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newcoleco

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Posts posted by newcoleco

  1. Posted

    Hi Daniel,

    Hello Swami,

     

    Just found and played the Flora and the Ghost Mirror rom you posted on here a while back - the pre-cartridge demo rom. It was more challenging than it looked in the video.

    Many of my Youtube videos do show my best performance, so it looks easier than it is. Sorry about that!

     

    My gameplay is the result of many hours testing the game through the entire development process.

     

    Side note: One big problem when making an original game is tweaking it to make it a pleasant, nice difficulty curve, with a good challenge, without being insanely hard. When I created GhostBlaster and went back to design the "tutorial" 1st level, it felt too easy and useless. But in reality, many players can't even pass the first level because of their tv screen (new but slow) and the controllers not top notch (unresponsive fire button and direction) and also they never played the game before.

     

    For one, I didn't realize you used the fire button for more than ghost zapping, and though you just ran over the flowers and items like pac-man, but you have to position yourself well before hitting the fire button and your magic drops pretty fast.

    My reasoning: I really want the player to do the action of helping the flowers, but I don't want to do a numpad key press or even a secondary fire action to try to keep the game playable with "compatible controllers". So, I've made the two actions into the fire button based on Flora+flower relation, making the game slightly more challenging.

     

    Side note: During one ADAMCon (a Coleco convention), Dale Wick did a presentation about ways that controls can be exploited in videogames to do various actions like buttons combinaisons and he tried to integrate this idea into one of his ColecoVision projects. What he forgot to mention was that sometimes the same controls can have different effects in relation to what is happening on screen, or he mentionned it in another presentation and I missed it. Anyway, it was interesting and it's nice to open up to various ideas about controls and gameplay and physics and all kind of possible ways to make a videogame fun.

     

    I'm glad you posted the demo rom. It was a a lot of fun and so I bought the cartridge. Only comment I can say is I wish it was longer. I have not made it to the end, yet, but I am sure I will wish there were more levels when I do. Maybe a future project?

    Happy to hear you had a lot of fun playing this game.

     

    Yes, I see what you mean. This game is not for hardcore gamers, it's short and would be even better with more levels, elements to discover and enjoy. Flora's universe can be expended in the future and that's the beauty of a small original game leaving space for many possible sequels. More levels, more challenges, perhaps also an elaborated storyline... I'll try to keep that in mind for my next game.

     

    Flora and the Ghost Mirror means a lot to me. It's my attempt to do an original casual minigame based on Gabriela. Gabriela and I were in love when I coded this game, but the distant relationship didn't last a year; we are still in contact, but we moved on. During this period, I've suggested to Gabriela to do a videogame together. After a few brainstorming, Flora the fairy was born. "With our power combined" (cliché) Flora and The Ghost Mirror videogame was created with my experience in ColecoVision programming and Gabriela's love and interests which includes: nature, living plants and flowers, spiritual world, energy healing, horoscope (title screen made of horoscope signs constellations), pretty clothing and accessories, music style, ingame music is based on one of Gabriela's favorite music, Flora's voice is Gabriela's voice, addictive gameplay of online casual games, and of course a happy celebration ending.

     

    I have considered to do a sequel, even a trilogy based on Flora's universe; I think it's an interesting world to explore. I drew some sketches, but I've not started coding anything yet. Will I make Flora 2 anytime soon? No, but I'm thinking about it and see the evolution of Flora.

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Swami

    Thanks

     

    Daniel

  4. Posted

    All this is very exciting. I don't have a Coleco Flashback, but I would love to have one modded too.

     

    I would love to get my hands on this game system, or at least try it for myself, how it feels to play with the controls and navigate the menus.

     

    My opinion of this system are only from pictures and Youtube videos. :-(

     

    Talking about Youtube videos, I've heard the sound emulation of a Flashback unit in a Youtube video and it's incorrect; the periodic noise is emulated as a white noise, and this cause differences in sounds of some games like Rocky, Destructor, and games I've done music for.

    So my question: is the issue from an early version or it's really the sound emulation of this product?

  5. Posted

    Got a REAL late start, but ADAMcon 29 will be held in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on July 20-23 at the Hampton Inn . Registration form is available at http://ann.hollowdreams.com Just click on the AC29 Registration link on the lower right of the page and get the .doc file for it. Time is short and we only have until June 5th to confirm hotel rooms; after that date we are at the mercy of the hotel having rooms available to us.

