Worm riding animation relies on several sprites :

• SKY.HSQ is responsible for the sky and define the background palette
• DUNES.HSQ is used for scrolling dunes and give a motion effect
• VER.HSQ contains sprites for the worm ride

The animation consists in sprites of different worm rings moved using a parallax effect to create depth.

Animations are stored in a separate file: VERBIN.HSQ. First 88 bytes are designed for an animation not identified yet.

Then 39 frames are defined. Each frame is made of series of 3 bytes (sprite index, x, y) and terminated with a 0x0 byte, to the exception of the last frame. Sprite indexes start at 1 in the file, so you must substract 1 to have the correct index.

Finally, last part contains animations definitions. It's made of series of UINT16LE representing frame indexes. Each animation is terminated by a 0xFF marker byte. Frame indexes start at 2 in the file, so make sure to substract 2 for each to have the correct frame referenced.

Algorithm

// Skip first 88 bytes until that block is reverse-engineered :)
SEEK(88)

FRAMES = []
SPRITE_ARRAY = []

WHILE FILE_OFFSET < 577
    IF PEEK_UINT8() == 0X0
        FRAMES.ADD(SPRITE_ARRAY)
        SPRITE_ARRAY = []
    ENDIF

    SPRITE_INDEX = READ_UINT8() - 1
    X = READ_UINT8()
    Y = READ_UINT8()

    SPRITE_ARRAY.ADD({ SPRITE_INDEX, X, Y })
ENDWHILE

// Add remaining sprites to the last frame
FRAMES.ADD(SPRITE_ARRAY)

ANIMATIONS = []
ANIMATION = []

WHILE !EOF()
    IF PEEK_UINT8() == 0xFF 
        ANIMATIONS.ADD(ANIMATION)
        ANIMATION = []
    ENDIF

    IF EOF()
        BREAK
    ENDIF

    FRAME_INDEX = READ_UINT16() - 2
    ANIMATION.ADD(FRAME_INDEX)
ENDWHILE

File interpretation

• 🟦 = sprite index
• 🟩 = coordinates (X,Y)
• 🟧 = frame end marker

• 🟪 = frame index
• 🟧 = animation end marker