Jason Tribbeck's Equinox

Title page

Questions

Q.Isn't calling it "Jason Tribbeck's Equinox" a bit self-centred?
A.Yes, very probably! However, I don't want it to be confused with any other game called Equinox.
 
Q.Can I be a beta tester?
A.Probably - send me an email to equinoxtribbeck.com and I'll let you know. I'm particularly interested in those people that helped me with the original Equinox. Don't be too worried if I say no - I mainly want a broad spread of machines, so if there's already one like yours, then I'll be less interested.
 
Q.What were the graphics done in?
A.Several packages:
  • POV-Ray 3.5
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Newtek Lightwave 7.5 (all later rendered objects are done in this)
  • Xara X1
And a custom 24/32-bit to 8-bit mFSI conversion program that takes the output from these programs. Yes, I know that none of these programs are RISC OS compatible (except POV-Ray, which would be very slow anyway...).
 
Q.What's mFSI?
A.It's a Modified Floyd-Steinberg Integration algorithm - modified, since it preserves black (which is used as a mask). The plotting algorithms do not care about the dithering of the pixels, so it's only the mask that is preserved. If you've used !ChangeFSI, then you've used FSI. This implementation was specially developed for Equinox.
 
Q.Where's the sound?
A.I haven't put any in yet. That'll be a later addition... I may even use the music from the 1992 game.
 
Q.Who's helped?
A.Rich Goodwin provided the opening text, and Chris Tribbeck tarted up the Equinox space ship for the main opening page.
 
Q.Will this be available on other platforms?
A.I'd like to have a Windows and a Linux version.
 
Q.What do I need to play this game?
A.While it should work on any RISC OS 3.5 onwards (except the Iyonix), a VRAM equipped StrongARM machine is preferred - although I would like to have someone run it on an ARM610. It runs in 640x480, 256 colours and two screen banks (so 1M VRAM should be fine).
 
Q.How is this to be released?
A.I'm not sure yet. I've started to produce some video scenes, and if they're going to be included, then it'll probably have to be on CD, and therefore will be better as a commercial product (albeit low-cost). If they aren't used, then it may be a free download.
 
Q.What's the sequel to be called?
A.That's getting a bit ahead of myself - but it is something I've though of. It'll probably be EQUIINOX (and the next one EQUIIINOX)...

-- Copyright © Jason Tribbeck 1994, 2002-2004 --