    I will be there. Just need to get my plane tickets and some extra cash to have some nice meals.

  6. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    I'm wondering what is happening.

     

    Every day, this thread gets about 2-3 more pages to read. I'm shocked.

     

    Some posts are related to the topic Coleco strong-arming fans sites and homebrew publishers. What I'm reading in the late posts are more distractions and "concerns" about each others.

     

    I've read the hack-a-day article and its comments section. Again, thanks to some people on Twitter who gave the link to the article.

     

    And, I will not suggest to post pictures, Northcoastgamer, but if you do, I promise to not tell your wife as you wished.

    • Like 5

  7. Posted

    This thread and the Chameleon thread should be novelized. I can't keep up!

    You are not alone to feel that way. Maybe someone will do a podcast on the subject.

     

    Sometimes, the copyrights laws baffled me. Have you heard this case of the song Happy Birthday that many won't sing anymore, especially in restaurants? It's ridiculous.

     

    (fun fact?)

    I remember John Dondzila in the year 2000 told me that DACMAN wasn't my game and I shouldn't put a copyrights symbol on it. At first, I was angry because I felt being told that my codes are not mine. But, that's why the fixed version ( DACMAN v1.3 ) do not have the copyrights symbol.

     

    My games, files and cartridges, can be found for all the fans to enjoy. I've even said in my letter a few weeks ago that I'm ok with people making their own cartridges, but not to exploit others.

    And if what I do or say is damaging the homebrew scene or damaging the video game market somehow, I want to know.

     

    I wish all companies understand that we are not rivals or competitors, but fans who just like to have a bit of fun.

    And I wish all issues get resolved nicely, for the entire CV homebrew scene, and forever... not just for these particular games in this particular conflict.

     

    Contact me on Twitter @DanielBienvenu

     

    Note: Somehow, I'm having issues loading the forums properly.

  8. Posted

    Every page here invoking subjects somewhat related to games I've coded, I'm shocked.

    All the legal text is very interesting, a bit confusing to me, but hopefully, I do understand the main part of it.

     

    This thread is insane.... :lol:

    This thread sure is insane.

     

    Hilarious!!! I almost fell out of my chair.

    Me too. So many great talents. It's nice to see artists changing the look of some cartoon characters.

     

    The nipple... THE most offensive thing in the history of the universe!

    For some, yes it's considered inappropriate to have any exposed; I personally don't care, mines are hairy too.

     

    This most recent development on the Coleco FB page is interesting.

    What is most interesting about this development is that the "pirate" that CollectorVision is referring to is none other than Juice2839! Those of you who may not know, search around these forums and you'll see exactly who that is. He's been banned from AtariAge for his software/hardware piracy and abusive behavior.

    It's posts like this from Coleco that makes me question what their real agenda is and why instead of communicating with me to resolve the claim retractions they are engaging in communication with a known software pirate who openly admitted to try to damage the ColecoVision homebrew community as a vehicle to defend their stance.

    I am still waiting on those retraction emails. Like I said, if this isn't about the homebrew community in general, just retract the claims all the claims except for the one about "adult" games and the Nintendo property. That is a compromise that I can agree to and I don't think this is too much to ask from Coleco.

    Very interesting. And I'm too hoping for a pleasant result after all this.

     

    This is a rollercoaster of emotions for me; every day I'm anxious to see what is next and hope for positive results.

    • Like 5

  9. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    Are there any active patents on the Colecovision hardware or copyrights on the BIOS?

    No idea.

     

    Reminds me an old email I had from Telegames who replied "no" to my question if they knew who owns the rights on the BIOS.

     

    It seems to me that proving a violation of either of those would be the only legal way to prevent homebrew development. Even "adult" games would have to be allowed (Atari couldn't do anything about the Mystique games).

    Only my opinion (and I may be rambling at this point)...

    I don't see why taking down a fan site was necessary in the first place even after reading private messages leaked here; but I do see why "not desired to see these games promoted" was brought up. It's a kind of dangerous slope that may lead to absurd things such as deny a "wack-a-mole" game because it promotes "animal cruelty" and it's bad for the brand.

