#123563 - sgeos - Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:44 am
I may want to hold a competion similar (but by no means identical) to the 2004Mbit Compo. Are there any pitfalls that need special attention? What is the status of the bootloader used in the 2004Mbit compo? Would anyone be interested in another competition/compo cart?
-Brendan
#123566 - tepples - Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:51 am
| sgeos wrote: |
| I may want to hold a competion similar (but by no means identical) to the 2004Mbit Compo. Are there any pitfalls that need special attention? |
Yeah, the one that Chester buried outside your house ;-)
| Quote: |
| What is the status of the bootloader used in the 2004Mbit compo? |
Don't know, but it involved making a linker script for each game that changed its starting address in ROM space.
| Quote: |
| Would anyone be interested in another competition/compo cart? |
Possibly. But now we have up to 16 Mbit per game on the 128 Mbit cards that KeithE is ordering in lots of 100.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#123605 - KeithE - Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:31 pm
Are you envisioning a GBA competition, a DS competition, or both?
#123610 - sgeos - Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:09 pm
I was envisioning a GBA competition, although I suppose both could be done.
-Brendan
#123611 - kusma - Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:11 pm
I'm not sure I even understood what the old compo was about... Would anyone care to explain?
#123613 - keldon - Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:16 pm
The other competition was about showcasing the community and what we were capable of; and producing a cartridge with the best of what was on for offer (to my understanding).
#123614 - tepples - Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:25 pm
And can we please insist on no higher than E10+ rated content this time? I had to take back a gift to my little cousin because Yuck-Fu used the F-word to describe its pick-up items.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#123624 - sgeos - Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:16 pm
There are actually a couple of motives behind this competition.
A) Evidently, there are a bunch of GBAccelerometers collecting dust. I thought it would be kind of cute to run a motion sensing competition.
B) I think it would be cute to create a small publisher that can bring homebrew games to market, even if that is just direct to market/etail/auctions and not retail. I think it would be fun to hold a dutch auction to sell the carts. Carts would have numbered labels. Naturally, each winning entrant would be sent a free cart (perhaps without an accelerometer, because they conceivably have one already).
| tepples wrote: |
| And can we please insist on no higher than E10+ rated content this time? I had to take back a gift to my little cousin because Yuck-Fu used the F-word to describe its pick-up items. |
This is a good idea. I wonder what it would take to get a genuine ESRB rating. More than likely a lot of trouble, but it is worth looking into.
-Brendan
#123643 - Ant6n - Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:27 pm
fuckit, that game is addidictive.
anyhoo; i was wondering whether its possible to emulate the accelerometer, so that people can brew with them .. without them. does any of the emulators do that?
#123645 - sgeos - Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:45 pm
How would you even emulate it? A mouse is only dual axis. The accelerometer is tri-axis. If you treat the accelerometer as a bunch of momentary switches, you get a D-pad.
-Brendan
#123650 - keldon - Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:15 pm
If the accelerometer is tri-axis then it would be more like a d-pad that you can twist as well as press!
#123653 - tepples - Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:12 pm
Last time I checked, the homebrew accelerometer was for GBA and GBA SP only. Unless the accelerometer is soldered into the cart (as is the case for Yoshi Topsy-Turvy and WarioWare Twisted), you exclude every Game Boy micro, Game Boy Player, DS, and DS Lite owner from being able to play games that rely on the accelerometer.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#123667 - sgeos - Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:00 am
| keldon wrote: |
| If the accelerometer is tri-axis then it would be more like a d-pad that you can twist as well as press! |
You could map the arrow keys, page up and page down to the accelerometer. The solution is horrible. My point is that there is not good way of emulating the GBAccelerometer short of polling an accelerometer that is attached to your computer. At least, I can not come up with a decent solution. Using the mouse and the scroll wheel seems broken, but perhaps it is better than the keyboard?
| tepples wrote: |
| Last time I checked, the homebrew accelerometer was for GBA and GBA SP only. |
Correct. In theory you might be able to connect a GBAccelerometer to the gameboy player, but using it is not practical; indeed, it is probably not a very good idea. Due to the orientation of the link port, some of the axes are not consistent between the GBA and GBA SP.
-Brendan
#123673 - Ant6n - Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:43 am
i like the idea of accelerometer, but it seems awfully complicated. do they work with supercard etc?
