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First Spear

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Posts posted by First Spear

  2. Posted

     

    [snip]

    As for my role, I'm helping in the development of the console (which obviously includes the controllers). It's a group effort putting this together with the other members of the team (which right now consists of Tommy Tallarico, Bill Fisher, Stephen Roney, and Emily Rosenthal, with some other hardware and design folks being consulted who may or may not work on the project). I'm obviously coming from the same perspe[snip]

     

    In other words, I'm open to questions here going forward.

     

     

    As the master of the next generation of controllers, please make sure the new console has one each of these for the new games that will be made for the system:

    1. High performance version of the existing controller

    2. Power Glove!

    3. Rumble pack capability in the controller

    4. Rumble seat

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMnQnClvP2c

    5. Accept an Xbox 360 or PS one controller

    6. Controller with Dreamcast-like VMU (make plays in Super Super Pro Pro Football on your controller instead of on-screen, keep your visible cards to yourself in Super Super Pro Pro Poker & Blackjack)

     

     

     

    OK, just kidding. Except for #4, our butts do need to rumble when we play new games.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    I am pretty excited about the possibility of new hardware that connects to modern interfaces (HDMI TVs etc), plays the old games, plays some new games - as long as they are Intellivision games. Something "pick up and play". Maybe the new corp actively working with the independent publishers to put spotlight on new and innovative games to go with the console as well - Naberhood has some publishing muscle to sell Boulderdash but imagine if they had prominence on the Intellivision Lives site....

     

    I can imagine the new company developing what amounts to an Intellivision III, now that the production cost would be a small fraction of what it would have been 35 years ago. And they won't need Black Whales or Blue Whales to make games. :) A console that plays evolutionary better games but will take a Christmas Carol or Sydney Hunter cart as well.

     

    October isn't that far off!

     

     

    #stayblocky my friends

  5. Posted

    I don't know... Maybe if the device is simple enough (AY emulator and some RAM) and uses modern and power-efficient components, maybe there is enough. The Intellivoice doesn't need a separate power supply, so who knows?

     

     

     

    Could it get all its power from the Intellivision, like the Intellivoice and System Changer?

  7. Posted

    My point is that something that is cheap that gives the extra music and memory and takes 1/10th the space of that big thing would make it better for new games. I am not sure that adding the complexity (and therefore cost) of the controller ports would be as good, because then you're talking about interfacing "real stuff" as opposed to a chip just emulating a signal.

     

    I see ECS units for $100-$150. I was thinking of something modern for 1/3 to 1/2 that. Not that I can make one, just looking at simple realistic expansion for the next generation of Intellivision games.

  8. Posted

    I was going to start with "Wishing for new Intellivision Hardware" as a title, but I decided to change things up a bit. You're welcome. :)

     

     

    Anyway, the ECS is kind of scarce, large, and not all that useful. The games that use it are awesome but few and far between. The biggest asset is the second AY audio chip, second-biggest is the additional RAM, third-biggest is the additional controller/keyboard input.

     

    I think it would be kind of cool and maybe even useful if there was a simple device, maybe using an FPGA or something else super-low-cost, that emulated the ECS to do the first two things (audio and RAM). I am picturing something the size of a long cartridge that would plug into the Inty on one end, take a cartridge on the other, but not have the additional controller inputs. The unit would just emulate a keyboard, telling games "it's there" but maybe just having a single hardware button that emulates [Enter] to get past title screens or something. Oh, and a button that would cycle through the audio levels to simulate the existing ECS knob.

     

    I wouldn't be concerned with the device being a real ECS for the classic games that need one (Baseball, Mind Strike, etc), let someone buy an ECS if they want that. But a low-cost device that would provide audio and RAM would be great for all of the new games that are coming out. The alpha of IntyBASIC has additional support for ECS music, but if no one has an ECS, it's hard to justify the programmer investment.

     

     

    What do you think?

    Would a device be feasible at all?

    Would it be decent at a $50-$75 price point?

     

    I'm not looking to make one, I have no clue how to get hardware done on the Inty, I barely get how to do software. Just thought it would be a nice option.

     

     

  9. Posted

    That settles it - Emacs rules! vi be damned!

     

     

    Similar story here, using a tracker intended for another environment, limiting myself to what can be reproduced on the Intellivision and then applying a few steps of conversion and a liberal amount of hand work to make the music data fit the MUSIC format. The key is to somewhere in the process being able to get text output with named tones (C, D, E etc).

     

    For instance if you have a somewhat simple SID song, the tool SID2MIDI has an option to output text instead of a MIDI file. That text file will need a bit of editing (which is a piece of cake for me using Emacs) but in the end fairly quickly yields results useable with the IntyBASIC MUSIC command.

