mirror of
https://github.com/imjasonh/nescript
synced 2026-07-08 08:55:38 +00:00
688d9afcec
Adds `examples/platformer.ne`, a full side-scrolling game that
exercises nearly every subsystem of the compiler in one program:
custom CHR tileset, 32×30 background nametable with per-region
attribute palettes, 2×2 metasprite hero with gravity/jump physics,
wrap-around horizontal scrolling, moving enemies, coin pickups,
user-declared SFX + music, and a Title → Playing state machine
with autopilot so the headless jsnes harness captures real
gameplay at frame 180. Tile art + nametable are generated by
`scripts/gen_platformer_tiles.rs` (`cargo run --bin gen_platformer_tiles`).
Building this out uncovered three independent runtime bugs that
together made the example render as black-on-black smileys. All
three are fixed in this commit:
1. **`gen_init` enabled sprite rendering before the linker's
initial palette/background load runs.** The PPU's v-register
auto-increments on every `$2007` write *during active
rendering*, so the palette load (32 B) and nametable load
(1024 B) were scrambled past the first ~72 bytes — every
existing program with a `background Level { ... }` block was
silently rendering zero-filled VRAM. Fix: leave `PPU_MASK = 0`
at the end of `gen_init` and emit a new `gen_enable_rendering`
call *after* all initial VRAM writes complete.
2. **Audio tick corrupted `ZP_CURRENT_STATE`.** The audio
driver's period-table lookup reused `$02/$03` as a temporary
indirect pointer with a comment claiming the slots were free
because the tick doesn't call mul/div. But `$03` is also
`ZP_CURRENT_STATE` used by the state dispatch loop, so every
music note silently overwrote the state index with the high
byte of `__period_table` (`0xC5` in the platformer ROM),
wedging the state machine forever. Fix: `gen_nmi` now PHAs
`$02/$03` on entry and PLA-restores them on exit, and the
audio tick JSR moves inside that save/restore window (it used
to be spliced by the linker *before* the register saves, so
even A/X/Y were technically being trashed pre-save). Only
`audio_demo`'s audio hash shifts (its note timings move a few
cycles); every other golden is unchanged.
3. **Sub-palette mirroring footgun.** Writing a 32-byte palette
blob sequentially causes the sprite sub-palettes' "index 0"
slots at `$3F10/$3F14/$3F18/$3F1C` to clobber the background
universal colour at `$3F00/$3F04/$3F08/$3F0C` via NES hardware
mirroring. The example's palette sets all eight first bytes
to `$22` (sky blue) for this reason; `docs/future-work.md`
picks up a TODO to warn on inconsistent first-byte values in
the analyzer.
Also:
- `docs/platformer.gif` — 6-second recording of the example
running in jsnes, generated by the new
`tests/emulator/record_gif.mjs` puppeteer helper (encodes via
`gifenc`, committed as a dev-dependency under
`tests/emulator/package.json`).
- README / examples/README tables and the 497-test count are
updated to cover the new example.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01BcCcHi6FUmTh8jC7UgkA3A
74 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
# NEScript Examples
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## Quick Start
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```bash
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# Build the compiler
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cargo build --release
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# Compile all examples
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for f in examples/*.ne; do cargo run -- build "$f"; done
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# Or compile one
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cargo run -- build examples/hello_sprite.ne
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```
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Open any `.nes` file in an NES emulator ([Mesen](https://www.mesen.ca/), [FCEUX](https://fceux.com/), etc.)
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## Examples
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| File | Features | Description |
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|------|----------|-------------|
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| `hello_sprite.ne` | input, draw | Move a sprite with the d-pad |
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| `bouncing_ball.ne` | if/else, variables | Auto-bouncing sprite with edge detection |
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| `coin_cavern.ne` | states, functions, constants | 3-state game with gravity and coin collection |
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| `arrays_and_functions.ne` | arrays, functions, while | Enemy array with collision detection |
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| `state_machine.ne` | on enter/exit, transitions | Multi-state flow with timers |
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| `sprites_and_palettes.ne` | sprites, scroll, cast | Inline CHR data, PPU scroll writes, type casting |
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| `mmc1_banked.ne` | MMC1, banks, multiply | Banked mapper with software multiply |
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| `palette_and_background.ne` | palette, background, set_palette, load_background | Reset-time initial load plus vblank-safe runtime swaps |
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| `platformer.ne` | **every subsystem** | End-to-end side-scrolling demo: custom CHR tileset, full 32×30 nametable with per-region attribute palettes, 2×2 metasprite hero with gravity/jump physics, wrap-around horizontal scrolling, enemies, coin pickups, user-declared SFX + music, and a Title → Playing state machine with an autopilot so the headless harness still hits interesting gameplay at frame 180. Regenerate the tile art with `cargo run --bin gen_platformer_tiles`. |
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## Emulator Controls
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| NES Button | Typical Key |
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|------------|-------------|
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| D-pad | Arrow keys |
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| A | Z |
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| B | X |
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| Start | Enter |
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| Select | Right Shift |
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## About Sprites
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Sprite names in `draw Player at: (x, y)` are parsed and recorded in the AST.
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You can define sprites with inline CHR tile data:
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```
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sprite Player {
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chr: [0x3C, 0x42, 0x81, 0x81, 0x81, 0x81, 0x42, 0x3C,
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0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]
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}
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```
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If no matching sprite declaration exists, the draw uses the built-in default
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tile (a smiley face). See `sprites_and_palettes.ne` for a full example.
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## Compiler Commands
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```bash
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# Compile to ROM
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cargo run -- build game.ne
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# Custom output path
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cargo run -- build game.ne --output my_game.nes
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# Type-check only
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cargo run -- check game.ne
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# View generated 6502 assembly
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cargo run -- build game.ne --asm-dump
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# Debug mode
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cargo run -- build game.ne --debug
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```
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