awsm

Love C64, cracktros, demo scene, 8BIT and generally everything that has restrictions to overcome (like fences).

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Trafolta, our entry for the BCC17 demo competition, won first place!

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Love in Time of Laser Raptors. My entry to the BCC17 graphics compo. This is a PETSCII screen for the Commodore 64. It won 2nd place. http://csdb.dk/release/?id=153935

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My 3D printed case for the Raspberry Pi 3 with RetroPie is finally done. 1024x768 pixel resolution and a single power source to drive both the pi and the display. It even serves as an external monitor if you want to hook it up to your 3000 dollar MacBook Pro...

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PETSCII art for C64 demo “Fallen Stars”, released by Mayday at X party 2016

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PETSCII art for C64 demo “Fallen Stars” by Mayday, releases at X party 2016.

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How I draw a room in PETSCII on the Commodore C64.

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Springtime is #Commodore64 keycap bleaching time!

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Lovely custom painted Commodore 64c with breadbin keyboard.

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Raspberry C64

My little project is almost completed, some issues with the USB hub left. I present you my custom painted C64c with a Raspberry Pi 3, internal audio and a Keyrah2 USB interface with internal wiring. I like it a lot!

Now I have a C64 with HDMI, 30GB of Hard Drive and WIFI ;)

[awsm9000]

Raspberry64

I’m working on a new little hardware project. A Raspberry Pi 3 in a C64 case. Thanks to the Keyrah2 interface, you can even hook the original keyboard and make it work via USB. 

I got the basic setup up and running pretty fast, there’s no magic behind it. The keyboard of the C64 connects to the Keyrah2, which itself connects to the Pi3 via USB. 

There are several Linux Distributions out there that either have full emulator support (like the RetroPie) or focus on one vintage computer only and make the emulator boot at start. After trying out some options (I have a full RetroPie emulator already working on another Pi), I decided to setup my own configuration with Ubuntu Mate as a basis.

My ToDo list:

Finish Ubuntu Mate setup with Vice64 configured to start fullscreen

Make the Pollin Display work correct with the Pi3

eventually solder the USB connection to the Keyrah so that it’s not going out the case and back in anymore

Find a good solution to have sound playing from inside the case

Fix all moving parts properly inside the case

Clean the case and the keyboard

Fix the nonworking space bar

Eventually custom paint the case

...deal with tons of annoying problems on the way

So, another nice project that will keep me occupied for quite a while I suppose. Fun times!

[awsm9000]

Visit the mysterious Ghost Town, a place full of unexpected dangers and hidden treasures!

Ghost Town JS is a JavaScript remake of the fantastic game written by Udo Gertz and released in 1985 for the Commodore C16, C116 & Plus/4. This remake is pixel perfect as it reads in the binary screen data from the original game. For more information and additional links, scroll down the page after launching the game. Have fun!

http://awsm.de/ghosttown/

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“Love”

Scored 4th place at BCC#10, 2016. Another screen I started a long time ago, but only finished it in a rush just before the compo started. Some rasters in the border and top and border sprites to extend the lady to full beauty.

http://csdb.dk/release/?id=145627

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“Moon”

Released at BCC#10 on Feb 27, 2016, this screen scored 3rd in the graphics compo. I made it almost a year ago and never finished it to the level I intended.

http://csdb.dk/release/?id=145624

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Some impressions from yesterday’s BCC#10 demo party in Berlin. Tons of nice people, one damn spicy veggie chili and SID tunes at volume level 11. A great party to hang out and meet new friends. Thanks to the BCC for organizing the event.

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First successful playthrough

Yep. I made it.  The last gameplay screen has been implemented and for the first time I am able to play the complete game from first to last room - everything included. I wasn’t sure I would ever reach this state, therefore the satisfaction is through the roof.

