Rob Stone
@rasto1968.bsky.social
Programing computers since the early 80s!
Surrey, UK
Day job - all things web, especially web components
Fun job - retro 8 bit development for the Acorn Electron
My games
https://github.com/rasto68/apache-canyon
Surrey, UK
Day job - all things web, especially web components
Fun job - retro 8 bit development for the Acorn Electron
My games
https://github.com/rasto68/apache-canyon
Some beta testing on a new eagerly awaited Elk game this morning and this afternoon spending some time on Astoraid. Play area is 64 x 64 sectors containing 32 asteroids, but you don't know where they are to start with. The "scan" screen lets you find them :) Asteroids contain different things...
November 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Some beta testing on a new eagerly awaited Elk game this morning and this afternoon spending some time on Astoraid. Play area is 64 x 64 sectors containing 32 asteroids, but you don't know where they are to start with. The "scan" screen lets you find them :) Asteroids contain different things...
Some more "trying things out" 😀 The dev environment now has stars and the scan screen shows the locations of things. Plan is to get some of the gameplay elements tested out and then start porting the code over to 6502.
November 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Some more "trying things out" 😀 The dev environment now has stars and the scan screen shows the locations of things. Plan is to get some of the gameplay elements tested out and then start porting the code over to 6502.
A day off work, so a little "fun" work instead :) Getting various plotting routines working in the dev mode and decided to go for a retro TV look ;) I've also worked on some more gameplay stuff including a map/scanner screen mock up that might make it in next. Oh and say hello to one of the aliens.
November 3, 2025 at 3:22 PM
A day off work, so a little "fun" work instead :) Getting various plotting routines working in the dev mode and decided to go for a retro TV look ;) I've also worked on some more gameplay stuff including a map/scanner screen mock up that might make it in next. Oh and say hello to one of the aliens.
Another first for me - particle systems :) I wanted to see what the player jets would look like with particles instead of cycling sprites so used my dev system to try particles out. This is displaying a maximum of 16 particles at a time, I like the effect but wonder if it will be possible in 6502..
November 1, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Another first for me - particle systems :) I wanted to see what the player jets would look like with particles instead of cycling sprites so used my dev system to try particles out. This is displaying a maximum of 16 particles at a time, I like the effect but wonder if it will be possible in 6502..
"Astoraid" but not running on an emulator/real hardware. I've created a mini dev environment using JavaScript + an HTML Canvas that lets me try things out much more quickly than writing lots of 6502. I have a library of routines that mimic the real hardware so the code is close to what it will be...
October 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
"Astoraid" but not running on an emulator/real hardware. I've created a mini dev environment using JavaScript + an HTML Canvas that lets me try things out much more quickly than writing lots of 6502. I have a library of routines that mimic the real hardware so the code is close to what it will be...
Culture and hobbies day at work, so the Elk came in to demonstrate what a 40 year old computer could do :) Highscore challenge running with Apache Canyon and Astoraid demo'ing the dev environment featuring Electroniq from @0xc0de.bsky.social
September 10, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Culture and hobbies day at work, so the Elk came in to demonstrate what a 40 year old computer could do :) Highscore challenge running with Apache Canyon and Astoraid demo'ing the dev environment featuring Electroniq from @0xc0de.bsky.social
Video 2 shows the same thing but with the game code running from SWRAM. I was expecting to gain a few more cycles than this, but anything extra is useful :)
August 25, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Video 2 shows the same thing but with the game code running from SWRAM. I was expecting to gain a few more cycles than this, but anything extra is useful :)
Experimenting with SWRAM use for "Astoraid". Video 1 shows normal mode, you can see I've almost run out of CPU for drawing anything more by the position of the "red" debug background colour.
August 25, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Experimenting with SWRAM use for "Astoraid". Video 1 shows normal mode, you can see I've almost run out of CPU for drawing anything more by the position of the "red" debug background colour.
No retro for me today, a trip down to West Wittering to enjoy the sun and the sea.
August 23, 2025 at 2:05 PM
No retro for me today, a trip down to West Wittering to enjoy the sun and the sea.
Some more "Astoraid" time this afternoon - the stars now move in the appropriate direction :) I'm not sure about the speed yet, it feels a little too fast at "maximum speed" but this can be tweaked later on. The code is *very* un-optimized at the moment so I might need to spend some time here soon.
August 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Some more "Astoraid" time this afternoon - the stars now move in the appropriate direction :) I'm not sure about the speed yet, it feels a little too fast at "maximum speed" but this can be tweaked later on. The code is *very* un-optimized at the moment so I might need to spend some time here soon.
And starfield part 1 is working, a few "smoke & mirrors" here as it always moves at the moment, I wanted to test the effect though :) It might not move this fast eventually - it will depend on what it looks like when other things are also moving.
August 12, 2025 at 10:58 PM
And starfield part 1 is working, a few "smoke & mirrors" here as it always moves at the moment, I wanted to test the effect though :) It might not move this fast eventually - it will depend on what it looks like when other things are also moving.
A busy coding day at work today, but I wanted to do some work on Astoraid this evening.
Time for some more "concept art", I wanted to see if I could get a nice layout for the bits of status text that will be needed. Quite happy with this :) This also reveals the font I designed a few weeks ago.
Time for some more "concept art", I wanted to see if I could get a nice layout for the bits of status text that will be needed. Quite happy with this :) This also reveals the font I designed a few weeks ago.
August 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM
A busy coding day at work today, but I wanted to do some work on Astoraid this evening.
Time for some more "concept art", I wanted to see if I could get a nice layout for the bits of status text that will be needed. Quite happy with this :) This also reveals the font I designed a few weeks ago.
