@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

bbbbbr

@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place

Scrapper. Napper. Occasional bit pusher

Some #GameBoy / #MegaDuck #GBDK #Homebrew games: https://bbbbbr.itch.io

Cartridge releases:

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Made a replacement Gamepad ("Mouse") for a Super Quique laptop using a gutted aftermarket SNES pad.

Added the wiring diagram and other details on how to make one to the MegaDuck info page.

The multiplexing seems similar to what I understand the DMG/MGB use. (Not a surprise since it's a clone)

https://github.com/bbbbbr/megaduck-info/blob/main/docs/Quique_gamepad.md

diagram showing how the OEM MegaDuck Quique laptop gamepad button multiplexing is wired and the connector pinout.

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Enjoying some low key Fydo's Magic Tiles with it. Works great.

qlp, to VideoGames
@qlp@linh.social avatar

Even though I have a pair of Game Boy Color handhelds (one original and one with an IPS screen mod), a DMG Game Boy with an IPS screen mod, and an Analogue Pocket, I wanted to see what all the hubbub is with the new Funny Playing FPGA Game Boy Color. So, I picked up a kit and assembled it tonight.

Getting the battery and screen plugged in with my stubby fingers was not fun. But, I got it all put together in a translucent purple shell with clear buttons and purple membrane pads.

Updating the firmware was easy as plugging it onto my laptop, powering it up and copying over the update.bin file.

I have only tried it with my copy of Tetris and Road Rash so far. Not sure if I'll stick with the full screen or go back to the 4X with pixel line mode. Also need to test it with my EverDrive X7 flash cart.

#VideoGames #GameBoy #GameBoyColor #FPGBC #Nintendo

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@qlp Cool! I did a comparative speed test a while ago too, though just at what seemed the closest speed.

Hope they can eventually dial in the speed so it's at or much closer to the same as OEM.

Happy to share the (very basic) test ROM if it'd be useful.

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@bbbbbr/111978579809048479

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@qlp Here's the ROM.

Notes:

  • It requires pushing the buttons (any) to start at the devices at the same time.

  • The counter wraps around at about 18 minutes. (should probably make one with more bits to fix that)

  • The displayed time is in GB Frames, so it's not actual minutes and seconds on an OEM GB due to the GB's 59.7... frame rate.

https://github.com/bbbbbr/gb_speed_simple_timer

bbbbbr, to random
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Been doing tooling work to support Toxa's upgrade of ZGB to a cross-platform engine that adds MegaDuck, SMS and Game Gear support (to the existing GB/GBC capability).

It's mostly Makefile, build automation and converting utilities from python. Not particularly exciting or glamorous, but can be satisfying when the output of a converted utility matches the reference output without too much struggle. :)

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@Jeltron No idea.

I think a dream of toxa's for GBStudio to support more consoles than GB/GBC. The GBStudio UI support would prob be hard though, and it's unclear if the UI folks would have the time/energy/interest for that kind of thing.

Same applies for Michel's dream of NES GBStudio that he's been gradually working toward for 2 years now.

In the mean time ZGB is a sort of middle ground. A smaller engine that requires more programming but now decently builds for SMS/GG. (not yet released)

183231bcb, to retrocomputing

I've a question about modern "homebrew" games made for old consoles:

Why is the original Gameboy such a popular target? Itch lists a whopping 6406 games tagged as targeting Gameboy. The second-most popular old console is the NES, with only 1848 games on Itch: less than a third as many as the Gameboy. The Gameboy Advance sits at only 450 games on Itch.

Why? What makes the Gameboy so much better of a platform for indie devs compared to the NES or later consoles? #Retrocomputing #RetroGaming #NES #NintendoEntertainmentSystem #Gameboy #GB #GameboyAdvance #GBA #SuperNES #SNES #SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem #Itch

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@183231bcb Also note:

The itch tag "Game Boy" includes games for other platforms styled like Game Boy games. (For example, the current #1 item for that tag by popularity will not run on a game boy)

While the tag "Game Boy ROM" should only have games that can actually run on a Game Boy.

Same for "NES" vs "NES-ROM"

Qualifier: not all people likely know to use the ROM version of tags for when applicable.

I made a failed itch proposal to have a "console" filter some years ago. Still want it :)

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Did an very basic clock speed test between a couple oem Game Boy devices and clones.

