Homebrew game machine

[Ryan Azar]

I have been playing this idea around in my head for quite some time. Once I found

this forum, ~6 months ago, I decided it could be done and may help the old-school

gaming community.

 

Basically my idea is to create a little circuit board with a programmable micro-controller on it connected to two input devices (maybe an atari joystick, or NES game pad). This board would have tv out plugs to be plugged into a standard TV.

The microcontroller would then be programmed for a simple atari-esque game. (Such as pong, pacman, etc).

 

But how would this help the home-brew community? I know it has nothing to do with atari, but I would set up a website giving descriptive instructions and parts lists to show how anyone can build their own homebrew machine to program their own games.

The parts need to be cheap and easy to find online, beacuse this is meant for the people who cannot afford bidding for an atari on e-bay or online auctions.

 

Instructions how to build the device would be flow something along the lines of:

 

- parts list, prices, & where to find them

- making the breadboard prototype

- testing the breadboard prototype

- programming the game (pong)

- creating a PCB yourself

- case design, polishing up your system

 

So what do you think? This is just a quick outline of what i think needs to be done.

Do you think it would be useful to retro game designers and hobbyists?

 

General comments and stuff welcome.

 

-----

 

Now for the question, what is holding this project back?

 

1) i need feedback, is this something that people would be interested? Creating an inexpensive 'game system'?

 

***2) I am not sure what microcontroller that would be used for this kind of project.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[Classic Pac]

I know this would be nice and I hate to kill anybodys dream but...There are so many problems that could kill this project from the start. Cost just for one, software is tided for 1st place. What if you get board with the whole thing down the line, what will the people do who bought your system?

 

Take my advice create games, maybe emulate those who have created devices that are able to take roms and play them on the original system.

[killersquirel]

I think this is a great idea. I would like to see what becomes of it.

 

There is a similar product that was just released called the xgamestation. Their website is:

 

http://www.xgamestation.com/

 

I ordered one, but mine has not yet arrived. I will write a review of the product when it comes.

 

-mike

[Room 34]

I know this would be nice and I hate to kill anybodys dream but...There are so many problems that could kill this project from the start. Cost just for one, software is tided for 1st place. What if you get board with the whole thing down the line, what will the people do who bought your system?

 

Take my advice create games, maybe emulate those who have created devices that are able to take roms and play them on the original system.

 

I think you're missing the point. No one would be buying a complete console from Ryan... he'd just be putting together specs and instructions for DIYers to go out and buy parts and build a system themselves... then once they've built it, there would be homebrew games available (by some means) that they could play on it.

 

Sounds like a cool idea to me! You'd need to get a fairly sizeable community behind the project to really get it off the ground though. But since it seems to fit well into the "open source" concept, I bet you could do that. You might want to find some other communities to post in and try to build a base of potential developers who could help with specs and testing for the hardware and putting together an OS (I'm thinking something along the lines of the Intellivision's EXEC) to facilitate development of software for the system.

[TMR]

Sounds like an interesting idea - one suggestion is an emulator, so that those of us who are skint most of the time can develop without having to spend loads of money on hardware straight away... oh, and shove a 6502 in there please! =-)

[+SpiceWare]

I just picked up a GamePark 32, a hand held unit that uses Smart Media Cards for program storage. Software developement tools have been released to the public and a nice sized community has sprung up behind it. It can play videos, emulators, run Linux, etc. Check GP32 Xtreme for more info.