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ProSonic

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Revision as of 03:23, 3 March 2009 by Saxman (talk | contribs)
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ProSonic is a Sonic the Hedgehog game engine that has been in development since December 15, 2005. It is headed by saxman, a long-time veteran of the Sonic community. The engine made its first public release on August 22, 2008. A major update to the engine is being worked on, but no date is currently available.

Features

Some of ProSonic's key features include:

  • Import level data from the original Sonic games
  • Integrated real-time level editor
  • Genesis YM2612 FM synthesis with GYM and VGM file support
  • True Sonic physics ported directly from the disassembly
  • 16-bit hi-color for creating colorful environments not possible on Genesis
  • "BLAST Programming Interface" for interfacing ProSonic with Genesis code

The engine is being programmed in C with the aid of the Allegro software development library. The engine compiles for Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, and Linux.

BLAST Programming Interface

The BLAST Programming Interface is part of the ProSonic engine. The interface allows Motorola 68000 code with the internal ProSonic engine code to allow Sega Genesis code to run in ProSonic. This essentially opens the door for 68000 emulation. BLAST isn't actually complete emulation, but is instead a partial implementation of 68000 instruction interpretations with modifications to make 68000 compatible data to work on Intel-based platforms.

Smart Mix

Smart Mix is a feature of the sound code that allows the audio to be mixed above the range of clipping. It uses a combination of a compressor and a mixer to adjust the audio so the loudness remains the same while the actual volume of the voices is reduced. This prevents harsh clipping. The purpose behind this feature is to allow the engine to handle proper mixing since most people aren't audio engineers.

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