    Because they are games for adults that I've coded, I do feel bad that even the mention of these games for adults caused such drama and trouble. And I hope everyone gets their sites back and the issues resolved.

     

    Repeating a point others and I have made, I think this is all just scare tactics. Coleco-In-Name-Only is simply trying to trick developers into thinking they need permission or some kind of license to produce games for the Colecovision. As long as no one violates the trademarks they do own, which seem to be nothing more than the name and logo at most, there's nothing they can do to stop it. Personally, I prefer when homebrew games have a unique look rather than just aping 35-year-old packaging.

    I just came back in the active homebrew scene (as explained in another post) and still want to release something this year to say "I'm still around folks!"

    I have so many projects on hold, and some files are lost forever, so I try to enjoy what I can do when it's still possible.

    And I'm coding games for fun; it's my hobby, my passion. But if it's no more possible, then the fun is gone.

     

    My best guess is that the end goal of River West or Coleco Holdings or whatever the actual name of the "company" is is to stamp the Coleco logo on cheap products tangentially related to classic gaming, all produced by other companies that actually, you know, make stuff, grab a few bucks from the retro market and move on to stamping other logos on other products made by other companies in a year or so.

    I won't claim to know what could be the end goals, but I do see why some talks occurred.

     

    I'm glad to have been noticed about this situation; thanks again for the message(s) on Twitter.

     

    If need to be, I might recycle myself as a MSX developer, or go back toying with the devkit for DS and PSP games, or even Android.

    ... will not have the same deep connection as with my first videogame system (special place in my heart), but I think I will survive.

     

     

    Daniel B.

    • Like 4

  10. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    A Coleco and retrogaming convention, sounds like a good idea, and I've already that with the ADAMCon group.

     

    Shameless plug: The Coleco ADAM users group called ADAMCon do annual conventions and I've participated to it for nearly 15 years already. July 20-23, 2017, Guelph (or Milton?) in Ontario, Canada. And next year the ADAMCon convention will celebrate their 30th anniversary in New York state, with a key moment of visiting what's left of a Coleco facility.

    You can contact Dale Wick and visit ADAMCon official websites for more informations.

    • Like 4

  11. Posted

    hello everyone,

     

    My first attempt to reply got "time out, you must enter a post" message.

     

    I won't claim that I do understand all since I just got here; thanks everyone on Twitter to let me know.

     

    My first reaction was "WHAT?" and here's my reply.

     

    1st - DMCA against a fan based website? Fair use allow to show our passion for a lot of things including incredible homemade things for a vintage game system abandonned by Coleco Industries more than 30 years ago.

     

    2nd - Profit is null, just the time and energy put into making these games cannot be possible if being paid to do it. And if you want to play my games, go ahead and find them in the Internet for free, please enjoy!

     

    3rd - Games for adults is not the same as pornographic games, like not all fingers are toes. There is no sex action, not even in silhouette in these games. There is a shower scene in the prototype Porky's that was supposed to be released back in the 80s for the ColecoVision if you really want to argue that no adult videogames are supposed to be associated with Coleco brand.

     

    4th - Call me naive but all this would have been easily avoided with trust, talk and understanding.

     

    I do not see a respect for the homebrew scene who revived the passion for the ColecoVision game system.

    And who am I to say this? Just a guy who happens to be part of the ColecoVision scene for about 20 years.

     

    Goodnight everyone!

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Daniel B.

    • Like 14

  12. Posted

    Hi Daniel,

     

    Glad to see you back with (hopefully) a brighter future ahead. I have always enjoyed your games and will look forward to any new efforts you release either on your own or thru another publisher. The offers from CollectorVision and Team PixelBoy sound very promising as that will provide you some income while allowing you to focus on programming while they handle other publishing tasks; a true win-win situation! :)

    Hi Troy,

     

    I'm glad to be back as well with a brighter view on life, especially by seeing the reaction here, warming inside.

    My return might be official after releasing something fans can appreciate, even tho I've kinda released some tools earlier this year that might become handy.

     

    I have been having time here off-and-on here lately, and I hope to make it more on as my own life begins to re-stabilize. Seems many of us are hitting mid-life obstacles and some, like yourself, have more than their fair share of obstacles all at once. Hang in there my friend.

    I'm not sure why myself, but it looks like you're right. So many friends I've lost contact with, some ended up alright, some with health complications, some in depression, it's crazy... like life is telling us that we are not invincible.

