PC display/input adapter or higher-level languages for Vectrex homebrewing?

[appleo]

Hi everyone

 

I'm a fan of old video games & do some programming (mostly VB / JavaScript) and would enjoy playing around making programs for the Vectrex. Although I have programmed some simple assembly language routines on the C-64 back in the day, that would probably be a little too much work for me to be fun these days.

 

That said, are there any higher level languages or game development IDEs / construction sets available for the Vectrex?

 

Also does anyone make a flash card adapter (like the Harmony for the Atari 2600) to make it easy to play your game on a physical Vectrex?

 

Finally has anyone tried making a custom "cartridge" for the Vectrex that basically lets the PC use the Vectrex as a vector display monitor (and possibly read input from the Vectrex's controllers / light pen / etc.)? I think it would be kind of neat not only for homebrewed games (including network games) but for MAME as well. With tools like Arduino & PICAXE, it should be possible to do and affordable to construct. The device I am imagining would work like this:

 

Display adapter

1) the part that talks to the PC would acts as a simple video memory buffer that would receive coordinates from the PC for where to plot shapes on the Vectrex screen

2) the part that talks to the Vectrex would just be a simple homebrew program that draws stuff on the screen, based on the coordinates in the buffer

 

Input adapter

1) the part that talks to the Vectrex would poll the joystick(s) or light pen and save any input to an input buffer

2) the part that talks to the PC reads the buffer and via the device driver, shows up as keyboard or mouse input, to control the game or emulator on the PC (since the joysticks are analog, it might map a 2nd "virtual" mouse for 2-joystick games, or include an option to convert the joystick inputs to digital as pc keypresses).

 

If this exists, where can you order one (or find the instructions to make one)... If not, where would you find people to work with or discuss such a project?

 

Thanks!

[appleo]

Followup... I found a couple of similar items.

 

Zektor lets you use Vectrex as a display device:

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/index.html

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/zvg_vpix.htm

 

This one lets the Vectrex talk to PC via USB:

http://kokosplace.50webs.com/Vec%20Multi/Vectrex_Multifunction_Box.htm

http://vectrex.wikia.com/wiki/Vectrex_Multifunction_Adapter

 

The device I am thinking of would be specifically for Vectrex, cheap (you could build it with an Arduino, a repurposed Vectrex cartridge & some components), self-contained unit that plugs into the cartridge port (needs no jumpers or anything modified on the Vectrex itself), plugs into the USB 1.1 or 2 port on PC, and the PC sees as just another USB2 peripheral.

[VectrexMad!]

>Also does anyone make a flash card adapter (like the Harmony for the Atari 2600) to make it easy to play your game on a physical?

See http://www.vectrex.biz

 

>If this exists, where can you order one (or find the instructions to make one)... If not, where would you find people to work with or discuss such a project?

 

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.vectrex/topics?hl=en

http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/index.cgi

Edited February 29, 2012 by VectrexMad!

[appleo]

Thank you. I love this stuff