Game 1Unit 7 of 181 hr learning time
The Flock in Hand
The flock is finite: five sheep, shown as icons on a HUD strip at the foot of the screen. Each loss takes one. When the strip empties, the field empties too.
39% of Flock
Look at the bottom of the screen. Those are your sheep.
Until now a squash cost nothing — she came back, free, forever, and the lane was a toy. This unit makes the flock finite: five in hand, shown as a row of little white icons on a strip at the foot of the screen. Each time the lane wins, an icon goes. When the last one goes, no sheep steps up from the field — the farm stands empty, the tractor drives on, and the game is over.
Stakes are what turn a hazard into a threat. Same lane, same tractor, same collision bit — but now you’ll find yourself waiting for the gap.
The Display
Three icons left. The capture script fed two sheep to the lane — parked each one in the tractor’s path and let determinism do the rest — and the strip kept the score. The third sheep stands at the field start, up next.
A Strip of Its Own
The icons live on a HUD band — the same per-band Copper trick as Unit 1’s fence and dashes: a new COLOR00 for the strip itself, and a new COLOR01 so bitplane pixels there read as white icons, not green tufts. One more band in the list… except this band starts at row 240, and row 240 is a problem worth meeting:
; --- THE HUD STRIP (row 240) ---
; Row 240 is beam line $11C — past 255, which the Copper's
; 8-bit comparator can't name directly. The classic trick:
; wait for the very end of line 255, THEN wait for the low
; byte. The first wait carries you across the boundary.
dc.w $ffdf,$fffe ; To the end of line 255
dc.w $1c01,$fffe ; Then line $11C & $FF = $1C
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_HUD
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_ICON
Row 240 is beam line $11C — past 255, and the Copper’s WAIT compares only eight bits of line number. It cannot name line 284 directly. The classic move, used by almost every full-height PAL game ever shipped: wait for the tail end of line 255 ($FFDF), which carries you across the boundary — then wait for the low byte ($1C), which can only match on the far side. Two waits, and the bottom of the PAL screen belongs to you.
Drawing the Hand
drawflock:
; Clear the icon area (a row of byte-rectangles)
moveq #1,d0 ; From byte 1
move.w #ROW_HUD+4,d1
moveq #12,d2 ; Room for the whole flock
moveq #8,d3
bsr rectclear
; One glyph per sheep in hand
move.w lives,d7
ble.s .none ; Empty hand, empty strip
moveq #1,d6 ; First icon at byte 1
.icons:
move.w d6,d0
move.w #ROW_HUD+4,d1
lea sheepicon,a2
bsr drawglyph
addq.w #2,d6 ; Two bytes along for the next
subq.w #1,d7
bne.s .icons
.none:
rts
drawflock is clear-then-draw: wipe the icon area (rectclear — rectfill’s opposite, eight lines of clr.b), then stamp one 8×8 sheep glyph per life via drawglyph — a byte-per-row copy, the smallest possible blit. The glyph itself is eight dc.b rows you can read like a pixel grid, same as the sprite art.
Redrawing the whole strip on every change, not erasing one icon, is a deliberate habit: state lives in lives, and the display is a function of it. There’s no way for the strip and the number to disagree.
Spending a Sheep
checksquash grows up. On a hit: one off lives, redraw the strip, and then decide — sheep remaining means the next one steps up at the field start; none means gameover, and three gates close at once: steer refuses input, checksquash stops watching, and showframe points sprite 0 at the null sprite. The field is empty. (The tractor doesn’t stop. By now you know why.)
One subtlety earned its place the hard way during this unit’s testing. CLXDAT accumulates during the squash beat — nobody reads it while the timer runs, and the collision frame itself was still drawn overlapped — so the moment the beat ended, a stale collision was waiting in the latch, and every squash double-counted. The cure is a flush as the beat expires:
subq.w #1,squashtimer ; Count the stillness down
bne.s .out
move.w CLXDAT(a5),d0 ; Beat over: flush the contact
.out: rts ; that accumulated during itClear-on-read cuts both ways: it’s how you consume the verdict, and how you discard one. Any time your design stops reading the latch, plan for what’s in it when you start again.
Experiment: How Many Is a Flock?
