Giles N Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 (edited) 21 hours ago, mksmith said: We will also be looking to release a TIA version as well once we are game complete. I think it’s very smart to produce TIA versions also, since those Pokey chips won’t be available forever, if they’re not produced any longer. Since both Ballblazer and Commando are some of the best games on the 7800, it would be - to a certain degree - understandable that many won’t give them up easily. Could another chip be installed in carts to do similar jobs? Can pokey-chips be extracted from defunct 5200 units and be useable in a 7800 cart? Anyway - if 2 versions can in time be produced, new 7800 game-titles on carts will probably be must easier to get produced in some numbers. Edited September 25, 2019 by Giles N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 12 hours ago, Giles N said: I think it’s very smart to produce TIA versions also, since those Pokey chips won’t be available forever, if they’re not produced any longer. @CPUWIZmight know: Is the Hokey still coming? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 21 minutes ago, FujiSkunk said: @CPUWIZmight know: Is the Hokey still coming? I believe Fred still intends to complete the HOKEY. Not sure how far along he is with it. ..Al 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Ah, thanks, Albert! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 There are also the PokeyMax and PokeyONE projects. They don't do all the features, but for the existing homebrew projects (including this one) I am told they work very well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 13 hours ago, Giles N said: I think it’s very smart to produce TIA versions also, since those Pokey chips won’t be available forever, if they’re not produced any longer. Since both Ballblazer and Commando are some of the best games on the 7800, it would be - to a certain degree - understandable that many won’t give them up easily. Could another chip be installed in carts to do similar jobs? Can pokey-chips be extracted from defunct 5200 units and be useable in a 7800 cart? Anyway - if 2 versions can in time be produced, new 7800 game-titles on carts will probably be must easier to get produced in some numbers. Yes to both questions... In fact there is a chip which costs $4 ... I posted about it elsewhere but it's the chip used in so many arcade titles (Frogger and Congo Bongo) and similar to the sound chip used in Colecovision. Entirely doable. POKEY chips scavenged from used 5200's work too. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Synthpopalooza said: Yes to both questions... In fact there is a chip which costs $4 ... I posted about it elsewhere but it's the chip used in so many arcade titles (Frogger and Congo Bongo) and similar to the sound chip used in Colecovision. Entirely doable. POKEY chips scavenged from used 5200's work too. ‘Scavenged’ ha ha Well, y’know, some ol’ consoles are just too damaged to repair in their entirety, so why not look for the parts which may still work and be of use for useable hardware? I see from the store, that certain 7800 titles needs to have this PokeyONE provided for a single cart to be produced... I ordered Bentley Bears Crystal Quest (and looking forward to try it out ? ) from eBay, but if I were to buy it here or any of these other pokey-only-titles, - what would I have to do; order Pokey-chip to my country in Europe (tax and all), then send it to the US for producing a new cart? Man, thats a lot of money and work for hobby-retro-gamer! Edited September 25, 2019 by Giles N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Synthpopalooza said: Yes to both questions... In fact there is a chip which costs $4 ... I posted about it elsewhere but it's the chip used in so many arcade titles (Frogger and Congo Bongo) and similar to the sound chip used in Colecovision. Entirely doable. POKEY chips scavenged from used 5200's work too. So, perhaps it could be an idea for enthusiasts to ‘donate’ and collect such hardware, like to this site? Then, one could have 2 prices for Pokey-games: one with already built-in, and another for buyers who provide Pokey themselves.... Anyway, how easy/difficult is it to obtain the other chips (from arcades or colecovisions)? Are there only a handfull left, or could one easily obtain hundreds? (If anyone knows?) Edited September 25, 2019 by Giles N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Newegg has these chips for $4 and they are by no means rare. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Just now, Synthpopalooza said: Newegg has these chips for $4 and they are by no means rare. It's an AY-3-8910. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Happy to hear you will make more games for the 7800 your awesome. