Yoomp! on Lynx?

[eru]

Hi,

 

I'm the author of Yoomp! game for XL/XE Ataris. If you don't know it, you can read about it here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=115928 or go straight to http://yoomp.atari.pl/media.htm

 

Somebody suggested porting it to Lynx - I quickly looked at the specs, and it seems very doable.

 

I tried to look for a simple manual how to program for Lynx, but the best I found were different tech-specs. I'm interested now in one topic - what is the simplest way of generating a working .lnx image? Once I know how to run something, I can start playing.

 

Another thing I couldn't really find is how can I access cart ROM, and at what granularity. I've read somewhere I can access 256 1KB blocks - is it the only way?

 

In principle, if some skilled Lynx hacker is interested, I would be happy to cooperate on this.

 

Thanks,

eru

 

ps. Disclaimer: even if I decide to actually port it, it might take a while to actually develop it, as I'm really busy IRL, so please have patience

[patjomki]

I tried to look for a simple manual how to program for Lynx, but the best I found were different tech-specs. I'm interested now in one topic - what is the simplest way of generating a working .lnx image? Once I know how to run something, I can start playing.

 

I don't know if you already found this set of tools and documentation?

 

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Byte/4242/lynx/

 

Another thing I couldn't really find is how can I access cart ROM, and at what granularity. I've read somewhere I can access 256 1KB blocks - is it the only way?

 

Sorry that I cannot answer this question but in case you cannot find any development cards I can lend you mine (BLL) for a while. Just send me a pm in that case.

 

In principle, if some skilled Lynx hacker is interested, I would be happy to cooperate on this.

 

Although I own a BLL for years I unfortunately still didn't develop anything for this great handheld.

 

Regards,

 

patjomki

 

P.S.: Still playing Yoomp! on the XL every once in a while

[eru]

I don't know if you already found this set of tools and documentation?

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Byte/4242/lynx/

Yes, I know this one already. But it doesn't address my direct question: How do I make a .lnx, assuming I have some binary data with a program.

The thing is, I don't really want to dig through lots of documentation for that one. I tried to use cc65, but after 15 minutes I gave up. I don't want to waste time on it - I just prefer to ask someone, as I'm sure there is a straightforward, simple solution.

[patjomki]

I don't know if you already found this set of tools and documentation?

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Byte/4242/lynx/

Yes, I know this one already. But it doesn't address my direct question: How do I make a .lnx, assuming I have some binary data with a program.

The thing is, I don't really want to dig through lots of documentation for that one. I tried to use cc65, but after 15 minutes I gave up. I don't want to waste time on it - I just prefer to ask someone, as I'm sure there is a straightforward, simple solution.

 

Do you have a .lyx or a .o file?

 

As far as I understood you have to convert an .o file to a .lyx file and then to a .lnx (for emulators only). For lyx to lnx there is a tool called make_lnx.

 

Perhaps this is helpful as well (english and german)?

http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gd1113/lynx/kurs/

 

Regards,

 

patjomki

Edited December 19, 2007 by patjomki

[Songbird]

How do I make a .lnx, assuming I have some binary data with a program.

The thing is, I don't really want to dig through lots of documentation for that one. I tried to use cc65, but after 15 minutes I gave up. I don't want to waste time on it - I just prefer to ask someone, as I'm sure there is a straightforward, simple solution.

If you have a binary already compiled for the Lynx, then you simply use the make_lnk.exe command line utility to wrapper it with the Handy Lynx header and thus create a *.lnx file. But I'm not sure if that is really your question? Did you already recompile your code for the 6502 and convert your graphics to Lynx sprites, Lynx hardware addresses, etc.?

[eru]

Perhaps this is helpful as well (english and german)?

http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gd1113/lynx/kurs/

This looks like it will be useful, thanks!

 

If you have a binary already compiled for the Lynx, then you simply use the make_lnk.exe command line utility to wrapper it with the Handy Lynx header and thus create a *.lnx file. But I'm not sure if that is really your question? Did you already recompile your code for the 6502 and convert your graphics to Lynx sprites, Lynx hardware addresses, etc.?

