Misc. news updates

Hi all,

Here are the latest news updates.

- For starters, i fixed a bunch of pages on the www.revival-studios.com website. The pages for Oldskool demo, Vchip emulator, Radium techdemo and a Vectrex WIP page are now up and running.
- Also the pages for free downloads and available cartridges have been fixed.
- I've started work on a multiplatform simulator for the MB Microvision handheld.
- I was able to get myself a 'SuperCharger' for the Atari 2600, so i should be able to test my 2600
stuff on the real thing now.

With a bit of luck, i should be able to bring you more news on my upcoming vectrex stuff soon!

Retro computerdag 2007

Hi All,

Just letting you know i will be visiting the retrocomputerdag 2007 , held on sunday, october 7th 2007 in Schiedam / The Netherlands. If you live in the netherlands, this is definitely worth a visit.

There are a large number of stands with retro computer hardware, and also systems to play on.

I will be demonstrating the following Vectrex games at the event:

FIRST PUBLIC VIEWING OF:
- Vectrex OS - wip.
- V:CHIP , the chip8 emulator for vectrex.
- Vblox - A sokoban like game for the Vectrex.
- Maybe a surprise WIP product.

PUBLIC VIEWING OF:
- 3D Scape cart (3 demos, including Performance VX)
- Radium, 3D texturemapped raycasting demo
- Colorclash
- Stip! - Playable demo

Hope to see you all there. For more information about the event, visit: www.retrocomputerdag.nl

Vectrex: V-CHIP emulator finished

Hi All,

Just letting you know i've finished the V-CHIP emulator today.
V-Chip is a CHIP8 emulator for the Vectrex console.

The emulator runs quite nicely on the vectrex and comes with a bunch of
prepacked games and demos (which are selectable from a menu).

Movies and photos will be posted in the Vectrex section of this page.

Enjoy!

Pixelblocks arrived

Hi All,

Just letting you know that my box of PixelBlocks arrived today, so i might be adding a pixelblocks section to this website soon. Pixelblocks is a kit of small cubeshaped blocks that will allow you to create physical 2d or 3d pixelart (see: www.pixelblocks.com ).

So far i've recreated a Donkey Kong scene (kong, some ladders, the girl and a hammer-whacking mario) as well as a greyscale mario. Hopefully these creations will be up on this site soon.

DML 1.3 finished

Finally, after a good 10 months of development, the latest version of the DML library is finished.
It has tons of new features and extensions, here's a small list:

- All utility libraries merged into libcore.a (coremem/coredebug/corefile)
- Corefile library can mount directories and save files (WIN32)
- Corefile library has virtual harddrive commands (chdir, readdir)
- Blitters moved from DML to Coreblit (for better customisation/optimisation)
- Optimised blitter/memoryfunctions in X86 and ARM assembler
- New blitters: MIX25% / MIX75% / Darken / Lighten
- Full screen anti-aliasing
- Video rescaling options
- Soundstreaming

- New sprite functions: DML_CreateSprite, DML_ClearSprite, DML_DrawZoomedSprite, DML_GetBitmapFromSprite
- New primitive: DML_DrawBezier
- BMP Loader updated (fixed pitch handling)
- TGA Loader updated (interleaving, RLE decompression)
- SaveBitmap function works (WIN32), saves TGA
- Soundsystem updated (setvolume,setpanning,setfrequency,setmastervolume)
- WAV Audio Streaming
- DML extensions system
- Various minor bugfixes and cleanups

DML extensions included:
- JPEG Image loader
- MP3 Audio streaming
- Resource browser
- OpenGL bindings (WIN32)

This is only the tip of the iceberg... really a lot has happened since DML 1.2
DML1.3 is currently running in final testphase for a week now, so work on the ports has started.

expect a release within the next 2 weeks.

Random Status update

Just a random status update from me.
What has happened between last message and now:

- Made some final adjustments on the MegaChip emulator.
- Looked into convertion SuperWorm to the MegaChip (still in development).
- Did some development on an AstroDodge game and a demo for the CHIP8/SuperChip8
- Pixeled a logo for a possible slideshow (multiple platforms).
- Started work on a bunch of small games in DML that act as a sort of sketchbook for their implementations on classic systems (vectrex,coleco,2600,chip8). Basically it allows me to try out some gameplay ideas and see if they work.

First MegaChip roms released

Here is the first game release for the MegaChip8, called: "MegaBlinky".

MegaBlinky is a MegaChip update of the infamous Chip8/SuperChip8 Blinky game, written by: C. Egeberg.

The game includes a title screen, and high resolution color gameplay.

Also, to give you an idea of the capabilities of MegaChip8, a small twisterdemo has been released that features a Twisterbar demoeffect and background music.

You can grab both releases from the CHIP8 section of this website.

MegaChip8 Emulator and Devkit released!

An emulator for MegaChip8, as well as a development kit for the Chip/Superchip/Megachip (including examples) is now available from the CHIP8 section of the website.

SCHIP8 Release: SuperWorm V4

A new release at the CHIP8 section.

I've updated an existing SuperChip8 Game, WORM3 by RB.

The new updated features a new control scheme and better timing, so the game actually becomes more playable than the original.

Introducing Megachip!

While working on my chip8 emulator, i thought of adding a small extension to the chip8 language, that would allow for color graphics and sound.

So here it is: MEGACHIP8!

MEGACHIP offers:
- 256x192 resolution
- Downward compability (you can run your old CHIP/S-CHIP games)
- Indexed coloring (255 colors max + transparency)
- Fixed high-speed speed in megachip mode
- Extended I-register range (24 bit addessing, 32MB max)
- Update timing at ClearScreen
- Custom sprite sizes
- Digitised sound (mono 8bit)
- Ability to set collision color for collision detection

Megachip is a similar CHIP8 extension as done by Erik Bryntse in the early 90s (superchip) and is fully backwards compatible with the CHIP8/SUPERCHIP.

MegaChip is supported in my megachip emulator, and a development kit + examples for development of Chip8/SuperChip8 and Megachip8 applications is available on the website.