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Mike Harris

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Posts posted by Mike Harris

  2. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Here is a sample of my 8 bit Z80 Scrolling.
    Still working out some of the bugs, this is based off of KIWI'S C Code.

    But it does the job for a 64x64 grid

     

    MAP_XY:
    LD HL, 0
    PUSH BC
    LD A, (SCROLL_Y)
    CP 0
    JP Z, Y_WAS_ZERO
    LD B, A
    LD DE, WIDE
    LOOP_Y: ; Scroll Y * Wide
    ADD HL, DE
    DJNZ LOOP_Y
    Y_WAS_ZERO: ;+Scroll X
    POP BC
    LD A, B
    CP 0
    JP Z, FINISH_ADJUST
    LOOP_ROW: ; Wide * ROW
    ADD HL, DE
    DJNZ LOOP_ROW

    FINISH_ADJUST: ; Add to Map Data put in DE for print
    LD BC, (SCROLL_X)
    ADD HL, BC
    LD (SCROLL), HL
    LD HL, NEW_MAP
    LD BC, (SCROLL)
    ADD HL, BC
    EX DE, HL
    RET

     

     

    When calling MAP_XY you have to pass the row in B as in LD B, Row number
    The return values tells where on the 64x64 grid map to print to the screen which prints a 32 column row of data to the screen.

    Do this 24 times and you can create a scrolling world in all 8 directions if done right.
    Now I have to create a double buffer because although it is very fast in pure z80 assemble it still looks choppy moving 8 its at a time.

     

    I am 100% certain I can modify all my code to have a 256x256 scrolling world in 8 directions with any patterns and any color in VRAM.

  4. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Illusions is one of my all time favorite games on Colecovision so I admit to being partially wrong.

    And in all honesty, when I seen a title that comes from Sydney Development I thought it came out of Australia.
    This coming from the last time I even gave this a thought was back in the early 80's, no internet or care to look at an instruction booklet with an address.

    And yes, we are off topic with nonsense.
    Politics can destroy the best of friends and brothers.

  7. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Just received my in quotes "NEVER USED" in quotes"CIB" Colecovision from Ebay.

    I swear I need to start buying my collector items from actual collectors.

    This thing came in an old DVD player box, Newspaper for packing and smelled of cigarette smoke.
    Even the Styrofoam inside the Coleco packaging as well as the console wreaked of cigarette smoke.

     

    Scratches all over, prongs on the Power Supply bent. Clearly parts of this unit has been used but not all of it used so I guess he can get away with never been used.

    Yes it was complete but I think it is complete from multiple systems.
    The documents seemed in great quality but this will be the last thing I buy off Ebay because I seem to get burned.
    Or maybe, my expectations of what CIB and Never Used is higher than what the sellers of Ebay believe them to be.

    Also, it seems I am not allowed to give a negative review of my experience until 7 days later which is disingenuous.


    So I guess my next move will be a collectorvision so I can continue to develop games.

     

    https://www.ebay.com/usr/br4430?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754

    Just sharing my experience with this seller. Not saying he's evil.

  12. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Beware and always be suspicious.

    The person selling this clearly displays the ADAM Disk drive manual, labels and write protect as well as the power supply giving the "Impression" that it comes with the unit but alas the drive itself is not in the picture or any real type of description at the bottom.

    An email and several days later, several emails to him in in fact, comes up with vague excuses about a brother being sick and ultimately oh yea, we have a second ADAM at his shop.

    Never buy anything on EBAY without getting confirmation of what is included and condition.

    If the disk drive was included I would have hit the buy now because I thought that would have been worth the price even for parts and a working Disk Drive despite the damaged power supply.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/ADAM-THE-COLECOVISION-FAMILY-COMPUTER-SYSTEM-WITH-MANUALS/283413533256?hash=item41fcc35248:g:voMAAOSwTHlchX0F

    So, maybe he's legit but maybe not so I thought I would give the community a heads up. I certainly am not buying from this guy, Fuds Gaming and anyone else that is deceptively silent then falls back on...Well if you didn't see it in the picture...

     

    A direct copy from my email.
    "As a matter of fact he has another Adam at the shop I will be there tomorrow afternoon I will see if in fact it has a drive I'm assuming the drive looks like the photo that I seen that he has I will check for that"

     

    This guy, in my opinion, purposely showed everything about the Disk Drive and would have sold the unit and screamed It was not in the pictures when confronted. I know it and he knows it.

  14. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

     

    I'll join that club. I love Dino Eggs, its a game I discovered on the C64 that, after figuring it out, became very addictive.

     

    Any homebrewers out there looking for ideas on porting a game to the Coleco, this would be a great one!

     

    Dino Eggs for the Colecovision does exist according to first hand knowledge of someone I have known for over 30 years.

    He went to some computer expon in New York around the 83/84 timeline and at the very least seen a working demo.

    Is that to say that it was not the full game, he says it was.

     

    That said.

    This thread started January 29 and now going on 3 months around the corner.

    I mean really???

  17. Posted

    The coleco vision graphics chip has a unique feature of tranparent background pixels. When mixed with an external video source the coleco vision can have its graphics overlaying real video. If they had some sort of video disc expansion, unique games could have been created using real video as a background. I would have expected the interface to go through the regular expansion port.

     

    Laserdisc would have been ridiculously expensive for 1984. Games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace have limited gameplay and little replay value. Such an addon would have been an expensive gimmick. Going into the later 1980s and after the end of the arcade golden age, the coleco vision would need more original games rather than depending on arcade conversions. And the coleco vision was attracting third party developers creating original games like "Fortune Builder" and "Alcazar: The Forgotten Fortress".

     

    Here I am 2 years later.

     

    It was going to be the RCA Selectavision CED which is different than a Laser disk player and much cheaper.