#123686 - sgeos - Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:39 am
| Ant6n wrote: |
| i like the idea of accelerometer, |
Using the library, polling the accelerometer is simple. Conceptually it works like this:
| Code: |
init_accelerometer(); // once
//...
get_x(); // every frame
get_y(); // every frame
get_z(); // every frame |
There are a few more details in real code, but I was amazed by how easy the GBAccelerometer is to use.
| Ant6n wrote: |
| but it seems awfully complicated. do they work with supercard etc? |
I don't own supercard. Probably?
-Brendan
#123700 - Ant6n - Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:33 pm
i mean it sounds complicated not as far as programming is concerned, but the actual hardware setup. Somebody wrote something about soldering.. but I misread it; I see now its some add on that goes into the link port, pretty simple i guess.
I like the idea of not letting go of gba in favor of DS.
#123714 - sgeos - Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:35 pm
There is no soldering involved. The GBAccelerometer is simple- you need the unit itself and a cart. (As tepples mentioned, either GBA or GBA SP unit is also needed.) The DS is a little more complicated- the motion card has to be swapped in after booting.
It seems like there is a little life left in GBA. Naturally, I think that this is worth a shot.
-Brendan
#123717 - KeithE - Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:51 pm
| sgeos wrote: |
| The DS is a little more complicated- the motion card has to be swapped in after booting. |
Only if you have not flashed your DS. If you have flashed your DS, there is no need for card swapping.
#123806 - Ant6n - Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:07 am
gba rocks much more balls than ds; gba gba!!
#123828 - ScottLininger - Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:30 pm
I would submit something, most likely.
-Scott
#123853 - Lynx - Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:07 pm
Well, I'll say good luck.. Maybe there is still a large demand for GBA homebrew, but making it specific might just kill your compo. At least, that's what happened to my NDSHB.com WiFi Gaming compo.. I spent over $500 on prizes and recieved 4 entries.
If you make it a GBAccelerometer only, you reduce your final cart sales to those that either own a GBAccelerometer, or people that are willing to spend $xx on the game cart, and then an additional $xx on the GBAccelerometer. And as Tepples has already pointed out, you explude all the Game Boy micro, Game Boy Player, DS, and DS Lite owners.
_________________
NDS Homebrew Roms & Reviews
#123861 - keldon - Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:30 pm
I think that limiting it to people who have a GBAccelerometer would narrow it down; as for people who have a classic GBA, I don't think that is as much of an issue as there are millions of those in circulation. For example in this house there are two DS machines and one GBA.
#123878 - kusma - Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:54 am
argh, hosting a gba-compo would give me a reason to actually produce something.... nnnnnngh...
#123881 - sgeos - Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:28 am
| Lynx wrote: |
| but making it specific might just kill your compo. |
Are the details still online?
| Lynx wrote: |
| I spent over $500 on prizes and recieved 4 entries. |
Were they quality entries?
| Lynx wrote: |
| If you make it a GBAccelerometer only, you reduce your final cart sales to those that either own a GBAccelerometer, or people that are willing to spend $xx on the game cart, and then an additional $xx on the GBAccelerometer. |
Assuming this is a go, the final product will be a cart + GBAccelerometer bundle. Winning entrants will be sent one free cart, but not an accelerometer; accelerometers are limited, but ordering a few extra carts is not a big deal. One presumes that the developers already own an accelerometer.
| Quote: |
| And as Tepples has already pointed out, you explude all the Game Boy micro, Game Boy Player, DS, and DS Lite owners. |
Noted. I don't know how big an impact this will have. I am sure that it will turn a few people off, but I don't think that it is worth cancelling the compo due to this alone. 250 units is only 250 units. I would be shocked if there was less demand than that. The GBS/SP only situation worries me in so far as developers may be turned off to the compo.
| keldon wrote: |
| I think that limiting it to people who have a GBAccelerometer would narrow it down; |
Entry is limited to people who have an accelerometer. The final product will be bundled with one.
| keldon wrote: |
| as for people who have a classic GBA, I don't think that is as much of an issue as there are millions of those in circulation. |
You can always buy a used GBA/SP. Ebay did not let me search for completed items, but I can't imagine that they are that expensive.
-Brendan
#123891 - Ant6n - Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:41 am
But if you do that, you probably should give it some time so that people get the change to get and get acquainted with that toy.
Maybe it'd be possible to get it in bulk somewhere.
#123906 - keldon - Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:05 am
It depends on your game; we all have the API, maybe you could just assume you know how it will play. Give it an alternative control using directional and shoulder buttons! Or are you scared ^_^
#123944 - Ant6n - Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:03 pm
Yes, I am scared ... not to get the accelerometer in time .. dpad emulation is no option when dpad is already used.