New Plus Series Game a Proposal

[dcdrac]

If someone were to write a new game for the Plus Range I would be prepared to pay for a copy of the game.
It ahs to take full advantage of the Plus series abilities.
Any Takers?

[steve]

One very important plus feature that the game should take advantage of is the 512KB rom space.
When the cartridge cases become available it should be possible to buy the game on a cartridge.

[TFM]

It ahs to take full advantage of the Plus series abilities.

Full advantage? So it must use everything provided by the ASIC? Guess that's not doable. And will you prove anyway? Or how much would you consider as "full advantage"?

[fano]

If someone were to write a new game for the Plus Range I would be prepared to pay for a copy of the game.

I'll set the problem in another way : Find a way to produce new cartridges (from pcb to plasturgy) at correct price (close to CTC-AY cartridges) and find enough interested public, i'll awake Project Wildfire    (scroll,colors,sprites,AY lists)

[dcdrac]

As much as is practical to use, I wold do it myself if I was a programmer unfortuantly I am not.

[TFM]

Fair enough   TotOs cart's are actually a great solution. I dunno how much they are, but I paid about 8-9 Euros for an ACID chip. So Carts can't be cheap.

[steve]

I'll set the problem in another way : Find a way to produce new cartridges (from pcb to plasturgy) at correct price (close to CTC-AY cartridges) and find enough interested public, i'll awake Project Wildfire    (scroll,colors,sprites,AY lists)

What is the CTC-AY cartridge?, how much does it cost? and where can I get one?

[arnoldemu]

If someone were to write a new game for the Plus Range I would be prepared to pay for a copy of the game.
It ahs to take full advantage of the Plus series abilities.
Any Takers?

I already have one game that is on hold - while I finish other projects.
It doesn't use all the hardware, but uses some and I am very happy to put it into cart.

I need to finish a couple of other projects first.

EDIT: This plus game is a conversion of mazezam. I am using Plus sprites in mode 1 resolution (for main player currently) with a mode 0 background for the tiles. I am using plus analogue stick but as a digital stick, and supporting both plus digital pads. I am using the plus palette. I plan to use the line interrupts to split the screen to have mode 1 status. Look at the SNES version and you will see what I am aiming for on plus.

I am not using plus scrolling or plus dma currently.

What I need for this project: Music - can be plus dma, with digidrums. I think I have enough main ram to have these. I also need help with making some nice graphics. I have the levels from the other versions. Code is already working and levels can be played. Needs work to implement the menu system and finish off the rest of the logic.

So there you go that is what I have on the back burner.

EDIT2: I have another game that already has plus enhancements but that needs a bit more work with levels for it's 2 player mode. This one is about 80% complete. All games will be completed when I have the time and the bits to finish them off.

[mr_lou]

Hasn't this topic been up several times?

I'd love to see some new CPC+ games  too. Especially if they're on cartridge. :-) And I'd pay a lot for a new CPC+ game on cartridge.
How cool could it be to have e.g. Orion Prime on a cartridge?! So cool it can't be described with words. 

Last I remember, there was some discussion of cheaper replacements for the ACID chip. Don't know what it ended up with.
I also remember the discussion spawned a new Wiki page containing "Best practices" regarding game-development, in relation to user interface. E.g. always make your game start-able with joystick/gamepad, so GX4000 users can play it. It's fine to support keyboard for the menu, but it most also react to joystick input. And always use 'P' for pause. Then the GX4000 pause button will work too. And so forth. I'm sure someone will link to that particular Wiki page after this post.

[TFM]

I'd love to see some new CPC+ games  too. Especially if they're on cartridge. :-) And I'd pay a lot for a new CPC+ game on cartridge.

Maybe you and drdrac should found a fond-raiser program for Plus games. So you can join forces and motivate people even more. In addition you can make a contest out of it - let's say... some money for the first three winners.
If time isn't too short, I may would participate for fun.

[mr_lou]

I wouldn't mind donating to the guys who's doing the cartridge hardware development stuff.

How's that coming along? Anyone knows? Is anyone even working on it?

