Version 0.2.0 released

Release 0.2.0 is out and features experimental support for Atari ST computers with as little as 4MB RAM.

What's new?

The main theme of this release is the reduced memory footprint which for the first time allows owners of standard Atari ST hardware to play this game (without sound, for the time being).

How to play?

Download the release zip then use the web-based remix tool to prepare a complete distribution. Extract it somewhere on your (emulated or real) Atari ST hard drive and have fun playing the game!

Don't hesitate to report any problems or hickups you encounter. Command & Conquer for Atari ST is a work in progress.

Technical information

Two technologies are the key enablers:

• A new format for iconsets, ST16, contains terrain tiles in the ST's native 16 color encoding.
• A new format for shapes, SHPX, separates meta-information of images from actual pixel data. Only the former stays in RAM while pixel data can be read from disk as needed, freeing almost 2MB RAM.

The conversion process happens entirely in the web-based Remix tool, i.e. in your browser. Both formats use the Motorola 68000's native "big.endian" data encoding and thus enhance performance of the game by a few percent.

Other changes which contribute to reduced memory consumption:

• A 256kB interpolation table was removed.
• The cache for terrain tiles was removed (thanks to ST16 iconsets).
• A new C library, libcmini, reduces overhead.