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Subchrist Software12 hours ago (1 edit)

I will have a proper and careful read through your previous post and reply but right now is not really the time (my Saturday eve is about to begin!).

I would say though, as simple as it may seem (on the C64), adding a whole new matrix-colouring method into CharPad is considerably less simple than you (people) might imagine.

CharPad is itself a very complex system that already supports 5 display modes (the peculiarities and complexities of each one) and 3 matrix colouring methods (15 configurations right there, all of which need to be considered for most ops), untiled and tiled projects in 250+ different shapes/sizes, tens of different transformation ops and conversions between modes/methods, interactive image import and general file imports/exports etc etc etc.

All of these things (hundreds of C# and C++ classes) all need to be painstakingly reworked in order to add the one thing you need.

It is months of work, potentially a year or more to make perfect something that perhaps 4 people have asked about in the last 20 years.

The result? an even more complicated piece of software to use and maintain, financial gain for us? little to none I would say.  

I'm not even saying "No", I guess I'm saying "Why would we bother?"

Answers welcome! :)

Enjoy your weekend.

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ntpr11 hours ago

I understand, and thank you. It was just my idea that it might be simple. Of course, I can't see 'behind the curtain,' so I don't know how you decided to manage the color RAM in your program. I realize it can be challenging, and if everything is working fine, it’s often better to leave it as is rather than mess with it—especially if only a few people would see it as a benefit.

I wish you a great rest of your Saturday 🙂, and thanks again for the answers.

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Subchrist Software10 hours ago (1 edit)

No worries, it is a 100% valid and reasonable enquiry.

The reality though is "months of work for a human being" which ultimately would bring very little reward (for our business or for the majority of our users).

It is really the "system-wide integration" of a new matrix colouring method into CharPad (its whole eco-system) which is too painful.

A far simpler project however would be a separate app that takes a CharPad project as input and allows the very thing you are seeking, allowing the user to paint/colourize the colour RAM and export the (colour) data.

This could then just be dropped into your game and used, the input project might be designed in CharPad using "per map" matrix colouring to keep the charset usage to a minimum before you use the new app to colourize it.

I will have a think about that one :)

+ also please check out the existing CharPad (binary/text) export option...

'Export Colour Map (per map char cell, CmLo)'

It may be capable of providing the data you require, albeit not quite as conveniently as you desire.

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