8bit-Unity 0.5: Almost Ready!


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Release 0.5 of the 8bit-Unity SDK is ALMOST ready!!! This version includes support for the NES/Famicom and Atari 400/800 (48K of RAM). As always, the API and Asset packager are compatible with all systems, making multi-platform 8bit game development a breeze! For now, I have uploaded the Tech-Demo disc which show the various features available […]

December 16, 2021

Display bitmaps on the NES


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Work has started on adding the NES/Famicom in 8bit-Unity.This system has a rather unique way a using colors: it is somewhat reminiscent of the C64 (blocks of 8*8 pixels share 4 colors), but instead of choosing from 16 colors you chose from 4 palettes of 4 colors. In theory this sounds fine, but in practice […]

May 8, 2021

Beta Release 0.4.0 (2021-04-18)


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8bit-Unity Beta 0.4.0 is now available for download from: http://8bit-unity.com/?page_id=172​ Quick overview of new features: Support for scrollable charmaps Multiplexed sprites (Atari) Single and Double Hires support (Apple2) New tech demo: 8bit-Dungeon. The Dungeon demo disks can be downloaded directly from: http://8bit-unity.com/?page_id=766

April 18, 2021

Sprite Multiplexing on Atari 8bit


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8bit-Unity 0.4 is coming real soon!! It has taken time because, behind the scene, I have been crazy busy improving/optimizing both old and new features.A good example is the sprite engine on Atari 8bit. The previous implementation offered 10 sprites slots, but displaying more than 4 at-a-time caused real “epilepsy inducing” flicker.I got some brilliant […]

March 25, 2021

Single or Double HIRES?


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The upcoming release of 8bit-Unity (v0.4) will add support for both Single and Double HIRES mode on the Apple// (palette conversion is fully automated). This means that a 64K memory card will no longer be mandatory to run 8bit-Unity projects, like 8bit-Slicks or 8bit-OS!

January 3, 2021

Scrollable Tilemaps Coming Soon!


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Thanks to a “quiet week”, I was able to make rapid progress on the next version of 8bit-Unity (0.4).The major new feature is Scrollable Tilemaps. I have implemented a super convenient asset pipeline: design your tile-set and maps in the excellent CharPad just ONCE, then 8bit-Unity takes care of converting the tiles to each platform […]

November 13, 2020

Beta Release 0.3.5 (2020-11-06)


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Some exciting new features in this latest release of 8bit-Unity! A compact yet powerful GUI system is now available, that can generate typical widgets (Panel, Listbox, Button, Scrollbar…). Just call CheckCallbacks() once per frame, and a pointer to the called widget will be returned. No need to worry about the widget state, 8bit-Unity takes care […]

November 6, 2020

Beta Release 0.3.4 (2020-05-23)


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In this new release of 8bit-Unity, the Oric is getting some true love with much improved graphics. This is thanks to the integration of the awesome PictOric utility. Here is an example of graphics before/after this release: This new version also allows the inclusion of multiple music tracks on the disc, and simplifies the handling […]

May 23, 2020

Documentation updated


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I have just finished bringing the documentation up-to-date with release 0.3.3. The hardest section was trackers, as there is one for each platform!! Now onto the next task, I am going to work on two fronts: (1) Add support for the NES, and (2) Add support for charmaps (for scrolling games).

May 18, 2020

Beta Release 0.3.3 (2020-05-17)


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Beta release 0.3.3 is now available for download! This new version adds support for graphic chunks, with which scenes can be animated. The included 8bit-Goblin Tech Demo shows how it works. Other new features include: multi-color sprites for Oric, further optimizations on Apple sprites, loads and loads of bug fixes! Please see the Release Notes […]

May 17, 2020