WOOOOOO what a last 20 days. No I have not been partying it up, getting drunk and snorting lines like most high end programmers. Instead I have just been cranking out RetroCopy code with some new pictures to prove it!
In case you haven't been following the forum, there have also been some new pictures of RetroCopy v0.800 put in there. But anyhow let's move on to what is new in the world of RC. Firstly nearly all the loose ends are tied up, I keep saying this to myself and finding more loose ends, but hey, one day I'll be right.
Today I worked on adding some new objects and better collision detection to the 3D game room. Why? Well the video I wanted to make needed it so that is the main reason. The second reason is that it's cool. I've been getting some emails from people saying :-
"Ralph, RetroCopy is an emulator, what is all this 3d business? And movies? WTF"
Well the answer is RetroCopy is more than just an emulator! It's about reliving the past whilst also having new things not seen before, a blend of the past with the future. So don't get upset that some feature or system you want to see isn't in RC yet, all the good ones will be at some point in time. Especially now I've finally tidied up over 100,000 lines of code since the last version, it is much easier to work on RetroCopy as a lone wolf.
Now onto the pictures.
It is surprisingly quick to knock up you own little world within RetroCopy, which I'm rather proud about. I'll add some more customizable features at some point so you can have different colors/textures on certain things. I've also added some new features such as being able to adjust ambient lighting and the field of view.
FOV adjustment is handy for letting users find some comfortable view, which is dependent on your monitor size, aspect ratio, distance from monitor, etc. Everything is done for me to start work on the release video, and the release should follow within a week, though I'll try and nail down an exact date. v0.800 will be coming with an installer option to make it easier to install, but I'll keep the ZIP download too. Don't worry, RetroCopy still doesn't use the registry or require a permanent disk location to work, the installer is more about ease of use.