New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

A place where you can keep others updated about your NES-related projects through screenshots, videos or information in general.

Moderator: Moderators

lidnariq
Posts: 11432
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by lidnariq »

Most of the programmable logic options seem to blow the DMG's power budget.

But we could easily make reproductions of Wisdom Tree's GB discrete logic mapper.

Maybe I'll ever get around to actually designing and placing an order for parts for my "DMG mapper for self-flashing"
tepples
Posts: 22708
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by tepples »

Wisdom Tree's GB mapper is the one that's like BNROM, correct?

Would a 2-chip mapper (74HC161 quad latch with binary counter + 74HC08 quad AND) implementing the same logic as UNROM (180) blow the power budget? (The '161 might need to be replaced with something different for clock and enable polarity.) At least it'd be mostly compatible with software designed for a standard MBC and no RAM.
lidnariq
Posts: 11432
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by lidnariq »

Yes, Wisdom Tree's DMG mapper is basically BNROM.

You're right: as far as I can tell, a pure 74HC-based mapper should be fine, other than geometry constraints. With the caveat that using a single 74'08 restricts you to 256K of ROM. And that a 512K ROM can emulate the standard MBC memory map of a 256K ROM by modifying the image to be flashed.
tepples
Posts: 22708
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by tepples »

lidnariq wrote:as far as I can tell, a pure 74HC-based mapper should be fine, other than geometry constraints. With the caveat that using a single 74'08 restricts you to 256K of ROM.
True. For now, we'll cross that bridge when the scene as a whole gets to it. And right now, the scene has "got to" 64K, 128K, and 256K.
User avatar
Jonas
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 1:57 pm
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by Jonas »

rychan wrote:It's a shame there's no real support for homebrew gameboy cartridges (to be sold) over the 32kb limit.

I'm currently waiting for an old 32kb gameboy color game I made a while ago to be put onto cartridge, although if I hear of anyone with MBC support I'll let you know if you're interested of course.
Thanks rychan, please keep me updated!

In the context of my earlier project "Retroid" I got hold of a PCB layout that works with ROMs up to 256kb. If you need that, feel free to drop me a PM or a message via the contact form on my website.
User avatar
rychan
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2017 1:51 pm
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by rychan »

Ohhhh! Yeah, that would be interesting! I've no experience with making PCBs but I know someone local who does!
Probably The "Most Filthy Casual" NES ASM Developer https://refreshgames.co.uk/
calima
Posts: 1745
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:16 am

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by calima »

I made a topic in the GB section here listing all providers of boards. If you have new ones, can you post there?
zzo38
Posts: 1096
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:46 pm

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by zzo38 »

I think it should be fixed so that the scores are not always a multiple of ten, by dividing the existing scores by ten, so that more points will fit on the display at once, because currently it is not enough.
(Free Hero Mesh - FOSS puzzle game engine)
User avatar
Jonas
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 1:57 pm
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by Jonas »

zzo38 wrote:I think it should be fixed so that the scores are not always a multiple of ten, by dividing the existing scores by ten, so that more points will fit on the display at once, because currently it is not enough.
Seriously? :P In endless hours of bug-testing, I managed to max out the score counter only once (and only in easy mode). In most cases I end up with a score that is way lower. I'd rather doubt that anybody can reach the maximum without a lot of practice.
doragasu
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:25 am

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by doragasu »

I have my own cartridge design with 8 MiB of Flash, 128 KiB of SRAM (battery backed) and a working implementation of the MBC5 mapper. I have also a USB programmer designed to burn the cartridges. This should cover with ease all the needs of any homebrew GB/GBC game!
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 919
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:29 am
Location: Denmark (PAL)

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by Sumez »

Jonas wrote: Seriously? :P In endless hours of bug-testing, I managed to max out the score counter only once (and only in easy mode). In most cases I end up with a score that is way lower. I'd rather doubt that anybody can reach the maximum without a lot of practice.
You should always expect people to take your game to much a further extent than you can mange yourself! :) If they do that, it's only a sign of good game design.
doragasu
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:25 am

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by doragasu »

If anyone is curious, here is a render of the cartridge design, and a photograph of the programmer and a prototype assembled (excepting the SRAM and the battery circuit).

Image Image
User avatar
slembcke
Posts: 172
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2017 2:40 pm
Location: Minnesota

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by slembcke »

Lovely game. :D I played it for a good hour, and was getting the hang of the strategy I think.

This makes me want to try a bit of GB dev now too. Easily my favorite handheld ever, I still have mine next to my bed 25+ years later. I've just never found myself to find Z80 assembly fun though. :-\
User avatar
Jonas
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 1:57 pm
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Contact:

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by Jonas »

Sumez wrote: You should always expect people to take your game to much a further extent than you can mange yourself! :) If they do that, it's only a sign of good game design.
Thanks - and yes, I agree!
doragasu wrote:If anyone is curious, here is a render of the cartridge design, and a photograph of the programmer and a prototype assembled (excepting the SRAM and the battery circuit).
I might be very interested some time in the future and will conatct you in that case. :) At the moment, I have a PCB design that has all I need but yours seems to have many additional features.
slembcke wrote:Lovely game. :D I played it for a good hour, and was getting the hang of the strategy I think.

This makes me want to try a bit of GB dev now too. Easily my favorite handheld ever, I still have mine next to my bed 25+ years later. I've just never found myself to find Z80 assembly fun though. :-\
Thank you! :) I hope you try it some time. The community of Game Boy developers is very small, so every member counts.
zzo38
Posts: 1096
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:46 pm

Re: New Game for the Game Boy: INTO THE BLUE

Post by zzo38 »

This game is good. I made a DOS version too: http://zzo38computer.org/GAMES/MEGAPANE.ZIP
(Free Hero Mesh - FOSS puzzle game engine)
Post Reply