Ultra Air Hockey DX Source Code release!

Ultra Air Hockey DX

Source Code release!

 When Ultra Air Hockey DX v1.0 was released way back in February 2015 after completing Fundamentals of Software Engineering class in the Fall semester of 2014 at RMU, I had plans to eventually port the game to Android, and to then try to publish the game on Steam with achievements and online multiplayer. The Android port eventually surfaced in a v1.1 patch of the game in summer of 2015. However, due to many years passing since then and working on many other projects (including many now in an official video game development job with a company) and not having time for an online-multiplayer release, I am releasing the source code for the game today.

   In order to get the game on Steam, I would have to create original music (the music used in-game were module music from ModArchive.org, since the game was originally freeware), as well as figure out online multiplayer and Steam Achievements. This coupled with the fact that I would have to greatly refactor the game's code for online multiplayer and due to the fact the game was created with an ancient version of Unity (3.x or 4.x if I remember correctly), I am releasing the source code, as well as the game's documentation from Fundamentals of Software Engineering class. Everything is open sourced with a GPL License, and is free for people to use as per the license. Downloads available on the project page.

Enjoy!

-Tamkis

Ultra Air Hockey v1.1 Android port, now on Google Play!

UAHDX v1.1 Android Port,
now published on Google Play!

   Ultra Air Hockey DX (UAHDX) has been updated to v1.1, as well as an initial release of a new Android Port, both as a side-loadable app, and as an officially signed app at the Google Play Store! Due to lack of full-version purchases for the PC version (read: none!), the demo and full-versions of the game have been merged into a single, full, freeware version! It is strongly encouraged to give a donation of any amount to EagleSoft Ltd for future developments and motivation :).

Enjoy!

UAH (Sega, Redux) Progress: Paddle Movement

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega, Redux)

Paddle movement!

      After days of arduous experimentation, debugging, SGDK discovery, forum chats, and sweat, managed to get some more progress done on the redux of the Ultra Air Hockey Sega ports with SGDK. Managed to implement the following:

• Created github repo for project!
• Implemented flying eagle sprite for intro FMV
• Added game initialization code
• Added paddle movement
• A-button to change speed within current speed set
• 8-directions of movement 

• Implemented British announcer guy
• Added HUD
• Displays scores
• Added Debug stats and features
• Display of FPS
• Display of free memory
• Paddle stats
• x and y coordinates
• dx and dy values (change in x and y)
• velocity value, current speed index, angle
• Announcer guy test
• X button to speak score
• Y button to increase blue paddle's score
• Z button to increase red paddle's score

Below is a video showing off

the improvement and progress so far

   Although there are a lot of bugs at the moment and features coded in but not tested nor utilized yet, progress is going smoothly. Paddle movement runs consistently between a smooth 50 to 60 FPS. A few coding hiccups occurred with sprite management and with paddle movement, but most of them have been ironed out. Next development milestone and preview should have collision detection (and bug fixes) :)!

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega ports, redux)

Work resumes (again) on the Sega ports of

Ultra Air Hockey

   As I may have mentioned earlier in older news posts, the BEX/Sega homebrew port of Ultra Air Hockey was cancelled around Winter 2014/2015. (BEX is a BASIC language for the Sega Genesis/CD/32x.) This was due to several issues that occurred while developing it, including
instability of the BEX compiler and other bottlenecks. As the homebrew ROM executable became bigger, internal errors of the compiler being unable to compute jump offsets of large "bsr.w" branch Motorola 68k instructions began creeping in. Although it seemed to be a false positive of an error (since the ROM still compiled), further in development, I feared the ROM would corrupt further as it became bigger and more complex; in fact, at one point, a subroutine of code dealing with paddle movement ceased working between two builds, despite the BASIC code of that subroutine being nearly identical and valid between both builds. Furthermore, I made the mistake of trying to build a (poorly written, custom) port of the SpriteLibrary I used for sprite management in the PC QB64 code, and using the buggy "include" command of BEX to include that code, which seemed to create problems. I attempted to port that library over, with the future intention of using it to port over other games written with that library from QB64 to BEX and the Sega Genesis. Coupled with future problems of having to rewrite sections of the game code (due to the QB64 code using some subroutine/functions with parameters passed by reference, a feature which BEX cannot do), manage sprites and collision manually, and most importantly, have to deal somehow with trigonometry to handle puck movement and rebound angles (because BEX cannot handle neither trig functions nor 16/32-bit fixed point arithmetic), major development issues were ahead. It was at this point that I decided to ditch the BEX build, and refactor the game using C and the SGDK library for GCC

