/vr/ - Retro Games

>>6036841
OS for faggots

>>6036841
Why bother when I can do hobbyist coding for DOS and use x86 or C/C++? This is just an upgraded and modernized C64 with more horsepower and graphical tricks. How many of those C64 programmers will want to move away from the established scene for a niche homebrew PC?

I think David and his friends are going about this all wrong. No one besides the hardcore enthusiasts are going to sink $200-300 into essentially a souped up C64 in the year 2019. If he wants this platform to succeed, what he needs to do is release a basic, cheap model for the masses for under $50, and maybe have the expensive one as a dev kit for the tinkers, and he needs to have like 5 or 6 of the best 8 bit homebrewers working overtime to get some killer apps on the thing.

Can I just emulate it on a rpi3?

>what is quickbasic

>>6036841
>This new system should be great for game makers that code in basic.
Zoom zoom. BASIC is useless for games besides like barebones versions of arcade games that run and look like shit.

>>6036841
Fuck 60Hz. 120Hz should be minimum. There can be hardware framerate for those stuck with legacy monitors.

Here's a demo qvideo of a game called Chase Vault that someone is making for the commander x16

https://youtu.be/wvsMO3FcgYQ

>>6036895
Yeah there is emulators for the commander x16 that you can download for pi.

>>6036884
Oh okay. So just give up on making something and put out a case for a Raspberry pie. Is what you're asking for.

>>6036884

>>6036841
Anyone that wants to make code that performs well on limited hardware is going to want to use machine code and not basic.

The whole thing is kinda pointless. The only benefit is that you will have inherently retro styled results, but you could have had that intentionally without being forced to. It's a gee-wizz project to see if they can do it, but once they are done making it, the whole thing has more value as replacement parts for old Commodores.

Anyone could have just coded a game on a retro-pi and made it look retro by design. Hell, if you want to dedicate the whole machine to gaming, use the rest of the 4 cores to have inexplicable AI working behind the scenes of your retro game.

>>6036884
The commander x16 might be worth 200-300 for people that want a chance at something new.

Plus commander x16 has over 14,000 supporters on Facebook where as Google stadia which has millions dumped into it only has over 55,000 supporters.

The commander x16 could possibly out sell Google stadia in the future.

>>6036884
At first, he was going for that $50 or less model, but that didn't work out.
As far as I understand, he is trying to make an 8-bit machine that as accessible as possible for people to code or learn to code on. Both in Basic and Assembler.
And you gotta admit, that's a niche audience, so this direction might work?

They are simultaneously releasing an emulator of the device. Unless you are using a transparent case just to show off that you're hoarding rare SID chips, I don't see why you wouldn't want to just emulate on some old PC. If the emulator ever gets good enough, it might even run on a raspberri pi anyhow.

>>6036934
>>6036934
For him, it does seem to be something worth pursuing, cause of the way it works on the real hardware.
All his talk about a machine you can program as close to the hardware as possible, while being as simple and accessible as possible.
He wants that 8-bit micro experience, just better and with the least amount of hassle.
I don't think it's about the capability to make retro (styled) games.

>>6036950
He will never be able to get it out there for $50 or even a $100.

By time it launches people will start ordering the same parts from China and the Chinese will probably make knock offs of the official board.

The could be potentially 25,000 or more people interested in buying it on launch.

Google stadia only sold like 60,000 units at launch.

So this is a good sign for niche product.

Alot of the chips being used could probably be ordered on Ali express to be built for cheap.

>>6036972
>>6036950
Imagine they get the emulator optimized
$300 for real hardware.
$50 for a pi emulated clone.

>>6036974
If you check the Facebook link there is emulator downloads available for Windows and Android and probably pi.

Would alot of people just go the pi route most likely.

I'm sure Dave won't be able to handle the demands for the boards.

The price is high but it will provide something different for the market.

I'd suggest if you do have a spare pi lying around download the emulator for it and start designing software for it.

The prototype board looks pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/sg-6Cjzzg8s

>>6036976
Delet this

>>6036976
I think there were people saying it was sluggish on the pi. Nothing inherent to the hardware being emulated, but just a lack of optimization. I'm kinda surprised there wasn't a way to just model it in MAME. MAME probably already knows 99% of the chips it uses.

>>6036926
No it's not, watch his video, reread my post. He should release tier 3 of his plan FIRST.

>>6037006
Well name definitely knows the Yamaha chip the cx16 is using since it's the same chip on the cps1 jamma board.

>>6037034
MAME knows all the MOS Commodore chips for sure. Lately I've been feeling it's a better experience than Vice. At least in MAME I can choose which button on my joystick is fire.

>>6037042
I wish you Mame rasberry pi guys would make threads.

The only pi guys that make threads run NES emulation which is pointless to people like me that own a NES and a NES multicart.

who the fuck is coding anything in basic like why the fuck is this a thing

>>6037101
Nobody really. All the major games that did anything interesting were put together in assembly. BASIC is interpreted too slowly to do much on that hardware.

