I remember playing this for the first time and being absolutely stunned. I think it would have been on an A3000, and up to then, the only machines I'd used were BBC micros and a Mac 512, neither of which were capable of anything like this. It was like science fiction.
Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#22So can we extract the complete map from this? Where is that defined?
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#23So can we extract the complete map from this? Where is that defined?
It is procedurally generated (of course it is, this is David Braben we’re talking about!).
I’ve written a deep dive on how it works, here:
https://lander.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/generating_the_landsc...
It’s basically a Fourier analysis. Very, very clever!
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#24So can we extract the complete map from this? Where is that defined?
It is procedurally generated (of course it is, this is David Braben we’re talking about!). I’ve written a deep dive on how it works, here: https://lander.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/generating_the_landsc... It’s basically a Fourier analysis. Very, very clever!
Perhaps a Fourier synthesis rather than an analysis, since there was no original map analysed into waves, but indeed, highly ingenious. Thank you for writing that article!
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is procedurally generated (of course it is, this is David Braben we’re talking about!). I’ve written a deep dive on how it works, here: https://lander.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/generating_the_landsc... It’s basically a Fourier analysis. Very, very clever!
Perhaps a Fourier synthesis rather than an analysis, since there was no original map analysed into waves, but indeed, highly ingenious. Thank you for writing that article!
That's a good point - I wondered what the correct term was, and Fourier synthesis makes a lot more sense! I will update the article accordingly; thank you for pointing that out.
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#26That's great for analyzing or reviewing the code. However, beyond that, there's not much else you can do with this code. This repository is not provided with a licence, and there is intentionally no LICENSE file provided. According to GitHub's licensing documentation, this means that "the default copyright laws apply, meaning that you retain all rights to your source code and no one may reproduce, distribute, or crea…
Yeah, I’ve had to add the same disclaimer to all my analyses of old code (e.g. Elite, Revs, Aviator). I’m not sure there’s any other solution - the original copyright owners still hold the copyright, and that’s just how it is. You can’t grant a license if you don’t own the rights…
Thr original author of lander is still about and on social media, it may be worth asking.
Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Archimedes had a mouse, so it is mouse-controlled in case anyone was wondering!
I'd love to add a touchpad-style control to make this usable on mobile. This seems like something someone should have made before, but I've not found anything suitable.
Tilt the phone to control could work for this.