  12. Posted

    Hey Intellifamily, do we have anyone that can modify a console or components to add some bling? I am thinking about stuff like clear case replacements, strategic LEDs (hmm CPU activity LEDs), Intv II boards transplanted into Apple IIGS computer cases, etc.

     

    Imagine an Intellivision luggable, placed into a classic lunchbox style case or even a Mac Classic case with the screen built-in. The mind boggles.

     

    Whos got the ability here to do that kind of hardware work?

     

     

    Thanks.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    Having multiple consoles is not a problem*, its just that a PS4 wont be one of them. I do have an Xbox One, but a person was talking about loving retro video games and has a PS4 so I thought I would ask to see if I could get that person to join our enclave.

     

    It was als(snip)

    You know you're supposed to have multiple consoles if you post in here, right? ;-)

     

    * Don't throw me out of the Nerd Gamer Union, I paid my dues. :)

    Intellivision(s) (with System Changer) (with ECS)

    TurboDuo

    Turbo Express(es)

    Apple/Bandai Pippin with controller and drawing tablet and keyboard

    Dreamcast(s) with keyboard and many VMUs and Neo Geo emulation and maracas to play Samba de Amigo

    Xbox 360

    Xbox One

    RetroPi config on an RPi2 for S/NES and MAME

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Thanks! I played with that a bit and got it.

     

    Follow-up: is there a way to make the background of the MOB black, or should I make the foreground color of the BACKTAB black? I don't want any color except for black to show through on the tile where this is displaying.

     

    Thanks again.

     

    Remove ZOO[snip]

     

  19. Posted 

    
	REM Command: intycolor -b -s0000 -o36 -m px16.bmp px16.bas px16
	REM Created: Tue May 15 07:32:20 2018

	REM stub for showing image
	INCLUDE "constants.bas"
	MODE 0,0,0,0,0
	Wait
	CLS
	Wait
	For fillGo = 0 to 239 : Print At fillGo Color 1 , "X" : Next fillGo
	Wait
	DEFINE 36,4,px16_bitmaps_0
	SPRITE 0,57 + VISIBLE , ZOOMY2 + 50 , SPR_RED + SPR36
	SPRITE 1,57 + VISIBLE , ZOOMY2 + 59 , SPR_TAN + SPR37
	SPRITE 2,55 + VISIBLE , ZOOMY2 + 47 , SPR_BROWN + SPR38
	SPRITE 3,55 + VISIBLE , ZOOMY2 + 55 , SPR_GREY + SPR39



loop:
	GOTO loop

	' 4 bitmaps
px16_bitmaps_0:
	DATA $EAF4,$00FF,$0000,$0000
	DATA $DE6E,$00FA,$0000,$0000
	DATA $5D77,$00E7,$0000,$0000
	DATA $0000,$0000,$DF00,$DB3E

	REM 1x2 cards
px16_cards:
	DATA $0932
	DATA $1938

    px16.bmp post-31694-0-59497100-1526384401.jpg

     

    post-31694-0-59040200-1526384341_thumb.jpg

     

     

    Hi. The first image is a 16x8 image I want to display, with a red shape, tan shape, brown shape, grey shape, app represented as a single sprite in a single 8x8 tile. I want to show it on my Intellivision display "packed" so the entire image fits into a single 8x8 area on the screen. The BASIC program makes what you see, kind of jumbled. Can anyone show me the right combination of constants and/or "magic numbers" to make the sprite stay in the middle of the screen within a single tile?

     

    Thanks.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  23. Posted

    I thought that the ECS and music keyboard came out for the Intv II first with the "modern" white-red theme, and were then released afterwards in the original brown and gold. So... Did the ECS come out brown first?

     

     

     

     

    Hey Guys,

     

    Given the ECS interest I wanted to draw your attention to my latest project, which happens to be ECS based. IMDI is a MIDI interface for the Intellivision / ECS. You can see a sneek peek of the prototype over in the programming forum.

     

    I also have a rather cool copy of a Personal Computer News from December 1983, which contains a review of the ECS, it even made the front cover!

     

    PDF: attachicon.gifpcn.pdf

     

    attachicon.gifpcn1.jpeg

     

    attachicon.gifpcn2.jpeg

     

    attachicon.gifpcn3.jpeg

     

    attachicon.gifpcn4.jpeg

     

    attachicon.gifpcn5.jpeg

     

    In the same issue came news of the price cutting that announced the begginng of the end:

     

    attachicon.gifpcn6.jpeg

     

     

    Cheers

     

    decle

     

     

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