    I don't know if it's appropriate but I want to publically thank a friend named Eric Hamel, a friend I've lost contact for years, had a stroke and is dealing with complications and moves using a wheelchair. I've met him again during summer 2016 and he said to me with his deep voice: "one day at a time".

     

    I really like your ideas for original CV titles. Hope to see at least 1 coming out before year-end now that you have time, an active customer base, and 2 publishers ready to work with you. :)

    I hope you will like whatever I finish first to make my come back. Juggling with ideas and making progress is irregular these days, and I've things to do in real life.

     

    You might not remember, but I first reached out to you in 1997 regarding games you were producing. You were very helpful, friendly and polite to me never making me regret reaching out and I will always remember, appreciate and respect that along with all you do.

     

    Troy

    Story time:

    In 1997, I had a 1-2 years old website at Laval University, I'm sure you guys can still find it on the time machine archive dot org somewhere. Back then I published ICVGM for DOS with mouse support and included 2 colors sprites editor if you openned it with John Dondzila's Purple Dinosaur Massacre ROM file and that's why many ColecoVision ROM Collections has weird things like Killer Instinct (PDM rom hack). Another tool back then was VOIROM to see game in hexadecial and binary, with data displayed in a way to make it easy to see characters and sprites in various ROM files used for some ROM hacks like ELDCDBPAPP Q*BERT and Winky Trap.

    In 1999, I coded my real first ColecoVision game from scratch, it was a Breakout clone named simply Breakout and was entirely in french, using all my tools to convert bitmaps for ColecoVision and Marcel de Kogel's devkit.

     

    And I kinda remember you sent me an email back then, yes. I'm not sure what was the message anymore, that's kinda lost into oblivion, but I recall receiving an email from someone named Troy back in the 90s.

     

    Daniel

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    Hello Daniel, you don't know and I'm pretty new to the scene, like really new, and I' m yet to start to understand what you guys do. One thing I know is that is huge. What you guys do to keep the community alive and running, and to keep everyone else from people that just play once in a while, to great fans, is something simply unbelievable. I'm not just a fan of games, I'm a fan of you guys who keep it all alive. Thank you for that.

    And I hope all the best on you're comeback and unfotunately I don't have a job to offer you, but I offer any help I could do that you may need and I can provide.

    All the best to you, sir

     

    Hello Leonardo,

     

    Nice to meet you. Happy to see you part of this fun and active community.

     

    During years actively coding new games for the ColecoVision, I tried to bring others to make CV games too, using my knowledge and tools, giving support by Messenger (for chat and file sharing capability during my dial-up Internet time). Some results of this period were: 421, Amazing Snake, Battle Ship (incomplete), and Maze Maniac.

     

    When I started making my own CV games, there was nothing organized like now, everything needed to be discovered, software to be developed, ways to make cartridges and published in a professional way was still to come. Now, one makes a box art, one makes a manual, one does beta testing, one does level design, one publish and distributes,... it is more team effort coming from a more mature homebrew scene.

     

    For me, I am very happy to see this very active CV homebrew scene that evolved so quickly and in a time I was mostly inactive myself, dealing with personal and financial issues. I know it's not the case, but it's as if I needed to go to let others shine and give their vision to it. I love seeing so many new CV gurus around and newcomers giving the homebrew community a chance; playing the games, forging a friendship, and coding new games.

     

    There is still a lot to discover, I'm sure of that. And the visit of CollectorVision at my door this Sunday, Easter time, really warms my heart and boost my energy, my enthusiasm even more.

     

    Huge thank you to everyone, yes everyone!

     

    Daniel aka NewColeco

    • Like 4

  17. Posted

    If you were able to reprogram jeepers creepers to be played with atari paddles I would buy a cart of it , and maybe others would also ;-)

     

    Technically, the trackball (roller controller module) can be used in joystick mode, but it makes the game even harder to play.

     

    As for a paddle version, I was thinking an Atari 2600 simplified version of Jeepers Creepers can be done for paddles, but I'm not a Atari 2600 guru.

  18. Posted

    Daniel,

     

    Nice to hear back from you again, and that I wish you all the best... I just followed you on Twitter!

     

    ~Ben

     

     

    Hope things improve for you Daniel. Your a great guy and a huge asset to the ColecoVision community.

