Rock Runner
by Eric Lafortune
Rock Runner is the working title of the arcade puzzle game I am currently
developing. It is being written in ARM assembler for the Acorn Archimedes. The
setting is a 3D block world where all kinds of monsters and other dangers
lurk. The player can run around, climb, jump, push and pick up and use objects
and weapons to survive.
Opening sequence
In the opening sequence a parchment with the title unrolls and burns up in
flames. The pictures below show a few frames from this animation. You can
click on them to get the full-size versions. Note that the aspect ratio of the
images may be a bit off if you're viewing them on a display with square
pixels.
Game screenshots
Below are a few preliminary screenshots from the actual game itself. The view
is isometric, scrolling in 8 directions to cover the entire world. The screen
resolution is 576x256 pixels in 256 colours (a tweaked Mode 15). The objects
are rendered using ray tracing, although some are still hand-drawn at the
moment. The levels shown are just for testing purposes but they may give an
impression of what the game will look like.
A small castle with a bridge. The player is standing in front of the castle.
The player is waiting for the transporter platform to come by. Next to him lies
a boomerang. In the background lies a stack of diamonds.
The player is gathering weapons in a sort of room. A snapping Pacman is
roaming around in the foreground.
The player is leaning against the wall of a brick structure.
The player is travelling on a transporter belt.
A Donkey Kong-like world with barrels rolling down brick platforms.
Waterworld with lots of bridges.
Tubeworld with stones, crates, barrels and bombs lying around.
A Pacman-like world made with wooden crates. The orange stuff is boiling lava
that slowly spreads throughout the world.
Technical details
- Required hardware: The program should run on any
Archimedes. The program plus data currently fit in half a Megabyte. That's what
you get when you've learned programming assembler in 4 KB on a TI-99/4A.
- Development hardware: Archimedes 310, 4 MB, originally
with ARM2, for some time now with ARM3, 3.5" & 5.25" floppy drives.
- Software tools: Zap, Basic Assembler, my own register
allocation library, Digital Symphony player.
- Specific software: a world editor, an animation editor.
- Rendering software: Rayshade 4.0.6 on my Sparcstation 20.
So when will it be available?
I've been working on this game for a few years (!) now. Progress is slow, as
coding, testing, creating the graphics and adding sounds is a lot of work for a
single person (surprisingly?). I therefore haven't fixed a release date yet.
Hey, it's only a hobby. I'm having too much fun running around in my own
isometric world, adding a new physical law now and then. At this moment
priority certainly goes to my research on physically-based rendering.
This file is maintained by Eric Lafortune
(eric@graphics.cornell.edu).
A small castle with a bridge. The player is standing in front of the castle.
The player is waiting for the transporter platform to come by. Next to him lies
a boomerang. In the background lies a stack of diamonds.
The player is gathering weapons in a sort of room. A snapping Pacman is
roaming around in the foreground.
The player is leaning against the wall of a brick structure.
The player is travelling on a transporter belt.
A Donkey Kong-like world with barrels rolling down brick platforms.
Waterworld with lots of bridges.
Tubeworld with stones, crates, barrels and bombs lying around.
A Pacman-like world made with wooden crates. The orange stuff is boiling lava
that slowly spreads throughout the world.