AP and Duck come out well, at least over a 17 minute time period.

FPGBC is still a bit fast with the latest board and FW rev (1.06)

Stock GBBCs a little slow, but less off than FPGBC.

GBBoy SNES Converter & #GBBoy : 63300 -> -0.66%

#FPGBC: 64260 -> +0.84%

#AnaloguePocket: 63720
#MegaDuck: 63720
#GameBoy Pocket MGB:63720
#GameBoyColor GBC: 63720

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@aeva It's this combo of a portable SNES clone and it's special Game Boy clone adapter. Runs actual GB carts:

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@bbbbbr/111938394945066297

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@andwhyisit 😅 Haha, only so many fingers to simultaneously push buttons. :)

Also don't own a non-clone SNES, so unsure how that would affect timing... and the clock rate for SGB1 is probably well documented.

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Just two mutants of the Game Boy cpu world chilling Breakout Lava Lamp style

(running from flash carts)

root42, to Nintendo
@root42@chaos.social avatar

I think Wario Land 2 uses more than four shades of gray. The DMG only supported four grayscales, but I think I can count more in this shot. Probably they use some temporal dithering, e.g. mixing two different shades in alternating frames to get a third shade. Does anyone have additional information?

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@hbons @root42 There's usually a "frame blending/mixing" option in emulators which can be turned off to make the flickering more pronounced.

For a GB homebrew example, I used temporal blending to make the darker outer ring in the GB torch effect demo. There are probably up to 7 shades depending on where on the background the character is.

video of a character walking in a dungeon with a ring of light surrounding just the character

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Someone (sono) suggested trying a large number of balls with the Game Boy Breakout Lava-Lamp to better approximate actual lamp glob behavior.

So here are 40 balls (still 4 color groups) sped up ~3x to show it faster: the balls group into packs with "territory" pretty quickly. It's cool to see sort of emergent cooperative behavior.

(The 40 balls version build isn't on the itch page, it was a quick hack)
https://bbbbbr.itch.io/breakout-lava-lamp

Video of breakout lava lamp running in a game boy emulator with 40 balls bouncing on the screen. They begin grouping into packs with territory.

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

New minor release of : 1.4.8

A command line and web app for identifying tools used to build ROMs (such as , , , , etc)

  • Detect the new GBStudio 3.2.0 release
  • Detect zumi's toolchain/tooling for the

Console app: https://github.com/bbbbbr/gbtoolsid/releases/tag/v1.4.8
Web app: https://bbbbbr.github.io/gbtoolsid_web/

kroc, to random
@kroc@mstdn.social avatar

Since I've got a new laptop I've decided to set up my previous machine with Linux and I'm trying out some distros, or, "The agony of UX blindness in the Linux world"

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@kroc Gotta bring back system menu / taskbar auto-hide 😛

bbbbbr, to wordle
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

GB-Wordyl for the Laptop models!

Possibly the first homebrew release to ever use the physical keyboard on this console. The MegaDuck is a slightly altered Game Boy clone, and there is even this weird and delightful laptop version.

With some reverse engineering it's now possible to use some of it's special features.

ROM:
https://bbbbbr.itch.io/gb-wordyl

Thanks to Eucal.BB for help with laptop model testing!

Open source, of course :)
https://github.com/bbbbbr/gb-wordle

Video showing the Mega Duck laptop model booting up, running GB Wordyl, and then a person typing on the kyboard for letter entry instead of having to use the D-Pad

SirTapTap, to gameboy
@SirTapTap@mastodon.social avatar

last day to preorder , a new color game that looks very legit.

Feels...right, to be buying a new Gameboy game in 2023. More of this.

https://incube8games.com/collections/vendors?q=Spacebot%20Interactive&mc_cid=d02c5c380c

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@SirTapTap
I do want people to support devs releasing games with , and they have done some good in the community.

But keep in mind their game licenses are garbage.