FLOCK_SIZE equ 1— sudden death.equ 9— an afternoon’s grazing. Watch how the same lane changes character with the size of the hand.- Move the strip: icons at the top-left instead (no line-255 crossing needed — what does that tell you about why status bars lived where they did?).
- Drop the flush and squash a sheep. Count what one contact costs now. Then put it back.
- On game over, leave the last sheep’s icon half drawn — clear the area but stamp the glyph’s top four rows only. Morbid, but you’ll have written your first partial-glyph draw.
The Complete Code
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
; FLOCK - A sheep-crossing arcade game for the Commodore Amiga
; Unit 7: The Flock in Hand
;
; The game gets stakes. The flock is finite: five sheep,
; shown as little white icons on a strip at the foot of the
; screen. Each time the lane wins, one icon goes. When the
; strip is empty, the field is empty too — game over, and
; the tractor drives on regardless.
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; TWEAKABLE VALUES — Change these and see what happens!
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; Colours are $0RGB (4 bits per component, values 0-F)
COLOUR_FOLD_GRASS equ $0480 ; The fold's pasture
COLOUR_HEDGE equ $0350 ; Hedgerow between fold and stream
COLOUR_WATER equ $036A ; The stream
COLOUR_BANK equ $0350 ; Grassy bank below the stream
COLOUR_LANE equ $0666 ; The lane's tarmac
COLOUR_VERGE equ $0350 ; Verge below the lane
COLOUR_FIELD equ $0470 ; The field where the flock waits
COLOUR_FENCE equ $0531 ; Pen walls (bitplane, fold band)
COLOUR_WOOD equ $0852 ; The footbridge (bitplane, stream band)
COLOUR_DASH equ $0EEE ; Lane markings (bitplane, lane band)
COLOUR_TUFT equ $0360 ; Spare (bitplane, grass bands)
COLOUR_WOOL equ $0EEE ; The sheep's fleece (sprite colour 1)
COLOUR_FACE equ $0210 ; Her face, ears and tail (sprite colour 2)
COLOUR_SHADE equ $0BBB ; Fleece shading (sprite colour 3)
COLOUR_TRACTOR equ $0B20 ; The tractor's bodywork (sprite colour 1)
COLOUR_TYRE equ $0210 ; Wheels and trim (sprite colour 2)
COLOUR_CAB equ $0999 ; The cab roof (sprite colour 3)
; Where each band begins (screen row 0-255, top to bottom)
ROW_HEDGE equ 40
ROW_STREAM equ 48
ROW_BANK equ 80
ROW_LANE equ 96
ROW_VERGE equ 160
ROW_FIELD equ 176
; Where the sheep starts, and how she moves
SHEEP_X equ 152
SHEEP_Y equ 200
STEP equ 8 ; Pixels per hop
COOLDOWN equ 6 ; Frames between hops
; The tractor's lane and pace
TRACTOR_Y equ 98 ; Top traffic lane
TRACTOR_SPEED equ 2 ; Pixels per frame, rightward
; How long the world stops when a sheep is lost
SQUASH_BEAT equ 25 ; Frames of stillness
; The flock
FLOCK_SIZE equ 5 ; Sheep in hand at the start
; The HUD strip at the foot of the screen
ROW_HUD equ 240
COLOUR_HUD equ $0231 ; The strip itself
COLOUR_ICON equ $0EEE ; Sheep icons (bitplane, HUD band)
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; HARDWARE REGISTERS
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
CUSTOM equ $dff000
DMACON equ $096 ; DMA control (write)
INTENA equ $09a ; Interrupt enable (write)
INTREQ equ $09c ; Interrupt request (write)
COP1LC equ $080 ; Copper list pointer
COPJMP1 equ $088 ; Copper restart strobe
VPOSR equ $004 ; Beam position
JOY1DAT equ $00c ; Joystick, control port 2
CLXDAT equ $00e ; Collision data (read clears it!)
