HalcyonFeb 17
I've gone down a deep rabbit hole working on a strange new project: a standalone After Dark module player for modern macOS. No OS emulation or ROM required -- just the original classic Mac OS AD module files! I can't believe this is working!
Show threadHalcyonFeb 17

Hi there @csilverman @root42 👋

In brief, the approach is:
1. Load the code and resources from the original module
2. Execute the original 68k module code using https://github.com/kstenerud/Musashi (Thank you kstenerud!)
3. Add handling for unhandled traps to draw to a Metal view, reimplementing the behaviors of QuickDraw one at a time (setting pixels, drawing rects, sprites, etc)

Huge thanks to the M.A.C.E project for demonstrating this approach might be viable.

GitHub - kstenerud/Musashi: Motorola 680x0 emulator written in C

Motorola 680x0 emulator written in C. Contribute to kstenerud/Musashi development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadChristian Kent   𝘊𝘒 :＼﹥Feb 18

@halcyon @csilverman @root42 Impressed, grateful, etc!!

The ultimate test case: Star Trek screensavers

Show threadJanetDFeb 18

@whophd @halcyon @csilverman @root42

I found this in my house last week.

Show threadGreg Parker
@jcdvore @whophd @halcyon @csilverman @root42 I have bad news for you: After Dark's Star Trek screensavers are terrible. Awful across the board with like one mediocre exception.
Feb 18 at 2:00amWeb
Show threadE. C. BigribsFeb 18

@gparker Some (ok many) of the TNG modules had a whiff of shark-jumping to them, but I'm still proud of working on it. Granted, I wasn't responsible for design, I was responsible for getting the art to fit on (IIRC) two floppies. And writing many of the trivia module's incorrect answers.

@jcdvore @whophd @halcyon @csilverman @root42

Show threadChristian Kent   𝘊𝘒 :＼﹥Feb 19

@eedly @gparker @jcdvore @halcyon @csilverman @root42 yeah I never got to try the TNG ones, but it was the TOS ones that live in my brain because our high school computing studies teacher had the “Mission Control” one running whenever he spoke long enough to forget to prevent it starting

“Scotty … give me that POWER!”

Its ultimate goal (I felt) was to be a low-CPU simulation of a TV episode generator.

Show threadE. C. BigribsFeb 19

@whophd The coolest part of the TNG screensaver is that it used digital assets from the actual show. Many of the LCARS displays on the show were computer monitors stuck behind smoked glass, running Macromind Director animations. When we did the screen saver, Paramount provided us with a ton of Mike Okuda's Director files, and even a few 3D models. Anything in the screen saver that had LCARS displays in it were processed from those original animations.

@gparker @jcdvore @halcyon @csilverman @root42

Show threadGreg ParkerFeb 19
@eedly @whophd @jcdvore @halcyon @csilverman @root42 Neat. The artwork and animation for After Dark TNG was very good, nice work getting it all to fit on those disks!