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 […]
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 […]
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
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 […]
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!
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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).
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 […]
