Hi, from a millenial.
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:20 pm
I know I'm too young to remember the commodore. I only found out about it when I was looking retrocomputing stuff. I had no idea the commodore even existed until I ran into the 8-bit guy's channel.
So why would someone who clearly has no nostalgia for 80s computer want one? Simply put, I hate what modern computers have become. I want something transparent, that I can keep and maintain as long as I want. I also desire privacy (as my screen name probably suggests). Also, to me, this thing is the ultimate retrogaming device. A true retro machine that will surely be easier to find parts for than a true 80s computer.
I would love to be a developer for this thing. I am a certified programmer (associate's degree). Of course, the modern tech industry isn't for me. I have tried to learn to program on the emulator, but I just can't find material for it. Everything I can find seems to be designed for someone who is already familiar with the commodore, which obviously I am not. I did try to learn from the actual manual for the commodore, but half of the programs on it wouldn't work on this thing. I have also tried to learn assembly using the thing's built-in assembler, though I've had an issue in that it won't save my work properly, which is a drag.
Of course, I have a bit of a problem in that when it comes to games I want to clone, I mostly think of stuff from the early 2000s (I am a millennial after all). I do have some experience with 8-bit devices, namely the gameboy and NES. Honestly, I was surprised when I found out that both the nes and genesis were actually 80s devices. I was playing my NES throughout the early 90s! I thought both machines were early 90s tech. Sadly, I'm not too interested in cloning games from those systems (other than maybe pokemon, but let's be real that project is pretty obvious so someone's probably going to beat me to it).
Of course, obviously this thing can't run 2000s games, so they're going to need a downgrade. Fortunately, a quirk about early 2000s games is that they were as I put it '3-d in graphics only'. The game play of most of the games I can think of was actually 2d. They literally only had 3d graphics because it was expected!
To give an idea of what I want to do with this thing, I can think of three games I would like to re-make (excluding a pokeclone of course).
One is Magic the Gathering Battlegrounds. Its an old obscure game I've always loved and would like to keep. My old disc still works, and somehow it does work on windows 10, but obviously I'm not expecting that to last forever. That game wouldn't be too hard to do. The AI in particular was stupid ultra simple. I have no doubt in my mind an 8-bit device could seriously emulate it was to simple and predictable. The game would only have at max 11 animated sprites on screen at once, which I hope isn't too much to ask for? The biggest problem with the thing though, that may completely destroy my hopes of cloning the thing, is that voice acting is necessary for the gameplay to work! You see, you have the ability to respond to enemy spells, and in the game the player characters literally recite the name of the spell they're casting. Obviously, I can't just use the original voice files (besides, I was thinking of making my own spells, which also hopefully help fix that game's balance issues). I guess I could use some voice synthesizer, but I haven't seen anyone develop one for this system yet. I was also thinking of giving it some sort of 'science fantasy' them, like the Phantasy Star series, mainly due to the fact that the voices are surely going to sound robotic.
Either way, that's my least ambitious project. I've always loved the warcraft games. I've played both 2 and 3, and also both starcrafts. These games would be hard to do though, since they would ask a lot out of the system. Possibly dozens of animiated sprites on screen at once, all following a pathing algorithm of some kind. I was thinking of something like warcraft 3 but with warcraft 2-like graphics. Warcraft 2 was a sprite-based game, albeit one I think designed for DOS machines (I played the playstation 1 port). Warcraft 3 emphasized micromanaging small armies, which I was hoping would help reduce the number of sprites on screen. Of course, as if it somehow isn't obvious, another MAJOR problem for this project is that the 8-bit guy is making a version of planet x3 for the system! So yeah, me or anyone else who makes an rts would now be competing with the man who made the computer. What luck.
The most ambitious thing by far though, would be a sims clone. I used to love the Sims 2, however that game doesn't work on modern computers, and EA is a worthless company that hates the retrogaming scene. Of course, a game like that is a VERY tall order. The biggest problem with it is it requires units with customizable appearances. Even ignoring faces, there would have to be a HUGE number of clothing options, and the number of sprites needed for these would be multiplied by the total number of animation frames! Aside for the ludicrous amount of work it would take to make such a thing, the file size could be MASSIVE. Clearly, sprite reversal would be needed, and luckily being an older system I would guess this thing supports palette swapping? Still, that wouldn't help much. I mean, the information the ram would need to contain may be too much. I was thinking there may be a way to minimize it though. Instead of having possibly dozens of animated sprites all overlapping each other, it may be possible to 'concatenate sprites'. Basically, you have the machine replace each pixel in sprite 0 with the ones in sprite 1 one by one, ignoring transparent pixels. Now, you would have only one sprite on screen. Of course, the obvious problem with this is it could increase loading times, and it may require a loading screen every time an npc switched to a different animation. Honestly, I highly doubt this thing could be made to work, though at the same time I don't have a good understanding of the limitations of the system. Either way, this probably isn't a machine for any game that requires procedural generation, aka what 3d graphics fundamentally way. You just make a model, and the computer decides how to distort it to generate all the animation frames.
I guess pokeclones and other top-down rpgs may be the most elaborate thing I should expect from the system. Now surely here this thing could handle a gameboy clone, considering it beats out all the specs of even the NES?
And yes, I have some lofty goals in mind. Hopefully I'll be accepted here. I wasn't too welcome on the retrocomputing sub-reddit, since obviously despite approaching 40 I'm still too young to remember 8-bit computers. I don't know how many other 'young' people are taking an interest in this thing, but clearly there is at least one.
