PC-Engine slow-mo coding Compo 2009

[malducci]

Hope this is the right section...

 

Rules here -> http://pcedev.blockos.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42

 

Charles MacDonald and I (Tomaitheous) started a coding contest for the PCE. Putting your optimization skills to the test by running the processor only in slow mode - 1.79mhz.

 

Anyone is welcome to enter the contest. I figured some of you Atari guys might be interested since the CPU is a 65C02 variant and close to home

 

I can provide background/hardware docs/tutorials that I wrote and can also provide some hardware/assembler syntax example sources as well.

 

 

-Tom

[malducci]

Nobody/coders/etc interested, ehh?

[Video]

You could try the Hardware section, or Hacks (is that right?) section.

 

But yeah, sounds cool...you talking making preexisting games run on a slower setting, or making all new games?

[roland p]

Maybe 'programming' is the right section for this topic?

 

I haven't seen much programming topics about the pc-engine, I think that's too bad.

[malducci]

you talking making preexisting games run on a slower setting, or making all new games?

 

No no, this is all new code. A mini game preferably. And they run at 1/4 the processor speed - that's the challenge part.

 

Maybe 'programming' is the right section for this topic?

 

Ohh. I misread that as being all the subforums(being atari and coleco only). I'll try that out than.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Not too much interest in programming PCE/TG16 here. Maybe it's because the card slot makes it harder to make homebrews for the real hardware.

 

No no, this is all new code. A mini game preferably. And they run at 1/4 the processor speed - that's the challenge part.

So in other words, the CPU in "slow" mode is as fast as the CPU in an ATARI 7800, except that it doesn't have a single-bus architecture robbing it of cycles when you put a decent amount of graphics on the screen. And the largest 7800 games made were 144k... but you're "limiting" people to 512K? I've just barely broken 64K myself, programming a Sega Genesis with GCC. (And I presume PCE even has a real sound chip, and a video system that isn't as much of a pain in the butt to program as the 7800's MARIA chip.)

 

That's not much of a challenge, compared to what the homebrew coders around here have been doing. Just sayin'.

Edited September 28, 2009 by Bruce Tomlin