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Asteroids is kinda interesting because its a vector based game. (the beam is moved around the screen, turned on and off rapidly to draw the game screen). The

Asteroids is kinda interesting because its a vector based game. (the beam is moved around the screen, turned on and off rapidly to draw the game screen). The vector graphics made the game looks so crisp and clean. Slower beam movement make brighter lines, which is clever. I recently stumbled across a youtube video where someone takes a modern laser projector and recreates asteroids using it. A little long, but kinda interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHjG759ABY&t=774s

tyingq 10y ago
The arcade musuem has a copy of the manual for that G05 vector X/Y monitor used in Asteroids, Red Baron, Battlezone, etc. http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monitor%20TM-146%20Issue%201%20Electrohome%20G05-801%20Monochrome%20XY.pdf http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monito... The laser projector link you put up is really cool. Laser servos can't move around anywhere near as fast as a vector monitor, so it's neat to see how he had to scale the number of objects down to a manageable level.
- acomjean 10y ago
  Neat. I think he said 30,000 points per second for the laser I think he said, which seems pretty good. Nearest neighbor.. I'll have to take another look at an asteroids, but the fact that you can't even tell that how it works, even when the screen is full of objects is telling. those XY monitors were quite the thing. I'm getting "VECTREX" flashbacks (the 80s vector based home game console).. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
joezydeco 10y ago
The definitive guide to how the Atari vector system worked was written by Jed Margolin (ex-Atari engineer). It's amazingly detailed but incredibly easy to read: http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm The secret is very precise (and expensive) DACs. The vector generator actually did all the hard work in Asteroids. The main CPU (a 1.5 MHz 6502) just created vector lists for the AVG to draw.
- acomjean 10y ago
  Long and very technical. Wow. Really interesting stuff, especially the game specific stuff at the end. 6502 sounds like the Apple // processor. Thanks.
  - joezydeco 10y ago
    6502 was indeed the Apple ][ CPU. Also: Commodore PET/VIC20/64/128, BBC Micro, Nintendo NES, Atari 2600/5200, and Atari 400/800 home computers.
- detaro 10y ago
  Another fun detail about the hardware: deterministic random generators with relatively small state. The German computer magazine c't ran a competition for writing Asteroids AIs in 2008, here is the winning entry playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHZd0iN8MM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHZd0iN8MM Note how it shoots at asteroids that haven't spawned yet, e.g. at 10s, or lines up perfects shots on the splitters of an asteroid at ~28s, before the large one is actually hit. Each time something random happens at the beginning of the game, it narrows down the internal state of the PRNG, and quickly can perfectly predict the game.

tyingq 10y ago

The arcade musuem has a copy of the manual for that G05 vector X/Y monitor used in Asteroids, Red Baron, Battlezone, etc. http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monitor%20TM-146%20Issue%201%20Electrohome%20G05-801%20Monochrome%20XY.pdf http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari%20Monito... The laser projector link you put up is really cool. Laser servos can't move around anywhere near as fast as a vector monitor, so it's neat to see how he had to scale the number of objects down to a manageable level.

acomjean 10y ago
Neat. I think he said 30,000 points per second for the laser I think he said, which seems pretty good. Nearest neighbor.. I'll have to take another look at an asteroids, but the fact that you can't even tell that how it works, even when the screen is full of objects is telling. those XY monitors were quite the thing. I'm getting "VECTREX" flashbacks (the 80s vector based home game console).. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

joezydeco 10y ago

The definitive guide to how the Atari vector system worked was written by Jed Margolin (ex-Atari engineer). It's amazingly detailed but incredibly easy to read: http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm The secret is very precise (and expensive) DACs. The vector generator actually did all the hard work in Asteroids. The main CPU (a 1.5 MHz 6502) just created vector lists for the AVG to draw.

acomjean 10y ago
Long and very technical. Wow. Really interesting stuff, especially the game specific stuff at the end. 6502 sounds like the Apple // processor. Thanks.
- joezydeco 10y ago
  6502 was indeed the Apple ][ CPU. Also: Commodore PET/VIC20/64/128, BBC Micro, Nintendo NES, Atari 2600/5200, and Atari 400/800 home computers.
detaro 10y ago
Another fun detail about the hardware: deterministic random generators with relatively small state. The German computer magazine c't ran a competition for writing Asteroids AIs in 2008, here is the winning entry playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHZd0iN8MM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHZd0iN8MM Note how it shoots at asteroids that haven't spawned yet, e.g. at 10s, or lines up perfects shots on the splitters of an asteroid at ~28s, before the large one is actually hit. Each time something random happens at the beginning of the game, it narrows down the internal state of the PRNG, and quickly can perfectly predict the game.