Post your ideas for new games here, or build on ideas posted by other visitors.

I was wondering if it's possible to change the contrast on a specific part of the screen to make grayscale look good for the TI-83+.

I only know BASIC but you might be able to in ASM somehow. Neat idea if you can make it work.

I know it is possible to make the screen blue but I don't think it's worth $100-$120 to see a blue LCD for 10 seconds. It can destroy the calculator.

I am a Basic programmer too, and while i was trying to learn ASM, o thought of this a while back, but concluded that if it cuold be done, it would be perfect grayscale without flickers or bugs, and someone would have already thought of it by now. Sorry, i dont think it can be done, or else it already would have.

Well... I'm not a very good asm programmer... Done a few small progs and a image editor that had too much problems... I neither had (have) the time nor knowledge to finish it...
Anyway! I´ve read a lot of tutorials and found out stuff like writing directly to the LCD driver (check out AsmIn20Days www.ticalc.org/pub/text/z80/83pa28d.zip , the good ole AsmGuru www.ticalc.org/pub/text/z80/asmguru.zip , even check out the TI83 Plus Assembly Tutorial www.ticalc.org/pub/text/z80/ti83pasm.hlp ), but I havn't got a clue if you can use it to change the contrast... I honestly didn't understand half of it... =/
It would also be great with a fast sprite routine for Basic, maybe written in asm, that can deal with grays... Maybe there is?
I'm as interested in grayscale as anyone else, but for now it seems as if we have to deal with the fact that grayscale and flicker come together.

The key to reducing flicker is double-buffering. I recommend constructing game screens using generic tiles. That way, you can keep a premade-version of the sprite [greyscale or otherwise] and refresh the screen buffer very quickly. This eliminates flicker.

What causes greyscale is switching back and forth between two display buffers in memory [this is not in itself double-buffering]. This switching is handled by the hardware interrupt system and occurs much too quickly to perceive. [The only visible sign is the grey colors.]

Could you post your idea anyways? Just because
someone else hasnt done it yet, doesnt mean its
not possible. You just might have something
thats never been tried or thought up of
before.

I know you can do it. In the Ti-89 ASM archives there is a game command to conquer called command2.zip. It uses grayscale, but I don't know how.

The TI-82/83 calcs use a cheaper, MUCH different LCD driver than the TI-89. On the 83 it's hard to get good timings because it's in software, as opposed to the mostly hardware-controlled LCD on the 89 (the 86's LCD is also more hardware-controlled than the 83's).

While it IS possible, I've read, to have grayscale on a TI-83, it uses a lot of processor time just to do it. As a result, programs that use GS run about 15% (I think) slower, which can dramatically affect fast-action games.

If you can find out how to do it or tell me what you read that would be great. I dont mind if the games run slower beause I'm not planning on making any fast paced games. I just want to be able to make sprites that actually look good because of GS.

I read it in the news article titled "Grayscale on TI-83 Plus" from about a year ago. It refers to the file in (Web Page).

I re-read the comment in that news article now, and it actually causes a program to run about 10% normal speed. That might not matter much, because the grayscale package includes a couple games (like Zelda), and based on their animated screenshots they look pretty good.

I checked out the games and they were pretty cool. I've seen similar routines before but not the same. The only problem is I had to use a Flash Debugger I downloaded because I lost my calc. This may have effected it because it was much different than the screenshots. I think it may have looked better on the actual calc but thanks for the routine. The games GS flashing was quite noticable but that was probably just my comp, if not it would make a cool effect in some games though!

Play TIE a asm game for TI-83+. the backgrounds are in black and white but move so they can look grey also MARS POTROL* (hmm? spelling?) has good true greyscale

You definitly can. Check out Repton

All they do in Repton is flash a dark object really fast to make it look like it's gray. The only problem with this is the TI-83+ isn't fast enough to use this method and not flicker.

No, contrast is all or nothing. Yes, grayscale is possible.

Greyscale is easy all you have to do is get the app Xlib for the ti 83+. Then install it and write this prgm, then make 2 Pics, Pic0 should have all the pixels on it that you want to be grey and/or black and Pic1 should have all pixels on it that you want to be black.

:While _theta_(doesn't = )54
:real(8
:Ans->_theta_
:real(3,0,0,1
:real(3,1,0,1
:End

Run this!!!

Can someone make a Super Buster Bros. game, if you know what it is? I'm not that good at assembly but if you get it started I can finish it.

Can you tell us what it is?

Hey, I am STILL trying to get my Paper Boy game working. I made to text versions, but they kinda suck. If anyone can help me get graphic working for an 83+ they will get their name/and or email added to the credits and trouble shooting page. Email me @ smartturkey16@yahoo.com. I put the otherone because it is a junk email. Thanks.

If anyone can help me with the 83+ BASIC programming loop, I will add them into the credits of my paper boy.

If you want a part of the program looped, you can do it 2 ways. Method 1 works good for things like GET X but method 2 works good for somthing like a GetKey loop. Don't worry about me in your credits, I don't even put my contact info on my programs. If you want one of my programs to pick apart as an example, E-mail me. I have made a "Key-pressing" game and a "Tic-Tac-Toe" game but they are all 2 player link and they don't work well. I havn't finalized them for release. Good luck. Let me know if you think I can help with anything more.

Method 1--

:Lbl A

<put your commands to loop here>

:Goto A

- - - - - - - - - - -
Method 2--

:While G=1

<commands to loop>

:End

- - - - - - - - - - -
millermmail@yahoo.com

There's always the easiest:

Loop

<Insert looped text here>

EndLoop

Hey, it is me again, I bet you're getting tired of me. I am having problems with the loop still. anyone who wants a look at it and find the problem email me at smartturkey16@yahoo.com. If possible, could someone also help me with learning ASM?

