New games for the Trs80 Model III or 4

[MrRetroman]

I have seen a lot of new games being made for retro systems and was woundering if any body is making games for the Trs80 Model III or 4. It would be nice to see the Trs80 Model III or 4 getting some love.

[BassGuitari]

None that I can think of. Not many people love the TRS-80 systems anymore, and whatever new developments happen for it typically revolve around expansion interface replacements, storage solutions, and other hardware-oriented things. Pretty dry stuff. I don't think anybody actually codes games for this thing anymore (unless they're hiding out at one of those Yahoo groups nobody goes to), which is a shame.

I think that describes the vintage computer scene in general, as opposed to the console scene. Some new games turn up here and there for the likes of the TI99/4a, C64, VIC-20, Atari 800, Color Computer 3, and occasionally Apple II...but it's mostly hardware that drives homebrew activity on the computer side. While the console scene is all about new games (even if they're based on old ones) in addition to flashcarts and SD storage, the computer scene by and large seems content to come up with new ways to run the same old software.

[Turbo-Torch]

Big Five Software (and quite a few others) pushed the TRS-80 line well beyond its limits 35 years ago. I don't see it being able to evolve like the 2600 has. I would like to see software that supports the different high res boards or games that could somehow integrate Orchestra 90 music.

 

Fortunately, the amount of available software isn't exactly lacking...

http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/trs80/Software/Model%20III/

[George Phillips]

There were a lot of well done games for the Model I and III, especially the later work by Wayne Westmoreland and Terry Gilman. Still, I think there's some capacity to do better. I don't think the Model 4 ever got anything much more than Model III games ported on to it so lots of potential for improvement there. I've toyed a bit with the hi-res boards. The main problem there is the low bandwidth to graphics RAM. Lots of potential for fun games, sure, but hard to get a lot of stuff changing every frame. It occurs to me one might get some mileage out of using the high-res display for sprites and lower-res graphics for a scrolling background.

 

I can get the Model III to do somewhat higher resolution graphics through technical trickery. Hard to use in a compelling game, though. I submit http://members.shaw.ca/gp2000/blitz.html as a proof of concept. I also made a double-resolution version of Dancing Demon: http://members.shaw.ca/gp2000/dandem2.html

 

I don't think there's anybody else doing this kind of programming for the Model I/III/4. My guess is that it comes down to the smaller user base. While the Model I and III were huge sellers in their time the market was much smaller so the absolute number of original users (with potential for nostalgia) is far fewer than the Apple ][ or Commodore 64. And you can bump that number down again since many users were businesses which I presume are less nostalgic and were far less likely to be playing games.

[MrRetroman]

It would be cool if somebody could remake the color adapter that was made back in the day for the model 3 and 4 and connected to a tv. The graphics looked a lot like the Ti99/4a. I think some real cool games could be made. From what I can find there was very little done with any of the color adapters made. So sad.

[jhd]

Are many of these hardware expansions (e.g. colour graphics, high-res board) supported by emulators? If someone creates software dependent on not just original hardware, but also upon staggeringly rare add-ons, the potential audience will be tiny.

 

Personally, I am somewhat nostalgic for the Model III, as it was the very first computer that I ever got to use (in school, ca. 1982). That said, I only played a small handful of games on it. Sea Dragon is the only commercial title that I can recall; the remainder were locally-developed BASIC creations. (One of my older classmates was something of a programming savant.)

 

I have no desire to purchase and maintain original hardware, but I would certainly download an emulator if there were some new and innovative games developed for it.

[MrRetroman]

I had a Trs80 Model 4 with no disk drives 16K version. My favorite game was Robot Attack by Big Five Software. The Model 4 was my fist computer in school before they when to Apple IIE. I just loved the all in one design of the Model 3 and 4.

[AtariLeaf]

Some new games turn up here and there for the likes of the TI99/4a, C64, VIC-20, Atari 800, Color Computer 3, and occasionally Apple II...but it's mostly hardware that drives homebrew activity on the computer side.

 

I've noticed a large portion of the active coco community on either the facebook group or the mailing list don't actually play or like games. As you mentioned, they are mostly tinkerers making new gadgets and doodads or programming of some kind or another.

[BassGuitari]

 

I've noticed a large portion of the active coco community on either the facebook group or the mailing list don't actually play or like games. As you mentioned, they are mostly tinkerers making new gadgets and doodads or programming of some kind or another.

It's baffling, but true. I mean, really--who doesn't like games?

 

By contrast, I've been getting into the VIC-20 pretty heavily lately and it's kind of incredible how many homebrews have been steadily coming out for that (and Commodore 64) over the years. Guess Commodore's the place to be!

 

As for the TRS-80 and TRS-80 Color, fortunately there are enough old games to dig through and discover to offset the dearth of homebrew development.