   Why did I move development to the SGDK? Well, for several reasons. Firstly, the SGDK is opened source, C-based, more stable, and is updated more regularly than BEX (which hasn't had an update in years). With it being C-based, I could use a real programming language, and use main parts of the code in the future for any additional ports of the games to other retro platforms, and simply modify the baseline code for hardware-specific changes. Furthermore, it contains more complex and useful programming features out-of-the-box, including direct sprite support (including sprite collision), fix16 and fix32 fixed port arithemetic and trigometry functions, passing function parameters by value and by reference, etc. Furthermore, being C-based, it is easier to split the program into smaller testable modules of .c and .h files, instead of having a giant text file of all the main function and all of the subroutines and function.

   Although SGDK does have its benefits, it has a few drawbacks in comparison to BEX. BEX is cross-platform, allowing the user to write the code once, make a few minor tweaks, and allow that same code to run on the Sega CD and Sega 32x add-ons. At the time of this writing, SGDK does not officially support hardware-specific Sega CD and Sega 32x features, but there are a few ways to extend the baseline SGDK support to run and compile for Sega CD and 32x, but I believe it takes more effort. Also, the BEX port had the benefit of a very close code translation between the original QB64 code and BEX (being that both are BASIC languages), and is BASIC.

    Over the past week of summer, I have begun transcribing the old BEX Basic code to SGDK C, and have most of the menus and introduction created, shown below. These menus are mostly the same as shown in older videos, just written in C and with a few additional features, including fade outs of palettes and splitting the sound test into a separate music test and sound test options item. There are a few bugs to fix, but the functionality is basically the same as before, and as tested with my Everdrive MD, the code works on hardware too!

  Now to working again on the paddle handling :)!

UAHDX Release!

Finally, its here! The release of Ultra Air Hockey DX for PCs!

    Starting in October 2014, EagleSoft Ltd worked on its first Indie Unity3D video game, Ultra Air Hockey DX, not only for fun and for software engineering experience, but also as a university project for a Fundamentals of Software Engineering class programming project. This project was much more difficult than we first imagined, since we had to self-teach ourselves and to learn quickly a new programming language (C#), a game engine (Unity3D), and fundamentals of software engineering, including creating documentation such as an SRS, a Gantt chart, and a plethora of other documents. Nevertheless, through hard work and persistence, we finally finished programming the game in early January of 2015, and are ready to release it as a purchasable download from the shop section of the website! The game is currently available for Windows 7 (x86/x64), Mac OS X (x86/x64/universal), and Linux 10.04 (x86/x64/universal). A demo of the game for all of the previous OS and bit combinations is also available (the demo only has Air Hockey mode available) on the UAHDX Page and at the shop (for free).

       Everything is finished with the game (all powerups, all 3 modes, and all game assets), except for online multiplayer. We plan on implementing this complex feature, as well as any other bug fixes, post-mortem as a update patch.

Below is an advertisement for the game, showing off all of the gameplay features.

We hope you enjoy the game as much as we had in creating it!

Cordially,

EagleSoft Ltd and UAHDX Dev Team

2014 Recap, Plans for 2015

Recap of 2014, and Plans for 2015

(Rather than make about like 5 different posts on things I need to say, I thought I would combine everything into this post.)

     It's that time of year again, where EagleSoft Ltd gives an overview of last year's accomplishments and plans for the new year! Unfortunately, not very much was completed last year, due to "real-world/life" commitments such as university life. However, EagleSoft Ltd did begin work on a retro homebrew port of its famous Ultra Air Hockey game to the Sega Genesis/Sega CD using a basic programming language called BEX, began work on a 3D, Deluxe multi-platform edition of the game called Ultra Air Hockey Deluxe using Unity3D, and added more content and extensive visual changes to my old fan game, Sonic CD Breakout.

    For 2015, unfortunately, due to technical difficulties and limitation of the BEX programming language, the BEX retro port of Ultra Air Hockey is being cancelled, but moved to the Sega Genesis Development Kit (SGDK). Likewise, the BEX GSpriteLibrary which was being developed in parallel is also being cancelled, and will not be ported to SGDK, since SGDK has most the library's features built-in. The SGDK is a C-based dev kit for the Sega Genesis, which is more powerful and stable than the glitchy BEX compiler, and which compiles code through the GNU GCC compiler in your IDE of choice. (I am using Code::Blocks.) It includes advanced features such as virtual Fix16 and Fix32 floating point data types, trigonometry, sprite and spritesheet management, input controls (Sega Genesis 3 and 6-pad joypads, Sega Mouse, Light gun, etc), and more. Due to this set back, the publishing and release of Ultra Air Hockey (Retro) is now greatly delayed; however, the end result show be a more polished, professional product.

