What: This is an audio visual demonstration program for the Apple II computer. It's in the vein of a demoscene intro and the theme is based on KansasFest, which is an annual conference of Apple II enthusiasts.
Why: I had wanted to release the code for the fire effect and I decided to make a little demo out of it. I also was hoping I might raise a little awareness for the KansasFest event.
Who: Originally by Digarok (Dagen Brock), but it's intentionally on github so that anyone can add on more to it, or take the effects and tweak or improve them, etc.
When: Initially release December 21st of 2012, though you'll note this is for the upcoming event in 2013.
How: Written in 65c02 Assembly, targeted for compilation using Merlin 8/16+. Not included are some tools to generate the "sprites" and such.
Download the FESTRO.dsk file and boot it up in any Apple II emulator.
RUNNING THE DEMO ON A REAL APPLE II
Download the FESTRO.dsk file and transfer it to a floppy (ADTPro, etc) and boot it up in the disk drive of your Apple II ... OR ... transfer it to your CFFA-type device (something that can boot images directly) and boot that.
The code quality isn't great, but I've got to move on. There are a lot of individual parts that are totally fine and perfectly well laid-out and easy to understand. Then there are other parts that are hacked in a bit (I just threw in sound at the last minute), poorly commented, and so on. I'm not beating up on it though, as I'm happy with the final result. I got to verify my theory that I could do a fullscreen fire effect at a reasonable framerate on a stock Apple IIe. I would have loved to try a double-low resolution version of the fire, or add some high-resolution effects to the demo, but again, I've got to move on.