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Synthpopalooza said: And these can be used in 7800 carts of new/homebrew productions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Yes ... the support circuitry might need redoing. Plus with this chip you only get 3 square waves and a noise channel, so not as flashy as POKEY, but that's more than adequate for a lot of classic arcade sounds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted September 26, 2019 Author Share Posted September 26, 2019 4 hours ago, Jinks said: Happy to hear you will make more games for the 7800 your awesome. Thanks! As said really enjoying it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Regarding Pokey, I don't know if that news could be useful. SainT is developing a 7800 multicart that emulates Pokey chip: https://new.retrohq.co.uk/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 On 9/25/2019 at 10:52 AM, Synthpopalooza said: There are also the PokeyMax and PokeyONE projects. They don't do all the features, but for the existing homebrew projects (including this one) I am told they work very well. Yes, I received these PokeyONEs this week and will be using them to build ten copies each of Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest and Super Circus AtariAge for the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Here's one I tested last week with all the POKEY-based games we sell in the store: I will buy more PokeyONEs after PRGE to make the POKEY-based games available without people having to send in Ballblazers or POKEY chips. I should be able to offer those games at a comparable price as I was when selling them with a POKEY chip. ..Al 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Also ... for the AY-3-8910 chip there are three pitfalls: 1. No support in emulation yet. 2. To test it on real HW you would need a custom developer cart with the AY-3-8910 chip on it. 3. Learning curve on how to program it. There is documentation though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 As all the POKEY games in the AA store use pretty much standard and sane settings (not the crazy ones I use lol) POKEYOne should handle them all very well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 Hi everyone, Sorry it's been a bit a little quiet in the past few weeks - had a few things on my plate and some issues cropped up getting the multiple balls working in the game (had to leave it for a few days as I was pretty annoyed with it all ?). A build released for testing last week was really bad too (balls getting stuck!) and the over the past 4-6 weeks test builds using paddles and multiple balls really slowed-down the game to the point that I thought we were in some trouble ? Thanks to some further great work from @RevEng we've managed to work through our paddle and rendering issues, fixed the ball movement and added a level selector. We now appear to have a really quality release coming for PRGE attendees to play next weekend ??? I've also added a high score entry (into RAM for now) so any champs can enter their name for the day. This has also allowed @Synthpopalooza's awesome high-score entry to be finally heard in full. Thanks also to @Trebor and @sramirez2008 for their continued testing on real hardware over the past few months - very much appreciate your help pin-pointing issues and suggestions! Over the weekend I'll be finalising the Doh head (thanks @Defender_2600) and intro animations, and tuning the ball speeds once they start to speed up (way too fast). So there won't be a new build available until after PRGE at this stage as we race to complete something for Al. Thanks again to everyone at AtariAge - we have such a great and supportive community here and the game wouldn't be at the level it is without the support of you all. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 So the game has gone off to Al and CPUWiz for the PRGE event - can't wait to see the feedback ?? [Update] Cart has been built and tested ? 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 This is going to be a big hit at the show, for sure. I can't wait to see pictures of people enjoying it! Thanks for representing the 7800 and 7800basic so well Matt, and my thanks to all of the contributors too! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, RevEng said: This is going to be a big hit at the show, for sure. I can't wait to see pictures of people enjoying it! This... 1 hour ago, RevEng said: Thanks for representing the 7800 and 7800basic so well Matt, and my thanks to all of the contributors too! ...and this! Couldn’t say it any better. ? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, RevEng said: This is going to be a big hit at the show, for sure. I can't wait to see pictures of people enjoying it! Thanks for representing the 7800 and 7800basic so well Matt, and my thanks to all of the contributors too! 7800basic is such as great language - hopefully we'll see more people joining the fun and creating new games and your contributions to both 7800basic and Arkanoid have been tremendous. I've said it a lot, such a great community here - very thankful for all contributors! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_hawk Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Fantastic work. I'm in awe of this. *Googles last minute trans-Atlantic flights to Portland* 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 10 minutes ago, the_hawk said: Fantastic work. I'm in awe of this. *Googles last minute trans-Atlantic flights to Portland* It's not too late!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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