They claim for Digital and Physical games they can:

  • Cancel the license any time & force you to "destroy" ROM (refund unclear)

  • Change the license any time & way, expect you to check their website (forever?) for changes

  • You are not allowed to open ROM in debugger or use cheat codes

Details:
https://nitter.net/0xbbbbbr/status/1697775777734127661#m

You and Incube8 Games (or its licensors) may terminate this EULA, at any time, for any reason. Termination by Incube8 Games will be effective upon (a) notice to you or (b) at the time of Incube8 Games’s decision to permanently discontinue offering and/or supporting the Game, which it may do at any time in its sole discretion. ... Upon termination for any reason, you must immediately uninstall the Game and destroy all copies of the Game in your possession. Incube8 Games reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to revise, update, change, modify, add to, supplement, or delete certain terms of this EULA for security, legal, best practice or regulatory reasons. Such changes will be effective with or, as applicable, without prior notice to you. You can review the most current version of this EULA by visiting the webpage “EULA” available on Incube8 Games’s website. You are responsible for checking this EULA periodically for changes.
1.2 LIMITATIONS You shall not, directly or indirectly (i)... ... (ii) reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, ... iii) create, use and/or distribute “auto”, “trainer”, “script” or “macro” computer programs or other “cheat” or “hack” programs or software applications for this Game;"

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

New minor release of #gbtoolsid: 1.4.7

Console build: (Linux, Windows, Mac): https://github.com/bbbbbr/gbtoolsid/releases/tag/v1.4.7

Web app: https://bbbbbr.github.io/gbtoolsid_web/

An app for identifying tools used to build #GameBoy ROMs (such as #GBDK, #GBStudio, #zgb, #hugedriver, etc)

#gbdev
#retrogaming

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

And if you're wondering about writing programs in and on the , here are some links:

https://gbforth.org/
https://github.com/ams-hackers/gbforth

https://tonywang.itch.io/gbbasic-alpha
https://paladin-t.github.io/kits/gbb/
https://github.com/gbbasic/prototype

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@hbons I posted right before sleep, glad you got it sorted out. 😄 Congrats!

In case it's a useful reference, canyon racer uses some compression + 1bpp encoding to stay under 32K, so might be useful things in their build process and source.

you may have already found png2asset bin output is ideal since it already splits the data to separate files. In theory gbcompress --cin can be used but it's not a good fit when there are multiple arrays in the c source file.

https://github.com/bbbbbr/canyon-racer/blob/14266f8fcb5366314976be6580e2d45bde0832e9/Makefile#L285

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@hbons And agreed, adding compression to png2asset has been on my list for a while.

I made an attempt at it once before, but bailed on it. The source for that utility was not in good shape after a lot of not well managed feature creep.

Larold did a rewrite of it recently so I might make another attempt now that it's been tamed a bit.

bbbbbr, to retrogaming
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

"Trenchant Display... It Has Four Degree Gloom"

Truth in advertising for once, these clones have truly sorry displays 😄

From a Maxstation Game Boy clone box (pix ripped from ebay). Edit: the manufacturer seems to have used the Harvest Moon UPC code on their box 😂

Picture of back of maxstation box with color models and marketing text in various languages
Photo of maxstation game boy clone console, manual and box

bbbbbr, to gameboy
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Been reverse engineering (keyboard, rtc, etc) the laptop.

It's like except it actually shipped. It has same GB compatible cpu (sm83) and with slightly altered registers as the Megaduck Handheld.

Anyhow, turns out the System ROM has a Y2K12 bug. The, max year supported is 2011.😄

(device photo credit ashens on youtube iirc)

Picture of megaduck laptop with keyboard, fake mouse, printer and tiny screen

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@llamasoft_ox It's so weird and delightful.

Usability will be better when I either IPS mod the screen (MegaDucks are generally compatible with regular GB and GB Pocket screens) or get together an hdmi out adapter to an external monitor

kroc, to random
@kroc@mstdn.social avatar

The argument over physical vs. digital games is not really about physical; that's a bonus; it's about having the offline installer. If digital games were sold as installers you can keep forever, nobody would be having this argument. It's because your ownership of a game is tied to an account and a front-end that can go away at any time -- that's the problem. My laptop doesn't have a CD drive, so my physical games are no use, but I still have the installers for them

bbbbbr,
@bbbbbr@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@kroc Nice way to frame it. I'd never thought of cartridges as installers but they sort of are too.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • osvaldo12
  • love
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • kavyap
  • mdbf
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • provamag3
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • normalnudes
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • tester
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •