Time Pilot, Manic Miner, Tutankham and Vanguard? Games that were all in Homebrew development (and am very much looking forward to) but haven't heard update about them in absolutely ages.
(Well that's a bit of a lie actually, I know the guy that's doing Tutankham has recently got back into it.)
Is there any others in development that have lay dormant for too long?
0
Whatever happened to ..
Started by OX., Apr 25 2011 5:31 PM
19 replies to this topic
#2 OFFLINE
matthew180
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Posted Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:22 PM
Never knew of anyone doing anything other than Tutankham, but we don't have too many assembly programmers kicking around, and no one has announced any of those other remakes that I'm aware of (at least not here on the A.A. TI forum.) Anyone?
#3 ONLINE
sometimes99er
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:10 AM
Time Pilot - by retroclouds. I think development has stalled.
Manic Miner - by Willsy. I think development has stalled.
Tutankham - by retroclouds. Currently in development (according to his AA signature).
Vanguard - by Atarisoft
RX 8549. Apparently never released.
Vanguard - early prototype exists by TI / Paul Urbanus (?). I have the binary somewhere.
Manic Miner - by Willsy. I think development has stalled.
Tutankham - by retroclouds. Currently in development (according to his AA signature).
Vanguard - by Atarisoft
RX 8549. Apparently never released.
Vanguard - early prototype exists by TI / Paul Urbanus (?). I have the binary somewhere.
#4 ONLINE
retroclouds
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:23 AM
Guess I can give some details on this:
Time Pilot, that's me. I have a prototype with the moving clouds, rotating ship and flying bullets (which I'm kinda
proud of, because they are implemented as soft-sprites).
I stopped development on this a long time ago because there is no cartridge board able to run this
game. It'll probably need 1 to 2K of RAM. This game was written before SPECTRA. So it needs to be changed to use the SPECTRA2 library.
Tutankham, that's me again
This game is currently being modified for working with the SPECTRA2 library. Only uses 256 bytes of scratchpad RAM so we will for sure see a cartridge version there.
Manic Miner, that's a game written by Willsy before he started working on Turboforth. Dunno the status of that one.
Vanguard, There's a prototype with the the flying ship and scrolling background. This is done by mr. Uranus who wrote Parsec. He started working on the old source code he recovered a while ago. Dunno the actual status of this one.
TI Intruder, A game in the style of River Raid started by marc.hull. Airplane with scrolling background working. This project is currently stalled
and looking for an assembler programmer who is willing to finish the game.
For myself I can say that it's not unusual to start working on multiple projects and hop from one to the other. Writing, debugging, testing and completing a game in assembly language can be a very frustrating thing.
One of the reasons why there aren't many new homebrews (compared to the Colecovision), is that if you wanna get your arcade game to run from a cartridge on an unexpanded TI-99/4A, you can only do it in assembler (and perhaps GPL).
Looking at the Colecovision, *all* new homebrews are written in C. Except for the MSX/arcade machine ports done by opcode. They are in assembler, but that's actually patching existing Z80 code. Due to the TMS9900 code we need to start from scratch.
EDIT: The only arcade games we could port over to the TI-99/4A would be the Tomy Tutor games (because of the TMS9900/TMS9918VDP). However, the onces I played didn't look worth the effort.
Time Pilot, that's me. I have a prototype with the moving clouds, rotating ship and flying bullets (which I'm kinda
proud of, because they are implemented as soft-sprites).
I stopped development on this a long time ago because there is no cartridge board able to run this
game. It'll probably need 1 to 2K of RAM. This game was written before SPECTRA. So it needs to be changed to use the SPECTRA2 library.
Tutankham, that's me again
This game is currently being modified for working with the SPECTRA2 library. Only uses 256 bytes of scratchpad RAM so we will for sure see a cartridge version there.
Manic Miner, that's a game written by Willsy before he started working on Turboforth. Dunno the status of that one.
Vanguard, There's a prototype with the the flying ship and scrolling background. This is done by mr. Uranus who wrote Parsec. He started working on the old source code he recovered a while ago. Dunno the actual status of this one.
TI Intruder, A game in the style of River Raid started by marc.hull. Airplane with scrolling background working. This project is currently stalled
and looking for an assembler programmer who is willing to finish the game.
For myself I can say that it's not unusual to start working on multiple projects and hop from one to the other. Writing, debugging, testing and completing a game in assembly language can be a very frustrating thing.
One of the reasons why there aren't many new homebrews (compared to the Colecovision), is that if you wanna get your arcade game to run from a cartridge on an unexpanded TI-99/4A, you can only do it in assembler (and perhaps GPL).