CLXCON equ $098 ; Collision control
BPLCON0 equ $100 ; Bitplane control
BPLCON1 equ $102 ; Scroll
BPLCON2 equ $104 ; Priority
BPL1MOD equ $108 ; Odd plane modulo
DDFSTRT equ $092 ; Display data fetch start
DDFSTOP equ $094 ; Display data fetch stop
DIWSTRT equ $08e ; Display window start
DIWSTOP equ $090 ; Display window stop
BPL1PTH equ $0e0 ; Bitplane 1 pointer (high)
BPL1PTL equ $0e2 ; Bitplane 1 pointer (low)
SPR0PTH equ $120 ; Sprite 0 pointer (high)
COLOR00 equ $180 ; Background colour
COLOR01 equ $182 ; Bitplane colour 1
COLOR17 equ $1a2 ; Sprite 0/1 colour 1
COLOR18 equ $1a4 ; Sprite 0/1 colour 2
COLOR19 equ $1a6 ; Sprite 0/1 colour 3
COLOR21 equ $1aa ; Sprite 2/3 colour 1
COLOR22 equ $1ac ; Sprite 2/3 colour 2
COLOR23 equ $1ae ; Sprite 2/3 colour 3
ROW_BYTES equ 40 ; 320 pixels / 8
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; CODE (Chip RAM — the Copper, planes and sprites live here)
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
section code,code_c
start:
lea CUSTOM,a5 ; A5 = custom chip base ($DFF000)
; --- Take over the machine ---
move.w #$7fff,INTENA(a5) ; Disable all interrupts
move.w #$7fff,INTREQ(a5) ; Clear pending interrupts
move.w #$7fff,DMACON(a5) ; Disable all DMA
; --- Point the Copper's bitplane MOVEs at our plane ---
lea plane,a0
move.l a0,d0
lea copbpl,a1
move.w d0,6(a1) ; Low word into the BPL1PTL move
swap d0
move.w d0,2(a1) ; High word into the BPL1PTH move
; --- Point sprite 0 at the sheep, the rest at nothing ---
lea copsprites,a1 ; Eight pointer pairs in the list
lea sheep0,a0
move.l a0,d0
move.w d0,6(a1) ; Sprite 0 low word
swap d0
move.w d0,2(a1) ; Sprite 0 high word
lea nullspr,a0 ; Sprites 1-7: an empty sprite
move.l a0,d0
moveq #7-1,d6
.nulls:
lea 8(a1),a1 ; Next pointer pair in the list
move.w d0,6(a1)
swap d0
move.w d0,2(a1)
swap d0
dbf d6,.nulls
; --- ...except sprite 2, which carries the tractor ---
lea copsprites+16,a1 ; Sprite 2's pointer pair
lea tractor,a0
move.l a0,d0
move.w d0,6(a1)
swap d0
move.w d0,2(a1)
; --- Arm collision detection ---
move.w #$0000,CLXCON(a5) ; Even sprites always take part;
; we need nothing extra for 0-vs-2
move.w CLXDAT(a5),d0 ; Prime: reading clears the latches
; --- Draw the farmyard's detail into the bitplane ---
bsr drawfarmyard
bsr drawflock ; The flock in hand, bottom-left
; --- Place the sheep at her starting spot ---
bsr updsprite
; --- Install Copper list ---
lea copperlist,a0
move.l a0,COP1LC(a5)
move.w d0,COPJMP1(a5) ; Strobe: restart Copper from COP1LC
; --- Enable DMA ---
move.w #$83a0,DMACON(a5) ; SET + DMAEN + BPLEN + COPEN + SPREN
; === Main Loop ===
mainloop:
; Wait for vertical blank — in two phases. If we only
; waited FOR line 0, a fast loop body could finish while
; the beam is still ON line 0 and run again in the same
; frame. Wait to leave line 0 first, then to reach it.
move.l #$1ff00,d1 ; Mask: bits 8-16 of beam position
.vbleave:
move.l VPOSR(a5),d0 ; Read beam position
and.l d1,d0 ; Isolate line number
beq.s .vbleave ; Loop while still on line 0
.vbwait:
move.l VPOSR(a5),d0 ; Read beam position
and.l d1,d0 ; Isolate line number
bne.s .vbwait ; Loop until line 0 again
bsr steer ; Read the stick, maybe hop
bsr drivetractor ; The lane moves whether you do or not
bsr checksquash ; Did the lane win?
