Code is Just

Footnotes, commentary and extras for my Code is Just thread, which is pinned to my @shahidkamal thread. An index to all threads is in the thread pinned here.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

This account serves as a repository of footnotes, explainers and other extras for the Code is Just saga running on my main account @shahidkamal

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Ignore. This post is to keep the account active.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Please ignore. This post is for the purposes of keeping the account alive.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Season 3:
1 https://t.co/DGbUz9Ikeb
2 https://t.co/wUZW6Z4HbF
3 https://t.co/UHOVvv31I2
4 https://t.co/Zm5axCNolO
5 https://t.co/MzLbp34FIo
6 https://t.co/SXvcYB3LmJ
7 https://t.co/4ceQzicrBr

[Shahid Kamal Ahmad @shahidkamal]

Code is Just Finale
Season 3, Episode 7

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

CODE IS JUST

The story so far:

Season 1
1 https://t.co/K8atuMJbPZ
2 https://t.co/zjcLOnrljB
3 https://t.co/RYTQk5DHaL
4 https://t.co/Tx9mY47EjP
5 https://t.co/T6PliYQTqK
6 https://t.co/nV5vKeXzWn
7 https://t.co/6Rfua1h8Qc

[Shahid Kamal Ahmad @shahidkamal]

"This isn't me."

"This. Is. NOT. ME!"

I say it out loud.

I spring to my feet.

I need tea.

I bound downstairs.

My mum is quiet, and senses my mood. Which mum doesn't?

"In which thoughts are you lost?" She asks, in Punjabi.

"This is so difficult... I..."

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Season 2:
1 https://t.co/c14kwkTiEv
2 https://t.co/HYuo8gaR3x
3 https://t.co/mIWm09FsSa
4 https://t.co/RLP6AUANTF
5 https://t.co/ONozZOf6UV
6 https://t.co/GWPn3AUwB9
7 https://t.co/6hSeQxyh4X

[Shahid Kamal Ahmad @shahidkamal]

CODE IS JUST, Season 2

By Shahid Kamal Ahmad

Episode 7

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

If you want to play along to Code is Just, download the Chimera 2 prototype. Watch for the code that will appear in the thread every night to unlock features and content. Paying for the game shows me your appreciation, but is not obligatory at all!

https://t.co/9NuAhvIfV3

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Season 3 launches on Monday 20th of June at 8pm BST, noon Pacific. With a little surprise. Follow @shahidkamal for the thread, and of course, follow this account for Code is Just related updates and news.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

6004:

The speaker in the ZX Spectrum was very simple. The way I saw it was that if you could modulate it fast enough, it would still be able to approximate speech.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

I would often play "Format Roulette", formatting a cartrdige again and again. Sometimes the number would go up as high as 90KB, other times it would drop to as low as 85KB. I would often stop once I got anywhere close to 90KB.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

6003:

The Microdrive was Sinclair's infamous "mass storage" device that was essentially a coninuous tape loop device. It was supposed to have a maximum capacity of 100KB, but in reality, you'd get a fair bit less than this.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

6002:

Something like this…

https://t.co/cvtH8Ncdnt

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

6001:

The SID chip was the sound chip used in the Commodore 64 and it was spectacularly good.

https://t.co/Gej23x2UeM

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5013:

I did literally do the room data this way, manually, on a grid.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5012:

Contrary to the reports, I came up with Chimera before Alien 8, but Ultimate shipped first. Also, the player character was meant to be a spaceman, but moved and looked like a robot, because I could never draw or animate for shit.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5011:

The AND operator gives you an output of ON only if both inputs are ON. This is what lets us do a cookie cut of the background, preserving what we don't want to touch and clearing the way for the new graphic that will occupy the hole the cookie cutter leaves.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

Do it bottom to top on slow updates for less tearing too. Job done. The copy from back buffer to actual screen is like raising the curtains on a dressed stage.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5010:

The back buffer is an area of the screen where you "dress the stage" so to speak. You do all your slow and messy drawing work there, then when everything is ready, you copy the whole thing across in one quick routine and then you don't notice as much flicker.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

So you kind of get two colours for the price of one, with black thrown in for almost free. Here’s an illustration from Chimera.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5009:

: It's called a cookie cutter because you use it to stamp out a blank space in the background where you want your image to finally appear. The cookie cutter mask makes the space, then you can put your sprite in and where it's black, nothing from behind will show through.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

…then move the sprite and XOR it in the new position. I didn't use this for the Chimera game proper, I had a fancier technique.

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[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

5008:

he binary XOR operator takes two inputs and provides one output, much like the OR operator, except that if both input bits are set to ON, then the output bit is set to OFF. The output is ON if and only if, exactly one of the input bits is ON.

[Code is Just @CodeIsJust]

You'd get some weird glitching sometimes, but people lived with it, because it was bloody fast. You would XOR the sprite image onto the background, then XOR it again with itself to remove it, restoring the background to its original state…