CV Gus

Homebrew games...man, if only they were around 20 years ago. This game looks really nice. Like an arcade game from the Golden Age, but more. Sorry- I can't play it here. These computers won't play it. Not a surprise.

My tile set up works like this- 8X8 tiles, each a mini-maze, are programmed in (each has 8 numbers, 0-255). There are 12 of these. They are designed so that they can be put together any way you want. They are randomly chosen, then put together. The result is a big maze. You can put in a random block or two as a barrier, and other things, like "rooms-" just spaces which, if you hit them, makes the computer go to a subroutine. Hit character # 4, and it would be "a cavern lit by a weird green light." There are several like this, each one with something different. * You search the cavern. * There is a Mirawran in here! !COMBAT MODE! * It attacks! *It hits! *It does 4 points damage! - You have 18 points left. / Do You: 1) Flee? 2) Fight? Then, you are given choices within those choices. You know, it might be a pretty cool game for the CV. Daniel Bienvenu has a prototype text game, too.

Well, Super DKjr. has four screens, and I have it on CV cartridge. But I gotta disagree with you about the ADAM. I don't live far from where Coleco used to be (about half an hour on Route 5) and I know people who used to work there. When the ADAM computer came out, they took people off the street to work on it, just barely teaching them how to solder. They worked on 8X4 plywood tables slapped together, in a dirty, dusty place, with no static electricity protection. No wonder so many of them didn't work. But even if this didn't happen, think about it. The Atari, IBM, and Commodor computers- and the Apples, too- were all out there. They were there. Supported, established. Now look at the ADAM. It had a weirdo tape cassette drive, so anyone who wanted to make games for it had to do it that way. It was different, yeah, it was sort of like an Apple, but it wasn't. You could only get tapes from Coleco (what a rip off). Anyone who wanted a computer could just get an established one, which had games for it. You knew where you stood. Coleco should have stuck with the CV. If it takes more money and time to do good games, fine. Zaxxon did nicely. Opcode's games show what it really could have done, you ever see Sky Jaguar? And that's just the beginning. You learn, you do more with what you have, Opcode games from the MSX give you an idea. Look at Joust, it was GREAT- if only it had been finished. It's sort of like the 2600. Who in the days of Home Run would have believed that Robot Tank, Pac-Man Jr, or Solaris could be done? Now imagine what the CV could do, used to it's best- even in that 32K limit!!!!! This is what I like so much about Opcode's games. Look at a few of them- http://www.geocities.com/vgbelloq/si.html http://www.opcodegames.com/sjaguar.html http://www.opcodegames.com/kungfu.html And, of course, THE thing we are all waiting for: PAC MAN! * http://www.opcodegames.com/pacman.html This is some of the stuff CV could do. They should not have just given up on it. * This also keeps this post on-topic, sort of.

This game looks terrific- sort of like those NES games, with some Ultima. Any console can do decent adventure games, but one that will keep you coming back- this could be one of them. So far, it looks great. If such games had come out back then, the NES could never have gotten past the CV. Keep it up!

Now THAT'S a helpful reply! Thanks, I'm checking it out now! Oh, the game is all text, really. Sort of like Zork, only in a maze. So I guess color won't be a problem.

NonononononononoNOOOO, I mean the games THEMSELVES. If Opcode simply put one game on a cartridge, especially the first Pac Man, without all of the extras, then it would be within the 32K limit. The game ITSELF would be the same great game we're all waiting for, simply by pure talent! By "fancy chips", I mean something that would let you do the multicolor ghosts without the boxy look even the 7800 version has in Ms. Pac man, and the great looking prizes. Do you think Coleco could have done it? This is a matter of SKILL, not chips. And Opcode had them beat. Look at Space Invaders! Talent, plain and simple! As for the battery-backed CV game- yes, it does exist, and some guy who has it even wrote instructions for it- here it is: http://www.classicgaming.com/o2home/gmrevi...w.asp?cartid=55 http://www.classicgaming.com/o2home/manual...0&pageamt=2

Hello! I'm trying to find instructions for programming a CV, since I'd like to try a homebrew game. I'm pretty good at programming a C-64, can do some machine language stuff directly (I don't have a compiler, or anything like that- I just type in the routines in a empty place in the memory). Any straightfoward guides, internet or such? Thanks!

I'm still new here. Sorry.

O.K, here it is- a new thread. NOW can I ask where someone can get instructions for programming a CV? Online, or a book you can order, or what to look for- anything. I'd like to do a few homebrews, but can't with C-64 skills.

That's where Coleco really screwed up- the ADAM computer. Guess they believed those idiot nerds who said videogaming was dead, and the future was in computers. Hear about the rush for Playstation 3? Yeah- real dead, in 2006. Opcode put a bunch of MSX games on the CV. I have Sky Jaguar, and I played some other MSX games, which can be put on a CV. If Coleco had just stuck with the CV, then they might have made it. Opcode's games are what the CV could have been back then, and they would have sold. There's even a battery backed up adventure game for the CV! How well do you think that would have done? You sometimes gotta spend money to make money. Arcade games got bigger and bigger, so the programmers at Coleco would need that memory. Hey- the extra money for Zaxxon didn't hurt sales for it! As far as Pacman goes- I've seen the Atari version for the CV. Its good- better then the 5200 version. Same with Joust (no sound yet, but it would have been good), Dig dug, and Galaxian was also better. Opcode isn't adding anything to any one of those Pac man games themselves- no fancy chips, nothing like that, he is just doing those versions with pure talent. It shows that the CV was able to do better then even the Atari programmers could do. I am going to get it as soon as it comes out. What CV owner isn't? http://www.opcodegames.com/pacman.html Says it all.