bsr updsprite ; Position is data: rewrite POS/CTL
bsr showframe ; Point sprite 0 at this step's image
; Check left mouse button (active low at CIAA)
btst #6,$bfe001 ; CIAA Port A, bit 6
bne.s mainloop ; Not pressed — keep going
; Button pressed — halt
.halt:
bra.s .halt
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; STEER — read the joystick, hop the sheep
;
; JOY1DAT is control port 2. The decode is famously sideways:
; right = bit 1 left = bit 9
; down = bit 0 XOR bit 1 up = bit 8 XOR bit 9
; One XOR of the register with itself-shifted turns the two
; awkward pairs into plain testable bits.
;
; A hop is STEP pixels; COOLDOWN frames must pass between hops
; — that's what makes her *step* like a sheep rather than glide
; like a cursor.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
steer:
tst.w gameover ; No flock, no shepherd
bne.s .frozen
tst.w squashtimer ; Mid squash-beat? She can't move
beq.s .alive
.frozen: rts
.alive:
tst.w cooldown
beq.s .ready
subq.w #1,cooldown ; Still mid-hop rhythm — wait
rts
.ready:
move.w JOY1DAT(a5),d0 ; Read the stick
move.w d0,d1
lsr.w #1,d1
eor.w d0,d1 ; Now: bit 0 = down, bit 8 = up
btst #8,d1 ; Up?
beq.s .notup
sub.w #STEP,sheepy
bra.s .stepped
.notup:
btst #0,d1 ; Down?
beq.s .notdown
add.w #STEP,sheepy
bra.s .stepped
.notdown:
btst #9,d0 ; Left?
beq.s .notleft
sub.w #STEP,sheepx
bra.s .stepped
.notleft:
btst #1,d0 ; Right?
beq.s .done ; Stick centred — no hop
add.w #STEP,sheepx
.stepped:
move.w #COOLDOWN,cooldown ; Set the hop rhythm
eori.w #1,curframe ; The other feet, next picture
; --- Hold her inside the farm ---
tst.w sheepx
bge.s .xlow
clr.w sheepx
.xlow: cmp.w #320-16,sheepx
ble.s .xhigh
move.w #320-16,sheepx
.xhigh: tst.w sheepy
bge.s .ylow
clr.w sheepy
.ylow: cmp.w #ROW_HUD-16,sheepy ; The HUD strip is not a pasture
ble.s .done
move.w #ROW_HUD-16,sheepy
.done:
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; DRIVETRACTOR — advance the lane's traffic
;
; No input, no decisions: tractx grows by TRACTOR_SPEED every
; frame, and past the right edge it wraps round to enter from
; the left again. A fixed loop the player can learn by watching
; — which is the entire skill this game is about.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
drivetractor:
move.w tractx,d0
add.w #TRACTOR_SPEED,d0
cmp.w #320,d0 ; Clear of the right edge?
blt.s .keep
move.w #-16,d0 ; Re-enter from the left
.keep: move.w d0,tractx
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; CHECKSQUASH — read the collision latches, judge the lane
;
; CLXDAT accumulates collisions as Denise draws, and READING
; IT CLEARS IT — so read it exactly once per frame and keep
; the copy. Bit 9 means "sprite 0 or 1 touched sprite 2 or 3":
; our sheep met our tractor, pixel against pixel. The hardware
; compared every overlapping pixel pair for us, for free.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
checksquash:
tst.w squashtimer ; Already mid-beat?
beq.s .watch
subq.w #1,squashtimer ; Count the stillness down
bne.s .out
move.w CLXDAT(a5),d0 ; Beat over: flush the contact
.out: rts ; that accumulated during it
.watch:
tst.w gameover ; Nothing left to lose?
bne.s .safe
move.w CLXDAT(a5),d0 ; Read once — this clears it
btst #9,d0 ; Sprite 0/1 met sprite 2/3?
