Jump to content
  • entries
    41
  • comments
    373
  • views
    64,045

Supercharger prototype!


batari

1,622 views

post-1599-1070318435.gif

Do any of the Supercharger-using blog readers here want one of these (for free)?

 

What's happening is I am planning on releasing the 4k version of my SC game on cassette, so expect a formal release date in a couple of months. I also plan to release on CD. This will be a limited release, as the minigame version, while fully playable, is missing some features of the 6k version that I hope to finish someday.

 

But for now, I would like to give a few prototype cassettes out to SC owners here. All I ask in return is feedback, letting me know how well the cassette worked for you. Before you ask for a cassette, make sure you have the proper equipment - i.e. a Supercharger or original Cuttle Cart, plus a cassette recorder capable of playing regular Starpath cassettes.

 

I found cassette labels at the last of four office supply stores I tried, and they only came in a pack of 300, but ironically, the same store had exactly two cassette tapes on their shelves, and they weren't cheap. I'll shop around for some high-quality, inexpensive cassettes, but in the meantime I might rerecord a used cassette for some of the prototypes. Of course, the formal release of the game will only use new cassettes.

 

I have verified the cassettes as best as I could, as I don't own a Supercharger. I made a wav file using makewav, recorded to cassette, then played the cassette back and captured the audio as another wav file, then used makebin to convert back to a binary. If the binary then worked, I assumed it would also work in a real Supercharger. To be sure, I recorded 20 consecutive copies of the wav file onto the cassette, so if one doesn't work, subsequent ones might.

 

So... to date, have there been any other SC homebrews released on cassette, or just CD, or not even that, other than the Stella Gets a Brain CD?

12 Comments


Recommended Comments

I'll help. I've got the Supercharger and the boombox. I'll have to double check to make sure I have an Atari. :lust:

Link to comment
So... to date, have there been any other SC homebrews released on cassette, or just CD, or not even that, other than the Stella Gets a Brain CD?

AFAIK there are no completed SuperCharger homebrews. Leprechaun is still in development and Prince of Persia is on hiatus. There might be some demos which I've forgotten.

 

Ooops, how could I forget StellaSketch?

Link to comment

I seem to recall that Dark Mage exists in F8 and Supercharger forms. Not sure if the SC version was published.

Link to comment
AFAIK there are no completed SuperCharger homebrews. Leprechaun is still in development and Prince of Persia is on hiatus. There might be some demos which I've forgotten.

 

Stellar Doomsday Interceptor (SDI) is a 1K minigame for the SuperCharger. Rather intense incoming-missile-defense game which allows up to 15 missile tracks and/or explosions on screen at once.

Link to comment

Stellar Doomsday Interceptor (SDI) is a 1K minigame for the SuperCharger. Rather intense incoming-missile-defense game which allows up to 15 missile tracks and/or explosions on screen at once.

:lust: Thanks for reminding me.

Link to comment

I've got a few requests, so I'll send cassettes out shortly. But first, it occurred to me that a sanity check would be wise!

 

That is, before I send out a Supercharger audio tape, I wonder if anyone with a Supercharger could test the actual .wav file I used to create the tape, played from a computer? I've posted the wav file to the blog entry above.

Link to comment

I've got a few requests, so I'll send cassettes out shortly. But first, it occurred to me that a sanity check would be wise!

 

That is, before I send out a Supercharger audio tape, I wonder if anyone with a Supercharger could test the actual .wav file I used to create the tape, played from a computer? I've posted the wav file to the blog entry above.

The .wav file you posted works fine. In case it matters, I burnt an audio CD rather than playing fom the computer.

 

There is a moment between the maze calculation screen and the game kernel when the SYNC appears to be interupted. It looked similar to the problem I had with Knight Jumper, that Thomas was able to advise on.

Link to comment

I've got a few requests, so I'll send cassettes out shortly. But first, it occurred to me that a sanity check would be wise!

 

That is, before I send out a Supercharger audio tape, I wonder if anyone with a Supercharger could test the actual .wav file I used to create the tape, played from a computer? I've posted the wav file to the blog entry above.

The .wav file you posted works fine. In case it matters, I burnt an audio CD rather than playing fom the computer.

 

There is a moment between the maze calculation screen and the game kernel when the SYNC appears to be interupted. It looked similar to the problem I had with Knight Jumper, that Thomas was able to advise on.

Good to hear it works - it's never been tested on real hardware as far as I know.

 

I think I know what's causing the syncing problem now that you mention it. Once the new maze is generated, the playfield RAM is written in a huge loop and this must overrun INTIM. I think it's an easy fix, so maybe I'll do that and rewrite the tapes before I send them out.

Link to comment

I'm interested in a mini CD if you go all out on the packaging.

 

With a mini CD you can do a hybrid audio/data CD like the Stella CD, and put the BIN and some extras on the data portion. You would also have enough room to include some original music on the audio portion (on the Stella CD version 2 we licensed the Atari 2600 song by Splitsville). For instance, if this is an RPG maybe you can do a book on tape sort of reading of the "story behind the game". Lots of cool possibilities.

Link to comment

I'm interested in a mini CD if you go all out on the packaging.

 

With a mini CD you can do a hybrid audio/data CD like the Stella CD, and put the BIN and some extras on the data portion. You would also have enough room to include some original music on the audio portion (on the Stella CD version 2 we licensed the Atari 2600 song by Splitsville). For instance, if this is an RPG maybe you can do a book on tape sort of reading of the "story behind the game". Lots of cool possibilities.

Well, there will be two versions of this game. The first will be the 4k minigame version, which is basically finished, and the second will be a 6k version with added features.

 

The 4k version will be a limited release with maybe 20 numbered cassettes and and 20 numbered CD's with custom labels. They will be inexpensive; probably $4.99 for a CD or cassette or $7.99 for both. The minigame CD version will contain a few extras but I won't be licensing anything for this one.

 

The 6k version will probably contain quite a few more bells and whistles. I don't know what exactly, but it gives me something to think about.

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...