    The basic player was around $150 or so dollars MONO no screen buffer for seek or pause.

     

    I know I read about it in one of those magazines around 1983 and it was supposed to be able to use dragons lair.

    Dates may be slightly off but that's what me and my friend did all day.

    Hang at the mall bookstore and read far side, computer magazines then use smashed up pennies at Bally's Aladdin's Castle.

    25 cents worth of pennies, smash with a hammer gives you 25 games.

  18. Posted

    Quest for the Golden Chalice was developed by Mystery Man (according to my specifications) and just like every other homebrew author who worked for Team Pixelboy, he only sent me the ROM and he kept the source code to himself, which was always fine by me.

    Team Pixelboy and Pixelboy confused me like The Father, The Son and The Holey Ghost are 3 but 1...

     

    It's an awesome game. The dude knows his &&it

  19. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    I went to OpenEmu looking around for more efficient assembler routines just to find QFTGC sitting there.

    I went to the directory, low and behold it was just the rom.

    A couple of questions come to mind.

     

    1) was the source in C or Assembly

    2) is it available for review and learning

    and

    3) is it available for review and learning....

     

    All my snags in developing spawns, of course, from lack of knowledge and as a reminder I have no desire to steal code and once I release my first PD game all help will be mentioned in the credits.

    Things I can learn from this particular source is collision between background tiles and sprites.
    My current routine has a bug in it that if I if I hit a corner I can go through some walls.
    Other things are animation and memory management and all kinds of things.

    Hey, if they are trade secrets then so be it but at least write a Coleco Assembly guide with examples that I can purchase if you don't want to release any source code.

     

    Many thanks to everyone who has helped me so far.

    My game is 80% done as of last month, just been busy with other things.

     

    TIA

  20. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

     

    You might have better luck posting this in the Wanted subforum of the Marketplace here.

    Beware of Ebay because so far I have bought 2 and both have severe issues because the owners have no clue and description can be accurate AND misleading at the same time.

     

    One was "Never Used" but the guy forgot to mention that it did not come with the manuals and I will never buy anything from Fuds Gaming ever again. It WAS never used but when I tested it the capacitors blew up in my face upon first use.

     

    The second one I bought as a development unit and has two Digital Data Drives both with the wheels melted and frozen.

     

    So in reality, save your desk space and emulate...Buy from a collector on Atari Age or wait for a device like Collectorvision but then again I have no clue if Collectorvision will even use ADAM images.

  22. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Yea, I just looked it up.
    They hold the TRADE MARK according to

    https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/coleco-holdings-llc-1382196/

     

    Now that does not be necessarily mean they own the patents of which I have not been able to find.
    So in reality, if that is the case, no one can use the Coleco trademark.

    The Colecovision and ADAM hardware can be used all day long but who would want to when you can do a better job.
    That would also not stop using the design shell of the product.

    So unless they own an actual patent on those handhelds then even those are up for grabs but I'm not interested in all of that.

    So, unless they forget to renew or sell me their TM license then I will have to create my own device and just have it backwards compatible. I'll design, write or hire someone to write, an new operating system with a sandbox to run old Coleco Carts.

    Being that I am sure they could make more money selling me their trademark than off those handhelds in MY opinion. That falls every day because I can make my own system and just don't use the Coleco TM.

    There is also nothing saying that I have to put the Coleco TM in any title that is written and hell, if push comes to shove I can use code to blank over the Coleco title in old games emulated.

    So far they have yet to respond to me emails so the jokes on them.


    As far as calling them trolls, I mean I guess...but anyone could have bought that trademark and defended it.
    I'm not calling out anyone...I just want to make my dream come true while I still have my health.
    And the older I get...

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Because I am not going to read all 107 pages has anyone discovered who actually owns the Coleco Trademark?

    Doing a little research brings me to the same links that started this page and I have a very great desire to buy the Coleco/ADAM trademark because I want to build new machines.

    I'm old, retired and want to create something I am passionate about but my personal beliefs is that Collectorvision, as brilliant as it is, is too small. I want to go next gen for homebrewers and the like.

    I am certainly under no aspirations that this will be the money making sleeper of the century but there is a market and it's not about the money. This is my childhood, this is a lost art, this is history and defending the Coleco ADAM which I believed in.

    Besides, 8 bit gaming is hot among the retro crowd and you see that in games like Minecraft and so many indie games across the net and look what those other guys are doing with the Coleco name. Raspberry Pi? Rainbow Bright TableTop? Really?

     

    So someone throw me a bone here.

  25. Posted · Edited by Mike Harris

    Even without the SGM you can use page-flipping. Mode 1 only needs about 4K. Mode 2 needs 12K, and that's for full single-page usage. Either way you have a good amount of space to draw offscreen with, so that you can page-flip when done. The TMS does not seem to offer any memory block copy functionality, and the page registers are too coarse to just bump over a pattern at a time.

     

    In my case is that I am a newbie with zero experience which makes me bug you guys on how to do it.

     

    When I was in the military it was teach you once, you do then teach others.

     

    I need source code to show me the way or I will spend the next year trying to figure it out.

     

    I get the concepts of page flipping, buffering and scrolling but at the end of the day there is a formula that is taught as gospel so you don't have to pound your way through it.

     

    Most of these guys like Pixelboy or whomever I can find articles of homebrew going back over 10 years so I know that THEY know what's what but getting info these days is pulling teeth.

     

    Example of opcode starting a course in z80 on this very website and never got past the first class that I could find.

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/193683-z80-assembly-module-1-basic-z80-programming/

     

    http://www.colecovision.dk/cv-z80-assembly.htm

     

    I am on fire to make games for the Coleco mainly for my benefit, not to take business away from anyone.

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