Original Elite source code - documented and explained.

xzanfr · Aug 30, 2020

A bit specialist but a member of stardot - Mark Moxon - has produced a fully documented & explained version of the original Elite BBC B source code
Stardot forum link
Twitter
Now with its own website : BBC Elite
Interesting to see how Ian Bell & David Braben put together this ground breaking game and the invention of edible poets.

CNC drill press · Aug 30, 2020

Simple like wont cut it - THANK YOU a lot for this link!

Koen · Aug 31, 2020

Most Cool, it must be over 34 years since I last looked at 6502 assembly code.

I was more into 6802, Z80 and ARM, I only programed 65xx a little bit on my nephew's C64 - it was intense & great fun: I stayed over for a week, read (and annotated) the 6510 book in the evenings, and then taught assembly language programming (and a thorough knowledge of his computer and a deeper understanding of computers in general) to my nephew during daytime. Good memories.

If you (yes, you!) want to understand computers on that level, check out Ben Eater's channel on YouTube, his video's are accessible (especially if watched in order) and in-depth. After that you'll be able and comfortable to fully bask in the beauty of the Elite Source Code.

Mrat13 · Aug 31, 2020

If you have the code, what's stopping people making their own version? We already have stuff like OpenTTD, and OpenRCT2, so why not OpenElite?

dannysquid · Aug 31, 2020

It's mind-boggling to look back and see what could be crammed into 32K. These days you'd probably use that with just an empty file!

Think I remember reading that the little bushes down the side of the road in Revs (or another racing game) looked so ugly because they were just code being reused as graphics to save space!

I played around with assembler a bit back in the day, and I have to say there was something satisfying about having to be so economical about everything. If you wrote a thing to render a triangle it was all about doing it in the absolute fastest, no-holds-barred elemental way without worrying about anybody else understanding it or graphics drivers or everybody having slightly different computers. I sometimes regret I wasn't five or six years older, because I would have suited the early 80s millionaire bedroom coder thing down to the ground! By the time I knew what I was doing the days of doing everything yourself were pretty much over.

xzanfr · Aug 31, 2020

Mrat13 said:
If you have the code, what's stopping people making their own version? We already have stuff like OpenTTD, and OpenRCT2, so why not OpenElite?

Try oolite
It's based on the original but updated and modified by volunteers.

Rubbernuke · Aug 31, 2020

This is very interesting, and is a marvel of design and sheer efficiency of code.

xzanfr · Aug 31, 2020

Rubbernuke said:
This is very interesting, and is a marvel of design and sheer efficiency of code.

I've read a bit more of it today - particularly the "deep dives" written so well by Mark Moxon - and it's astonishing that some of the code was meant for an atom.
Ian & David really pushed the BBC B within a couple of years of its release. Great games were released but nothing really touched Elite programming wise until Exile.

Mark Moxon · Sep 1, 2020

xzanfr said:
I've read a bit more of it today - particularly the "deep dives" written so well by Mark Moxon - and it's astonishing that some of the code was meant for an atom.
Ian & David really pushed the BBC B within a couple of years of its release. Great games were released but nothing really touched Elite programming wise until Exile.

Glad you like them! I'm planning to add a lot more, and expand the ones that are already there. The code will also be available on a website, with lots of cross-linking and stuff like that - it's a bit clunky viewing the whole source in one go, but it's good enough for a first draft.

It really is an amazing game to analyse. Quite humbling, really!

Mark

xzanfr · Sep 6, 2020

Mark Moxon said:
Glad you like them! I'm planning to add a lot more, and expand the ones that are already there. The code will also be available on a website, with lots of cross-linking and stuff like that - it's a bit clunky viewing the whole source in one go, but it's good enough for a first draft.

It really is an amazing game to analyse. Quite humbling, really!

Mark

You've done a great job and I'm looking forward to viewing it all on your website.

On a related note, bbcmicrobot on twitter has hidden the source code in to a screenshot of elite using steganography.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1302011904701931522

Source: https://twitter.com/bbcmicrobot/status/1302011904701931522

Bounder · Sep 18, 2020

xzanfr said:
I've read a bit more of it today - particularly the "deep dives" written so well by Mark Moxon - and it's astonishing that some of the code was meant for an atom.
Ian & David really pushed the BBC B within a couple of years of its release. Great games were released but nothing really touched Elite programming wise until Exile.

I replayed Exile again recently, still as compelling as ever.. like with Elite, you can really feel the internal gears and pulleys working O/T, part of the game's visceral feel and ambiance that later remakes never quite recapture..

Mark Moxon · Sep 26, 2020

xzanfr said:
You've done a great job and I'm looking forward to viewing it all on your website.

Thanks! I launched the web version today - it’s at www.bbcelite.com. It’s a lot easier to follow than the source files on GitHub... or I hope it is, anyway.

There’s lots more I want to add, but there’s quite a bit there already. Hope you like it.

Mark

Juniper · Sep 26, 2020

Mark Moxon said:
Thanks! I launched the web version today - it’s at www.bbcelite.com. It’s a lot easier to follow than the source files on GitHub... or I hope it is, anyway.

There’s lots more I want to add, but there’s quite a bit there already. Hope you like it.

Mark

Oh, I like this. I like this a lot. Great job! Wish I could rep you twice.

Mark Moxon · Sep 27, 2020

Juniper said:
Oh, I like this. I like this a lot. Great job! Wish I could rep you twice.

Thanks Juniper. It’s been a bit of a labour of love, so kind words mean a lot!

Mark

Alec Turner · Sep 27, 2020

This is an extraordinary piece of work @Mark Moxon ... all reverse engineered presumably? (i.e. you've had to figure out for yourself what every bit, byte and line of assembler was for).

Edit: I've just read the "About this project" section which kinda answers my question.

I used to be such a hardcore BBC 6502 coder but sadly 99% of it seems to have fallen out of my brain now (although I do have a copy of Advanced Machine Code Techniques For The BBC Micro signed by Braben that's kicking around somewhere).

I particularly love the deep dive articles. I jumped straight into the circle drawing code 'cos I remember coding my own fast 6502 circle drawing routines using pythagorean right angled triangle maths.

Anyway, fascinating stuff and thanks for sharing!

Mark Moxon · Sep 27, 2020

Thank you Alec! It's certainly been a fascinating journey - Bell and Braben really knew how to push the hardware to its limits. I'm certainly not the first person to reverse-engineer the source, and I stood on the shoulders of giants to get this project going, but I don't think it's been done in such detail before. I've still got another 15 deep dive articles I'd like to write, so it's not over yet...

I'd also forgotten all my 6502 knowledge when I started thie project (I was more of an ARM coder back in the day), but I must say the simplicity of assembly language is such a relief after being a modern developer for years. It didn't take long for it all to come flooding back.

And now I'm sounding like the old man I'm rapidly becoming.

Time to strap in for some more Elite: Dangerous... which (in my head) is really just the original Elite with lots and lots of bells and whistles. And VR. My inner 14-year-old still can't quite believe it!

Mark