Sorry for the long post, and yes I'm a bit prone to doing that. I've been trying to be better about it, but this is an introductory post and obviously I had a lot to say. Here's hoping I can be a part of this project, and not have to just be another user.
So why would someone who clearly has no nostalgia for 80s computer want one? Simply put, I hate what modern computers have become. I want something transparent, that I can keep and maintain as long as I want. I also desire privacy (as my screen name probably suggests). Also, to me, this thing is the ultimate retrogaming device. A true retro machine that will surely be easier to find parts for than a true 80s computer.
I would love to be a developer for this thing. I am a certified programmer (associate's degree). Of course, the modern tech industry isn't for me. I have tried to learn to program on the emulator, but I just can't find material for it. Everything I can find seems to be designed for someone who is already familiar with the commodore, which obviously I am not. I did try to learn from the actual manual for the commodore, but half of the programs on it wouldn't work on this thing. I have also tried to learn assembly using the thing's built-in assembler, though I've had an issue in that it won't save my work properly, which is a drag.
Of course, I have a bit of a problem in that when it comes to games I want to clone, I mostly think of stuff from the early 2000s (I am a millennial after all). I do have some experience with 8-bit devices, namely the gameboy and NES. Honestly, I was surprised when I found out that both the nes and genesis were actually 80s devices. I was playing my NES throughout the early 90s! I thought both machines were early 90s tech. Sadly, I'm not too interested in cloning games from those systems (other than maybe pokemon, but let's be real that project is pretty obvious so someone's probably going to beat me to it).
Of course, obviously this thing can't run 2000s games, so they're going to need a downgrade. Fortunately, a quirk about early 2000s games is that they were as I put it '3-d in graphics only'. The game play of most of the games I can think of was actually 2d. They literally only had 3d graphics because it was expected!
To give an idea of what I want to do with this thing, I can think of three games I would like to re-make (excluding a pokeclone of course).
One is Magic the Gathering Battlegrounds. Its an old obscure game I've always loved and would like to keep. My old disc still works, and somehow it does work on windows 10, but obviously I'm not expecting that to last forever. That game wouldn't be too hard to do. The AI in particular was stupid ultra simple. I have no doubt in my mind an 8-bit device could seriously emulate it was to simple and predictable. The game would only have at max 11 animated sprites on screen at once, which I hope isn't too much to ask for? The biggest problem with the thing though, that may completely destroy my hopes of cloning the thing, is that voice acting is necessary for the gameplay to work! You see, you have the ability to respond to enemy spells, and in the game the player characters literally recite the name of the spell they're casting. Obviously, I can't just use the original voice files (besides, I was thinking of making my own spells, which also hopefully help fix that game's balance issues). I guess I could use some voice synthesizer, but I haven't seen anyone develop one for this system yet. I was also thinking of giving it some sort of 'science fantasy' them, like the Phantasy Star series, mainly due to the fact that the voices are surely going to sound robotic.
Either way, that's my least ambitious project. I've always loved the warcraft games. I've played both 2 and 3, and also both starcrafts. These games would be hard to do though, since they would ask a lot out of the system. Possibly dozens of animiated sprites on screen at once, all following a pathing algorithm of some kind. I was thinking of something like warcraft 3 but with warcraft 2-like graphics. Warcraft 2 was a sprite-based game, albeit one I think designed for DOS machines (I played the playstation 1 port). Warcraft 3 emphasized micromanaging small armies, which I was hoping would help reduce the number of sprites on screen. Of course, as if it somehow isn't obvious, another MAJOR problem for this project is that the 8-bit guy is making a version of planet x3 for the system! So yeah, me or anyone else who makes an rts would now be competing with the man who made the computer. What luck.
The most ambitious thing by far though, would be a sims clone. I used to love the Sims 2, however that game doesn't work on modern computers, and EA is a worthless company that hates the retrogaming scene. Of course, a game like that is a VERY tall order. The biggest problem with it is it requires units with customizable appearances. Even ignoring faces, there would have to be a HUGE number of clothing options, and the number of sprites needed for these would be multiplied by the total number of animation frames! Aside for the ludicrous amount of work it would take to make such a thing, the file size could be MASSIVE. Clearly, sprite reversal would be needed, and luckily being an older system I would guess this thing supports palette swapping? Still, that wouldn't help much. I mean, the information the ram would need to contain may be too much. I was thinking there may be a way to minimize it though. Instead of having possibly dozens of animated sprites all overlapping each other, it may be possible to 'concatenate sprites'. Basically, you have the machine replace each pixel in sprite 0 with the ones in sprite 1 one by one, ignoring transparent pixels. Now, you would have only one sprite on screen. Of course, the obvious problem with this is it could increase loading times, and it may require a loading screen every time an npc switched to a different animation. Honestly, I highly doubt this thing could be made to work, though at the same time I don't have a good understanding of the limitations of the system. Either way, this probably isn't a machine for any game that requires procedural generation, aka what 3d graphics fundamentally way. You just make a model, and the computer decides how to distort it to generate all the animation frames.
I guess pokeclones and other top-down rpgs may be the most elaborate thing I should expect from the system. Now surely here this thing could handle a gameboy clone, considering it beats out all the specs of even the NES?
And yes, I have some lofty goals in mind. Hopefully I'll be accepted here. I wasn't too welcome on the retrocomputing sub-reddit, since obviously despite approaching 40 I'm still too young to remember 8-bit computers. I don't know how many other 'young' people are taking an interest in this thing, but clearly there is at least one.
Sorry for the long post, and yes I'm a bit prone to doing that. I've been trying to be better about it, but this is an introductory post and obviously I had a lot to say. Here's hoping I can be a part of this project, and not have to just be another user.
