The holiday season is once again almost upon us. In preparation, here is a C-128, 40 column animated screen display featuring Santa and his reindeer. Old Saint Nick is sure to add a festive touch to your den, office, or living room!
The program's animation technique is fairly simple. Five sprites are sent perpetually moving across the screen with the MOVSPR command. Sprite #1 is loaded with the image of Santa in his sleigh. The pointers for Sprites 2-5 are alternated between Sprite definition areas 2 and 3, which contain data for two different reindeer poses. The result is the illusion of flying reindeer!
More information on this animation technique can be found in "COMPUTE's 128 Programmer's Guide" or the "Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide" from Bantam Books. The former is out of print, but can be found in many public libraries or User's Groups. To my knowledge, the latter book can still be found or ordered through the larger bookstores. Happy Holidays!!
