Game Developers Refuge

Sirocco wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 3:53 pm I'm wondering how the diamond button layout would work out. While this maps to the gamepad nicely, most arcade games around here use a staggered layout. I'm trying to remember if I've played any with that layout (I probably have lol).

I know it may look a bit weird. The thing is (I mention this in the specs too) it is legit for games to assume that button layout is always the standard. For instance, an idea I had is to make a run and gun game where diamond buttons used to control what direction you shoot (as if they were a secondary d-pad). So if you change the layout some games might end up nigh unplayable.

Even though I have been pushing updates to GitHub, it has been 6 months since I last made releases to download. So, I have uploaded the new versions:

Vircon32 emulator v23.1.16

Vircon32 dev tools v23.1.16

The emulator is now virtually "final". It includes fixes for all known bugs, and adds support for Raspberry Pi 4. It also supports the final, increased CPU speed. This was the final update to the console design, unless some severe design problem is found. But with the current amount of software for the console, that possibility should be unlikely.

The development tools will keep being updated, but they include important updates since the last release. Aside from bug fixes, the language supports partial declarations in functions, structures and unions that were not present in previous version.

I wanted to begin showing some more advanced stuff, like pseudo 3D effects or mode 7. I've been preparing this OutRun-style demo:





For the moment this is just going to be a technical demo, in fact there is no real driving here (road curvature of the road is controlled by the player, and the car is always at the center). But someday it could become something playable if I have time between so many projects. Or it can also serve to others who want to make a racing game. I want to upload soon a video to YouTube explaining how I made this demo.

Oh yes, very nice. I always wanted to make something like that!

I want to upload soon a video to YouTube explaining how I made this demo.

I'd be interested in that, for sure.

This is seriously cool stuff Carra.

Any updates on this? The Out-run style demo was looking mighty fine.

Sirocco wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:46 pm Any updates on this? The Out-run style demo was looking mighty fine.

Hi, sorry. I didn't come over here in a while.
I didn't do that explanation video on the racer demo, but there are news on other fronts.

I released a Tetris game. I had to hide the video and change the game's name, since The Tetris Company seems to be taking down a lot of projects, even if they are not monetized. But for now you can still get the game.



I also got started with a slot machine game, you can see the main design here:



For this game, since it can get old quickly, I am planning to add a shop where you can buy things for your home, and let you spend the money you earn and have additional objectives. That will give more life to the game.

These days I've been slacking a lot, but I've also been making some progress for the future physical prototype of the console. In this video I tell you about it. As in previous videos: my comments are in Spanish but there are English captions available.

One game that I would like to have is your typical Mahjong pair matching game. I found a free licensed tileset on itch.io that I liked, and I adapted it to the console resolution. I had to do a lot of editing by hand but I think it looks pretty good.



Now I already have all the code to deal with the different layouts. It's not playable yet but it's getting close: I've already added a cursor control, as if it had a mouse (but of course it's controlled with the d-pad). This will make it easy to choose tiles visually. You can see it here:

These days I've been slacking a lot

LOL we're rubbing off on you!

That's pretty nice looking as it is. Any thoughts on adding mouse support, ala the SNES mouse?