67 replies to this topic

[thomasholzer]

How about some stuff from the Lynx programming contest 2004:

Push around the world
Space Battle
Stardreamer

How many titles would fit onto a Lynx cart anyway?

Edited by thomasholzer, Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:38 PM.

[kungfukid]

All sounds awesome - btw, am new to the board - just registered today so am having a look around at various old threads - will hopefully stumble on an introductions thread! lol.  

[karri]

thomasholzer, on Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:37 AM, said:

How about some stuff from the Lynx programming contest 2004:

Push around the world
Space Battle
Stardreamer

How many titles would fit onto a Lynx cart anyway?

The Sketch will go there from the programming contest. Stardreamer is still too buggy to be released - sorry. Push around the world and Space Battle won't fit on this cart anymore.

The amount of applications that you can fit on one cart depends mainly on the chip you are using. The MegaPak will use a 256k chip. The applications use memory like:
Sketch - 23k
ChopperX - 26k
Blackjack - 40k

So you can fit around 5 - 10 applications on a cart.

Right now the MegaPak has about 20k free space left but some of this space will be consumed during the bug fixing period. I have one extra tested small game in my back pocket that can be but in to fill up the cart in case there is extra space.

--
Karri

[sage]

thomasholzer, on Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:37 PM, said:

How about some stuff from the Lynx programming contest 2004:

Push around the world
Space Battle
Stardreamer

How many titles would fit onto a Lynx cart anyway?

Push around the world is nearly 256kb size, already packed(!).
But there would be anough space to fit a small "hidden" game if some gfx/msx is left out.

Even if the multicard would be a 512kb cartridge, it would nearly impossible to include because it collides with the cartridge structure which was choosen.

Anyway, I do not have the time atm to but  enought work into it to finish the missing half of a percent..

[davidcalgary29]

sage, on Mon Aug 28, 2006 5:57 AM, said:

thomasholzer, on Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:37 PM, said:

How about some stuff from the Lynx programming contest 2004:

Push around the world
Space Battle
Stardreamer

How many titles would fit onto a Lynx cart anyway?

Push around the world is nearly 256kb size, already packed(!).
But there would be anough space to fit a small "hidden" game if some gfx/msx is left out.

Even if the multicard would be a 512kb cartridge, it would nearly impossible to include because it collides with the cartridge structure which was choosen.

Anyway, I do not have the time atm to but  enought work into it to finish the missing half of a percent..

But as I've said many times, PATW is awesome. I love puzzlers, and think that this one will make an excellent stand-alone cart.

[karri]

Just a small update about the MegaPak cart. The 3rd release candidate is now out for testing. The cart has 1 demo, 1 multiplayer game, 5 single player games and 3 utility programs. A total of 10 executables crammed in a cart with an eeprom.

The developement effort has slowed down to one or two bugs per week getting found and fixed. The rest is pretty much up to how much time Carl has for writing the manual, buying parts and finding a time slot for assembling the cart somewhere.

--
Karri


Just a fortune cookie in MegaPak - not a real review

Edited by karri, Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:17 PM.

[4ever2600]

Whatever happened to this?  Any updates?  Did it ever get released?  If so, how can I order one?

[karri]

4ever2600, on Mon Aug 6, 2007 9:00 AM, said:

Whatever happened to this?  Any updates?  Did it ever get released?  If so, how can I order one?

I am glad you asked. The cart is ready. The name of the cart is MegaPak.

Carl (Songbird) is finishing the documentation and doing the manufacturing of the carts.
He knows the release date better than me.
--
Regards,

Karri

[EricDeLee]

Sweet.  I'll look forward to grabbing one of these for my collection

[Songbird]

I don't have an official release date yet, but the carts are being built right now. I have collected a ton of documentation, and need to write up the official manual. Expect this cart Fall 2007.

[ls650]

Any more news..?  

[Songbird]

ls650, on Sat Oct 6, 2007 12:50 AM, said:

Any more news..?  

The cart is finished, and I actually have one sample finished cart in my hands. I should post a picture.

My partner who builds the carts with me has been extremely busy the past couple months, and hasn't finished the first run of carts yet. At this point, it looks like Christmas is a more realistic release date.

[phuzaxeman]

Songbird, on Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:36 AM, said:

ls650, on Sat Oct 6, 2007 12:50 AM, said:

Any more news..?  

The cart is finished, and I actually have one sample finished cart in my hands. I should post a picture.

My partner who builds the carts with me has been extremely busy the past couple months, and hasn't finished the first run of carts yet. At this point, it looks like Christmas is a more realistic release date.

awesome!  what are we looking at in estimated price?

[Phantom]

This post is just so i dont forget about this project and it will get bumped in my posts when people post. Count me in for one if reeasonably priced. cheers

[karri]

Songbird, on Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:36 PM, said:

The cart is finished, and I actually have one sample finished cart in my hands. I should post a picture.

Oh no. I was still going to add a few more features.

.. just kidding ..

It is funny that a cart intended to show a snapshot of homebrew code in 2006 comes out in 2007.

Will you publish the manual in pdf-format?
Have you assembled it together from the pieces you got from the developers yet?

I would like to proofread it before it is published to a larger crowd.

--
Karri

[Songbird]

karri, on Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:08 AM, said:

It is funny that a cart intended to show a snapshot of homebrew code in 2006 comes out in 2007.

Yes, things never move as fast as I'd like (but often it's my fault, too!).

Quote

Will you publish the manual in pdf-format? Have you assembled it together from the pieces you got from the developers yet? I would like to proofread it before it is published to a larger crowd.

The manual is not finished yet, and I definitely want some proofreading before the cart is published.

[Implosion]

Songbird/Karri,
Sounds fantastic!
Please add my name to the list.
Take care,
Eric

[jum]

Songbird, on Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:56 PM, said:

The manual is not finished yet, and I definitely want some proofreading before the cart is published.

I'm willing to proofread the manuals, since I do a bit of proofreading at work.

- Jum

[Songbird]

Good timing, Jim, as I'm working on the manual this week. Thanks for the offer to help!

[Songbird]

Updated original title and first post with some... um, updates.

[Songbird]

We're just a couple of weeks away from the release of MegaPak 1... here's a little teaser to keep you interested in the meantime.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[EricDeLee]

Sweet!

[Songbird]

As of this week, I am FINISHED with the MegaPak manual! Yay! I expect to offer the cartridge for sale on my Songbird site in the next few days. With that in mind, I am also ready to make good on the promise from 2006: I offered a $500 pool and that I would pay a nominal amount to "major" contributors as well as free cartridges for all who contributed.

First of all, Karri simply did an outstanding job on this cartridge; much more than I could have ever asked or expected. He got the LOL underpinnings working, integrated all the submissions from various developers, helped with the testing, added EEPROM support, and so on. Plus he contributed some cool games! I am therefore awarding Karri more than others as a modest "thank you" for all the hard work he did on this multicart! Therefore, here is the award breakdown:

Karri Kaksonen $250 + 2 free carts
James Higgs $100 + free cart
Sampo Rintanen $100 + free cart
Renya Iizuka $100 + free cart
Tony Rudzki $50 + free cart
Chris Vick $50 + free cart

As you can see, I bumped my pool from $500 to $650, but it's worth every penny in my opinion. So who's ready for MegaPak 2? We could shoot for a 2010 release. Maybe a sci-fi themed cart would be appropriate?

Watch this space to see when MegaPak 1 goes for sale!

[EricDeLee]

Sweet!

[Emehr]

Nice to see some love for the Lynx! Any word on price? I'm interested as long as it's reasonable. Also, will there be any gameplay video so we can see how these fare in the audio/visual department?