Looking at the Colecovision, *all* new homebrews are written in C. Except for the MSX/arcade machine ports done by opcode. They are in assembler, but that's actually patching existing Z80 code. Due to the TMS9900 code we need to start from scratch.
EDIT: The only arcade games we could port over to the TI-99/4A would be the Tomy Tutor games (because of the TMS9900/TMS9918VDP). However, the onces I played didn't look worth the effort.
Edited by retroclouds, Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:47 AM.
#5 OFFLINE
Willsy
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:19 AM
Manic Miner is slowly working its way up the "to do" list. I might do it in Forth though, as it's perfect for Forth. TF could do it with one hand (metaphorically) tied behind its back 
#6 OFFLINE
ti99userclub
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !!
Edited by ti99userclub, Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:00 AM.
#7 ONLINE
sometimes99er
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:42 AM
retroclouds, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:23 AM, said:
The only arcade games we could port over to the TI-99/4A would be the Tomy Tutor games (because of the TMS9900/TMS9918VDP). However, the onces I played didn't look worth the effort.
I think Tomy Tutor has the TMS9995 - maybe not much of a difference.
TI-99 versus Tomy Tutor
Yeah, I also thought the games were not worth while, but they're actually not all that bad. Bios and games are available from the site linked above.
car-azy-racer (educational)
cave crawlers
deep six
jungler
loco-motion
pooyan
scramble
torpedo terror
traffic jam
#8 ONLINE
retroclouds
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:20 PM
For fun I just checked the ROMS of the Tomy Tutor games "Scramble" and "Jungler". Bot are 8K ROMS.
I also took a quick look at the Tutor memory map. I presume that on the Tutor the games runs from the ROM cartridge space at >8000.
On the TI-99/4A we are at >6000 so it means all machine code should be relocated.
On the Tutor scratchpad memory is at >E000 we are at >8300.
Sound port, VDP data/regsiter ports are also different.
Dunno how the keyboard/joysticks on the Tutor work. Guess one would have to take a look at the MESS source code.
Too make a long story short, I think it should be possible to make a Ti-99/4A cartridge with one of the above games.
hhmmm. Here's the memory map of the Tutor. I do like the fact that the Tutor has a 16K cartridge ROM space. That's much better than the 8K ROM space we have on the TI-99/4A.
I also took a quick look at the Tutor memory map. I presume that on the Tutor the games runs from the ROM cartridge space at >8000.
On the TI-99/4A we are at >6000 so it means all machine code should be relocated.
On the Tutor scratchpad memory is at >E000 we are at >8300.
Sound port, VDP data/regsiter ports are also different.
Dunno how the keyboard/joysticks on the Tutor work. Guess one would have to take a look at the MESS source code.
Too make a long story short, I think it should be possible to make a Ti-99/4A cartridge with one of the above games.
hhmmm. Here's the memory map of the Tutor. I do like the fact that the Tutor has a 16K cartridge ROM space. That's much better than the 8K ROM space we have on the TI-99/4A.
*** $0000-$7FFF is the 32K BIOS ***
it is also possible to replace the BIOS with an external ROM (see $E000 range)
0000
reset vector (level 0)
0000-0001: WP 0002-0003: PC (%)
0004
level 1 and 2 IRQ vectors (%)
idem. These just seem to reset the system.
000C
additional vectors
0040
XOP vectors (%)
The BIOS doesn't seem to use these for XOPs.
Instead, this is a branch table.
0080
BIOS code
(CRU only: $1EE0-FE: 9995 flag register;
$1FDA: MID flag)
4000
GBASIC
(on the American v2.3 firmware, the GPL
interpreter and VDP RAMLUT co-exist
with GBASIC in this range)
*** $8000-$BFFF is the 16K option ROM area ***
8000
BASIC (Tutor only) and/or cartridge ROM
(controlled by $E100)
To be recognized, a cartridge must have a
$55, $66 or $aa header sequence.
*** end ROM ***
C000
unmapped (possible use in 24K cartridges)
E000
I/O range
---------
9918A VDP data/register ports: $E000, E002
"MMU" banking controls: $E100-E1FF
$E100 write: enable cartridge, disable
BIOS at $0000 (???) -- magic
required at $E110 for this
$E108 write: enable BASIC ROM, disable
cartridge at $8000
$E10C write: enable cartridge, disable
BASIC ROM at $8000
$E110 must be $42 to enable $E100
and to replace the BIOS with
an installed cartridge ROM.
BLWP assumed at $0000 (??).