My Handy doesn't have make_lnk, but I'll try to find it in the Windows version.

Of course, I don't have anything ported to Lynx yet. I want to learn the basics, so I can try to port the tunnel routine, the rest then should be relatively easy (I hope).

 

I found some interesting stuff there: http://www.zophar.net/roms.phtml?op=show&type=lynx , especially Figther Demo 2 seems useful, as it contains lots of tools in one place. And guess what, I tried a few of them, and they even work on MacOSX! Thanks to Wine

 

I'll keep you posted, but I guess nothing will happen this year - Christmas is almost here.

[+karri]

I tried to look for a simple manual how to program for Lynx, but the best I found were different tech-specs. I'm interested now in one topic - what is the simplest way of generating a working .lnx image? Once I know how to run something, I can start playing.

 

Another thing I couldn't really find is how can I access cart ROM, and at what granularity. I've read somewhere I can access 256 1KB blocks - is it the only way?

 

In principle, if some skilled Lynx hacker is interested, I would be happy to cooperate on this.

 

I looked at the Yoomp! pages and I like the idea for the game. If I qualify as a "skilled Lynx hacker" I would love to help with the initial port, cart layout, standard display and keypad routines.

 

If you want just send the current sources to karri@kosh.dna.fi

I would port it to the structure used in http://sipo.fi/MegaPakTemplate.zip

To compile the game and create a lnx file you just type "make". And the whole system is very gcc-like and it runs on Linux and on Windows. I may also have a PowerPC crosscompiled environment of the tools available somewhere. I can also give you access to my Lynx cvs so that you can browse through other bits that you may find useful.

 

About the ROM access. You have only 8 address lines for accessing 256 blocks. The last 10 address bits come from a counter. The counter in incremented every time you read a byte from the cart.

 

But this is not so bad as it sounds as the size and address of the file to load is in the cart directory. So you only need to give the file number and call the load routine. After that the data is in the right spot in memory ( right spot = where the linker put it ).

--

Karri

[Nimtene]

You're definitely in good hands, if

Karri's helping you with this project.

I made the Fighter Demo 2 example,

so if you have any questions about

that, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Godzilla]

man id LOVE to see yoomp! on the the lynx. i was REALLY impressed with that one on the a8bit. great work!

[Mark2008]

With all due respect, Yoomp! should be an iPod game.

 

If you want any help with that idea....you can pm me, I would love to collaborate on Yoomp! for iPod.

 

It's a great game, and the fact is...iPod is crying out for a game like this, given that the pre-touch ipods just have a spinning wheel, I think your game is a natural on that platform.

 

Yoomp is a big fish in a small pond right now, so it gets attention in this market....but I think its good enough to compete head to head with bigger budget titles directly on that platform....and would therefore get good sales.

[eru]

A bit bad news. Since recently I wasn't very productive in my full-time job, which at this moment is extremely important for me, I decided to reduce my other activities. This will probably postpone the work on the Lynx version of Yoomp! for at least a couple of months. But I really hope I will be able to return to this project.

 

About converting Yoomp! for iPod, of course I'd love that. However, AFAIK there's no public devkit for iPod, only companies like EA get it

Edited December 30, 2007 by eru

[Pocket]

Your game looks interesting, I'm sure it would make Lynx gamers happy

[SwedenLynxer]

Any updates on this project? This game would be perfect for the Lynx!

[im_reg]

Looks an interesting game from the screen shots. I can't get the windows emulator to work so can't comment on the gameplay. From the pictures it kinda reminds me a little of Stun Runner and the 'follow' the green path bonus level in Tempest 2000. Looking forward to the progress of this idea.

[108 Stars]

Seeing the age of this thread I guess the project is in development hell; but who knows, the coder does seem to visit AtariAge still once in a while, last time was end of March.

[matashen]

fadest has already worked on a tube-engine

 

look here

http://www.yaronet.com/posts.php?sl=9&s=111636

 

i already asked fadest about porting, but it seems that he have other plans.