[tcaudilllg]

Wow... it seems like the main bottleneck when producing indie hardware is the fact that indie studios can't manage recalls the way publishers can. So where the publishers can produce in volume enough to ship at, oh 97% quality (with 1 out of 30 duds), for a project like this you need to have a very, very low rate of defects. On the other hand, it's not clear to me why the game must be tested in more than on PC Engine.

If you're up for it, I could make a special version of Gamestar that will build a game using your code as a base. You could design the game in Gamestar and Gamestar could output the game's code in terms of your library. Gamestar could of course make games of this type quite easily, although I guess you made decent tools for that purpose, eh?

[Nodtveidt]

The pressing house is unfamiliar with the hardware, so they assumed that everything is standardized and that an issue on the disc is going to be a big problem for us... but that simply isn't the case. If it runs on the hardware, that's all that matters. Of course, some people may want to play it on their PC as opposed to the console... to that end, I've ensured that the game runs in all known emulators without issue. But if that index issue is a problem, then a small number of CDROM units won't be able to read the disc. But honestly... I don't give a snap. :)

As for the Gamestar thing... I doubt it'd be worth your while. We're dealing with extremely limited resources here, and it'd end up being more trouble than its worth. Generic code has to be kept to an absolute minimum, and we quite often have to inject assembly language directly into the C source at strategic points, not only for speed but also for size. I write all of my own utility programs to assist development, and use existing programs for things I don't need to write new tools for. I appreciate the offer but I don't think it'd fly too well.
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[tcaudilllg]

Well if it's that hard, would you say this is a new beginning for TG-16 gaming, or its ultimate end? Would you want to keep going with these tools, or lay them down for greener pastures?

[Nodtveidt]

New beginning, really... right now, Frozen Utopia, Eponasoft, and Aetherbyte Studios are the only big names in TG16 homebrew right now, but new guys keep popping out of the woodwork due in part to a joint effort between Frozen Utopia and Aetherbyte Studios in creating obeybrew.com, a work-in-progress site all about developing for the hardware. Other names from the past have all but dropped out... Trilinear and MindRec, to name a couple (technically, MindRec is still in the game, but their lead coder has left for greener pastures, so pretty much anything MindRec-related for the TG16 now comes as a joint effort between MindRec and Eponasoft, such as "Xymati").

The toolchain we have right now was actually developed for the sole purpose of producing software on the console. The assembler, PCEAS, is designed to take advantage of the extra instructions and modes of the HuC6280 CPU (compared to its 65C02 ancestry) as well as the specific type of RAM banking that the machine uses. The C compiler, HuC, was also built specifically for the machine, although for a C compiler, it's not always the most optimal... that's why we quite often use inline assembly to get around its limitations.

I was considering moving on due to all the issues that we were having trying to get the game manufactured, and the stooges in customer service weren't being of much help. But now that it's been proven that we were alright all along, we've all redoubled our efforts and are moving forward on our projects. Frozen Utopia has Jungle Bros, Eponasoft has Monolith, Aetherbyte Studios has Atlantean, MindRec/Eponasoft has Xymati, Touku has a karate game... there are some other serious devs too, such as Orion and Cabbage... don't know if they're producing anything big yet or not but both of them have already had small releases (Orion released a car racing game and Cabbage released a Nyan-Cat demo).
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[tcaudilllg]

Well it seems like you're having fun with it. At least the games will look/sound pretty when they are finished (unlike the NES). I've heard that there are several projects underway to port NES games to TG16, although I'm not sure what their status is. I have some familiarity with the 6502 (I wrote a decompiler/disassembler for it), and I must say I don't share the fascination. I've seen dumps of Megaman games that are pedantic in their specifity, devoting 50 lines to a single frame change for a single character. I suppose they had to do that to account for the limited RAM they had, and I guess you faced similar struggles... gotta love paged memory!

[Nodtveidt]

The one who has the most interest in doing NES conversions is Tomatheous... he's a pretty hardcore hacker but doesn't tend to do actual development from scratch very well. He did a serious conversion of the original Mega Man and put it on CD with redbook audio and everything... pretty damn impressive, really. He was involved in a conversion of Dragon Warrior earlier but that fell apart. I've seen a few other conversions, but the best one was probably Super Mario Bros... I don't know who did it though.
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Nodtveidt]

Manufacturing of the game is complete, we're now just waiting for it to be shipped out. We expect to make the official statement of release early next week, probably Monday.
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Nodtveidt]

The game is now shipping. :)


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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Jinroh]

Looks so epic. Would totally get it if I could play it. xD
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Mao Mao Games
The wolf and his mate howl, taking solace in the silver moon. Pressing ever foreward to see what the future holds.

[Nodtveidt]

We've tested it in all the major emulators for the PC and it performs flawlessly in every single one. :) It even runs perfectly in Magic Engine, which is notorious for being inaccurate (although it's by far the most user-friendly).
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Jinroh]

Awesome, though I have an aversion to playing emulated games. If I can get ahold of a TurboCD I'll totally pick it up. I need a TG16 for my copy of Splatterhouse anyway though hehe.
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Mao Mao Games
The wolf and his mate howl, taking solace in the silver moon. Pressing ever foreward to see what the future holds.

[Nodtveidt]

The good folks on pcenginefx.com's user forum could hook you up for cheap. :) In particular, BlueBMW. ebay chumps will charge ya out the nose. :(
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Jinroh]

[Kyper]

All I can say is WOW. Looks awesome. If only I have the hardware to play it.

Well done with the remake it looks very impressive.

[Nodtveidt]

The Brothers Duomazov have posted a review of the game.

http://www.thebrothersduomazov.com/2012/10/mysterious-song.html
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace