An Improved Port news - Threat of the Trinity mod for Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Take a look at this screenshot:

10 points if you can spot 10!

OKay, some are old, or have been shown in previous screenshots. Howver, several are new, and represent some work done recently.

• One is the avatar. Look at it carefully. Dos colors, with true Apple II form.
• Another is the frame. Dos colors, but the shape is the Apple II version.
• Fonts are changed as well. Dos colors, but fonts straight from Apple II version.
• The Ankh is bright white, rather than dull white.
• The 'dungeon' floor tile, outside the window, is properly balanced and not wonky like in the dos version. Closer to Apple II version once again.
• Perhaps last, but not least...the ray casting! Dos version's ray casting was nearly non existent. Now we have something much closer to the Apple II original.

Tweaking/Improving the raycasting was no small chore. And it is not done yet. I think it represents one of the major differences between the dos port and the original Apple II version. I didn't really realize how big a change it was until I started tweaking it. There was always something about the Apple raycasting, that lent to the danger of the adventure. Perhaps it was that the screen was always a little darker, perhaps it was that you couldn't see what lurked around the corner. Whatever it was, I liked it, and getting it going in Trinity is on.

Here are some gifs comparing the two versions of the algorithm I have come up with, with the original dos and Apple II versions. Neither is a perfect replica of the Apple 2 algorithm, but they are much closer than dos. The funny thing was, I barely modified the dos algorithm. Only the tiniest tweak, almost like fixing a typo, was enough to make the algorithms effects align very closely with the Apple IIs. Odd.

I definitely like both my new algorithms, but which is better...Hmmm...Kinda leaning toward version 2...