Wow, that’s getting to be such a long time ago now! It’s always nice to bump into echoes of h2g2… happy days and great memories, almost feels like a different era now. Nice to see you here too! 👋
Here's a new repository for the Acornsoft Elite Demonstration Disc.
I haven't documented all the changes yet, but I have marked them up. Search the main source file for "Mod:" to see what Bell and Braben changed to turn the #BBCMicro cassette version into the demo...
github.com/markmoxon/el...
Good idea! For flicker-free ships that should be no problem, and I think I should be able to find room for the planet flicker-free code too. I'll pop that on the list. 😀
No, I don’t, but I do know that the protection is 8271-specific, as my floppy copy doesn’t work on my 1770 interface. ☹️
I’m disassembling the extracted binaries, so I didn’t have to crack it myself. That’s a good thing, as I am rubbish at cracking copy protection!
Fantastic! I never saw it back in the day, but it would have blown my mind, I’m sure.
And the Electron version still has that Elite magic, so good choice! 🫡
Yeah, it’s one of those fun Elite rabbit holes! There are three demo modes in 6502 Elite: this one, the 6502 Second Processor demo, and the combat demo in NES Elite.
I've documented the other two, now for this one!
NES: elite.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/t...
6502SP: elite.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/6...
For more info, check out this page from the excellent @frontierastro.bsky.social:
www.frontierastro.co.uk/Elite/bbc_di...
I hope to add this to my site in the next few weeks, once I’ve documented the extra code…
The Elite Demonstration Disc
I've started disassembling the #BBCMicro Elite Demonstration Disc.
Acornsoft sent this out to shops in 1984. It flies itself and contains rudimentary pilot AI.
Did anyone see this back in the day? It’s fun to watch!
You can run it in your browser: bbc.xania.org?autoboot&dis...
#retrocomputing
It definitely isn’t forgotten! But I do think it’s a little overlooked. To be fair it is a difficult concept to grasp… but when you get it, it is transcendental.
I like to think it’s one of those games that is an arbiter of good taste, irrespective of popularity. But I may be biased. 😀
I know, it’s a proper Venn diagram of nerdly wonders. 😀
Others are working on that, I believe. I'm a 6502 and ARM guy, so I've only analysed the orignial Bell/Braben versions.
Can't have all the fun to myself! 😀
I’m that someone. 😀
You can read about this and all my other software archaeology projects at bbcelite.com - there are lots of rabbit holes to get lost down. Enjoy!
The porting has already begun. See the links at the bottom of this page…
elite.bbcelite.com/about_site/u...
This is pretty amazing. Draw accurate landscapes from The Sentinel on a pen plotter? And animate them? I'm definitely in!
newsletter.revdancatt.com/p/085-the-se...
I do my projects for a lot of reasons, but seeing what people do with them? Yeah, that's a big one. 😀
#bbcmicro #c64 #retrocomputing
Definitely planning to add the C64 version to the site. I suspect it's very close to the BBC Micro version, bar the sound, keyboard and screen-poking aspects. There's only one way to find out!
Got some other projects that I've been trying not to get distracted by that will come first, but C64: yes!
Ha, yes, I see what you mean - very Sentinel-esque! Looks fun. 😀
Thank you! I hope you enjoy getting lost in the rabbit hole - that’s almost the point of my projects. 😀
There are so many clever ideas in there…
Thank you! I also failed to get it back in the day (I was too busy playing Elite!), but it has dated incredibly well and is so worth revisiting. The graphics might be a little chunky, but honestly that’s the only thing that feels old. It’s such a great bit of coding…
Lots of jobs to do! Turns out this house doesn’t clean itself. Who knew? It’s very disappointing, but I’m always hopeful.
I’ve got some fun Elite-related ideas for the next project, though, so there’s always that. 🚀
Yeah, the landscape generation code is absolutely brilliant - I enjoyed analysing that part!
Then again, I enjoyed analysing all of it. Geoff Crammond’s code is always such a pleasure to pick apart. It’s so clever…
Thank you Rob! Got both those books here too, you clearly have excellent taste. 😀
Not sure whether these deep dives would work so well in print, without being able to link to the code itself (and the code is copyright, so only small snippets would be OK in a book).
Never say never, though. 😀
Mike Follin took the Amstrad code and added loads of extra genius code to get the Spectrum version working so well, but the core game algorithms are still the same.
See simonowen.com/articles/aug... for more details.
Interestingly, the Z80 code for the Amstrad version was automatically generated from the 6502 source by Geoff Crammond himself… so the core of that version is pretty much the same as this one. He wrote his own cross-assembler - very clever!
If you have enjoyed this project, you might like my other software archaeology projects:
* Elite on the 6502
* Aviator on the BBC Micro
* Revs on the BBC Micro
* Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
See www.bbcelite.com for details
Time for a new project now… after a bit of a break. See you soon!
A stack of boulders with a robot on top
Generating the landscape in The Sentinel
A panorama of landscape 0000 in The Sentinel
A contour map of the landscape in The Sentinel
It's finished! The Sentinel, Geoff Crammond's epic game, is now fully documented.
* 41,902 lines of lovingly annotated source code
* 51 deep dives (116,240 words)
* Buildable repository
* 100% handcrafted AI-free content
* 7 months’ work
thesentinel.bbcelite.com
#retrocomputing #C64 #BBCMicro
Nice! A bit like parts of the Elite source code. There are a some very interesting label names in there…
elite.bbcelite.com/6502sp/main/...
elite.bbcelite.com/6502sp/main/...
Ha! Now I can’t help wonder what your label strategy was… 🤔
Time for my last batch of deep dives into The Sentinel, Geoff Crammond's epic #BBCMicro game.
This one's a mixed bunch of miscellaneous topics, from anti-cracker code to hidden snippets of original source code. Short and sweet!
thesentinel.bbcelite.com/deep_dives
Enjoy…
#retrocomputing #c64
Ha! That’s a great point. 🤯
