********************Sprite Editor 1.2********************I. Introduction***************Sprite Editor (SE) is a little tool for making animated sprites with some new features. Main of them are: 26 positions, independent colors for each position, integrated editor & animator, nice design :) and (hopefuly) easy manipulation. You can quess why did I do it... Hm, why. Some months ago (october 2000) I became an idea to make a cool game for our little Atari, but I needed some tool just for making animated sprites. I found only one: Sprite I_don't_know_what :) by Lufa/Satantronic which was ...uhm... very primitive (sorry ;-) So I started with coding THIS :) SE is ofcoz freeware!II. Function overview*********************Editor:1,2,3,4 - Set sprite--------------------No comment :)5,6,7,8 - Set color-------------------UP/DOWN - select shade of spriteLEFT/RIGHT - select the color of spriteRETURN - confirm colorsArrows - Move cursor--------------------No comment :)CONTROL+Arrows - Move sprite----------------------------Hold CONTROL and move cursor - you will move (rotate) the whole spriteSHIFT+Arrows - (Un)draw line----------------------------Hold SHIFT and move the cursor - you will draw a lineSPACE - (Un)draw point----------------------No comment :)H - Horizontal mirror---------------------Mirrors the actual sprite by X-Axis. It's depend on 'Big Windows' settings (look at 'B' key)V - Vertical mirror-------------------Mirrors the actual sprite by Y-AxisI - Invert----------Inverts the actual sprite - $10 or $20 bytes long (look at 'B' key)INSERT - Copy-------------Copy the complete position ($20 bytes) incl. colors to the another oneDEL - Erase sprite------------------Erase the actual sprite - $10 or $20 bytes (look at 'B' key)CLEAR - Erase position----------------------Erase the complete position ($20 bytes). The colors will be preservedSHIFT+CLEAR - Erase all-----------------------Erase all positions and set the color of actual sprite to all positionsP - Position select-------------------You can enter A-Z, 26 positions at all...B - Big windows toggle----------------------You can change the actual size of sprite - $10 (16) or $20 (32) bytes. So you can edit bigger sprites than can be on the screen (using CONTROL+UP/DOWN)W - 2 windows toggle--------------------Here you can set 2 windows - it's useful when you need wider sprite than 8 bits. Of course you can have max. of 2 sprites in one windowTAB - Next window-----------------Works only if 2 windows are active. In the 1st window you can use sprite 1 or 2, in 2nd window sprite 3 or 4M - Animator------------Exit to the Animator (the data & flags will be not changed... of course :)ESC - Quit to DOS-----------------No comment :)CTRL+D - Change actual device-----------------------------You can type whole name of device (e.g. D1) or just first letter and press RETURN if number is OKCTRL+L - Load-------------SE looks for PM.DAT and COL.DAT files in actual directory and loads themCTRL+S - Save-------------Saves actual players and colors. In fact it's simple memory dump from $3800 to $44ff (PM.DAT) and from $3400 to $3467 (COL.DAT)Note: sometimes, bcoz of bad synchronisation may be fonts and DLI after i/o operations corrupted. Simply go to Animator and back to Editor (M key) and nice design is back :-) I'm very sorry for this, but it's harder to fix it as you could think :-)Animator:Animator is 2nd part of my work. It's simplier than Editor, because it was coded during 3-4 days. Very nice feature is 'parallel' running - you can change speed, size, definition, etc during playing animation! I was very suprised when I found it ;-)D - Define animation--------------------Now you can enter letters which represent the position. Maximum is 80, you can use DELETE. After typing press RETURNR - Run animation-----------------Pressing 'R' you stop/run playing the animation. If you have set 2 windows, it will be detected and sprites 1/2 will be played next to 3/4 S - Speed option----------------1 = positions are changed each Vertical Blank2 = positions are changed each second Vertical Blank3 = positions are changed each fourth Vertical Blank4 = positions are changed each eighth Vertical BlankZ - Size of sprites-------------------It can be normal, double or quadC - Size correction-------------------ON = corrects the shape of pixels (to be squares)OFF = classic Atari representation: 1 pixel is 1 scan line wideO - Collisions--------------ON = result of collision of sprite 1 and 2 or sprite 3 and 4 is 3rd colorOFF = no collisions, sprite 1 has got the highest priority, sprite 4 the lowestM - Editor----------Exit to the Editor, animation is stoppedESC - Quit to DOS-----------------No comment :)III. Hardware requirements**************************Nothing special - each 8-bit Atari (PAL/NTSC) with 48 kB of memory. Tested also under Atari800Win emulator...IV. Sprites & colors in the memory**********************************$3800: sprite 1, position A$3820: sprite 2, position A$3840: sprite 3, position A$3860: sprite 4, position A$3880: sprite 1, position B ... etc to $44FF$3400: color of sprite 1, position A$3401: color of sprite 2, position A$3402: color of sprite 3, position A$3403: color of sprite 4, position A$3404: color of sprite 1, position B ... etc to $3467It's very simple to make any routine for replaying... if you have any problems, contact me, OK?V. Future plans***************Game for Atari XE/F030 - with IMO very original idea, but it will be very hard to code... Probably for 320 kB and probably after Falcon version...Demo/intro/anything_for_the_scene for Atari XE/F030, especially Falcon !!!VI. Contact***********Bug reports, improvements, ideas, money :) send to:Smail: Miro Kropacek       Budatinska 23       Bratislava       851 05       Slovakia       Europe ;-)Email: mk20432@decef.elf.stuba.sk or       mikro@atlantis.sk (only in        emergency :)VII. Greetings**************Big hello goes to:XI, Dodo, Lufa, Jookie of SatantronicJiri Bernasek aka BEWESOFTZdenek Burian of FLOPRadek Sterba aka RASTERTiger of New GenerationBLB of CobraLewis of AidsVasco of TristesseDely of Atari AreaMad Butcher of F2and all others who keep our Atari scene alive...VIII. History*************v1.0 [07/2001] - first official releasev1.1 [3.8.2001] - sprite animator fixed; options like size or correction are now unchanged after switching to editorv1.2 [6.8.2002] - added save/load function. I was too lazy, but Raster and Mad Butcher kicked me to do it:-) Btw look at release date - 1 year after 1.1 version (in fact I didn't do ANYTHING on little XE... well, Falcon rulez more than XE :-)I hope, you'll enjoy this little tool and wait for my next productions !MiKRO, 6.8.2002, Bratislava/Slovakia