     

     

    Hope things work out for you Daniel! :)

     

     

    I would also have some paid work for you to do for Team Pixelboy, Daniel. Send me a PM if you want to know more. :)

     

     

    Always a pleasure to see you back here Daniel!

     

    We (CollectorVision) might have something for you to do if you want to

    It's paid works of course

     

     

    Glad you are still interested in the colecovision. It's something I expect to still like 40 years from now. Every project I've made relied upon the tools you created and the devkit. So we all appreciate your work.

     

    I did purchase Flora from scubbly years back and the cart version too. I would recommend that you set up a paypal button on your website and sell the roms from there with maybe a pdf manual if its goes along with it. It's pretty easy to setup. Put up a few screen shots. Have a software for sale section and post it to twitter too.

     

    What vintage pc stuff you got? I'm always looking for tandy 1000 stuff , Apple II or 80's stuff. Why don't you post some of it here or in the marketplace.

     

    Thank for all your kind replies!

     

    I've read again my long letter and it's not in perfect english.

    Regardless, I gave news about me and it felt really good, overdue perhaps but it's done now.

     

    Your messages about paid work intrigue me, please send me more details by email if possible.

     

    Happy Easter everyone! :waving:

    • Like 6

  19. Posted

    Hello everyone,

     

    Daniel Bienvenu aka NewColeco here.

     

    Some may not even know who I am, it's ok, I expected it since I kinda left the active scene for a few years.

     

    I'm sorry for not giving much news for the past years. After my mother died of cancer in 2013, my life felt apart. I'm struggling with a debt and no job, but my immediate family is supporting me (for now) and I should be back on my foot soon unless something terrible happens.

     

    I'm not aware of every new ColecoVision game, new technology, and big events, but as I see the homebrew community is well diverse and active.

     

    My personal opinion about the ColecoVision homebrew scene hasn't changed. I am all for exploiting the game system as being more than an arcade machine at home, make the "your vision is our vision" slogan means also exclusive titles, originality, exploring new genres, new games. I don't know if we are done already with the variety but I really want to see more games like tower defense, worker placement, storytelling, choose your own adventure, simulation, physics games like a pinball simulation or bridge builder game, hack and slash, roleplaying, social games, cards and board games, Yahtzee, UNO, Battleship, "Would you rather?"... but I'm just a dreamer.

    I've missed my own celebration time of 15 years anniversary in 2015 of my first ColecoVision game published in cartridges: it was DACMAN v1.0 during the CGE2K in Las Vegas at John Dondzila table and I believe only 6 to 8 copies were sold of this buggy version that a week later I've fixed as DACMAN v1.3. Also, 1997 was the year people started to notice my presence on the internet, with my website hosted by the university that I dedicated to emulation and games, with one of my tools being ICVGM, my graphics editor, a DOS version coded in QuickBASIC with mouse support and could edit characters, tiles, screen, and also sprites if you opened it with John Dondzila's Purple Dinosaur Massacre ColecoVision ROM file. So I've been into ColecoVision homebrew scene for 20 years already, and this year 2017 is also the 35th anniversary of the game system itself and I'm very enthusiast about it.

    During the past 17 years or so, I've started numerous projects that I've not even finished, and every year I say to myself that it is time to go back to this and this project. I've done that with one successful title Jeepers Creepers that I started in 2001 and finally completed years later after multiple attempts, adding and improving the project slightly through time. Sadly, due to multiple computer failures, I've lost a lot of data including source files of my projects, backup of my websites, my documents, making me almost restart from scratch if it wasn't for some copies here and there of some files including the SVN server hosted by Dale Wick. Lately, someone asked me for Easter Bunny game, the Canadian's Minigame version, and I couldn't find the source files at all... I sent the devkit version and the person seems not happy, I'm sorry.

     

    During years 2015-2016, I've coded another data compression format to be used in our future homebrew games and you may have experienced it already without knowing it. My previous attempt was named DAN0 and used in some homebrew projects such as Smurf Challenge, and I think also in Gamester81's CV game (don't quote me on this), and last year I released DAN1 to compress a bit more data, allowing to get even more fancy graphics into our projects. I know that memory space seems not to be an issue anymore with bank switching method used in modern CV game cartridges, but I love the challenge of optimization and data compression is sure not a simple one with space versus speed dilemma. I'm working on a DAN3 version using a slightly different algorithm that seems to compress (in average) more than DAN1, but it depends highly on the source data itself.

