pouët.net

saimo information 19 glöps

• general:
• level: user
• personal:
• first name: Simone
• last name: Bevilacqua
• portals:
• csdb: profile

• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• Thank you folks for the additional nice words :)
  
  I released one more update that hopefully cures (heh) the stuttering I've seen on some boards that are more than capable of running the demo at full speed.
  
  v1.5 (2.1.2024)
  * Improved CPU data cache handling on 68040 and 68060.
  * Ensured the system MMU setup does not affect performance.
  * Ensured the 68060 susperscalar dispatch is enabled.
  * Made some small optimizations.
  * Made startup and cleanup code more robust.
  
  
• isokadded on the 2024-01-10 01:04:46
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• Eventually I released two other updates.
  Highlights:
  * improved music quality;
  * improved/fixed audio-to-video sychronization;
  * a few more palette effects;
  * other little improvements.
  (For the details, check out the changelog below).
  
  The newest version can be downloaded from https://www.retream.com/THE_CURE / https://retream.itch.io/the-cure. I have just uploaded the updated archive to ftp.scene.org, so when it will be public I'll update the download link here.
  
  v1.4 (29.04.2022)
  * Improved music: improved S/N ratio by eliminating a peak (caused by the "str" of "street" in the spoken part) and re-normalizing the waveform; amplified initial part a little bit; reduced greatly the noise that affected the coda (due to the 8-bit quantization) by amplifying that part of the waveform to the maximum and balancing that with a real-time volume change; increased sampling frequency to 29073 Hz (side effects: channels 2 and 3 can no longer be used, so the output volume is lower; music decoding takes a little longer as there is more data to decode each frame; the CHIP bus time taken by audio DMA is almost halved, which makes the demo less demanding).
  * Added switch-off of filter to ensure music sounds as it is supposed to.
  * Fixed audio-to-video synchronization: fixed drifting caused by the difference between the actual and theoretical rates (~49.92 VS 50 Hz) of the video refresh (that, by the end of the demo, caused an asynchronism of ~0.5 s);; fixed 60 ms asynchronism caused by the fact that the first three frames required for music setup/buffering were ignored; fixed a few timing marks in the script (an off-by-one mark which caused a peak of operations in the specified frame; a mark that caused the following effect to execute 4 frames too late; a few marks that were off by a frame).
  * Fixed a bad routine pointer (caused by a wrong letter in a label in the source code; it is quite incredible that this did not produce disastrous results).
  * Added some palette effects.
  * Optimized music decoding by unpacking and undeltaing data at the same time (why it was not like this right from the beginning is a mistery).
  * Made some other small optimizations.
  * Made startup and cleanup code more robust by shielding some critical operations from NMIs and by dealing with audio playback performed with direct hardware access by other programs concurrently.
  * Added version string.
  * Improved/extended README.
• isokadded on the 2022-04-30 13:10:12
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• Thanks to those I haven't thanked yet! Your words are much appreciated :)
  
  I'd like to let you know that a few days ago I released a slightly updated version (changes listed below). The NFO file and download link here are now updated accordingly.
  
  v1.1 (20210602)
  * Made startup and cleanup code more robust.
  * Fixed (unlikely) memory leak in cleanup code.
  * Replaced "actual" with "current" in standings graphics.
  * Fixed/improved README.
• isokadded on the 2021-06-06 11:09:51
• diskmag Amiga AGA jurassic pack #18
• Well done, and congratulations on the effort!
• rulezadded on the 2021-01-23 21:47:31
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• @ham
  
  Yes, it might have been like you said, but who really knows... Anyway, I have fresh news - just received this from YouTube:
  
  ***
  
  Dear Simone Bevilacqua,
  
  Thank you for submitting your video appeal to YouTube. After further review, we have removed the age restriction on your video.
  
  THE CURE
  
  For more information please visit the YouTube Help Center.
  We apologize for the delay. Due to the recent global health crisis related to COVID-19, a number of our normal review processes have been disrupted and are experiencing delays. To stay up to date on any changes in our services—and our broader response to COVID-19—please check the Help Center.
  
  Sincerely,
  - The YouTube Team"
  
  ***
  
  Glad to see YouTube didn't support the unfair request :)
  Also, despite what they wrote, the reaction was not that slow: it took them only about 10 hours.
  
