Two-Player Chess & Checkers for ColecoVision

[Pixelboy]

The point where this changed from "nice mockups" to NPIP was when he said he'd pay money to get some programming done... and then balked when someone gave him a realistic price range.

Well, what can I say, I'm just not rich enough to cover those kinds of coding costs. And I "balked", as you say, simply because I was expecting something in the hundreds, not the thousands, mostly because I know most homebrew programmers aren't really in it for profit. Note that I don't know if Zach has a job or not. I figured if he did, then this theoretical coding job might be considered as just a small extra source of income, kinda like what Eduardo Mello does on his own.

 

I'd love to make enough money to survive off my hobby. But that ain't happening, at least not until I live in a house that's paid for, which is probably about ten years away even with all the extra principal I've been paying. There's just no economies of scale in dead systems (where a hot selling title could sell 100-200 at $5 profit each) to make it profitable.

Well, yeah, if you look at it strictly from a profit-margin point of view, I can agree there's not much point in going from hobby to job with this.

 

And as Batari says, why would anyone play 2-player chess on a cantankerous old video game console when they could play it on a real board with real pieces? And why would anyone play 1-player chess on a slow old Z-80 which they could beat at any reasonable speed when they can play against Gnu-Chess on a modern computer?

Those are good points, of course. But such an argument could be applied to several existing homebrews: Why play Daniel Bienvenu's Deflektor Collection on the CV when I can play Arkanoid on MAME? There's is definate extra value in originality, but sometimes just completing a homebrew project is rewarding enough, for both the author and the people who try the finished product.

[vdub_bobby]

The point where this changed from "nice mockups" to NPIP was when he said he'd pay money to get some programming done... and then balked when someone gave him a realistic price range.

Well, what can I say, I'm just not rich enough to cover those kinds of coding costs. And I "balked", as you say, simply because I was expecting something in the hundreds, not the thousands, mostly because I know most homebrew programmers aren't really in it for profit. Note that I don't know if Zach has a job or not. I figured if he did, then this theoretical coding job might be considered as just a small extra source of income, kinda like what Eduardo Mello does on his own.

I think that's a fair response. You don't know how much $ someone will want until you ask. Maybe I should add a financial incentives addendum to the NPIP.

And as Batari says, why would anyone play 2-player chess on a cantankerous old video game console when they could play it on a real board with real pieces? And why would anyone play 1-player chess on a slow old Z-80 which they could beat at any reasonable speed when they can play against Gnu-Chess on a modern computer?

Those are good points, of course. But such an argument could be applied to several existing homebrews: Why play Daniel Bienvenu's Deflektor Collection on the CV when I can play Arkanoid on MAME? There's is definate extra value in originality, but sometimes just completing a homebrew project is rewarding enough, for both the author and the people who try the finished product.

I agree 100% with this. Maybe no one wants to play chess on the CV. But all the same objections could be made to lots of 2600 homebrew board games, like Jammed, the upcoming Fourplay, Marble Jumper, etc. Someone might like writing a chess AI in Z80 assembly with 1K of RAM. Probably not, but who knows? I never thought someone would write a whole 2600 game of Connect-Four, but there you go.

[opcode]

Hi Pixelboy,

 

Nice mock-ups! And it can be easily done, maybe using just 4KB. I believe it could even have good AI with 16KB. Maybe you could include more games, making it a must have title. I find this game very interesting from a programmer point-of-view, because it would require a lot of routines to handle graphic shapes, besides the AI, of course.

[Pixelboy]

And it can be easily done, maybe using just 4KB. I believe it could even have good AI with 16KB. Maybe you could include more games, making it a must have title.

Hmm... I hadn't though of that... Of course, if a good AI is devised for both the chess and checkers games, there might not be enough ROM space for another game...

 

I find this game very interesting from a programmer point-of-view, because it would require a lot of routines to handle graphic shapes, besides the AI, of course.

Well, actually, the graphic routines wouldn't be all that complex. It all comes down to two main routines, namely removing a chess piece, and placing a chess piece somewhere on the board. In either case, you only need to concern yourself with the pieces that may partially cover (or be covered) by the removed/added chess piece. In bitmap mode, this is relatively easy, with the proper bytes updated in one or more of the three pattern tables.

 

Notice how all the chess pieces have the same lower base...