SN76489AN sound data port: $E200
Device handshaking: $E600
Unknown purpose, disk drive maybe?
Printer handshaking: $E800
This is a standard Centronics port.
$E810 write: parallel data bus
$E820 read: parallel port busy
$E840 write: port handshake output
Keyboard lines: $EC00-$EC7E (*CRU*)
(CRU physical address $7600-$763F)
Cassette lines: $ED00-$EEFF
$ED00 (*CRU*): input level
(physical address $7680)
$EE00 write: tape output zero
$EE20 write: tape output one
$EE40 write: tape IRQ on
$EE60 write: tape IRQ off
$EE80, A0, C0, E0: ???
F000
TMS9995 RAM (*)
F0FC
??
FFFA
decrementer (*)
FFFC
NMI vector (*)
FFFF
#9 OFFLINE
OX.
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Chopper Commander
Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
#10 OFFLINE
InsaneMultitasker
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Chopper Commander
Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:04 PM
Barry Boone converted a number of Tomy Tutor games for use with the Geneve (which has a 9938 and 9995) years ago. I do not recall whether they run natively or via the GPL interpreter.
#11 OFFLINE
marc.hull
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:27 PM
InsaneMultitasker, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:04 PM, said:
Barry Boone converted a number of Tomy Tutor games for use with the Geneve (which has a 9938 and 9995) years ago. I do not recall whether they run natively or via the GPL interpreter.
I thought about that earlier but they do run in MDSO mode. Probably a worse starting point ?
#12 OFFLINE
mdorman
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Posted Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:58 PM
marc.hull, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:27 PM, said:
InsaneMultitasker, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:04 PM, said:
Barry Boone converted a number of Tomy Tutor games for use with the Geneve (which has a 9938 and 9995) years ago. I do not recall whether they run natively or via the GPL interpreter.
I thought about that earlier but they do run in MDSO mode. Probably a worse starting point ?
The MDOS files are on whtech.com under geneve/tomy tutor games. Barry Boone described the tomy dumps in an email quoted below:
Well, The tomy dumps work as follows...
The first few files of the games are all identical... and represent the Tomy
internal ROM
that was patched to use the Geneve's keyboard/joystick, and patched with the
I/O addresses for video/sound.
The rest of it is a ROM dump of the original game, pretty much in unmodified
form.
The Tomy had an immense ROM library of routines to handle graphics, sound,
etc, so the game carts spent most of their time calling subroutines. The
subroutine vectors are located in a table starting at memory location >0000.
This made the subroutine vectors be in a fixed location, while the ROM
locations of the routines could change, if that was needed, and it allowed
them the option to come out with future machines that could run the
cartridges.
#13 ONLINE
retroclouds
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Posted Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:15 AM
mdorman, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:58 PM, said:
marc.hull, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:27 PM, said:
InsaneMultitasker, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:04 PM, said:
Barry Boone converted a number of Tomy Tutor games for use with the Geneve (which has a 9938 and 9995) years ago. I do not recall whether they run natively or via the GPL interpreter.
I thought about that earlier but they do run in MDSO mode. Probably a worse starting point ?
The MDOS files are on whtech.com under geneve/tomy tutor games. Barry Boone described the tomy dumps in an email quoted below:
Well, The tomy dumps work as follows...
The first few files of the games are all identical... and represent the Tomy
internal ROM
that was patched to use the Geneve's keyboard/joystick, and patched with the
I/O addresses for video/sound.
The rest of it is a ROM dump of the original game, pretty much in unmodified
form.
The Tomy had an immense ROM library of routines to handle graphics, sound,
etc, so the game carts spent most of their time calling subroutines. The
subroutine vectors are located in a table starting at memory location >0000.
This made the subroutine vectors be in a fixed location, while the ROM
locations of the routines could change, if that was needed, and it allowed
them the option to come out with future machines that could run the
cartridges.
ok, thanks for the info. Guess that kinda explains why the game ROMS are only 8K.
That also prevents the idea of putting such game in a TI-99/4A cartridge.
Would be interesting to see what routines are in the ROM library though.
But I'm quite sure it's all undocumented.
#14 OFFLINE
ti99userclub
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Posted Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:42 AM
OX., on Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Also because I know you've arrived at about 2000 games already recorded and is already a great number !
... I Have cataloged only 800 ... I go very slow ... perhaps will be the same games but until I see your work I can not know it ....
Edited by ti99userclub, Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:43 AM.
#15 OFFLINE
mäsäxi
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Posted Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM
I will have to say, that I have played Jungler at the arcades in the Golden Eighties, and I loved that game A LOT!!!!!! It´s very good eat-or-shoot-other-worms-and-beware-of-getting-eaten-alive-maze-game!!!!! I still am sad that MSX doesn´t have Jungler, even it was made by Konami. 
