NEWS

07/31/03 ***SPECIAL BULLETIN*** Due to the breakthrough work by 
         it is now easy to run homebrew games on real SEGA CD hardware!
         I used his SLO tools to modify MOONBASE to run as a SEGACD binary
         (instead of as a cartridge binary). A few small changes were required,
         so a new .ZIP file is posted below.

03/25/01 Posted YMDUMP.ZIP

03/11/01 Posted a little "FM voice editor" called SPATULA

02/29/00 Posted a minor update to QUADRANT (see below)

10/03/99 I've gotten ZERO feedback on the QUADRANT prototype, but I've
         decided to blame that on the fact that you needed TWO humans to try
         it out (since there weren't any computer players yet). QUADR001.BIN
         (further down on this page) adds the first of a planned TWELVE alien
         races, the Taurus. They're not the brightest aliens, but if you don't
         concentrate on your game, they WILL take over the quadrant.
         NOTE - QUADRANT.* has been renamed QUADR000.*, you don't need to
         redownload if you already have the first release.
         Please try it out and email me some feedback!

09/23/99 And now for something new. QUADRANT is a new game I'm prototyping.
         You can download QUADR000.BIN and QUADR000.TXT down below.
         Please try it out and email me some feedback!

08/29/99 Here's another "head start". I've posted a demo (with source code)
         that has background music using the two FM chips in the Genesis.
         It's for the original SEGA C Compiler, not the GNU one.

08/13/99 If you've ever wanted to use the GNU compiler/assembler/linker
         for your SEGA projects, have I got a head start for you!
         Download the latest version of the MOONBASE demo (0.06), and get
         all the source files, .BAT files, linker script (.LD), etc. needed.

  BTW, the GNU tools themselves can be found at www.objsw.com

02/28/99 Posted version 0.05 of MOONBASE (including source code).
12/07/98 Posted version 0.03 of MINEDEMO SOURCE code (for the O.C.D.G.)
11/10/98 Posted version 0.02 of MINEDEMO (for the O.C.D.G.)
11/05/98 Posted version 0.01 of MINEDEMO (for the O.C.D.G.)
10/25/98 Posted version 0.00 of MINEDEMO (for the O.C.D.G.)
10/06/98 Posted source code to 0.04 of MOONBASE.
09/10/98 Posted source code to version 1.00 of BERZERK
09/08/98 Posted version 1.00 of BERZERK by Paul Lee
07/03/98 Posted version 0.04 of MOONBASE.
04/03/98 Posted version 0.01 of SPACEWAR. Also, I've been researching a
small problem in the SEGA C compiler.

BERZERK

Paul Lee saw this web page and emailed me one of his SEGA programs, a very
impressive version of BERZERK that features sound *AND* digital speech!

I'm posting it here with his permission.

A few days later, Paul emailed me his BERZERK source code (assembler). Well
worth taking a look at. For instance, misc.s has some long integer multiply
and divide routines that (I think) were left out of the SEGA C compiler
release.

Again, posted with permission (Thanks Paul!).

UNFINISHED PROJECTS BY ME


The earlier demos were written using the SEGA C compiler by Paul Lee.
Starting with MOON-006.ZIP, I've switched over to the GNU toolchain.

You will need one of the many SEGA Genesis emulators available on the
Internet to run these demos, or the ability to burn .BIN files into EPROMS.

I use GENECYST, KGEN98, GENEM, and VGEN for my testing.

MOONBASE is a multi-player game that can best be described as a cross between
LUNAR LANDER and DIG DUG. The players are trying to excavate an abandoned
alien base underneath the surface of the moon.

Revisions
07/31/03 0.07 Same functionality as 0.06, but I've modified the .S startup
              code and the linker .LD file to make a SEGA CD (SLO) compatible
              binary. Other minor changes to fix real bugs not seen until
              now because I was only testing under emulation.

08/13/99 0.06 Same functionality as 0.05, but I've ported the source over to
              the GNU tool chain, giving a nice speedup, and more portable
              code.

02/28/99 0.05 Gave the computer controlled ships their own graphics. The MOTHERSHIP is now in "orbit". You can dock with the MOTHERSHIP to refuel. Pulled in the PSG "engine" from MINEDEMO, and STARTED adding sound effects. A lot more need to be added.
SPACEWAR is a multi-player version of the arcade classic "spacewar". When
finished, up to four players will be able to battle it out to prove who is
the best video game pilot.

Revisions
04/03/98 0.01 Second release. Bullets are now fully functional, including
              gravity effects and damage to other player's ships. The "test"
              self destruct from 0.00 has been removed, now you have to hit
              a ship with 10 bullets to see it go to pieces (or run it into
              the gravity source in the center).

02/23/98 0.00 Initial release. Four ships that are flyable using "left, right,
              thrust" type control. VERY preliminary bullets, that don't do
              anything. Ships automatically "self destruct" when you switch to
              another one.

MINEDEMO is a MINE SWEEPER variant I heard about on the "Orphan Console
Developer's" mailing list. The object is to move from the starting point to
the goal (flag) without hitting too many mines.

Revisions
12/07/98 0.03 Improvements since 0.02:

              1) Corrected a bug in the PSG "noise" channel code. The main
                 reason for this release is the inclusion of full source
                 code.


FMMUSIC.ZIP is a demo of background music (BGM) generation using the two FM
chips of the SEGA Genesis. The ZIP file includes full source code, and will
compile under the Sozobon SEGA C Compiler.

***03/11/2001 The newly posted SPATULA source code includes a modified
version of FMMUSIC.* for the GNU compiler***

Revisions
08/29/99 0.00 Initial Release


QUADRANT is a new game I'm working on. I'm posting early .BINs and some
documentation in hopes of getting some feedback. See QUADRxxx.TXT for more
info.

Revisions
02/29/00 0.02 Third Release
Reduced the maximum number of "squadrons in flight". Reduced the "auto repeat"
delays. Both of these changes were attempts at making control less of a pain.
The "cursor swap" now works slightly different.

10/03/99 0.01 Second Release

09/23/99 0.00 Initial Release


SPAT-000.ZIP is the first release of a little YM2612 paramter editor.
The ZIP file includes full source code, and will compile under the GNU tools.
Even if you don't care about SPATULA itself, you might want to grab this for
the updated (GNU) versions of FMMUSIC.C and FMMUSIC.H.

Revisions
03/11/01 0.00 Initial Release


YMDUMP.ZIP contains source and executable for a small utility I wrote to help
me study YM2612 voice editing. It takes as input file YM2612.DMP, and decodes
it into YM2612.TXT. The decoded output shows most of the parameters of all
six channels. (Parameters specific to channels 3 and 6 aren't handled). File
YM2612.DMP is just a renamed copy of a YM2612 file made with GENECYST while
some game is playing music. This should help us build up a library of YM2612
voices. The source code was compiled using DJGPP.



Comments, criticisms, and especially IDEAS appreciated. Email me at: kbanks@ro.com