beq.s .safe
; --- Squashed. One fewer in hand. ---
subq.w #1,lives
bsr drawflock ; Redraw the strip
tst.w lives
bgt.s .next ; Sheep remain — send the next one
move.w #1,gameover ; The field is empty
rts
.next:
move.w #SHEEP_X,sheepx ; The next sheep steps up
move.w #SHEEP_Y,sheepy
move.w #SQUASH_BEAT,squashtimer
.safe:
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; SETPOS — pack screen (x, y) into one sprite's POS/CTL
; a0 = sprite structure d0 = x d1 = y
;
; Unit 3's packing, generalised: any sprite, any position. Beam
; coordinates: VSTART = y + $2C, HSTART = x + $80 — and the
; ninth bits ride in CTL's low flags.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
setpos:
add.w #$2c,d1 ; D1 = VSTART (beam line)
move.w d1,d2
add.w #16,d2 ; D2 = VSTOP (16 rows tall)
add.w #$80,d0 ; D0 = HSTART (beam position)
; POS = VSTART[7:0] << 8 | HSTART[8:1]
move.w d1,d3
lsl.w #8,d3
move.w d0,d4
lsr.w #1,d4
and.w #$ff,d4
or.w d4,d3
move.w d3,(a0) ; Write POS
; CTL = VSTOP[7:0] << 8 | V8START<<2 | V8STOP<<1 | H0START
move.w d2,d3
and.w #$ff,d3
lsl.w #8,d3
btst #8,d1 ; VSTART's ninth bit
beq.s .nv8s
or.w #%100,d3
.nv8s: btst #8,d2 ; VSTOP's ninth bit
beq.s .nv8e
or.w #%010,d3
.nv8e: btst #0,d0 ; HSTART's odd-pixel bit
beq.s .nh0
or.w #%001,d3
.nh0: move.w d3,2(a0) ; Write CTL
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; UPDSPRITE — place every sprite for this frame
;
; One routine owns every position write: the sheep (both step
; images, so whichever showframe picks she stands in the same
; place) and the tractor.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
updsprite:
lea sheep0,a0
move.w sheepx,d0
move.w sheepy,d1
bsr setpos
lea sheep1,a0
move.w sheepx,d0
move.w sheepy,d1
bsr setpos
lea tractor,a0
move.w tractx,d0
move.w #TRACTOR_Y,d1
bsr setpos
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; SHOWFRAME — point sprite 0 at this step's image
;
; Animation is nothing but choosing which data the channel
; fetches. The Copper list's sprite 0 pointer words are
; rewritten with whichever picture curframe names — the same
; poke the startup code did, now done every frame.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
showframe:
lea nullspr,a0 ; Game over: the field is empty
tst.w gameover
bne.s .picked
lea sheep0,a0
tst.w curframe
beq.s .picked
lea sheep1,a0
.picked:
move.l a0,d0
lea copsprites,a1
move.w d0,6(a1) ; Sprite 0 low word
swap d0
move.w d0,2(a1) ; Sprite 0 high word
rts
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; DRAW THE FARMYARD (unchanged from Unit 1)
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
drawfarmyard:
; --- The fold's pens (rows 4-35) ---
moveq #0,d0 ; x = byte 0
moveq #4,d1 ; row 4
moveq #ROW_BYTES,d2 ; full width
moveq #4,d3 ; 4 rows thick
bsr rectfill
lea penposts,a2 ; Post positions (byte columns)
moveq #6-1,d6 ; Six posts
.posts:
moveq #0,d0
move.b (a2)+,d0 ; x = next post column
moveq #8,d1 ; rows 8-35
moveq #1,d2 ; one byte wide
moveq #28,d3
bsr rectfill
dbf d6,.posts
; --- The footbridge (rows 48-79, mid-stream) ---
moveq #18,d0 ; byte 18 = pixel 144
moveq #ROW_STREAM,d1
moveq #4,d2 ; 32 pixels wide
moveq #32,d3 ; the stream's full height
bsr rectfill
; --- Lane markings: two dashed lines (rows 116, 136) ---
moveq #116,d1
bsr dashline
move.w #136,d1
; falls through
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
; dashline — a row of dashes across the lane
; d1 = starting row. 2 bytes on, 2 bytes off, 4 rows thick.