Time for some more "concept art", I wanted to see if I could get a nice layout for the bits of status text that will be needed. Quite happy with this :) This also reveals the font I designed a few weeks ago.
More progress on Astoraid (formerly known as "Game 2") I was meant to be working on a starfield and/or asteroid plotting so heres a video showing the game logo and playing area borders 😆 The playing area may end up shrinking depending on whether I can fit the various bits of status text it will need
August 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
More progress on Astoraid (formerly known as "Game 2") I was meant to be working on a starfield and/or asteroid plotting so heres a video showing the game logo and playing area borders 😆 The playing area may end up shrinking depending on whether I can fit the various bits of status text it will need
A little more progress on "Game 2". I have the drawing and animation of player "jet exhausts" and "scans" working and added the asteroid plotting routine today. Currently have 4 separate sprite routines, you can never have too many 😜
July 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
A little more progress on "Game 2". I have the drawing and animation of player "jet exhausts" and "scans" working and added the asteroid plotting routine today. Currently have 4 separate sprite routines, you can never have too many 😜
A tech free week for me as I will be enjoying this view instead. I have bought my notebook and pen with me so I might be jotting thoughts about "game 2" down. I've been coming here since I was 14 and used to use pen and paper back then to think about programs I wanted to write :)
June 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
A tech free week for me as I will be enjoying this view instead. I have bought my notebook and pen with me so I might be jotting thoughts about "game 2" down. I've been coming here since I was 14 and used to use pen and paper back then to think about programs I wanted to write :)
Finally some progress with "game #2". I've spent a lot of time (2 months!) drawing/re-drawing the player sprite and just not getting anything that I was happy with so I went back to my original (from April) and am going with that for now. Testing keyboard rotation of the player ship.
June 9, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Finally some progress with "game #2". I've spent a lot of time (2 months!) drawing/re-drawing the player sprite and just not getting anything that I was happy with so I went back to my original (from April) and am going with that for now. Testing keyboard rotation of the player ship.
The amazing Electroniq from @0xc0de.bsky.social just keeps getting better and better. Here you can see the secrets of Apache Canyons 50fps gameplay (double buffering) via Electroniq's new "view RAM as pixels feature"
June 3, 2025 at 6:15 PM
The amazing Electroniq from @0xc0de.bsky.social just keeps getting better and better. Here you can see the secrets of Apache Canyons 50fps gameplay (double buffering) via Electroniq's new "view RAM as pixels feature"
I still remember the first time I saw this (at a computer club meet), we marvelled at the "inner secrets" of Beeb it revealed. I ended up with the equivalent book for my Electron and now have a modern copy of that :)
March 31, 2025 at 8:52 PM
I still remember the first time I saw this (at a computer club meet), we marvelled at the "inner secrets" of Beeb it revealed. I ended up with the equivalent book for my Electron and now have a modern copy of that :)
Checking the Electron works before the ABUG south meet this weekend - gave Apache Canyon a go (I haven't played it for a while) and got my best score and level reached ever :)
March 31, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Checking the Electron works before the ABUG south meet this weekend - gave Apache Canyon a go (I haven't played it for a while) and got my best score and level reached ever :)
I used to have an original copy of this book 40+ years ago, but didn't have the skills to really make use of it. I've spent the last year managing with a digital copy so decided to treat myself to a printed version. Still not sure I have the skills to make proper use of it, but will give it a shot 😉
March 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I used to have an original copy of this book 40+ years ago, but didn't have the skills to really make use of it. I've spent the last year managing with a digital copy so decided to treat myself to a printed version. Still not sure I have the skills to make proper use of it, but will give it a shot 😉
The seeds of a new game 😀 An afternoon of pixel art and coming to terms with the "joy" of chunky Mode 5 pixels - I really want some colours in my next game and Mode 5 is really the only option with CPU limitations. Anyway, some concept art to see what things could like before any coding starts.
March 2, 2025 at 6:32 PM
The seeds of a new game 😀 An afternoon of pixel art and coming to terms with the "joy" of chunky Mode 5 pixels - I really want some colours in my next game and Mode 5 is really the only option with CPU limitations. Anyway, some concept art to see what things could like before any coding starts.
Finally, after a second phone call to them last Monday - they still had the wrong issue number on their system (271). I will be getting my next copy from a shop!
March 1, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Finally, after a second phone call to them last Monday - they still had the wrong issue number on their system (271). I will be getting my next copy from a shop!
The Waverley arriving, the speed it approaches at makes you think it's going to crash then it just "stops"
February 22, 2025 at 7:19 PM
The Waverley arriving, the speed it approaches at makes you think it's going to crash then it just "stops"
Doing some benchmarking of Electron emulators against the real hardware. Of course this meant I had to get my Electron out and why not have a go on Apache Canyon on the real machine. This is the highest score I've ever managed, but still not good enough for an Elite rank 😔
February 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Doing some benchmarking of Electron emulators against the real hardware. Of course this meant I had to get my Electron out and why not have a go on Apache Canyon on the real machine. This is the highest score I've ever managed, but still not good enough for an Elite rank 😔
Here's a video of a "boss battle" from Apache Canyon, these get progressively harder each time you meet a boss as its shields increase so although this one looks easy this isn't the case later on. Anyone who grew up in the 80s might recognise the fanfare from a 1980s helicopter themed TV show :)
February 16, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Here's a video of a "boss battle" from Apache Canyon, these get progressively harder each time you meet a boss as its shields increase so although this one looks easy this isn't the case later on. Anyone who grew up in the 80s might recognise the fanfare from a 1980s helicopter themed TV show :)