I still am sad that MSX doesn´t have Jungler, even it was made by Konami.
#16 OFFLINE
OX.
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Posted Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:46 PM
ti99userclub, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:42 AM, said:
OX., on Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Also because I know you've arrived at about 2000 games already recorded and is already a great number !
... I Have cataloged only 800 ... I go very slow ... perhaps will be the same games but until I see your work I can not know it .... Well Ciro my PC power supply stopped working on Tuesday and I've just now got it back up and running, there's a little over 1900 entries up to now so it's looking to be around the 2000 entries mark and then it's a matter of tieing in the screenshots, extras and factual data - so it will still be a while until release.
#17 OFFLINE
ti99userclub
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Moonsweeper
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Posted Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:13 PM
OX., on Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:46 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:42 AM, said:
OX., on Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Also because I know you've arrived at about 2000 games already recorded and is already a great number !
... I Have cataloged only 800 ... I go very slow ... perhaps will be the same games but until I see your work I can not know it .... Well Ciro my PC power supply stopped working on Tuesday and I've just now got it back up and running, there's a little over 1900 entries up to now so it's looking to be around the 2000 entries mark and then it's a matter of tieing in the screenshots, extras and factual data - so it will still be a while until release.
Ok Ox,
i will be patient...
just an little ask...think you can be possible you release only a complete program list (also in a simply .txt file) to look only the titles ?
just for know if a program/game will exist already in your database or not...
Thankyou...
#18 OFFLINE
OX.
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Chopper Commander
Posted Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:51 PM
ti99userclub, on Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:13 PM, said:
OX., on Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:46 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:42 AM, said:
OX., on Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Also because I know you've arrived at about 2000 games already recorded and is already a great number !
... I Have cataloged only 800 ... I go very slow ... perhaps will be the same games but until I see your work I can not know it .... Well Ciro my PC power supply stopped working on Tuesday and I've just now got it back up and running, there's a little over 1900 entries up to now so it's looking to be around the 2000 entries mark and then it's a matter of tieing in the screenshots, extras and factual data - so it will still be a while until release.
Ok Ox,
i will be patient...
just an little ask...think you can be possible you release only a complete program list (also in a simply .txt file) to look only the titles ?
just for know if a program/game will exist already in your database or not...
Thankyou...
Yes sure, when I have entered all the games I have to my disposal in the gamebase I will post it on here or the GB64 site - and if I have missed anything that you know of or have in your collection then you can let me know?
#19 OFFLINE
ti99userclub
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Moonsweeper
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Posted Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:50 AM
OX., on Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:51 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:13 PM, said:
OX., on Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:46 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:42 AM, said:
OX., on Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 PM, said:
ti99userclub, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:28 AM, said:
Ox, for all these games, maybe is better do not wait for release of your gamebase...
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ? i am very curious !!
when you release the gamebase completed at now ? v1.0 ?
i am very curious !! I would'nt mind getting my hands on the beta versions just so I can make place-holders in the Gamebase TI-99/4A project for their future release.
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Also because I know you've arrived at about 2000 games already recorded and is already a great number !
... I Have cataloged only 800 ... I go very slow ... perhaps will be the same games but until I see your work I can not know it .... Well Ciro my PC power supply stopped working on Tuesday and I've just now got it back up and running, there's a little over 1900 entries up to now so it's looking to be around the 2000 entries mark and then it's a matter of tieing in the screenshots, extras and factual data - so it will still be a while until release.
Ok Ox,
i will be patient...
just an little ask...think you can be possible you release only a complete program list (also in a simply .txt file) to look only the titles ?
just for know if a program/game will exist already in your database or not...
Thankyou...
Yes sure, when I have entered all the games I have to my disposal in the gamebase I will post it on here or the GB64 site - and if I have missed anything that you know of or have in your collection then you can let me know?
Hi Ox,
maybe I explained evil, I would want to have a list of your titles in a .txt now, so if in the list i see a title of a game you've already converted i will jump that title in my program
In this way, already from today, I will convert only those games that are not present in your current list ...
but do not worry, if for you it could be a problem i will wait the GB relased
Thankyou.
#20 OFFLINE
OX.
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Chopper Commander
Posted Mon Oct 10, 2011 2:02 PM
Putting a shout out here to Willsy & Co. as to updates on Manic Miner etc. I'm trying to get the TI99 Gamebase out for Xmas and I'm wondering is there any chance of any playable or complete versions of the games mentioned previously in this thread.
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