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
dashline:
moveq #0,d0 ; x = byte 0
.dash:
move.w d1,-(sp) ; rectfill trashes d1
move.w d0,-(sp) ; ...and d0
moveq #2,d2 ; 2 bytes of dash
moveq #4,d3 ; 4 rows thick
bsr rectfill
move.w (sp)+,d0
move.w (sp)+,d1
addq.w #4,d0 ; next dash 4 bytes along
cmp.w #ROW_BYTES,d0
blt.s .dash
rts
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
; rectfill — set a byte-aligned rectangle of pixels
; d0 = x (bytes) d1 = row d2 = width (bytes) d3 = height
; Trashes d1, d4, d5, a0, a1.
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
rectfill:
lea plane,a0
move.w d1,d4
mulu #ROW_BYTES,d4 ; row * 40
add.w d0,d4 ; + x
adda.w d4,a0 ; A0 = first byte of the rectangle
move.w d3,d4 ; D4 = rows to go
.row:
movea.l a0,a1
move.w d2,d5 ; D5 = bytes to go
.col:
move.b #$ff,(a1)+ ; 8 pixels on
subq.w #1,d5
bne.s .col
lea ROW_BYTES(a0),a0 ; down one row
subq.w #1,d4
bne.s .row
rts
penposts: dc.b 0,8,16,24,32,39 ; Byte columns of the six posts
even
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; DRAWFLOCK — the sheep in hand, as icons on the HUD strip
;
; One 8x8 glyph per sheep still in hand, drawn at the bottom
; left; the strip is cleared first so a lost sheep disappears.
; The icons are bitplane pixels — the HUD band's COLOR01 makes
; them white, the same per-band trick as the fence and dashes.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
drawflock:
; Clear the icon area (a row of byte-rectangles)
moveq #1,d0 ; From byte 1
move.w #ROW_HUD+4,d1
moveq #12,d2 ; Room for the whole flock
moveq #8,d3
bsr rectclear
; One glyph per sheep in hand
move.w lives,d7
ble.s .none ; Empty hand, empty strip
moveq #1,d6 ; First icon at byte 1
.icons:
move.w d6,d0
move.w #ROW_HUD+4,d1
lea sheepicon,a2
bsr drawglyph
addq.w #2,d6 ; Two bytes along for the next
subq.w #1,d7
bne.s .icons
.none:
rts
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
; drawglyph — copy an 8-row, 1-byte-wide glyph into the plane
; d0 = x (bytes) d1 = row a2 = glyph (8 bytes)
; Trashes d1, d4, a0.
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
drawglyph:
lea plane,a0
move.w d1,d4
mulu #ROW_BYTES,d4
add.w d0,d4
adda.w d4,a0
moveq #8-1,d4
.row:
move.b (a2)+,(a0)
lea ROW_BYTES(a0),a0
dbf d4,.row
rts
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
; rectclear — rectfill's opposite: clear a byte-aligned block
; d0 = x (bytes) d1 = row d2 = width (bytes) d3 = height
; Trashes d1, d4, d5, a0, a1.
;──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
rectclear:
lea plane,a0
move.w d1,d4
mulu #ROW_BYTES,d4
add.w d0,d4
adda.w d4,a0
move.w d3,d4
.row:
movea.l a0,a1
move.w d2,d5
.col:
clr.b (a1)+
subq.w #1,d5
bne.s .col
lea ROW_BYTES(a0),a0
subq.w #1,d4
bne.s .row
rts
sheepicon: dc.b %00100100 ; A sheep, in eight bytes:
dc.b %01111110 ; ears up top,
dc.b %11111111 ; a fat woolly middle,
dc.b %11111111
dc.b %11111111
dc.b %01111110
dc.b %00111100 ; tapering to
dc.b %00011000 ; a little tail
even
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; COPPER LIST — the farmyard, plus eight sprite pointers
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
copperlist:
; --- Display setup ---
dc.w DIWSTRT,$2c81 ; Window: top-left
dc.w DIWSTOP,$2cc1 ; Window: bottom-right
dc.w DDFSTRT,$0038 ; Fetch start (lores)
dc.w DDFSTOP,$00d0 ; Fetch stop
dc.w BPLCON0,$1200 ; 1 bitplane, colour burst on
dc.w BPLCON1,$0000 ; No scroll
dc.w BPLCON2,$0024 ; Sprites in front of playfield
dc.w BPL1MOD,$0000 ; No modulo — rows pack tight
copbpl:
dc.w BPL1PTH,$0000 ; Plane address, poked in
dc.w BPL1PTL,$0000 ; by the CPU at startup
copsprites:
dc.w SPR0PTH+0,$0000 ; Sprite 0: the sheep (poked in)
dc.w SPR0PTH+2,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+4,$0000 ; Sprites 1-7: the null sprite
dc.w SPR0PTH+6,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+8,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+10,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+12,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+14,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+16,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+18,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+20,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+22,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+24,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+26,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+28,$0000
