Well, comparing it to my own drawing routine, a sprite is just copying a picture from a far memory into the viewing area. My own drawing routine does not use that. My own drawing routine calculates the approximate points to be drawn so it is slower. A sprite already has all the drawing saved ahead of time so there is no work to be done. My drawing routine draws it at the time it is needed.
However, with sprites - I am not fluent yet. I can do simple block sprites which copies an exact square picture. However, moving a picture that is irregular shape is a lot harder. Well, for me at this point I do not know how to do irregular shapes yet anyways. I just copy a basic picture within a square region and that is all.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/gbi1e ... kanDOS.zip
Here is my update. This time it has a little feature that you can use to future proof the game.
Instead of a speed check, I have come out with a commandline ArkanDOS
If you type in "ArkanDOS 12000000" in Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit) it runs fine.
However because the modern computers are so fast you can just run ArkanDOS at superspeed.haha
This is in the event you do NOT use DOSBox.
Let's say 20 years down the line the computer gets superfast, you can increase the value to slower.
In this version I have changed the bouncing ball routine to sprites.
There are still some subtle glitches to be worked out.
However, this is the latest ArkanDOS that is future proof.
I did not want to update it officially over at
WWW.PLAYDOSGAMES.COM because there are too many glitches. So anyone who wants the beta can download this version instead of the stable one over at
WWW.PLAYDOSGAMES.COM - thank you!
There is a second value after the speed. This value is use for the sound duration. So let's say you wanted the click that happens when the ball hit the blick to be longer, you just increase the value until you are happy.
So it would go something like this:
(I have tried it in Microsoft Windows XP - and the first value is fine. However, I am not hearing sound in my VirtualBox. Maybe it is just on my end.)
Anyways, here is the format of the commandline ArkanDOS:
ArkanDOS <duration> <duration>
Duration of delay is how much to slow it down just in case the computer is too fast.
Duration of brick contact is how long to pause when the ball connects with the brick.
This second value is just for special affect.
So a live example is:
ArkanDOS 12000000 80000
Just to be clear, this is in the regular MS-DOS command prompt NOT DOSBox. DOSBox currently does not allow faster speed than DOS.
On the other hand, MS-DOS command prompt depends on how modern your cpu is.
Since my computer is a dual core 2.5ghz machine it is going to run the ArkanDOS too fast.
So these two values are going to slow down the game enough to be playable.
I have been able to slow it down so much that it does not move at all when I play the game. So it might lock up if the value is too high so a reboot might be needed in this case. So just start with a small value and work your way up to what is fun for you.
Your mileage may vary.