Jeff Minter's Sprite Library and the time VM Labs hired him to help with the SDK for homebrew

[The Helper]

Back in the last days of the NUON VM Labs hired Jeff Minter to go in and help out with the SDK effort that VM Labs was doing to try and get homebrew going. I remember he came on the forums for a while and whipped up a sprite library but I never heard of anyone ever using it. Does anyone remember what else he did on the SDK front from way back in the day. Did anybody ever try to use the sprite library for any homebrew. Has anyone ever talked to Jeff Minter since about NUON? I think he posted on this forum once.

Related:

Jeff Minter - the guy that knows the most about the NUON

Problem is he probably forgot alot of it since it was so long ago. Check out this article https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/llamas-in-space-catching-up-with-llamasoft-s-jeff-minter where he talks about programming the NUON just a FYI this was not on the latest hardware Aires 3 at this...

www.thehelper.net

 

[Stephen]

Yeah - I used his sprite library for my Breakout game.

 

[mgarcia]

is it MML2D? his name is mentioned as a third person

 

[Stephen]

I used mml2d for screen setup, and initially I used sprite (Minter's sprite library). I later changed this to libsprite2. I last touched the code I think in 2002 so I don't remember who tweaked the library and released libsprite2. I am sure Minter also worked on mml2d - he was at VMLabs while the silicon was still being developed, and helped with some of the design decisions based on what he needed / wanted his code to do.

 

[mgarcia]

that's pretty cool...
Sorry.. I'm still green to the SDK... where is "Minter's sprite library" or what's it called? is it in the SDK1/2? or a seperate download somewhere?

A bit of topic but the doc's also mention a photoshop plugin... which I haven't been able to find :/

 

[mgarcia]

LOL I just found it in SDK2 (sprite.pdf)

The libsprite.a library is a powerful 2D sprite engine. It was originally written by Jeff Minter (also
known as YaK) as part of his object rendering engine used in Tempest 3000 and the Virtual Light Machine.
This library is the attempt to make Jeff’s work available to C programmers.
The sprite engine features:

 

[Stephen]

I will try to go through some of my (decades old now) notes. I have a plumbing repair to attempt so I'll need a while. I have this ZIP of what I believe is the updated libsprite2. In the notes, I see Andreas Binner (Chomp author) was credited with writing it.

 

[mgarcia]

wow cool thanks for sharing!
plumbing fun!

 

[mgarcia]

I will try to go through some of my (decades old now) notes. I have a plumbing repair to attempt so I'll need a while. I have this ZIP of what I believe is the updated libsprite2. In the notes, I see Andreas Binner (Chomp author) was credited with writing it.

By any chance would the source code be available to sprite2?

I'm surprised by the number of graphic API's for NUON!
sprite lib
mml2d/3d
AGL
mgl3D/open GL

I'm guessing sprite2 lib is the best (performance wise) for 2D.
Dumb question, but how much RAM does the Samsung n501 have? in the programmer’s guide is has SDRAM x16 for Aries 2... ie: how big can executables + data be?
Also the memory map is confusing a lot of addressable space, but I can't find much info as to it's actual size (in MB or KB).

 

[Stephen]

I don't think the source code is available - but I do have a disassembly of it (attached here).

I never tried any of the other libraries so I can't comment on that.

 

[Stephen]

BTW - here's the documentation I have for libsprite.

 

[mgarcia]

I don't think the source code is available - but I do have a disassembly of it (attached here).

I never tried any of the other libraries so I can't comment on that.

Cool thanks for sharing it!

 

[Stephen]

Cool thanks for sharing it!

Just giving out free stuff I have accumulated over the years. It should all be out there. If not - just ask, I am definitely a "digital pack-rat" Fortunately, the digital hoarding does not take up physical space. I can always (and do) get a bigger HDD that is the same size