Posted By
Mozartkügel
on 2019-02-07
06:03:25
|  Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Hi! I'm completely new to the c16/plus4 so I'm curious if tape loaders with loading image and music were common on C16/Plus4 games? Or if they maybe are now on new 'homebrew'? I really love those tape loaders on the c64 so I'm just curious. I would try a bunch of more games myself (and I will later) but I'm super busy, so I'm focusing all my little free time on creating games instead of playing games right now. I tried to search too, but this was all I found so far https://youtu.be/EH3hToHuvZo?t=909
|
|
Posted By
Luca
on 2019-02-07
08:00:30
 | Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Being mostly a C16 market, all the memory in the commercial releases has to be dedicated to the game itself, no wasting it around. If there was no usage of the screen memory, sometimes a PETSCII screen would have been used (Jetbrix, Mr. Puniverse, Oblido, Mercenary and so on...), rarely logos (Trailblazer) or pics in some Plus/4 releases.
An IRQ tape loader to play music while loading...nope, never happened.
|
|
Posted By
Csabo
on 2019-02-07
08:43:49
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
So, to expand on the above: a few examples of Hungarian releases with loading pics: Elvarázsolt Kastély, Időlabirintus, A Nyuszi Olvasni Tanít 4, Super Cobra, Digital Ball.
Then, there's a turbo that Gaia referred to as "singing" turbo, which is kind of similar. Examples: Kőműves Kelemen, Rázós Út. Basically instead of flashing the border, these programs write to the sound registers. It's interesting.
And finally, there's Rabló-Rulett, which - despite being a C16 game - has an IRQ loader with music playing! (Off topic; I'd like to mention that the votes on this game don't do it justice in my opinion, it's a polished, fun game with lots of options.)
Now, for something that has both graphics and music... I can't think of one at the moment.
|
|
Posted By
Luca
on 2019-02-07
12:29:27
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Wow, Rabló-Rulett's loader is a total surprise to me! It actually "selects" some values while loading the game, to be copied into $FF0F, in order to play a limited one-channel version of the main theme :o
|
|
Posted By
Mozartkügel
on 2019-02-08
03:17:35
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Hey, thank you so much guys for the info and examples! I will check these out.
From a development standpoint it's a bit freeing in a way, that you don't absolutely HAVE to have a tape loader (like probably expected on the c64) if you'd sometimes would want to do a physical cassette release.
I've seen these fantastic intro images on c16/plus4 floppy games, but obviously that's another thing since you can load in new stuff into memory more easily and faster than from tape. Or did tape games also use to load some fancy introscreens separately before a game? I seem to remember quite a few c64 games did load in fancy intros that took as long to load as the games themselves.
|
|
Posted By
retroscener
on 2019-02-08
18:54:49
 | Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
It was very rare we would get a tape loading screen. I don’t know of any with a loading tune. Definitely C64 exclusive.
Some new recent Plus/4 disk releases have a tune though I believe, but more just during a loaded intro, before you click and the main game silently loads.
|
|
Posted By
Stinaris
on 2019-02-09
15:56:39
 | Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
I guess as the market was predominantly C16 it would have been a bit pointless as to load 16k using Novaload only takes1.5 minutes so you would have
A) increased the load time
B) not seen the graphics or heard the music for long, compared to the C64.
|
|
Posted By
Mozartkügel
on 2019-02-11
06:22:52
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Thanks for elaborating on the subject Stinaris and Baz !
|
|
Posted By
tlr
on 2019-10-20
15:14:08
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Didn't seem to be common. The Rodmän tape for the C16/plus4 has IRQ loading: [url=https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/rodman-special.html]here
|
|
Posted By
Mozartkügel
on 2019-10-20
17:44:53
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Ahaa! Pentagorat on the VIC-20 also has a really stunning tape loader, it's from the same developer as Rodmän, namely by "Misfit". Perhaps I should try to turn to him for advice about Plus/4 and Vic-20 tape loaders.
|
|
Posted By
tlr
on 2019-10-21
04:21:51
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
I wrote those loaders for him.
|
|
Posted By
Mozartkügel
on 2019-10-21
06:04:39
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
Oh, haha! Fantastic work man!  I really love those tape loaders on the C64, so it's great having them on the 264's and Vic-20 too. I looked at the code of some C64 tape mastering tools, and I must say it was completely out of my league at this point. I don't know how popular tape loading are these days, but there must be a bunch of enthusiasts since a lot of new releases for old computers are sold on C-casette. Hopefully 264 and Vic-20 tape loaders with image and/or music gain popularity. ^^
|
|
Posted By
Verona
on 2019-10-21
08:18:00
| Re: Were tape loaders with loading image and music common on C16/Plus4 games?
So, I think, I try the Rablo Rulett's tape loader, and if I am done that, I play a little, and WOW! Picture, or it didn't happen?
|
|
