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There was a bug in the ROM file attached to the post above. It's fixed in the attached one. Philipp BB.rom.gz

Well, abc2cvm is not a good sound tool (it wasn't made for that), but I think it's a OK as a music tool. I've attached an early prototype of a game, that already has some music created using abc2cvm (4 pieces, when one ends there's a short silence, then another random one starts). Philipp Edit: Attachment removed. Use the one below.

There's something like that in the ColecoVision FAQ (you might have to search a bit to find the latest version, I think it's 4.0). Daniel's list at http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/collection.txt has all games up to 2006. Some homebrews released later aren't in any list AFAIK. Philipp

Maybe I should consider making game manuals in multiple languages. So far I sold games mostly to the US, but that might change. Philipp

Hmm, 'mal bei der Gemeinde fragen, was hier so ein Reisegewerbeschein kostet. Andernorts scheint das ja von 5€ bis 500€ zu schwanken. Philipp

I always went with strategy 2 and don't intend to change that. I don't see a reason non-secret projects can be well-constructed. I don't think people are willing to do this (unless there are good reviews about the game, but this could become a chicken-egg problem: Few carts sold => no reviews => sales won't go up). When the final bin isn't released the situation is nearly the same with startegy 2 (see there for interim carts). You can't implement all requests, even if the programmer ahs a lot of time with those old consoles there's always technical limitations. At some point you have to decide that the game is mostly feature-complete; you can tell people about that, so they know only minor requests have a chance of making it into the game. I don't think that's a real problem. I don't think such carts would sell when the homebrew author is working on the project and people can see the final release just a few months away. If the author has abandoned the project then why care (as long as those that release iterim carts don't pretend it's a full game damaging the author's reputation)? So to me it seems there's no advantages strategy 1 has over 2. I think 2 can have advatages over 1. So 2 seems the logical choice. Philipp

Wie sah es in den letzten Jahren dort mit ColecoVision-Spielen und Hardware aus? Philipp

I intend to do a Tunnels & Trolls one day. I have posted a simple techdemo (just a big map you can view) on these forums some time ago. Philipp

The last part of the Search for the stolen Crown Jewels trilogy is mostly complete (it probably needs more testing and balancing). It has rather smart enemies (enemy soldiers, airplanes and anti-air guns) and smooth movement (including scrolling). At http://colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/games/...ewels%203.shtml you can find screenshots and a demo version (it consists of the first and last levels of the full version). In the first level you're being attacked by enemy commandos in you palace. The level is won once enough of them are dead. They will try to kill the girl at the upper left and steal the crown jewels in the upper middle part of the screen, too. In the last level you have to bomb anti-air guns to make the area safe for the airship you're escorting. Control of the airplane might be a bit unfamiliar, so here's some info: Moving the joystick to the right will accelerate the plane, moving it left will activate landing flaps increasing air drag. Moving the joystick up and down will adjust the flaps. You need lift to gain height, so you have to accelerate, too, just moving the joystick up is not enough. The first fire button is for firing bullets, the second one for dropping bombs. Philipp

A few days ago version 2.8.0 of the free C compiler sdcc has been released (http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/). Many bugs in the Z80 port have been fixed and code size and speed improved a bit. You can see a list recent bugfixed and a list of new features at http://sdcc.wiki.sourceforge.net/SDCC+2.8.0+Release I have just released new versions of libcv (0.16) and libcvu (0.9) for use with sdcc 2.8.0. A few minor bugs have been fixed and speed has been improved a bit. You can find them at http://www.colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/de...ent/libcv.shtml Those that want to try sdcc/libcv/libcvu ColecoVision development for the first time might want to have a look at the tutorials at http://www.colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/de...tutorial0.shtml Philipp

Well, many homebrews are stilla available in shops such as the one here (atariage.com), gooddealgames.com or gameconsoles.com. Philipp

Scammers tend to use other peoples addresses (preferably appartments in big houses, so it's less likely people know each other) and hang out near there at the time the postman usually shows up. Pretending to be the person living there they make the postman hand them the mail. Philipp

That's a long list. I think there will be more games released before you manage to finish your collection. Philipp

Well, there's my tutorial at http://www.colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/development/ on using sdcc to program the CV. There's documentation by Daniel Bienvenu on using HITECH-C at http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/ Philipp

You can compare with the attached ROM where only the tails flickers, not the ball itself. Philipp Tennis.rom.gz

I suggest you ask someone familiar with analog technology. The kind of people that were able to repair radios and TV's in the 60s and 70s should be able to make the hardware. However the published shcemativs contain errors that prevent the game rom working. These were fixed in the original game hardware, but not in the schematics. Philipp

Here's a very primitive, incomplete ColecoVision version I made this afternoon. The game ends when the ball leaves the field to the side. You choose the direction with the joystick and press the fire button to hit the ball. Philipp Tennis.rom.gz

This is far from a finished or polished game. It's just a quick and dirty hack I did this afternoon. One obvious improvement would be to ave an non-flickering ball and let only the tail flicker. It's controlled by the first ColecoVision controller only. Point the joystick tothe desired direction, press fire to hit the ball. The ball will bounce when it hits the ground or net (with some dampening). The game stops if the ball leaves the field to either side. Philipp Tennis.rom.gz

You can use up to 48K on the SMS without bank switching. http://www.smspower.org/dev/docs/wiki/MemorySystem/MemoryMap gives the ROM area as 0x0000-0xbfff Philipp

There's someone on the SMSpower forums that uses z88dk, there's a thread about it. Philipp

I already thought about making a tennis for two for the ColecoVision some time ago. I see two problems: 1) Not enough colors. The scope has lots of shades of green. The CV has just three. 2) Input. Tennis for two has a button (no problem) and a knob for each player. The is an analog input device. The ColecoVision's joystick has just 8 directions. One option would be to use the wheel on the super action controllers or roller controllers. It's doable; a small project (not the kind of homebrew to be sold, just a fun project). Maybe I'll do it this spring. I'm working on smooth movement and gravity anyway (for SCJ3). Philipp

I've updated the first tutorial. It's now more verbose and has screenshots. It just took me a bit more than 1 hour to follow the tutorial (the first one, from Cygwin download to the creation of the demo ROM), make screenshots and update the tutorial. Philipp

Well, I'm developing on GNU/Linux, and rarely use Windows, so I probably won't provide binary packages (they would soon be outdated). However I'll try to improve the tutorial a bit and include screenshots. Philipp

I just finished my game Cye (due to lots of university work it will take some time to make cartridges though). It is mostly a clone of the game Kye (similar to Boulder Dash). It has a simultanous two-player mode. Cooperation is required to clear the two-player levels. More information including a demo (that includes 4 tutorial single-player levels and 5 two-player levels) can be found at http://colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/games/Cye.shtml Philipp

When going beyond 32K there should be a really good reason for it. I have not done it for my previous four games, and will not do so for my next game but I'll probably do so for T&T. I found a combination of RLE and huffman coding to be very efficient at data compression, while still feasible with the limited amount of RAM on the CV. See my colecovision library at http://www.colecovision.eu/ColecoVision/de...ent/libcv.shtml for an implementation. Philipp