The code number room was pretty difficult for me. I didn’t want to fake the view or shortcut anything and keep using the original data, not so easy. Moreover, I was stuck for way too long with my KeyboardController. It was the only piece of code I got from somewhere and I had no idea why it kept failing. In the end I had to rewrite a good portion of it, make it a proper class and it worked. On the upside, solving this issue is beneficial for the other screens left to include, so that’s something. On the downside, the code I wrote in the last two days is most likely the ugliest piece of shit ever written by anyone. I’m not exaggerating.

So, the current state:

It looks like I’m almost done, but there’s heaps of issues to take care of

I still have no sound at all

The title screen and the intro screen need to be implemented

When the player dies, quit the game and go back to the title screen

Test if everything falls apart when playing multiple rounds

Include a better asset loader, mine is crap

And then there’s the additional stuff that I’d like to do

Include all screens for the German version

Create a proper start menu to choose between the versions

Eventually do a “trainer” with a cracktro

Setup a nice little page where the game can be played, including additional information, trivia and so on

Offer additional features, like an inventory, turn scanlines on/off, music on/off

do a proper code review to reduce the embarrassment this project will cause me

Provide a hint system

And finally there’s the awesome stuff I’d like to do (but might never)

Offer a color corrected version of the game

Offer a version with different charset

Do some nice artworks to download

redo the music for the C64

convert the game to the C64 (could be easier than this project)

Change the Display class to render to Three.js (making this game 3D)

The list is almost discouragingly long. But for today, I’ve won another battle. And that’s pretty damn cool.

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14/20

Two more screens are in, the one with the light bulb (easy) and the one with the nails on the ground (not so easy). I had to rethink the logic a bit to include this. All screens before had a layout where changes are permanent, but the nails keep coming back whenever the player reenters the room. The solution was easy: all rooms are stored as an additional copy that never gets changed. Whenever I need to reset a room, I just copy the original data back into the game. 

I’m hoping the changes are a solid base for the remaining screens, all of them being special:

Room 11: Animate Boris the spider. My approach would be to set an interval when I init the room and reset the room with each visit. It could be fairly easy and be done within 30 minutes if my plan works - if not, I would be stuck looking for other ideas. 

Room 12: The laser fence. If room 11 works, this one will be a matter of 1-2 minutes to implement. In fact, I would start with this one and then do room 11.

Room 17: The skeleton. Same as room 11 really, so again, no challenge if the original plan works.

Room 18: The code number. No idea yet how to implement that one. I’ve changed message data before, so it might be okay.

Room 19: Belegro. The hardest screen in the game will be the hardest screen to remake as well. Moving the boulder shouldn’t be complicated after I already completed room 11,12 and 17. I have no idea how the logic behind the movement of Belegro works though. I’m mostly concerned about the timing, which is essential here. If Belegro moves too fast, the game can not be completed. If Belegro moves too slow, it won’t be the same challenge. Most likely the last screen I will do for the game.

Room 20: The Treasure. Easy. I probably could do this one already, but I haven’t thought about how to implement the winning screen. Now that I think about it, that one might be the next room I finish.

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How BASIC saved me from Photoshop.

If you scroll a bit down this blog, you’ll see the character tileset/spritemap I created for the game. What I did was to display all characters by loading in a binary screen data file, make a screenshot, load it into Photoshop and then place every single character to the correct position by hand. 

Today I need to do this again as the game uses the regular Commodore charset for the text screens as well as the title and intro. I fiddled around a bit in PS again when I realized this can (and should, for christ’s sake!) be done better.

With this ugly little BASIC code, I was able to format the character almost perfectly for using them again later, therefore speeding up my time in Photoshop (thank god…).

5 scnclr 10 a = 0 11 b = 0 13 c = 0 20 poke 3072+a,b 40 a = a + 2 50 b = b + 1 60 c = c + 1 70 if c = 16 then a = a + 8 80 if c = 16 then c = 0 85 if b = 256 then goto 100 90 goto 20 100 goto 100

What it does is pretty simple: first it clears the screen, then it displays 16 characters per line till all 256 characters are displayed (and goes into a loop at the end to prevent the basic prompt messing the output).

The result: