@> After seeing a game that looked a bit like Doom ( 3D corridors in the game
@>) I thought, hey I know there is a assembly language compiler for magic
@>engine and I can easily convert the doom linux source code to dos. So why
@>can't I just port it over to assembly language. Well it ended there when I
@>sadly realised that I don't know anything about assembly language.
Well, it's not even as easy as that.
Doom required a lot of horsepower and gobs of memory. The PCE does not
have enough of either. Worse, the encoding for the tile-based backgrounds
is too complex to compute on-the-fly. I don't want to dissuade you, but I
don't think it's a good match for the machine.
@> Now I know there was both a basic and assembly dev software for the PCE,
@>does anyone have the translated docs for this?
I wish. :(
Some of that stuff isn't so bad (the katakana for common technical terms),
but the gist of the sentences is tough to catch.
However, a few of us have been able to get the Develo software/hardware
running, and been able to run the demo software. I think that supporting
the hardware will be easier than supporting the software.
@> I read on the list that there was a HU card published by someone and that
@>this is in theory possible. And burning a CD is alot easier.
No, nobody has yet published a HuCard. However, there are at least 2 games
currently under development. These are currently distributed in ROM form,
and could eventually be published as HuCards.
See:
http://www.hu6280.com (Jamanoid/Arkanoid)
http://www.interlog.com/~daves (Tetris work-in-progress)
@> So what I had
@>in mind was to make the engine and system software on the HU card and then
@>by using a pre-defined directory and data structure, allow not only the
@>original but user made levels to be accessed on CD.
@>
@> This would mean that the game would never be a closed system. As long as
@>some one had a cdrom recorder and the info to make a Super CDROM, the
@>expandability would be endless.
This is what the Games Express people did, basically.
It takes quite a bit of time and effort (not to mention technical
information) to do such a thing though. Myself, I don't think I'd do it
this way - at least not from the beginning.
@> Now I am unsure of the HU card process, but the engine could be upgraded
@>by using a flash rom in the HU card. If I am way off, then please tell me
so.
You're not way off; this is essentially correct.