Mail me the code and I'll have a look at it, but I can't promise anything...
If you need a key press-loop; try this:

:While 1
:0 -> X
:While X=0
:getKey -> X
:End

<!-- Here you put all the "If, Then...
e.g.

:If X=45:Stop
:If X=24:"Go left"
:If X=25:"Go up"
:If X=26:"Go right"
:If X=34:"Go down"

<!-- Always finish the loop with:

:End

"While 1" makes the getKey-loop go around and around untill you exit it with a Goto, Stop, Return, ON, etc.
the "While X=0" makes the program stay in getKey mode until a key is pressed, resulting in the "If, Then" part. If you don't use an exiting command, the "While 1" will make X=0 and the getKey-loop start all over again.

Other good loops can consist of nested For-loops. I rarely use the Repeat-loop, but it can also be used. It works as a Wile-loop, but it runs through the entire loop and at the bottom decides if it should return to the start of the loop again, or not.
E.g.

:22 -> X
:Repeat X=23

<!-- In a While-loop the program would have jumped directly to the End, but here the program gives it a try

:X+1 -> X
:End

<!-- Since X now IS 23, the program will REPEAT, the second time it gets here, it will be 24 and the program will continue

A good tutorial on Basic is BasicGuru; it looks over a LOT of things, but far from all...
If you want to learn Assembly, check out the Archives/File Archives/Via the web/Text/Z80 documentations!

Try this for movement:

:4->A:8->B
:Lbl 99
:Output(A,B,"O")
:0->X
:While X=0
:GetKey->X
:End
:If ans:then
:B+(X=26)-(X=24)->B
:A+(X=34)-(X=25)->A
:End
:Goto 99

There's a link off this site to the tutorial explanation. Its the one at bgo.netfirms.com
Hope this code is correct and hope it helps.

I just realized that the lbl 99 is unneccesary. put the output inside the while loop and keep the variables at the begining outside and ti should work. This will take less lines of code

I'm having the same trouble it sounds like this person is having. I am trying to add a map to my game and every time I push an arrow key it halts the program and has a flashing black icon in the top left (basically it becomes functionable as a calc. again). Can I send you a copy of my game and you tell me what's wrong? Its for TI 83+. Thanks.

can u send me the copy of the source? I might be able to help with the problem...email me at ayim@charter.net

thx

Thanks for the offer but since I don't read this site often I have already fixed it since the time of your posting this.

An much faster keypress loop is:

While 1
DelVar KWhile not(K
getKey->K
End
...
End

This saves several bytes, as well as going faster. If this is like most keypress codes, it will be used hundreds of times, even little gains help a lot.

In this code, the "While 1" creates an infinite loop. This is because without a test operator, the program tests for boolean true. Any positive non-zero value is a boolean true. Since a constant 1 is always a boolean true, the while loop always runs. (This also works for any other positive non-zero value, 1 is just a convention.)

"DelVar K" does the same thing as "0->K" with less bytes. In addition, it doesn't require a new line or colon at the end, saving two more bytes.

The "While not(K" means that as long as K is NOT true, it will run. If K = 0 it is not true, and will continue the loop. This boolean way of checking values works much faster than a "=" statement. (The reason is too complicated for here, but basically, it takes more processor time to go through the algorithms for "=" than for a boolean true/false.)

The rest of the program should be self explanatory.

Please, save a byte and do Repeat K instead of While not(K.

>:While 1
>:0 -> X
>:While X=0
>:getKey -> X
>:End
you dont need while 1

There're 3 ways to do it.
Say I want to check for a keypress:
getky->G

While G==31
<Put Code here>
End
*While is the fastest and best way. The only thing is, you have to remember to jump out of the while loop or it will keep repeating.


Lbl A
<Put Code here>
Goto A
*Slowest way

For(A,1,200)
<Put Code here>
End
*Use this if you want to keep going thru the code. You can use A to compare stuff (if A==20:goto HERE).2nd fastest.

I would recommend using WHILE. But remember, if you only have 1 command after the test instruction, use IF.
(If x==5:goto FIRE)

Hope this helps!!!

ok, I can move the bike around, however, how would I make it so that when I hit the 2nd button it will through my paper? Also, how would I make it so it would calculate the points?

hey, how would i add my games into MIRAGE? I noticed that a friend had cowtipping on MIRAGE and it is a BASIC game.

At the very begining put the following in

:"explantion

explantion being a description of the program to appear in MirageOS

NOTE: You have to hit [ALPHA]+ [.] to get an extra colon, not the one that is always there!!

hey but dont that crash the calc on most times??

No, just put:

::"HI

At the beggining.

Ok, I have a working loop. Thanks for that. Now here comes my next question. How would I make it so that if I would hit the 2nd button it would throw a paper and add/not add points to the score?

Can u email me the source code? I think i can help you out on this problem...ayim@charter.net

thx

hey it is me again. How would I make it so my other object would appear and SLOWLY scroll down?

maybe you could add what I call a delay-variant...
It goes about like this
While A<10
A+1->A
End
If A=10
<commands etc..>

I've been able to make a clock for ti83+ with this technique.
Hope that I've helped a little.
Greetz....

looking at your code i saw it could be optimized a bit.
if you care, then read on...

1. you dont need the 'if a=10' because the loop will have ended

2. you could replace that wholebolck of code with 'for(a,1,10' . it does the exact same thing

just thought you might be interested...

can you e mail me the clock program source please i have been trying a cant get it thx

-steveangulo@hotmail.com

what do you use for the bike?? is it on the graph screen using pics?? or what

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH Memory Leaks!!!!

That first while loop, if you "Jump Out" of it, will leave an expected "End" statement in the buffer. If it's used enough, a "ERROR: MEMORY" will occur.