If you don't know the history of Elite, watch this.

[Oathbreaker]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3567435786#

Somewhat dramatized with two young actors, but at least the interviews show you what our two heroes look like these days.

The fairly authentic-looking footage of the early test models was esp. nice, plus the slightly hokey-looking use of Peter Snow (the narrator) in front of a green-screen. Heh.

Found at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Elite_on_TV so most Oolitists will no doubt have seen it already, if not you should.

[kgs]

Thanks for posting that. I don't think I would have found it on my own.

The part about the Fibonacci Sequence was interesting, I never knew that they used it in the game's code. I had no idea how they managed fitting all the planets and stuff in there.

[Rxke]

Spending two hours to reduce the code by 3 bytes was considered time well spent

[CommonSenseOTB]

Spending two hours to reduce the code by 3 bytes was considered time well spent

When I'm trying to make script functions run within the allotted time I can understand how difficult it must have truly been for them. I've spent days on such things.

[DaddyHoggy]

According to Firefox, my avatar on this forum takes up 16.54KiB of space - that would have left B&B 2->4KiB to write the game in...

[CommonSenseOTB]

According to Firefox, my avatar on this forum takes up 16.54KiB of space - that would have left B&B 2->4KiB to write the game in...

Daddy"Hoggy" indeed!

[Griff]

According to Firefox, my avatar on this forum takes up 16.54KiB of space - that would have left B&B 2->4KiB to write the game in...

Well you know what to do, stare at it for 2 hours and see if you can save a few bytes

[Killer Wolf]

aye, trim your feathers back and get a wakazashi instead of a katana and you'll save a few bytes.

[JensAyton]

Well you know what to do, stare at it for 2 hours and see if you can save a few bytes

There’s an app for that.

Code: Select all

$ time optipng -o 7 daddyhoggy.png 
OptiPNG 0.6.4: Advanced PNG optimizer.
Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Cosmin Truta.

** Processing: daddyhoggy.png
128x108 pixels, 4x8 bits/pixel, RGB+alpha
Input IDAT size = 16751 bytes
Input file size = 16940 bytes

Trying:
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 0		IDAT size = 15159
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 0		IDAT size = 15159
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 1		IDAT size = 14645
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 1		IDAT size = 14645
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 2		IDAT size = 14630
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 2		IDAT size = 14630
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 4		IDAT size = 14131
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 4		IDAT size = 14131
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956
                               
Selecting parameters:
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956

Output IDAT size = 13956 bytes (2795 bytes decrease)
Output file size = 14121 bytes (2819 bytes = 16.64% decrease)


real    0m1.155s
user    0m1.135s
sys     0m0.006s

[DaddyHoggy]

Well you know what to do, stare at it for 2 hours and see if you can save a few bytes

There’s an app for that.

Code: Select all

$ time optipng -o 7 daddyhoggy.png 
OptiPNG 0.6.4: Advanced PNG optimizer.
Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Cosmin Truta.

** Processing: daddyhoggy.png
128x108 pixels, 4x8 bits/pixel, RGB+alpha
Input IDAT size = 16751 bytes
Input file size = 16940 bytes

Trying:
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 0		IDAT size = 15159
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 0		IDAT size = 15159
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 1		IDAT size = 14645
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 1		IDAT size = 14645
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 2		IDAT size = 14630
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 2		IDAT size = 14630
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 4		IDAT size = 14131
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 4		IDAT size = 14131
  zc = 9  zm = 9  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956
                               
Selecting parameters:
  zc = 9  zm = 8  zs = 0  f = 5		IDAT size = 13956

Output IDAT size = 13956 bytes (2795 bytes decrease)
Output file size = 14121 bytes (2819 bytes = 16.64% decrease)


real    0m1.155s
user    0m1.135s
sys     0m0.006s

Speechless...

and it only took Ahruman 0.006s to save a few bytes - he's that good!

[Matti]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3567435786#

Few errors in there. Most obvious is claim that Elite is the first game with saving feature and gameplay time of several days and even weeks. Already in 1970's were made games that could be played for days and saving games to (floppy) disk wasn't unusual in 80's even before Elite. Already in 70's student named Walter Bright made, and sold, computer wargame Empire, which could be played for several days. But on the otherhand, wargames are niche which have always been unknown for mass media (possible exception: Warhammer miniature wargames)

[DaddyHoggy]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3567435786#

Few errors in there. Most obvious is claim that Elite is the first game with saving feature and gameplay time of several days and even weeks. Already in 1970's were made games that could be played for days and saving games to (floppy) disk wasn't unusual in 80's even before Elite. Already in 70's student named Walter Bright made, and sold, computer wargame Empire, which could be played for several days. But on the otherhand, wargames are niche which have always been unknown for mass media (possible exception: Warhammer miniature wargames)

Except I don't know anybody in the 1970s who had a HOME computer (I did have an Atari 2600 in 1979 and I had a friend who's dad had a some huge ex-work IBM thing in his spare bedroom) - but by the early-mid/1980s I didn't know any of my peers who didn't have a computer (I got my first C64 in 1982).

[Alex]

Never seen that doco before. Thanks.