[+arcadeshopper]

I had a buddy in high school that wrote a good game for the model 4. have to see if I can still read the disk though..

 

I wrote a drawing program for the model 3 (or 4 in 3 mode) as my senior project in high school. though the last version seems to have been lost to disk rot. Will take a couple screen shots..

 

Greg

[rpiguy9907]

I think the hobbiest movement really suffered because they were too big to keep around. When it came time to move or space was needed you just got rid of them. You could always throw your C64 or Color Compuer in a closet or desk drawer and forget it was there. Since they sold in smaller numbers to start it makes getting back into the scene that much harder when you want one again.

[+arcadeshopper]

gotta dedicate the space!

 

 

[+arcadeshopper]

Some screen shots of the drawing program

 

 

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[+arcadeshopper]

A star wars game I started but not finished

 

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[+arcadeshopper]

More art from sketch artist







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Edited February 17, 2017 by arcadeshopper

[Stormtrooper of Death]

If fast movement in high-resolution gfx boards for the model 3/4 is not easy to achieve... why not design a graphic adventure game, that makes use of still pictures ? The Pawn / Guild of Thieves are some adventure games that could be made.

[+arcadeshopper]

If fast movement in high-resolution gfx boards for the model 3/4 is not easy to achieve... why not design a graphic adventure game, that makes use of still pictures ? The Pawn / Guild of Thieves are some adventure games that could be made.

 

and with my drawing program exporting graphic screens is super easy like I did for starwars

[Omega-TI]

A green screen TRS-80 was the ultimate back then. I always toyed with swapping out the original B&W one but never did.

[Opry99er]

More art from sketch artist

 

 

 

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

 

Daaaaaaammmmnnnn!!!!

[Keatah]

None that I can think of. Not many people love the TRS-80 systems anymore, and whatever new developments happen for it typically revolve around expansion interface replacements, storage solutions, and other hardware-oriented things. Pretty dry stuff. I don't think anybody actually codes games for this thing anymore (unless they're hiding out at one of those Yahoo groups nobody goes to), which is a shame.

 

I think that describes the vintage computer scene in general, as opposed to the console scene. Some new games turn up here and there for the likes of the TI99/4a, C64, VIC-20, Atari 800, Color Computer 3, and occasionally Apple II...but it's mostly hardware that drives homebrew activity on the computer side. While the console scene is all about new games (even if they're based on old ones) in addition to flashcarts and SD storage, the computer scene by and large seems content to come up with new ways to run the same old software.

 

I still do in an indirect way. TRS-80 was the "other" computer vying for my attention against the Apple II back in the day. There was a time when I wanted both of them equally. But for reasons discussed elsewhere, the Apple II got the nod.

 

I think there is less brand-new gaming software developed for the classic 8-bit micros than consoles because so much has already been done. There's seemingly tens or hundreds of titles from each major genre. And we enjoy the nostalgia (of the machine) through those old games.

 

Yesteryear's 8-bit micros often benefit immensely from PC-side support utilities like emulators and file management tools and transfer programs. Not forgetting things like storage - to take the place of dying disks. Not only that, there is an element of convenience, and again, integration with the online repositories.

 

There is also a lot of unexplored software, not everyone has played every game (on computers) and I think people are still discovering old software.

 

I also believe that there is more untapped trickery in some consoles. Early 8-bit micros were simply a processor and memory array. Whereas a console's circuitry was arranged in more novel ways.

 

While that re-words and re-summarizes the situation it doesn't yet fully explain why things are the way they are.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Keatah

[Keatah]

Are many of these hardware expansions (e.g. colour graphics, high-res board) supported by emulators? If someone creates software dependent on not just original hardware, but also upon staggeringly rare add-ons, the potential audience will be tiny.

 

Personally, I am somewhat nostalgic for the Model III, as it was the very first computer that I ever got to use (in school, ca. 1982). That said, I only played a small handful of games on it. Sea Dragon is the only commercial title that I can recall; the remainder were locally-developed BASIC creations. (One of my older classmates was something of a programming savant.)

 

I have no desire to purchase and maintain original hardware, but I would certainly download an emulator if there were some new and innovative games developed for it.

 

Without bias I would say the TRS-80 Model III consoles are the hardest of the early 8-bit micros to maintain. You had disk drives, power supply, CPU & memory, and monitor, all in one case. Sure it looked nice. And it even starred in many of my short 5 page stories about mission control and space exploration and all that a kid dreams of at that young age.

 

But yeh, it wasn't modular enough like a Vic-20 or C=64 or Apple II. Those systems had parts that could be easily and quickly replaced.

 

Stuff like that eventually matters. And like many others, I have little desire to go maintaining the old hardware, let alone going on long searches to acquire "that one little piece" at reasonable cost. I have my hands full with all the Apple II stuff I've accumulated! So yeh..

Edited April 26, 2017 by Keatah