  On another note, thanks for the encouragement! To be honest though, I don't have other demos in my plans: I'm back to making games (and related stuff), instead - today I hoped to release a new graphics engine for the Amiga, but I just couldn't make it :p
• isokadded on the 2020-10-18 21:29:57
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• Thanks once again to everybody for the kind words.
  
  I'm posting this because today I received a nice email from YouTube saying this:
  
  "As you may know, our Community Guidelines describe which content we allow – and don’t allow – on YouTube. Your video THE CURE was flagged to us for review. Upon review, we’ve determined that it may not be suitable for all viewers and it has been placed behind an age restriction."
  
  Since the demo does not contain any minors, sex, violence, swear words, etc., does not promote illegal or disrespectful beahaviour and, quite the opposite, invites everybody to respect one another and the planet, and to cooperate for a better world, this really feels like a censorship attempt. Sad, very sad.
  Of course I have filed an appeal, but I wouldn't bet on its success...
• isokadded on the 2020-10-18 13:01:53
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• I've been asked a few times to release the music separately, and finally I got around to do it! Here it is:
  
  https://soundcloud.com/retream/the-cure
  
  And sorry for the delay :p
• isokadded on the 2020-07-24 14:33:01
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• @all
  
  I'm really thankful for your nice comments, especially those that show heartfelt involvement. You made me really happy! I'm not thanking each and everyone of you only not to make this too gushy.
  
  One quick note: yes, it's a political message, but before that and more than that, it's social and personal ;)
  
  Now on to some specific observations/questions...
  
  
  @StingRay
  
  I had noticed the piggy, but also that it constitutes a proper vote that affects the score, so I thought it would be just as unfair and even silly if the author himself somehow affected the score negatively. But if the piggy is the proper choice as per the rules/conventions here, I apologize. Unfortunately I can't undo my vote, so I'd be happy if someone who hasn't voted yet and would give a thumbs-up compensated my mistake with a piggy.
  
  
  @?4???./Lemon + mad
  
  I'm speechless. Thanks for the bottom of my heart.
  Additional thanks for having taken the time to swallow the info file. By the way, I have noticed a grammar mistake due to a leftover and also that something was missing or had to be improved, so I have provided a new file - I guess it's going to be updated as soon as an admin finds the time to.
  
  
  @wysiwtf
  
  I see what you mean, but the nature of the presentation already makes understanding the message difficult enough: if the message had been indirect/subtle, then it would have almost completely escaped the viewers, thus making the demo a failure ;)
  
  As for the music, here's some detailed info:
  * it lasts 5 minutes and 23.2 seconds;
  * the original data is 48 kHz, 16 bit, stereo;
  * for the demo, the data has been downsampled to 28867 Hz (the Amiga maximum in 15 kHz screen modes, for who isn't familiar with the machine's capabilities) 8 bit stereo;
  * therefore, the raw data amounts to (5*60 + 23.2) * 28867 * 2 = 18659628 bytes;
  * I compressed the data with a custom lossless method (Huffman-based, no rocket science) that brings it to 10902907 bytes (5429340 left + 5473567 right);
  * the data is decompressed in real time by an algorithm I wrote specifically for an unexpanded A1200, as I needed it for a game I published slightly more than one year ago;
  * every frame the algorithm decompresses just slightly more than the amount of data strictly needed (so, after a bunch of frames, the internal buffers are full and the decompression stops for a frame);
  * on my 68030-equipped Amiga, decompressing takes about 42 rasterlines, i.e. about 14% of a frame time.
  
  
  @Aasemoon
  
  No, it isn't available and actually I didn't even plan to release the music alone. It can be done, though. At the moment I'm a bit too busy with development (of Amiga games, that is) and, even more importantly, real life issues, but I'll keep your request in mind and as soon as I release the music I'll post about it here.
  Thanks for your interest and indirect suggestion!
• isokadded on the 2020-07-14 13:23:41
• demo Amiga AGA THE CURE by RETREAM [web]
• Thanks, everybody! Your nice words are much appreciated :)
  Also, in order to avoid flooding the place with other comments like this one, thanks in advance for any future compliment.
  
  (Excuse my noobness, but it looks like there isn't a way to post a comment without giving a vote, so I gave a thumbs-up; it feels unfair though, so if an mod could remove that, I'd be happy.)
• rulezadded on the 2020-07-12 18:29:38
• game Commodore 64 Caren and the Tangled Tentacles (v1.1) [pal/ntsc] by PriorArt
• It looks like a masterpiece, I just wish I had time to play it!
• rulezadded on the 2016-02-24 17:48:13