[TFM]

You should ask in the appropriate thread. Like I know work is coming forward.

[andycadley]

To make the most of the Plus hardware, you really need to be running from a cartridge. And for cartridge game development to be feasible you need some kind of re-programmable cartridge that can easily be used by non-technical folks. Not just so that developers can use it, but also so that end users can play games as and when they choose without a big investment in lots of separate cartridges (especially given how hard find ACID chips could be).

When something like that is available, I really don't think you'll need to pay anyone to have a go at developing some games for it.

[mr_lou]

To make the most of the Plus hardware, you really need to be running from a cartridge. And for cartridge game development to be feasible you need some kind of re-programmable cartridge that can easily be used by non-technical folks. Not just so that developers can use it, but also so that end users can play games as and when they choose without a big investment in lots of separate cartridges (especially given how hard find ACID chips could be).

That would indeed be awesome. But not likely.

I propose a compromise.

Make a (4-way) cartridge with a removable EPROM. Then when you have this cartridge, you should be able to get the games shipped to you on an EPROM chip that you just put into your cartridge.

EDIT: Or maybe we should invent "a cartridge in a cartridge". 
Meaning we invent our own (quite small) cartridge, that should be inserted into another cartridge, which should be inserted into the CPC. 

[andycadley]

Maybe. Something like the HxC drive emulator, but for cartridges would be the ideal. So you could just put cart images on an SD card or similar and load from that. It probably wouldn't be as cheap as one built around EPROMs, but I'd certainly pay more for the convenience. You could even sidestep the entire ACID issue entirely for a device like that, by just using a pass-through connector with a genuine cartridge plugged into it....

[steve]

If anyone were to design a 512KB ram board they might also give it the ability to emulate a cartridge.

[mr_lou]

Maybe. Something like the HxC drive emulator, but for cartridges would be the ideal. So you could just put cart images on an SD card or similar and load from that. It probably wouldn't be as cheap as one built around EPROMs, but I'd certainly pay more for the convenience. You could even sidestep the entire ACID issue entirely for a device like that, by just using a pass-through connector with a genuine cartridge plugged into it....

I think that has been suggested already, and dismissed as not being possible. Or if possible, it would cost way too much for anyone to be willing to pay.

[gerald]

If anyone were to design a 512KB ram board they might also give it the ability to emulate a cartridge.

Something like this
Existing games => Cartridges

Or this 
Existing games => Cartridges

[steve]

Yes, when will it be ready .

[arnoldemu]

So what is the real problem here?

The hardware is not ready so nobody will make games?

If it needs somebody to make a first game to push the hardware then I will try to do that later this year after I have finished some other projects.

EDIT: Why haven't I made a plus cartridge game yet? I've been busy with other projects. But I still plan to make one.

[andycadley]

It's difficult to write a cartridge game when there isn't any "real" way of testing it. I could (and probably will) have a stab a writing a cart only game, but it's difficult to know whether or not it'll really work the same if and when someone gets it onto a real machine and diagnosing the problems that do occur is much more difficult when all you've got is a vague description of what happens from the one person who has access to all the kit necessary to test it.

Plus emulation has come on a long way since the days I was pestering every emulator author to add it, but it's still difficult to know to what extent it has been stress tested, given the dearth of Plus software that really pushes the machine.

[arnoldemu]

I agree with you on this, however, even writing a more simple game that doesn't push the hardware too much hasn't been done either.

There are no new plus games on cart at all.

[dragon]

I put this in the chat, maybe can be an option  to produce new acid chips....

JurASIC Parts | JVD Inc

[TFM]

I agree with you on this, however, even writing a more simple game that doesn't push the hardware too much hasn't been done either.

There are no new plus games on cart at all.

There is, but the guy who send me a copy told me to shut up about it. You know him probably better than I do.

The reason for the lack of physical Carts is only the lack of Cart Shells!

[dcdrac]

It does not have to be a cartridge does it though, make it a file a floppy emulator can use and programme it like the big software houses did in the early 90s, how did they get around the acid chip when putting disk games for the Plus range.