Assets Overview
The public Traffic Department archive distributed under GPL contains over 200 files containing the graphics, sounds, and data assets that we'll take apart over the next dozen videos. We'll either convert the files to a more convenient format or use them as-is in the prototype
Our Toolset
I've made an effort to choose tools that are available free:
| Tool | Comment |
|---|---|
| HxD | A lightweight hex editor that we'll use to look at the raw byte values in files. It has some useful features like byte frequency analysis, multiple encoding displays, and variable width views. (Here) |
| GIMP | The free and open-source alternative to Photoshop. We'll need to do some work with image files. (Here) |
| IDA Pro | A disassembler that is available free if you get the old version. Since our target is much older, it should work fine. (Here) |
| GCC | The GNU Compiler collection is a set of free tools, of which we'll use the C compiler and associated make utilites. Since I'm on Windows, I'll be demonstrating Minimalist GNU. (Here) |
| DosBox | An operating system emulator that supports the DOS API and sound compatibility. We'll use this to play the game and extract sounds. (Here) |
| Notepad++ | A text editor that I'll use for the C programming. (Here) |
| PowerShell | Since I program in Windows, I'll use it's native shell to execute scripts. (Comes with Windows) |
| Audacity | A free sound editing tool that we'll use to finalize sounds we extract from DosBox (Here) |
| PowerPoint | I'll rely on PowerPoint to create design diagrams. This software isn't free, but it's technically not necessary for this project. |
| GameMaker Studio | A commercial game engine specializing in 2D applications. We'll use it to build the prototype. It is freely available, but platform restricted without a license. (Here) |
Original Files
| Files | Notes | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| TD1.EXE TD2.EXE TD3.EXE FILE0000.EXE FILE0001.EXE |
Game binary files that contain logic and some text data. We'll refer to these files with a disassembler several times to learn detailed information about how the original game works. These executables uses 16-bit x86 instructions that we'd expect of software of this era. Bring your DOS API references! | Part 7 Part 17 Part 22 Part 30 |
| *.SCR 44 files |
Graphics asset with a fixed file size of 64,768 bytes. Each file is a full sized splash screen seen in briefings and the introduction. | Part 4 |
| NEWFACES.TD? 3 files |
Graphics asset includes multiple sprite files, each 160x100. These are the faces of all characters. One file per episode. | Part 5 |
| *.BLK 3 files |
Graphics asset includes multiple sprite files, each 32 x 32. These are background sprites for the world. One file per episode. | Part 6 |
| *.PIC 9 files |
Graphics asset of variable resolution, one picture per file. Used during certain briefing sequences. | Part 7 |
| *.MAP 5 files |
Data files that define the city maps used in each episode, and the introduction. Most are 201x201. | Part 11 |
| M*.TD* 60 files |
Data files with fixed size of 20,080 that detail the mission settings. One for each mission. M21.TD3 is unused. | Part 13 |
| DIALOGU?.DAT* 3 files |
Dialogue data for both briefing and debriefing. Each file represents a single episode. | Part 12 |
| TD.SHP TD.SHR TD.SC2 TD.SC3 |
Graphics assets for the ships. TD.SHP is the 32x32 base graphic with no rotation and the one we'll use for our assets. The remainder are pre-rendered rotations of the same ships at 40x32. | Part 8 |
| TD-LET.CIN | Sprite strip font used in banners. Including 40 glyphs where each is 8x8. | Part 10 |
| TD.LTR | Sprite strip font that may not actually appear in the game. Has 37 glyphs of size 12x16. | Part 10 |
| TD.LT2 | The most common sprite strip font. Includes 38 glyphs of size 5x5. | Part 10 |
| TD.MEN | Graphics asset that holds main menu assets using the default palette. 320 pixels wide. | Part 9 |
| TD.PAL | Very important file that holds the default palette used to process many graphics assets. | Part 6 |
| *.CMF 17 files |
Music files stored in Creative Music Format. | Part 14 |
| *.VOC 17 files |
Sound files stored in Creative Voice Format. | Part 14 |