Omnimaga
Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: DJ Omnimaga on February 08, 2012, 04:08:25 pm
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There have been some quite interesting releases lately, although I didn't have time to report on them until now:
-First of all, recently a new version of Ndless 3.1 was released, adding file association support. For example, like on a computer, now if you select a BMP image, it will automatically open in the appropriate software. In the TI-Nspire case, this means mViewer. So now if you play an nDoom WAD file, simply selecting the .wad.tns file from the TI-Nspire document list will automatically launch nDoom and the game you selected!
It can be downloaded here (http://tiplanet.org/forum/archives_voir.php?id=3891)!
-Secondly, a former TI-68K programmer has recently released the source and executable of what he had from a Metroid clone he was working on over 10 years ago.
(http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12554.0;attach=11692;image)
There is already a finished Metroid (http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/421/42175.html) for the 68K series on ticalc.org by Lachprog, but for those who want a game that is closer to Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion rather than Metroid II: Return of Samus, you might want to give Ben Ingrams' demo (http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/445/44520.html) a try. Hopefully what was released can be useful for an eventual completion of the project by someone else.
-Finally, there have been a few attempts at an online TI emulator in the past, but unfortunately they were rarely reliable or legal. KermMartian has decided to give such project a try now and his attempt so far, jsTIfied (http://www.cemetech.net/projects/jstified/jstified.php), looks very promising. It supports motion blur, meaning grayscale, can accept some applications and to remain legal, you have to provide the ROM yourself to get it to work (currently, 84+ ROMs are not working). The ROM file never makes it to Cemetech server and everything else is done client-side as well, meaning no bandwidth and legal concerns! On top of that, it appears to save your ROM settings over browser sessions. Although it is not finished yet, you can give it a try here (http://www.cemetech.net/projects/jstified/jstified.php)! Bug and suggestions can be posted here (http://www.cemetech.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7397). You will also find more information in that thread.
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Cool stuff indeed. That Metroid game that was in progress looks very nice too! It looks like the programmer put a decent amount of time and effort into it. :)
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Very nice stuff indeed :)
I like that 68k is getting a bit more active :D
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I saw that Metroid game on Ticalc.org although I didn't try it since I'm not such a metroid fan.
And I just tried JsTIFied... Wow, it's really sweet. Marvelous.
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By the way the Metroid game runs slightly slower on TiEmu than in the screenshot, but the framerate was higher (something around 20 FPS). I am curious if a faster speed would be possible? Maybe if someone rewrote the game or something, with today's more documented 68K stuff.
Else, I guess a TI-Nspire game would be nice, although then you might as well use the original sprites and tiles, so you have the color.
Also as said in the other topic, the emu is pretty nice. I hope Kerm can finish it since it might be quite useful for quick testing.
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It's amazing what you can do if you put effort into something. The Metroid game is amazing!
And Kerm, thanks for your work in the online emulator! We will find it most helpful!
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Yeah that Metroid looks pretty nice.
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The file extension thing does not work on my nspire!
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Well what's wrong with it? Did you send Ndless.cfg.tns along with ndless_resources.tns? What kind of file are you trying to open?
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I am the author of Metroid 89. I'm glad you guys found it and are having fun with it. A few more things to try...
* You can wall jump and infinite bomb jump.
* You can run by double tapping left/right. If you have the speed booster upgrade, you will eventually reach super speed where you can break blocks and destroy enemies. You can also shinespark.
* There is one boss in the included levels: The Chozo statue from Super Metroid. Kraid and Ridley are both programmed in the engine, but they are sadly not yet placed in the world.
* The areas you can reach are: Cave, Wrecked ship, Surface, Temple, and Norfair. The world is quite large...I'd estimate it rivals Super Metroid in size. Many area are sparse or incomplete however.
* There are many secrets to find by using bombs/missiles/speed booster/etc.
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Welcome ingramb! I haven't tried the game(yet) but based on the screenshot it looks very nice. :)
It's good to see another ti-89 programmer out there, since there aren't too many. I hope you'll stay here a while. :)
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Heya nice to see you around and good job on this game so far. Too bad it isn't finished but I guess life happens.
I wonder... is it possible to start the game with 99 energy and no power ups? I noticed when starting a new game we start with every item. ???
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Sadly I'm not much of a calculator programmer anymore. I still check in on things once in a while, but the 68k scene seems kind of dead.
You are *supposed* to start with just 99 energy, and then pressing the shift key gives you all the powerups. I guess I could have had all the powerups enabled at the start in the build I released...I will take a look. I haven't even compiled any 68k code in years, so I don't have any of the dev tools set up. But it should be just a matter of removing a few lines to disable the cheating :-) Not all of the powerups are placed in the world yet, but there are a decent number that can be found.
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Hi Ben, it's been a while ;)
I remember your other nickname, and I mentioned this week when mentioning GB68k... but maybe you prefer that people use "ingramb", or just your real name ? :)
Nowadays, active TI-68k programmers tend to gather on Omnimaga, rather than the TICT/TIGCC message board or the TI-68k section of yAronet, and most of them use GCC4TI, feature superset and bug subset of the unmaintained TIGCC.
But yes, the TI-68k scene largely died in 2005-2006 and never picked back up, unlike the TI-Z80 scene which recovered from a low activity period, thanks to projects such as Axe and DoorsCS, and the Omnimaga and Cemetech message boards, where disrespect towards other people's opinions and projects is strongly frowned upon.
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Actually the z80/TI-Nspire scene seems to be both dying down again since the last few months. :( Go see Omnimaga and Cemetech post stats, for example. A while ago Omni averaged around 400 posts a day, but now it gets above 200 fewer and fewer (basically under 2010 levels). There are still a lot of programs being worked on and released, though. I hope it doesn't become as inactive as in 2008 again at least.
And yeah the 68K scene has never recovered it seems. At least the z80 scene had at least an extra run. I myself don't really code anymore either, actually.
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Hey Lionel, nice to hear from you. I've used ingramb for anything I've released, but any name is fine.
You can also turn different powerups on/off in game, by pressing [Apps], and then [2nd]. Notably, you can combine the different beam weapons like in Super Metroid, but you can also disable powerups for more challenge, or whatever.