     

    I am happy to see the ColecoVision homebrew community growing, I see new faces, new programmers, and new ColecoVision fans.

     

    I hope to release something in cartridge this year, but I make no promise. I proposed a social experiment using Twitter and I think I just don't get what Twitter is for to get such poor results, but I've made contact with some in there that makes me think it's not a fail.

     

    And I am sorry that you guys cannot download much from my website (they have been deleted binary files for unknown reason), and cannot purchase Flora and the Ghost Mirror file anymore on Scubbly (they are shutting down the website). You can ask me or a friend for these files I've made during years, I don't mind that you copy but I would appreciate you do only for personal use, in a homebrew fan spirit way, don't make fake cartridges and sell on eBay to exploit ColecoVision fans - it's so wrong. Practically all my CV games are copied all around the world, downloadable on various sites, and I'm sure you will find someone to help you get the missing files that you are looking for.

     

    Thanks for the donation on my Paypal account, Steve G., I've no idea what is that for and who you are but I appreciate it. For the ones curious about it, I've received a donation last month, less than $20, no message, nothing, I am wondering if I've missed or forgot something.

     

    This 2017 Easter time, I'm getting rid of loads of PC vintage stuff. I'm not using eBay, my digital camera is broken anyway, so taking picture and typing descriptions for everything is out of the question. I know there is a strong vintage computer enthusiasts group in Quebec city where I live and I would like to make a deal with some of them to come get this stuff (or just part of it) for very cheap in a win-win way. For example, I have a bunch of PC games on floppies and CD-ROM discs still complete in box, one even claim to be the very first SVGA PC game that looks like a chess game and is playable on a 286 PC with EGA/VGA video card using their own SVGA driver that somewhat worked to display the higher resolution that we now take for granted on modern PC.

     

    I'm looking for a job, even a tiny contract, I try to pay my bills, life as usual for me.

     

    Follow me on Twitter and be part of the social experiment #colecome @DanielBienvenu

     

    Thanks everyone and have a nice day!

     

    Daniel Bienvenu

    • Like 16

  20. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    More votes coming in, the poll tend to indicate a need for Quality Assurance, a team of testers available to try our projects at diverse stages, especially before publishing to avoid embarrassing bugs. Since Atarimax Multicart allows to try a ROM file on real hardware, distributing binary files to QA volunteers, agreeing to terms and conditions, should be a good way to keep our hobby going and gain professional quality level.

     

    I've worked for a video game company for about 7 months and they used different tools to record and keep track of bugs found by testers with all kind of details including common tags for the kind of bug and where it was, a short description on the manipulations to reproduce the bug, screenshots and short video clips, the hardware used to test, build version tested with the bug in it, build version with the bug fixed, and so on. It is not easy to test a video game in a QA team; have to check if the bug is already reported, try to reproduce the bug and figure out by elimination what really is going on, the timing and the manipulation to make it happen. A second tester can add to a bug description already listed, helping to pinpoint the issue, helping the developers to understand the bug better and fix it.

     

    Is there a retro-gaming QA team who can (or will) test our ColecoVision homebrew projects? Or is this too much professional thinking and better just keep things as it is now between trusted friends? My opinion is to open up the possibility, say to ColecoVision fans "Do you have a multicart? Wanna test our games?" and see the reaction, and perhaps set up a bank of potential testers and get things started this year.

  21. Posted

    As for me, it really depends on the project, but most of the time I do have an alpha version done quickly with most if not all the graphics that I need, then it's lots of back and forth by adding elements and see if it integrates nicely or not. If there is a lack of space, I try to optimize the size of the code (coding in ASM instead of C helps) and the data (reusing data, converting with a different compression method) or simply get rid of what is not necessary.

     

    For example, Jeepers Creepers started very quickly with the idea, most of the graphics and a first version of the controls and logic. After years on the back burner, the project was finally completed in a one-week full-time schedule: improved title screen, improved controls, tweaked difficulty levels, tweaked game logics, added a new screen level, optimized overall size and speed. There is a magic potion in the graphics data (check the ROM file) but I decided during the last day that this game element was unnecessary instead of sacrificing bits of code and data here and there to a game already enjoyable and good.