dc.w SPR0PTH+30,$0000
; --- The sheep's colours (sprites 0-1 share 17-19) ---
dc.w COLOR17,COLOUR_WOOL
dc.w COLOR18,COLOUR_FACE
dc.w COLOR19,COLOUR_SHADE
; --- The tractor's colours (sprites 2-3 share 21-23) ---
dc.w COLOR21,COLOUR_TRACTOR
dc.w COLOR22,COLOUR_TYRE
dc.w COLOR23,COLOUR_CAB
; --- THE FOLD (from the top of the frame) ---
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_FOLD_GRASS
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_FENCE ; Pixels here are fence
; --- HEDGEROW (row 40) ---
dc.w $5401,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+40 = $54
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_HEDGE
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_TUFT
; --- THE STREAM (row 48) ---
dc.w $5c01,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+48 = $5C
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_WATER
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_WOOD ; Pixels here are bridge
; --- THE BANK (row 80) ---
dc.w $7c01,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+80 = $7C
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_BANK
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_TUFT
; --- THE LANE (row 96) ---
dc.w $8c01,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+96 = $8C
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_LANE
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_DASH ; Pixels here are markings
; --- THE VERGE (row 160) ---
dc.w $cc01,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+160 = $CC
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_VERGE
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_TUFT
; --- THE FIELD (row 176, down to row 239) ---
dc.w $dc01,$fffe ; Wait: line $2C+176
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_FIELD
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_TUFT
; --- THE HUD STRIP (row 240) ---
; Row 240 is beam line $11C — past 255, which the Copper's
; 8-bit comparator can't name directly. The classic trick:
; wait for the very end of line 255, THEN wait for the low
; byte. The first wait carries you across the boundary.
dc.w $ffdf,$fffe ; To the end of line 255
dc.w $1c01,$fffe ; Then line $11C & $FF = $1C
dc.w COLOR00,COLOUR_HUD
dc.w COLOR01,COLOUR_ICON
; --- END OF COPPER LIST ---
dc.w $ffff,$fffe ; Wait for impossible position
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; THE SHEEP — sprite 0, two step images
;
; Same sheep, two pictures. Step image 0: front-left and
; back-right feet planted. Step image 1: the other diagonal,
; tail swung the other way. Alternate them as she hops and
; she waddles. The control words are written by updsprite.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
section data,data_c
sheep0:
dc.w 0 ; POS — written by updsprite
dc.w 0 ; CTL — written by updsprite
; plane A (fleece) plane B (face/shade/feet)
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000100000010000 ; ..ears..
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000011111100000 ; ..head..
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000001111000000 ; ..face..
dc.w %0000111111110000,%0000000000000000 ; fleece ruff
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000 ; shoulders
dc.w %0111111111111110,%1000000000000000 ; < front foot
dc.w %0111111111111110,%1001000000001000 ; < + flecks
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000001001000000 ; shade flecks
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000000000000001 ; back foot >
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000100000010001 ; + flecks >
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000 ; haunches
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0001111111111000,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0000111111110000,%0000000000000000 ; rump
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000001100000000 ; tail, left
dc.w 0,0 ; End of sprite
sheep1:
dc.w 0 ; POS — written by updsprite
dc.w 0 ; CTL — written by updsprite
; plane A (fleece) plane B (face/shade/feet)
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000100000010000 ; ..ears..
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000011111100000 ; ..head..