>>6037096
Not a whole lot to discuss. It's a small device that really only becomes the best option if you want a cheap portable. For everything else a normal PC is a better option.

>>6036930
8 bit guy on his way to the post office

>>6037121
What if your trying to build a whole new computer infrastructure that locks out Android and iPhone users nothing optimised for cellphone
You get to create fir the platform that is useless to windows users or cellphone users.

You can build your own eco system

The people who make pi emulators fir commander x16 would even be able to get in on this.

>>6037096
Since MESS was folded back into MAME, it's kinda nice as one stop shopping. You just have to get a hang of the options. Command line is king. You can even go so far as to emulate an old 486 PC if you need to for a game that refuses to run on DOSBox.

>>6037137
If Commander x16 somehow inexplicably becomes widespread, I guess you might find a market for Pi knockoffs. I have a suspicion that their file management will be a nightmare, so if you can streamline the loading of ROMs than you can conquer the world at least for a while.

If you really want to make you own console in which you can control integration, than you gotta have some proprietary aspect that becomes a pain to imitate, and you gotta have games. Wire a dedicated GPU to a Pi and sell it that way. It would have to ship with some free development software, and link to a hybrid message board that functioned as both a store and a place for amateur developers to exchange games for free/donations/pay.

An idea that crossed my mind, which I admit is weird idea, is to get a Pi and dedicate the whole device to one single game. Like just sell per-configured ROM images. The whole project would be to make one game and prop it up to launch on boot. The hard part is that it would have to be a pretty compelling game that actually made it worth dedicating a whole machine.

>>6036970
>He wants that 8-bit micro experience, just better and with the least amount of hassle.
is that not the EXACT reason for the creation of the raspberry pi?

>>6037269
You aren't wrong.
As a learning tool the Cx16 is maybe easier to understand just from looking at it, but a person could probably solder together a Pi at home if they really really wanted to gather the chips.

>>6037287
why would you want to solder it? It was made by british people to replicate cheap home computers in the UK.

>>6037004
Dave murray could become the new Sam Hyde with those pics.

>>6036841
>This new system should be great for game makers that can't make games
lol

>>6036884
Isn't that literally what he plans to do, release different models with different pricing?

Also he IS one of the best 8bit homebrewers, I bet my ass this thing will get a port of Planet X3 on launch.

>>6036909
>hardware framerate
frameskipping

So is hardware and stuff finalized? I want to make a port of Wolfenstein 3D on it, but I have no idea what it's update status because official group is on facebook, and since I'm not a boomer I don't have facebook.

>>6036906
The point is not for it to be useful, it's for programming to be fun for its own sake.

Pico8 is pretty popular with programmers even though nobody actually plays those games.

>>6037998
Planet X16 or nothing

here

>>6038005
Pico8 is at least good for prototyping. Celeste was originally a Pico8 game.

>>6036841
BASIC is terrible and who cares about the number of bits

>>6036930
>>6037004
>>6039260
8-bit boomer reminds me of jeb bush

I was actively maintaining software for the C64 up through the 90s. Never doing that shit again. Something like this will sell a few hundred units, have a couple dozen unfinished demos that people abandon, then be immediately forgotten by everybody.

If people wanted to make C64 games, they'd make a C64 game. You can pick up a C64 for nothing, and extremely accurate emulation is widespread. Even with that it's still a niche of a niche. If someone wanted to make "it's like a C64 game but better" they would just make a modern game with C64 aesthetics.

We already had someone making C64 inspired technology.

For $264 dollars I could buy an Ultimate 64 Elite. Why the fuck would I buy this instead?

>>6038001
Probably more practical to port the 2d version of the game.

>>6039379
gib shekels plox

>>6039370
he got trained and died

>>6039379
Im sure some people will find away around the high cost.

Then the will be those that can afford the $300 dollar price tag easily.

>>6036841
David should prepare for the lawsuit if he ships it with the illegally modified commodore ROMs

>>6037998
>he IS one of the best 8bit homebrewers

>>6039379
The funny thing is that the hardware costs maybe 100 bucks total

The commander x16
Facebook page now has over 15,000 members.

>>6040623
The video and sound card are separate
Units.
So there's basically the mother board, sound card and video card.

Eventually there will be a all in one.

>>6040607
Commodore screwed up
Only way commodore can compete is if they re-release the commodore 65.

But the people that own commodore don't even own a commodore 65 prototype.

>>6039362
Commodore 64 runs slow this is a commodore 64 on steroids.

>>6039362
There's allready 15,000 supporters
By time the official board is released it will probably have the same amount of supporters as Google stadia had on launch day. 55,000

>>6040623
Well hopefully people like you will order the chips to make your own commander x16 common from Ali express.