     

    Another example, Reversi was done very quickly with the graphics and most of the sounds in place. The longest part was optimizing the AI speed; the min-max (or alpha-beta) algorithm was taking so long that the first versions of the game took 2 to 3 hours to play a single game at the highest difficulty level. I had to recode part of the AI, optimize with ASM codes, I probably goofed a bunch of times, and finished with a reasonable speed under an hour per game which is still long but way better. Exhausted, I ended the project and published as-is. A second version of the game simply added a bonus game to the ROM named Diamond Dash.

     

    There are games that I planned to do and all I have is notes on paper or a folder name to remind me that I wanted to try something about this game mechanic, or this game theme, or this game genre, ... For these games, I guess the longest part was the idea and calculating if it was feasible in the memory space and graphics capability of the ColecoVision game system.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    What do we struggle with the most when creating a new ColecoVision homebrew project?

     

    Of course, the answers depend on the person experience, the game idea, the tools and materials available, and so on.

     

    I would like this poll to show a full view of a game project from start to finish. Since a conversion doesn't worry about the game idea and most of its code and data, try to think about a ColecoVision project made from scratch and what is most troublesome in a full project.

     

    Let's exchange on this topic, give tips and tricks, perhaps find ways to reduce the bottleneck time parts. Maybe this can show where we should focus our effort on, even find or make some missing tools in our toolbox.

     

    Vote and reply why you voted that way!

     

    Let's begin our talk!

    • Like 1

  24. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    SC22PC - Convert MSX Screen 2 bitmap pictures into ColecoVision bitmap pictures

    by Daniel Bienvenu aka NewColeco

    January 2017

     

     

    Description

     

    This tool extracts the PATTERN and COLOR tables (6K each) from a MSX .sc2 file and save it into a neat 12K .pc file.

    Technical Infomation

    MSX .sc2 file is essentially a memory dump of the seven (7) video registers followed by 14K graphics data in video ram, aka VRAM. Technically, that includes also sprites which can be used to patch the picture to avoid color clash effect.

     

    ColecoVision .pc file is simply the bitmap screen, composed of 3 charsets, made of two (2) tables: PATTERN and COLOR. No sprites data.

     

    Note: It is possible to use .sc2 file into ColecoVision projects, but be sure to consider three (3) things: the video register flag "4K/16K" has no impact on MSX computers but does on ColecoVision game system, the VRAM data is the important part, a good lossless data compression should be applied on VRAM data to save memory space.

     

     

    MSX Screen 2 Sample

     

    post-3651-0-52004500-1484493488_thumb.png

     

     

    Download

     

    SC22PC - Version 0.1 (EXE, SRC, BATCH FILE) : sc22pc-alpha20170115.zip

     

     

    Links MSX Screen 2 .sc2 files

     

    MIF - Convert pictures to MSX Image Format (Win32 command-line and GUI)

    Multipaint - Convert and Draw pictures for various systems including MSX SC2

    Pixel Polizei - Draw pictures for various systems including ColecoVision and MSX

     

     

    • Like 2

  25. Posted · Edited by newcoleco

    PC2BMP - Convert ColecoVision bitmap pictures into Microsoft 16 colors bitmap files

    by Daniel Bienvenu aka NewColeco

    January 2017

     

     

    Technical information

     

    Simply put, it generates a valid BMP file, 256x192 pixels, 16 custom colors, 4 bits per pixels, according to BMP file format specifications. The color palette used here is a compromise between colors a bit washed out calculated with the TMS9928 video chip technical information and colors too saturated used on several emulators. Also, this color palette makes a distinction between transparent and black colors with its black color being slightly brighter (RGB values 8, 8, 8 for black, and 0, 0, 0 for transparent).

     

     

    Usage

     

    pc2bmp [-y] source.pc -o destination.bmp

     

     

    Samples

     

    Yuki's ColecoVision Smurf Challenge - extracted from original project as a .pc file and converted to .bmp

    youki smurf challenge.bmp

     

    Rion's ZX Spectrum Unreal - converted from ZX .scr file to .pc with scr2pc and then to .bmp

    rion Unreal.bmp

     

     

    Download

     

    PC2BMP Version 0.1 (EXE, SRC, BATCH FILE): pc2bmp.zip

    • Like 3
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