Cross-platform ports

I've been cranking the handle and have finished at least templates for each of the sprite update/handler routines. About half of them are completely implemented, so each room is now lively animated with moving blocks, balls, ghosts etc. The core engine is now 2,500 lines of C code.

Needing a break from translating Z80 assembler into C, and inspired by a query from a friend as to why I was using Allegro rather than SDL, I decided to take a step back and re-architect the code for cross-platform building as I did for Lode Runner.

As for Allegro vs SDL, it is simply a case of what I know. Allegro is simple to use but has some annoying kinks, so I was up for trying something new. After poring over tutorials and the API reference for at least 10 minutes, I had the Knight Lore menu screen rendering in a window! Unfortunately I then spent the next few hours trying to get keyboard input working, and have still yet to do so. Whilst I currently have both Allegro and SDL projects, the jury is out on SDL atm.

PC platform library issues aside, I now have template projects that build - and run - on Amiga, Sega Genesis and Neo Geo targets. The core code runs, but there's no graphical output yet. The Amiga and Sega Genesis projects at least display some text to show it's running. I should stress that this does not necessarily mean that I will be completing ports for all of these platforms. The Amiga is probable, I'd certainly like to do the Neo Geo if I can overcome a technical issue, but the Sega Genesis is probably unlikely.

With that out of the way, I should resist further work on the Amiga and/or Neo Geo ports and return to the C core implementation itself. There are probably a few more sprites that I can knock over quickly - such as the guards - but then I'll have to have a full implementation of the game loop and all its subtleties before going any further, as a lot of the remaining handler routines rely on that framework to be in place.

During this process I've had more of an insight into the mechanics of the code and I must admit it's not bad at all. For example, some of the game's state is implicit in the sprite number of particular objects, and the entire game logic is implemented within the object handler routines.

So from here-on in, the game will soon become playable. The player's character already appears at the start of the game from a cloud of sparkles, he just can't move yet.

UPDATE: One of the guard types and the wizard are fully animated and walk around the room now!