually worth a crap and that's Joltima - http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/34/3456.html Karneges had to use every tri…
You can absolutely page in data from Flash memory as needed, it's just non-trivial (and not handled by the "OS"). On devices with flash memory as an extension of RAM (TI 83+, 89, and 89 titanium), this could help for read-only level data that isn't needed all of the time. Edit: Of course, Joltima targets the TI-83 (different from the 83+), which doesn't have any flash memory. Bravo, Justin Karneges.
You can also go the "App" route and make the whole thing an application that runs straight from flash.
Advantages are you can use many flash pages so your application can be massive, and your program will be easier to launch/distribute. We have the App signing keys so these days this route is pretty simple.
On the other hand you have to "allocate" ram to write to or scrounge for ram in predetermined areas in the address space. With regular assembly programs you can have "static" allocations that you can write to. Also programs don't take up a minimum of a single page, so they are generally preferred by people who are more comfortable with their calculator.
Damn, now I really want to revisit that z80 scheme implementation I was working on a few years ago...
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Claiming to recreate the physics engine implies that somebody remade the Source engine on a calculator. This is a massive exaggeration.
The title says 'in 25kb on a graphing calculator'. The only way it's "amazing" is if you know what a graphing calculator is, and if you know that, then it's pretty obvious that the title is a mild form of poetic license rather than a sensationalist attempt to mislead. And really, when people think of "Portal physics", for the most part they think of 'a hole between two non-adjacent surfaces you can travel through', n…
The technically fascinating aspect of implementing narbuncular/portal physics is the optics of looking into a portal, not the trivial translation/rotation of passing through a portal in a platformer sideview.
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#34> While programming for graphing calculators admittedly doesn’t give Marcolina’s work a wide reach Are they joking? Those TI 83's will be used by high school students in the US/Canada as long as TI has this chokehold on schools. They've outlasted god-knows how many versions of Mac's, PC's, Nintendos, Xboxes, PS's.
How is the TI-83 still a thing? iPod is superior in every way: CPU display size and color, flexibility, cost (well, if they produced a last-gen version for the down market, it would be)
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#35 More like Portal: Flash Version 2D
http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/
Weird that this portal-dedicated person and Are Technica hadn't heard of Portal 2D.
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#36Not quite--this is more a recreation of the Flash Portal clone. i.e. it's all 2D graphics and 2D physics. I got my hopes up for a moment, preparing to be awestruck. Since I have a TI-89, that's what I think of when I hear "graphing calculator". My TI-89 can do 3D stuff (for instance this fun maze generator game http://www.ticalc.org/pub/89/asm/games/amaz89.zip ), it would blow my mind to have anything close to a Port…
Technically, that's a raycasting engine (a la Doom and Wolf3D). The first implementation that I know of that was made into a game was Daedalus for the TI-85, back in 1997 http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/11/1147.html
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#37> While programming for graphing calculators admittedly doesn’t give Marcolina’s work a wide reach Are they joking? Those TI 83's will be used by high school students in the US/Canada as long as TI has this chokehold on schools. They've outlasted god-knows how many versions of Mac's, PC's, Nintendos, Xboxes, PS's.
How is the TI-83 still a thing? iPod is superior in every way: CPU display size and color, flexibility, cost (well, if they produced a last-gen version for the down market, it would be)
You can't lock down an iPod or wipe its memory before a test.
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#38I have doom on my TI Nspire CAS :) Unfortunately the crappy screen is no good for playing it.
I've seen all sorts of hacks like this over the years but to be honest, I've fallen in love with the HP50g for hackability. The thing is awesome.
Not sure if its just me but I seem to accumulate calculators.
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#39TI-83+ was my only hand-held programming system. In high school, I wrote Blackjack, Trapshoot, and a Whac-a-mole clone on it, along with a few originals. I hope that touchdevelop takes off-- it might be the only reason I'd get a tablet.
Re: Portal’s physics engine rebuilt in 25KB—on a graphing calculator
#40Oh how I wish I still had a usb-TI83 cable, still have the calculator just not the cord to plug it into my computer...
This one? http://www.amazon.com/☺/dp/B00006BXBS