Turbo Laser Lynx Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) Hey thanks for the reply Shawn, this would confirm what I thought. I guess at least some of the graphics people around would think this is a exciting possibility Edited August 21, 2016 by Turbo Laser Lynx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Wookie had a dream about creating a streaming content game like the old CD-based Playstation games. The idea would be to read in new graphics when the player walks all the time. So who is up for implementing World of Warcraft for the Lynx? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Laser Lynx Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Haha, that would be cool, Wyvern Tales II - World of Warcraft! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) Wookie had a dream about creating a streaming content game like the old CD-based Playstation games. The idea would be to read in new graphics when the player walks all the time. So who is up for implementing World of Warcraft for the Lynx? Karri, with what you know about the Lynx, do you think it's possible? I guess you'd have to load data in an interrupt, and then you'd have to deal with the block/offset issue. For an 8-way scrolling game that is going to be pretty ugly... there's probably no good way to organize the data for faster loading. I haven't actually looked at the SDcard API, so maybe it would be possible, and practical... I guess someone will have to do it to prove it can be done. One thing that probably would be possible and quite interesting, is to release a game that could load levels from SD card, so that users can create their own levels and just put them on SDcard along with the ROM of the original game. Or an RPG with additional maps/quests, etc... Edited August 23, 2016 by Shawn Jefferson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) Ahhhh yes......Miner 2049er or even better, Bounty Bob Stikes back.....or.....Mr.Robot and his robot factory ! Man I'd "kill" for a A8/5200 emulator on the Lynx.....hey, same processor at much higher speed, should be "easy" (LOL). Well emulating A8's player/missiles (= sprites) should be a breeze for the Lynx but displaying all the text and graphics modes would be a serious challenge. I think the sound hardware should be able to mimic Pokey pretty nicely, at least it's also four channel.... Ah, but I'm dreaming away.....we should probably return on topic, sorry !!! Edited August 23, 2016 by Level42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabba Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 It acts much like a tape drive (the original design I believe), and you actually have to "seek" to the location in the block that you want to load into memory, by reading the values from cartridge and discarding them. It's one of the (beloved/hated?) limitations of the Lynx. This feature definitely added a few extra years to my development cycle. Learned a lot from it, but not sure if I like it. A large portion of the difficulties that I faced were also due to my own inexperience, but I had to constantly refactor the code to make everything fit in memory Haha, that would be cool, Wyvern Tales II - World of Warcraft! That's something to look forward to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) Karri, with what you know about the Lynx, do you think it's possible? I guess you'd have to load data in an interrupt, and then you'd have to deal with the block/offset issue. For an 8-way scrolling game that is going to be pretty ugly... there's probably no good way to organize the data for faster loading. The gametime needs to be separated from the drawing loop. 8-way scrolling is not what I had in mind. I would like to think about it more like having local interaction with objects next to you. The 8-way scrolling world would be just a skin in the distance. Eye candy like in WoW. With a little clever programming you would change the background tiles when you get further in the game like in pseudo 3D driving games. One background would be 320 x 204 pixels allowing you to turn 360 degrees in x or y direction. The image could be split into 40x51 pixel segments. You need only enough segments in RAM to fill the view and when you move you load in more segments from the cart. If you add an action/status bar then 15 segments (3 x 5 x 40 x 51 pixels) is enough leaving plenty of memory for text, sound and objects. Hmm. perhaps I should team up with Ninjabba for Wyvern Tales II - Mists of Terra. Edited August 23, 2016 by karri 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800fan Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Considering Lynx was originally designed for serial loading like from a tape drive, a CD game wouldn't be impossible. The question would be how to implement a 650MB CD game onto Lynx? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bochum_Boy Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 Count me in for a card release Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumerNivek Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Just checked this thread again for another update and Ninjabba did not disappoint with that tease in June! Looking good, Ninjabba! Hope to get to play it in the "not too distant future!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Using SainTs new SD cart it's certainly possible to load assets from file into RAM. There's an overhead which might dictate what's possible (not sure about FMV), but I am sure we will see larger games that run from SD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Laser Lynx Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) When working on my new demo game and learning to load in stuff from cart I've noticed that 512kb is not THAT little for graphics, but the whole thing is still an interresting concept. I think Karri already did some streaming tests (post somewhere in the programming forum). Maybe not from SD, I don't know. I remember someone commenting earlier in another thread about when would this kind of thing stop being a "real" Lynx game anymore too. Personally I think that much of the best entertainment / games / music / art has emerged because of all kinds of restrictions, but this idea is totally restricted enough, I mean that RAM is still pretty tiny Edited September 30, 2016 by Turbo Laser Lynx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 (edited) Well, seeing games like Space Harrier and GTIABlast on the A8 platform which use WAY more storage/memory then we could have had BITD I say: why not ? It is still the same essential hardware doing the job....same processor, same graphics hardware, same sound hardware.....only more data....I don't see the problem. Edited October 2, 2016 by Level42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Laser Lynx Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 @Level42 Yeah I agree, I only wanted to bring it up since I think it's kind of fascinating how much good stuff seem to have emerged in spite of / (because of?) restrictions. It's easier to be creative and get going when you have some kind of restrictions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Well, 160x102 pixels is restrictive enough I'd say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Laser Lynx Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 It is indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSmileyboy Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 How can I buy this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartfox Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Happy New Year Everyone! Dragonstomper, any updates on this title? This thread has been quiet for a little while. Any chance of providing a demo to play for those waiting on the full release? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabba Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 Happy new year as well! I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place. Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should. Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! Trolls, slimy creatures and wyverns. They creep in the background and attack when you least expect it. Nice to hear that the code is finished. I can hardly wait to see what you have added. New spells? Secondary quest line to extend all the way to Terra? Some more gaming time in the tower? Save one copy from the first product run for me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_afternoon Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Hooray what a Lynx year !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvirtuale Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I'm happy for this news.I can not wait to try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartfox Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Happy new year as well! I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place. Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should. Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy. Thank you so much for the update, I appreciate the response. Since you're unable to provide a demo, I'll let that slide if you sign my copy of the game, Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stun Runner 87 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Happy new year as well! I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place. Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should. Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy. Put me down for a cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanJayUK Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Please include me on the list for a copy also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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