PROSONIC IS NOW OPEN SOURCE

My engine uses 5 layers. They are layer B (background), L (low), H (high), SL (sprite low), and SH (sprite high). Excluding layers B, SL, and SH, there are 2 layers for the main level tiles. That's all you need to reproduce the material in the original games, because that's all the original games ever used. Sonic can be in front of a tile, or behind. It's that simple. So what's the beef?

 

My engine already does parallax scrolling of sorts through virtual layers. I call them virtual because they're really sizeable images formed by a list of parameters. I'll show you an example of some code I whipped up to get reproduce Chemical Plant's background:

Code (Text):

1.     backcell[0].BorderT = 0;
2.     backcell[0].BorderB = 287;
3.     backcell[0].BorderL = 0;
4.     backcell[0].BorderR = 0x3FFF - 16;
5.     backcell[0].DrawLimitT = 0x8000;
6.     backcell[0].DrawLimitB = 0x7FFF;
7.     backcell[0].DrawLimitL = 0 + 16;
8.     backcell[0].DrawLimitR = 0x3FFF + 16;
9.     backcell[0].ImageOffsetX = -16;
10.     backcell[0].ImageOffsetY = 0;
11.     backcell[0].ImageScopeX = 0xFFFF;
12.     backcell[0].ImageScopeY = 0xFFFF;
13.     backcell[0].CellIntervalX = 0.125;
14.     backcell[0].CellIntervalY = 0.25;
15.     backcell[0].ImgIntervalX = 0;
16.     backcell[0].ImgIntervalY = 0;
17.     backcell[0].SlideSpeedX = 0;
18.     backcell[0].SlideSpeedY = 0;
19.     backcell[0].DistortionA = 0;
20.     backcell[0].DistortionB = 4;
21.     backcell[0].DistASpeed = 0.5;
22.     backcell[0].DistBSpeed = 0.5;
23.     backcell[0].Transparent = 1;
24.    
25.     backcell[1].BorderT = 288;
26.     backcell[1].BorderB = 303;
27.     backcell[1].BorderL = 0 + 16;
28.     backcell[1].BorderR = 0x3FFF;
29.     backcell[1].DrawLimitT = 0x8000;
30.     backcell[1].DrawLimitB = 0x7FFF;
31.     backcell[1].DrawLimitL = 0 + 16;
32.     backcell[1].DrawLimitR = 0x3FFF + 16;
33.     backcell[1].ImageOffsetX = -16;
34.     backcell[1].ImageOffsetY = 0;
35.     backcell[1].ImageScopeX = 0xFFFF;
36.     backcell[1].ImageScopeY = 0xFFFF;
37.     backcell[1].CellIntervalX = 0.125;
38.     backcell[1].CellIntervalY = 0.25;
39.     backcell[1].ImgIntervalX = 0;
40.     backcell[1].ImgIntervalY = 0;
41.     backcell[1].SlideSpeedX = 0;
42.     backcell[1].SlideSpeedY = 0;
43.     backcell[1].DistortionA = 1;
44.     backcell[1].DistortionB = 4;
45.     backcell[1].DistASpeed = 0.25;
46.     backcell[1].DistBSpeed = 0.5;
47.     backcell[1].Transparent = 0;
48.    
49.     backcell[2].BorderT = 304;
50.     backcell[2].BorderB = 0x7FF;
51.     backcell[2].BorderL = 0;
52.     backcell[2].BorderR = 0x3FFF - 16;
53.     backcell[2].DrawLimitT = 0x8000;
54.     backcell[2].DrawLimitB = 0x7FFF;
55.     backcell[2].DrawLimitL = 0 + 16;
56.     backcell[2].DrawLimitR = 0x3FFF + 16;
57.     backcell[2].ImageOffsetX = -16;
58.     backcell[2].ImageOffsetY = 0;
59.     backcell[2].ImageScopeX = 0xFFFF;
60.     backcell[2].ImageScopeY = 0xFFFF;
61.     backcell[2].CellIntervalX = 0.5;
62.     backcell[2].CellIntervalY = 0.25;
63.     backcell[2].ImgIntervalX = 0;
64.     backcell[2].ImgIntervalY = 0;
65.     backcell[2].SlideSpeedX = 0;
66.     backcell[2].SlideSpeedY = 0;
67.     backcell[2].DistortionA = 0;
68.     backcell[2].DistortionB = 4;
69.     backcell[2].DistASpeed = 0.5;
70.     backcell[2].DistBSpeed = 0.5;
71.     backcell[2].Transparent = 0;

