Ghost Trick, un nuevo juego para #AmstradCPC+
Adaptación del juego para Neo Geo Pocket The Match of the Millennium Game
Está disponible en https://gamejolt.com/games/Ghost_Trick/838367 ¡Disfrútalo! 🚀👍 😋 🕹️ #retrogaming #videojuegos #videogames #videoaventura #8bits #amstrad #amstradcpc #indiedev

Ninja Scooter Simulator, un jeu sorti sur quelques micros de l'époque, dont sur CPC et ZX Spectrum. Ce qui est curieux c'est que, ingame, on joue un type "normal", et non un ninja.

#CPC #Amstrad #AmstradCPC #ZxSpectrum

Say hello to the CPC Modular. This is an #Amstrad #CPC built using a slightly modified #RC2014 backplane. Not exactly an RC2014 due to Amstrad IO quirks.

Current status: video is outputting at correct frequencies but SCART converter isn’t detecting a proper signal. But that means CPU and ROM are working and configuring the 6845.

The design uses SRAM and modifies a few signals in order to do that. Im suspecting an issue in those circuits.

[via https://www.reddit.com/r/Amstrad/comments/15yssj0/the_famous_tiger_picture_from_gem_paint_on_my/]

#msdos #amstrad #cga #pixelart #retrocomputing

@dgc Cool memories. The ‘80s machines are fun and reliable. #RetroComputing here on Fedi is kind of incredible. I didn’t have regular access to a #Z80 machine, just a few hours with a quirky Osborne or KayPro here or there. Contemporaries had TRS-80s as home computers, and I’ve heard the Timex ZX Spectrum was popular along with #Amstrad. Ken Sherriff @kenshirriff has this detailed look back at the Datapoint, and the connections with modern ISAs, you’d probably enjoy. h/t https://mastodon.social/@mikeolson/110878591614203078

Benediction Coding Party #3: 27th - 30th October 2023, France 🇫🇷 https://www.demoparty.net/benediction-coding-party/benediction-coding-party-3?mtm_campaign=event_new&mtm_source=mastodon #amstrad #demoscene #demoparty

Just reading through this license doc about the #ZXSpectrum ROMs.

If you've never read it before, it's a conversation between Cliff Lawson of #Amstrad and Andrew Owen, where Cliff states Amstrad's position on what was formerly #Sinclair's intellectual property regarding the #Speccy.

I'd love to see something similar with #Psion. Officially allowed to distribute documentation, OS ROMs, code (decompiled or otherwise), etc.

#digipres #retrocomputing #16bit #32bit #90s

https://github.com/z00m128/zxs-rom/blob/master/LICENSE.md

Dropped son and the grandkid at his kickball team game this morning. I believe the natives refer to it as foot the ball. Though i may have misheard.

Anyways, while i wait for them i just got this wee machine code for beginners on the #amstrad book in the post this morning. So ill be reading this and playing with z80 in my nice warm car while they run about in the rain.

#!/bin/bash
#daily #amstrad #amstradcpc #basic #fun
{ nl -w1|unix2dos; }>c.bas<<EOF
mode 0:border 0:l=5
goto 10
a=0:r=0.22
for j=0 to 400
drawr sin(a)*l,cos(a)*l,p
a=a+r
r=r/1.0035
next
return
for p=0 to 15:ink p,p:next
while(1)
move rnd*639,rnd*399
p=rnd*14+1
gosub 3
wend
EOF
iDSK c.dsk -n -i c.bas -t 0
mame cpc664 -flop1 c.dsk -skip_gameinfo -ab '\n\nrun "c\n' -frameskip 10 -str 600\
&&pngtopnm ~/.mame/*/cpc664/f*.png|pnmscale -yscale 2|pnmtopng>c.png

With that, I'll probably do a bit of cleanup, try to fix a thing or two, and move on to a new adventure!

My goal was never to make the bestest and most accurate emulator. Just to learn and have fun. My "good enough" threshold is very flexible.

What next?
Well I should write a blog entry about the CPC (lol, right!)

I think I need a change of CPU...
Probably the Motorola 6809 (Coco, Vectrex, Thomson, FM-7 anyone?)

One day the 68000 maybe...

3/3

#hotkeyEmu #amstrad #cpc464

The CPU can only see 64K. The way they implemented extended memory is to have ram modes where you replace pages of the base 64K with pages from extended RAM banks.

First you select a bank (0..7, allowing 512K extended memory + 64K base).
Then you select a RAM Mode (0..7):

Mode 0 is "normal"
Mode 1 maps page 3 of extended RAM
Mode 2 is "all-extended"
Mode 3 is funky (see handy chart)
Modes 4-7 map a single page from ext RAM to page 1

2/3

#hotkeyEmu #amstrad #cpc464

With sound done (ok I have weird white noise in Gryzor but don't tell anyone), what remains is handling the other CPC models (not the Plus, they're weird).

The CPC664 is almost identical to the 464 but with floppy integrated. The CPC6128 has... 128KB of RAM. Slightly different ROMs.

I had to implement the banking like they did. This required adding a way to swap in or out partial memory blocks ("banks" are 64K, but are swapped in or out in 16K "pages")

1/3

#hotkeyEmu #amstrad #cpc464

Aha. Came home earlier and this was sitting waiting on me.
Its an #amstrad #cpc464 machine code book. I have a pile of pdf books but theres just something right about coding with an old paperback book to hand.
Wasnt till i typed the caption for the image i realised it was quite bizarre. At first glance i thought it was a robot holding a cpc. As its machine code.
But no, its an outboard motor pushing the cpc across the sea... Which now i think about it, is not that unusual for an 80s book cover.

And sound... done!

The CPC use an AY-3-8912 sound chip, which is your run-of-the-mill square wave generator of the era (designed in 1978). It was used in arcade games, and also in the ZX Spectrum and MSX computers. Oh and the Vectrex.

Three square wave voices, one noise generator, one envelope generator (shared).

The noise and envelope channels are probably inaccurate but meh.

Look at that loading screen, now this is art! Oh and there's sound too :meow_headphones:

#hotkeyEmu #amstrad

Meanwhile, works continue on the 8-bit ports as well. The UI was redesigned (and still is in flux) Lots of optimizations, but still some numeric precision issues.

The IBM PC 5150 (8088 4.7Mhz + CGA) was also juggled into this version (I'm cooking an EGA version for faster 8088s and 286s, using the geometry for the 32-bit engine).

#z88dk #msx #amstrad #retrodev #gamedev #RPG #3d #sega #mastersystem #msdos

(pictured, the SEGA Master System version)

Anyone remember the Graphic Adventure Creator?

Originally made for the #Amstrad #CPC, my experience of it was from a #YourSinclair covertape.

Anyway, it's been on my list to attempt porting it to #Psion #EPOC16 for ages. It's not top priority, but the machine is perfectly designed for playing #textadventure games (see @root42's escapades with #Infocom).

Be great if it could decompile and play old games, too.

#retrocomputing #Psion3 #adventure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_Adventure_Creator
https://gac.interface1.net/

@Fenrir

It's not "perhaps" true. It's true.

Counting only > 1 million units sold, in that era:

#Commodore C-64, 17 million units sold, price $595
#Amstrad PCW / Schneider Joyce series, 8 million, $799
#MSX series, 5 million, $?
#Sinclair ZX #Spectrum, 5 million, $270
#Apple II, 5 million, $1295
Commodore C128, 4 million, $300
#Armstrad / #Schneider CPC series, 3 million, $515-$699
Commodore VIC-20, 2.5 million, $300
Sinclair ZX81, 1 million, $170

(1/2)

@simplex

Found this old beauty at my parents house. I remember using it to write reports for school when I was very young. #retrocomputing #amstrad #amstradcpc

AY-3-891x (sound chip) datasheet: "There are 16 registers"

*looks at table* OK, so R0 to R15 I guess.

*sees register R16 and R17*
*blinks*
*sees there are no R8-R9*
*blinks*

soo...
Address -> Register name
00 -> R0
01 -> R1
02 -> R2
03 -> R3
04 -> R4
05 -> R5
06 -> R6
07 -> R7 (I see a pattern)
08 -> R10 (wat?)
09 -> R11
10 -> R12
11 -> R13
12 -> R14
13 -> R15
14 -> R16
15 -> R17

General Instrument, what the hell?

I mean, no big deal, but that's just confusing?

#hotkeyEmu #amstrad #cpc464

my conclusion to Colditz, the first original French adventure game

https://bluerenga.blog/2023/07/26/mission-secrete-a-colditz-le-code-secret-de-la-luftwafe/

#adventuregame #retrogaming #french #amstrad