OPCODE GAMES announces: IntelliXpander - Castlevania & Goonies! RESERVE NOW

[+Lathe26]

Did the IntelliXpander make an appearance in Portland last week?

No, it didn't.

[ZippyRedPlumber]

I have a question, how many colors will this device use?

[bunion1971]

I compiled reservation form but I had no e-mail to confirm.

How can I solve this?

[+intellivotion]

I compiled reservation form but I had no e-mail to confirm.

How can I solve this?

me neither. And I'm still alive

 

 

(j/k, I think we were not supposed to get a confirmation)

[opcode]

It is coming to life, after being dormant in the Opcode archives for a while...

[+intvsteve]

Games plug in from the top?

[+cmart604]

Cool!

[IMBerzerk]

Any time frame on completion?

Looking good so far!

[opcode]

Games plug in from the top?

Ok, let me explain that. What you see here is possibly a super set of the final IntelliXpander, as we may remove things based on target price, and some things are to make debugging and development easier. However not present in this first version is the Intellivision passthrough cartridge slot, since we don't need that for game development. Besides, most components are DIP in the present board, but they will become SMD later, freeing a lot of board space, so the passthrough can be added.

Finally the slot you see is for IntelliXpander cartridges, which requires extra pins not possible with the original cartridge slot. And of course everything would look nicer inside the planned case, but then you wouldn't have the sneak peek of the board.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[+intvsteve]

Ok, let me explain that. What you see here is possibly a super set of the final IntelliXpander, as we may remove things based on target price, and some things are to make debugging and development easier. However not present in this first version is the Intellivision passthrough cartridge slot, since we don't need that for game development. Besides, most components are DIP in the present board, but they will become SMD later, freeing a lot of board space, so the passthrough can be added.

Finally the slot you see is for IntelliXpander cartridges, which requires extra pins not possible with the original cartridge slot. And of course everything would look nicer inside the planned case, but then you wouldn't have the sneak peek of the board.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

D'oh - I got confused that there were two threads with the same picture, and put the same question in both. Thanks for answering (twice)!

[opcode]

Any time frame on completion?

Looking good so far!

PRGE will be the place to see the IntelliXpander and some games in action. I mean, you will have probably seen videos of it by then, but PRGE will be your chance of playing it for the first time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Intymike]

PRGE will be the place to see the IntelliXpander and some games in action. I mean, you will have probably seen videos of it by then, but PRGE will be your chance of playing it for the first time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Wow, I'm glad I already booked the flight!

[opcode]

Speaking quite candidly, I am still evaluating if the whole thing is viable or not. I put the project on hold last year, but a few people recently convinced me to give it a shot. I haven't been following the new Intv console development closely, but I heard that some people just aren't happy with that. On the other hand my first reaction to the Intv announcement was, damn, now the IntelliXpander is dead for good, I am not going against Intv themselves.

 

I must make my mind by October, as I have other things planned, and I must decide which path I will take. From a home-brew production perspective, something like the IntelliXpander will require considerable investment, and unless I can get enough interest around it, it may be hard to get the thing out of the door at a reasonable price, making the whole thing inviable. To quote a certain president's favorite answer, "we will see what happen".

[128Kgames]

Speaking quite candidly, I am still evaluating if the whole thing is viable or not. I put the project on hold last year, but a few people recently convinced me to give it a shot. I haven't been following the new Intv console development closely, but I heard that some people just aren't happy with that. On the other hand my first reaction to the Intv announcement was, damn, now the IntelliXpander is dead for good, I am not going against Intv themselves.

 

I must make my mind by October, as I have other things planned, and I must decide which path I will take. From a home-brew production perspective, something like the IntelliXpander will require considerable investment, and unless I can get enough interest around it, it may be hard to get the thing out of the door at a reasonable price, making the whole thing inviable. To quote a certain president's favorite answer, "we will see what happen".

 

You know, I hadn't even though about the new system (or whatever it winds up being) in relation to the 'Xpander, but I completely see your point and how it might impact production and development. However, I would still see the new system as something completely separate from the old, unless I missed something in the Facebook live stream that it was going to play original cartridges.

[opcode]

 

You know, I hadn't even though about the new system (or whatever it winds up being) in relation to the 'Xpander, but I completely see your point and how it might impact production and development. However, I would still see the new system as something completely separate from the old, unless I missed something in the Facebook live stream that it was going to play original cartridges.

 

 

And we may also need 3rd party support to increase new games throughput. But that is a chicken egg situation where nobody wants to invest until it is a certain thing.

 

The machine is a joy to program to, I put the Goonies demo together pretty quickly. So yeah, I would love to keep working on it if I had the option.

 

EDIT: and of course it may just be the case where very people are actually interested on such a module.

[1980gamer]

What language is used to program for the Xpander?

 

Do you have a dev kit built for it?

 

If so, could you release the dev kit? That may solve the chicken or the egg problem for you. Plus, perhaps the software developed for the Xpander could be emulated on the new Intellivision system.

Greatly increasing demand for any software developed and for Xpander units as well. ** We all love the original console here.

 

I certainly want one! Maybe 2 One of each style. However, I would like to see 8 -10 games made for it. I loved the intellivioce, but 4 games was not enough. 5 with WSMLB, requiring the computer adapter.

Granted, some homebrew games use voice to various degrees of annoyance.

 

I bought the SGM just for DK.... But have a bunch of other SGM games now.

 

Good luck!

 

** The Xpander would not need to meet any "Restrictions" imposed by Iintellivision Productions Driving additional Xpander unit sales.

 

 

[+Steve Jones]

Keep going, right now the new system is just words and ideas, most of us will buy both if they ever make it to market, right now Im somewhat cynical but hopefully will be surprised.

[opcode]

What language is used to program for the Xpander?

 

Do you have a dev kit built for it?

 

If so, could you release the dev kit? That may solve the chicken or the egg problem for you. Plus, perhaps the software developed for the Xpander could be emulated on the new Intellivision system.

Greatly increasing demand for any software developed and for Xpander units as well. ** We all love the original console here.

 

I certainly want one! Maybe 2 One of each style. However, I would like to see 8 -10 games made for it. I loved the intellivioce, but 4 games was not enough. 5 with WSMLB, requiring the computer adapter.

Granted, some homebrew games use voice to various degrees of annoyance.

 

I bought the SGM just for DK.... But have a bunch of other SGM games now.

 

Good luck!

 

** The Xpander would not need to meet any "Restrictions" imposed by Iintellivision Productions Driving additional Xpander unit sales.

 

 

 

 

Right now I am doing everything in Assembly language, and testing on a custom made emulator. Actually yesterday for the first time we tested Goonies on real hardware. Graphics were slightly garbaged, so I still have some polishing to do when I receive the prototypes.

 

In the future I could make C libraries available, but only if we have 3rd parties, otherwise I am personally more comfortable in Assembly.

 

Number of games is also a concern. Ideally we need some 4 games to release the thing, and that is something I can work on depending on what my focus will be after October.

[1980gamer]

Assembly is way out of my league. Had a class back in 1989 using the Z80. Did a little bit back then on the 6502. But that was 30ish years ago. These days it's little more than vb script and TSQL.

 

Are you able to reuse any code from Colecovision or SGM games? Beyond algorithms or AI logic?

 

I should look the tread over, but it's been a while since I read about the specs. Can you tell us the resolution? 320x240? Sprite size 8x8 or 16x16 etc. and how many colors?

Any other info would be great. Number of Sprites, Sprites per row limit, Number of colors per sprite? of course row limit would impact that... If we can do 8 per row, overlaying sprites for multi-color would be fine.

How about sound? Number of channels, wave forms, will it support attack decay sustain release?

 

Certainly keep going on this!!!

[JohnPCAE]

Assembly can be a must in some cases. I had to ditch the Arduino IDE for Atmel Studio 7 and its assembler so I could squeeze every ounce of performance out of the Arduino. I'm pretty sure that I have enough horsepower remaining to perform double FIFO writes (2 bytes for every 8 dots). The real target, though, will be three FIFO writes. That might be a tall order, even with bare-metal AVR assembly.

[+DZ-Jay]

Assembly can be a must in some cases. I had to ditch the Arduino IDE for Atmel Studio 7 and its assembler so I could squeeze every ounce of performance out of the Arduino. I'm pretty sure that I have enough horsepower remaining to perform double FIFO writes (2 bytes for every 8 dots). The real target, though, will be three FIFO writes. That might be a tall order, even with bare-metal AVR assembly.

 

Yes, in some situations there is no other way, but it really depends on your use case. For instance, in the case of Intellivision games, IntyBASIC has proven that it is not absolutely necessary to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the CPU to make a good and high-quality game. This was something that many people doubted was possible prior to IntyBASIC's release.

 

Don't get me wrong, as a compiled language, IntyBASIC is pretty darn fast, but it is still a higher level language than Assembly.

 

 

 

Assembly is way out of my league. Had a class back in 1989 using the Z80. Did a little bit back then on the 6502. But that was 30ish years ago. These days it's little more than vb script and TSQL.

 

 

Awwww, don't say that. I used to think the same thing. I used to think that Assembly Language -- and specifically, video games in Assembly Language -- were the exclusive domain of demigods and wizards. Look at me now, I made a game, have three in the works, and I'm working on a next-generation game development framework in Assembly Language.

 

It turns out it is quite accessible to us mere mortals, as long as you have the right help and guidance (of which I had plenty!).

[opcode]

Assembly is way out of my league. Had a class back in 1989 using the Z80. Did a little bit back then on the 6502. But that was 30ish years ago. These days it's little more than vb script and TSQL.

 

Are you able to reuse any code from Colecovision or SGM games? Beyond algorithms or AI logic?

 

I should look the tread over, but it's been a while since I read about the specs. Can you tell us the resolution? 320x240? Sprite size 8x8 or 16x16 etc. and how many colors?

Any other info would be great. Number of Sprites, Sprites per row limit, Number of colors per sprite? of course row limit would impact that... If we can do 8 per row, overlaying sprites for multi-color would be fine.

How about sound? Number of channels, wave forms, will it support attack decay sustain release?

 

Certainly keep going on this!!!

 

 

Tiles are 8x8, sprites are 16x16. Everything is 2 bits per pixel (4 colors). 32 colors on screen from 4k colors, 64 sprites on screen. Two background planes, where front bg is fixed and rear bg can be scrolled.

Sound has 3 channels FM, 2 channels PCM/ADPCM.

 

You know what I would love to do? I would love to create games that are updated versions or inspired by Atari era (Atari, INTV, Activision, Imagic,...) classics.

[+cmart604]

You know what I would love to do? I would love to create games that are updated versions or inspired by Atari era (Atari, INTV, Activision, Imagic,...) classics.

Yes please! ?

[1980gamer]

Not that I was good at this game, but it had an interesting history...

 

Tapper / Root Beer Tapper. I would like to see this game with a 3rd "mode" added. Moxie. The official soft drink of Maine.

I still love the stuff. Opcode is in Mass and Maine used to be Mass, so What do you think?

 

The game used to drive me nuts at the Zayre, so I would play Moon Patrol instead. Oh, they had a sit sown version of Monaco GP. Loved the Headlights. Seemed so advanced at the time!

[1980gamer]

I wonder what system that Monaco GP is running on? That is not the arcade version. Best I could find with a quick search.