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000001111000000 ; ..face..
dc.w %0000111111110000,%0000000000000000 ; fleece ruff
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000 ; shoulders
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000000000000001 ; front foot >
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0001000000001001 ; + flecks >
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000001001000000 ; shade flecks
dc.w %0111111111111110,%1000000000000000 ; < back foot
dc.w %0111111111111110,%1000100000010000 ; < + flecks
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000 ; haunches
dc.w %0011111111111100,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0001111111111000,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0000111111110000,%0000000000000000 ; rump
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000000011000000 ; tail, right
dc.w 0,0 ; End of sprite
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; THE TRACTOR — sprite 2
;
; Big rear wheels on the left, small front wheels and the
; bonnet pointing right — the way it drives. Red bodywork,
; dark tyres, a grey cab roof. Its own palette: sprites 2-3
; share colours 21-23.
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
tractor:
dc.w 0 ; POS — written by updsprite
dc.w 0 ; CTL — written by updsprite
; plane A (body/cab) plane B (tyres/cab)
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000000000 ; rear wheel
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000011110 ; + front wheel
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000011110
dc.w %0000001111111100,%0111110000000000 ; chassis
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000111110000000 ; body + cab
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000111110000000
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000111110000000
dc.w %0111111111111110,%0000111110000000
dc.w %0000001111111100,%0111110000000000 ; chassis
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000011110
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000011110 ; + front wheel
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0111110000000000 ; rear wheel
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000000000000000
dc.w %0000000000000000,%0000000000000000
dc.w 0,0 ; End of sprite
nullspr: dc.w 0,0 ; A sprite that displays nothing
dc.w 0,0
; --- The sheep's state ---
sheepx: dc.w SHEEP_X ; Screen x (0-304)
sheepy: dc.w SHEEP_Y ; Screen y (0-240)
cooldown: dc.w 0 ; Frames until the next hop
curframe: dc.w 0 ; Which step image: 0 or 1
; --- The tractor's state ---
tractx: dc.w -16 ; Enters from the left edge
; --- The squash beat ---
squashtimer: dc.w 0 ; Frames of stillness remaining
; --- The flock ---
lives: dc.w FLOCK_SIZE ; Sheep in hand
gameover: dc.w 0 ; 1 = the field is empty
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
; THE BITPLANE (Chip RAM)
;══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
plane: ds.b ROW_BYTES*256 ; One plane, 320 x 256
If It Doesn’t Work
- The strip appears too high, or mid-field? The two-wait crossing matters: a single WAIT for
$1C01without the$FFDFfirst matches before line 255 ever arrives (line$1Cexists on the way down!). Order is everything. - Each squash costs two sheep? The stale-latch problem from above — flush
CLXDATwhen the beat ends. - Icons never change?
drawflockmust be called afterliveschanges, and its clear must cover the full icon area — a too-narrowrectclearleaves ghost icons beyond it. - The sheep wanders into the HUD? Her clamp is
ROW_HUD-16now, not the screen edge. The strip is not a pasture.
Try This
- A sixth life. Award a bonus sheep the first time… well, there’s nothing to reward yet — but write
addq.w #1,lives+bsr drawflockbehind a key press, and you’ve built the mechanism Unit 9’s fold will want. - Game-over honesty. Right now the field just empties. Sketch (don’t build) what the game-over screen needs — Unit 17’s state machine will want your list.
- Count the cost of the strip.
drawflockredraws up to five glyphs — how many byte writes is that, worst case? Would erasing exactly one icon be cheaper? Why is “cheaper” the wrong measure here?
What You’ve Learnt
- The life pool — stakes as a number plus a visible hand; consequence now compounds.
- The PAL line-255 crossing —
$FFDFthen the low byte: the two-WAIT idiom behind every full-height Copper list. - Glyph drawing —
drawglyph(a byte-per-row stamp) andrectclear; the bitplane HUD as a function of state, redrawn whole. - Latch hygiene —
CLXDATaccumulates while unread; flush it when a pause in reading ends. Clear-on-read is a contract, not a convenience. - Game over as closed gates — input, judgement and display each check one flag; the world (the tractor) deliberately doesn’t.
What’s Next
Five sheep, one tractor — the lane is dangerous but legible at a glance. In Unit 8 the cart and the Land Rover join at their own speeds, and reading the lanes becomes the skill the whole game advertised: Busy Lanes.