Step 1: Implement a pseudo-random number generator. Step 2: Implement a maze generating algorithm. Step 3: Apologize for not opening a new topic rather than asking on an unrelated topic. 1) What doesn't? 2) Doesn't use that sort of a system. 3) I want to program a version for the CV- that's why I asked about programming instructions. C-64 know-how is useless for a CV.

(Pseudo-)Random numbers are no problem. 8 or 16 bit LFSRs are often used for those. No, I mean EVERYTHING is random from game to game- even the mazes. It uses a sort of "put tiles together" system.

Is there a programmer's guide for programming a CV? I guess one for the MSX would be the same- or would it? I have an idea for a text game which I can program easily on a c-64, but I have no idea how to do that for a CV. Its hard to explain here, but it has random placing- so no two games are ever alike, right down to the place you are exploring. So random numbers are important.

Yeah, the CV had the same problem. I keep reading how it could handle 32K games, but they hardly ever did more than 16K. What's the use of having 32K, if you're never gonna use it? There's a four screen version of DKjr. out there. If the CV can do that (it can, no modules or nothing needed), why didn't they just do it in the first place? As for the 7800- whoever was running that show must have been some cheap people. Even the cartridges were UGLY.

Bosconian for the CV. How could I forget that one?!!!!!

Pacman is available now? Any screenshots, I thought it was still being programmed.

I have the 2600, 5200, and 7800 versions. They're all graet, but the stupid 5200 controllers ruin the 5200 version- you can't make sharp turns right!

If you could choose several games to come out for your favorite system, what would they be? Just try to keep it real. Don't ask for DOA Volleyball on an Odysey 2. 7800- Gradius, Vanguard, Berzerk, Pacman, Super Pacman, Wizardry, Dreadnaught Factor, Street Fighter 2, Space Duel, Make Trax. 5200- Wizardry, Pacman Plus (there is a Super pacman), Boulder dash. CV- Make Trax, Pleaides, Snap Jack, Space Spartans, Wizardry.

But there's something else- Even worse is if nobody buys any of the homebrew games. Its not enough to say "cool, somebody is making new games for (whatever)", if you want them to keep doing that, you have to put up the cash. They won't make new games just to see them pile up unsold.

Huh, just looked at the pictures of both 7800 versions, and Opcode's- even without multicolor, Opcode's is better looking. Opcode's http://www.opcodegames.com/pacman.html 7800 ones http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...st&id=63052 http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...st&id=63051

Yes, thanks- I do see it now. The blocks are not the same size, so fewer dots. To the 7800 guys- what games, exactly, will your cartridge have? Opcode's will have Pacman, Ms. Pacman, and Pacman Plus. It will also have all of those options, like in Space Invaders Collection. Thanks to Pixelboy and Opcode, I finally understand CV graphics- each tile (character) is 8x8, like the C-64 or Vic 20. Each row of 8 dots in each tile can be two colors, on and off, but you have to tell the CV what the on AND off will be. The C-64 had up to four colors per tile: Nothing (screen behind it), two shared colors, and a color that each one could have for itself. Problem was, when you went multicolor, each dot became two dots, so the horizontal resolution was only 160- but you could mix multi and single color tiles. There was also that weird thing where a tile could have its own screen color. The reason it is so hard to do a multicolor maze in Ms. Pacman is because you want the screen everywhere to be black. That would be the "off" thing. That would leave just one other color. You COULD do multicolor mazes, but to "fit everything" you would have to change the shape of the maze- the way Opcode has it now, you can't make it multicolor. So you have two choices- multicolor maze, or "right" maze. Guess the 5200 has the same problem. It will be cool to see the 7800 homebrew and Opcode's CV version. It will be almost impossible to beat Pacman and Pacman Plus, but maybe the mazes in Ms. Pacman will look a little better- or will they be more blocky? I AM going to buy Pacman Collection! And those other arcade games he's going to do, too!

Well, I just checked- the maze is right on the 7800, guess they just left out those six dots.

The 7800 version is also lacking one row. You are out 6 dots on the first screen. Unless you play the pacman collection version which adds back the missing row (and corrects the score for the energizers.) Really? It's missing a row? I didn't see that, I'll look again. So does that mean that not even the 7800 could get it all right?

Is there a programmer's instruction book anywhere for programming CV or MSX games? I can program Commodore and IBM computers.

But there is something about it that says it all- you get THREE games, with Pac Man Plus, you never see that one! All for the price of one, and it probably has options, like Space Invaders. So, if you don't buy it, I don't want to know you!