That's internal engine code. But those 'backcells' are really just arrays of parameters that tells the engine what to draw and where. I don't consider them actual "layers" since they're not bitmaps.

EDIT: In fact, these cells are demonstrated in this early video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJRAB9y46fk

 

Yes

 

Here's what to expect from this release:

- Abbility to import levels from Sonic 2 (and 'maybe' Sonic 1)
- A complete integrated editing environment that will allow you to edit tile layout, block mappings, collision, and the abbility to import new tiles from a BMP or PCX image
- True YM2612 and PSG emulation
- Player code ported directly from the Sonic 2 disassembly
- BLAST Programming Interface (BPI)
- A couple basic objects ported from Sonic 2 (rings, path swappers, and 'maybe' a few others)

What will be lacking is particularly in the last item I listed -- there's a severe lack of objects. I'm working on the scripting portion of the engine to allow at least limited ability to create new objects. This will be an area that I will continue to work on, but don't expect a whole lot from this release regarding objects. All the other major stuff will be there in regards to level design. This should be enough to start a game, and will give me some time to work on getting other things done with the engine while you work with what you have.

 

The YM2612 and PSG emulation is something I have alway said I wanted to do. A lot of credit goes to Cyan Helkaraxe for making this particular part of the engine work, because I didn't even know what I was doing in regards to trying to get it working. What we did was use the YM2612 and PSG source files from Gens and put them into the ProSonic project. Cyan figured out what needed to be done to use them, and *BOOM*, instant emulation.

I wanted this sound emulation because what's better than allowing people to port some of their songs from their Sonic hacks into ProSonic? Some people would prefer to use OGG files or something like that, and that's fine. But for those who want their game to have a classic Genesis feel to it, this helps with that. It also allows games to have the common sound effects used across the games without having to use bulky PCM-based files that use up more space.

It's not what I'd consider a major feature, but I think some people would appreciate having it.

Oh and in regards to the source, I'm not ready to release any source code yet. I'd like to make some more progress with it first. But it'll happen.

 

I need to make an FAQ or something, because I'm answering the same questions over and over! No biggie though, I'll be more than happy to answer again on the repeats, as well as the new ones.

- I don't know what DASM means. Is that disassembly? Levels are imported through a combination of savestate and ROM. It grabs most of the stuff from a savestate, but grabs the object layout from the ROM. It looks in the same location as the unedited Sonic 2 for objects. So... will it work, I dunno!

- I ported Sonic's code rather than doing my own because I saw greater advantages in doing a port. And thanks to my port, I can make the BLAST Programming Interface (BPI) work to a larger degree.

- The BPI is a functionality I have been holding out on for a while, but I'll go ahead and reveal it. It's essentially Motorola 68000 emulation under the hood. It's designed to run code from objects from your disassemblies. It's not finished, and only a couple objects work. This feature will be improved on in the future.

- No music editor will be designed simply because I see no advantage in doing one. It's up to the community to create one.

- No monitors will be available in this release. The BPI still has a ways to go.

- You can't add new abilities to Sonic right now. He is as he is in this release.

- Also, this is not really an answer to a question, but I thought I'd add that I've designed a file format specifically for title cards, title screens, etc. I don't know to what extent it will be implemented into this engine by it's initial release, but I figured that is probably something people are interested in. Correct me if I'm wrong.