  Furthermore, EagleSoft has finished a large chunk of programming for Ultra Air Hockey DX. We currently have everything completed except online multiplayer. Initially, we were going to release the game as a Windows 8 app in the Microsoft App Store without online multiplayer support before Christmas 2014, and were going to simply add that feature in a future update post-mortem. Unfortunately, we also want to publish it as a standalone W7 executable (especially since Windows 8 is a heretical, blasphemous, Satanic abomination to computing), but the Windows Store only allows for Windows 8 apps. This would have caused us to create a separate update/serial system, in order to allow Windows 7 customers to be able to download an update without re-purchasing the game. Instead, we are going to publish it once, after multiplayer is coded. After done with UAHDX, we plan on creating yet another original indie Unity3D game. No details or plans on what that game will be yet...

   Lastly, we are continuing to work on our Sonic CD Breakout fan game. Although this is a low-priority game, we are continuing to develop new zones, special stages, and other features by removing limitations and extending features of the BreakGOLD game engine.

   In conclusion, although not much was completed last year, we are working to make next year better, and to create more exciting video game projects!

-EagleSoft Ltd

UAHDX Progress #5: Rebuild and Thanksgiving preview

UAHDX Progress!

Part 5: Rebuild and Thanksgiving Preview

   Unfortunately, after co-developer Josh looked at the coding from the previous post, he determined that we needed to recode everything from the ground up. Not only was this due to my lack of knowledge of how the OOP in C# for Unity3D works, but also because, due to what he described as the "spaghetti code" and how I structured it similar to a procedural-based language, nothing would have worked in a network multiplayer game, due to objects lacking their own methods. In the past few weeks, we have recoded everything from the ground up, so that it would be optimized with the OOP features and for multiplayer.

   In the process, we have fixed scripts, added scripts and features, and optimized features. It took days to finish, but we plowed through all of the grudging work and reigned victorious over our personal and professional work outside of this project. Specifically, we have added self-illumination textures so that pucks and paddles will glow with a parallax diffuse, mostly finalized the Credits screen, and cleaned up the Battle game modes. Specifically, we have finished all powerup objects (except Army, and Swap places, which may be scrapped entirely), added powerup handling in order to activate and deactivate powerup effects, added a proper music support, added a powerup HUD, and have added a username text to float above paddles. Furthermore, at the request of our professor, who gave us a creeping requirement on our project's SRS, we have added a feature allowing the players in a netgame to email each other the results.

    Below is a YouTube video demonstrating all of the new changes. Although not shown in the video, the core code of the game also works with the other difficulty settings of the Battle Mode. (We have yet to adapt the existing code and test it for the 2p Air Hockey mode and for the Pinball mode.) What is left to complete for the video game project is to integrate netcode for online multiplayer, implement AI, implement proper raycasting for each player in their own player fields, and adapt the code for Air Hockey and Pinball modes.

  C&CC welcomed! Planned ETA to device/PC software stores is early 2015.

  -EagleSoft Ltd

UAHDX Progress #4: Gameplay, Scoring, Powerups

More UAHDX Progress!

Part 4: Gameplay, Scoring, and Powerups

       It been a week or two, but the UAHDX team (Josh and I) are kicking it high gear for more development action, especially since our time for working on this school project is running out! (It's due by the first week of December, and we still have much to do in a short time.)

       Since our last post, we have coded and begun to implement many features. We are currently working on the Medium difficulty, Battle Mode game scene. Due to how we are coding and designing the game, each game mode/difficulty combination is modular, and relies upon a core set of scripts and resources. After finishing with our 1st game scene (the Medium Battle Mode), the rest will go downhill. We have plopped our 3D game models into the game, have implemented proper scoring, the announcer for scoring, and a scoring HUD. We have also added the ability for both a human and CPU to control the paddles. The former feature is quite functional and bug free, while the latter feature is in the early stages of development, and needs improvement, especially with coding an intelligent AI with removal of collision issues. Each paddle can only move within a certain area, with some interlap between these fields for multiple players in the Battle Mode.

    Furthermore, we have imported and implemented a majority of the main game sounds. A powerup collectible object has been created; however, the glue-logic for allowing a player to keep powerups and use them at will is pending to be written. This glue-logic will be performed using an invisible powerup thinker. We have, however, begun implementing some of the powerups, especailly those which are based upon physical objects. Such powerups include blockade, bumpers, portals, multi-puck, and army. These powerups will be dis/enabled by the game engine using our powerup thinker object.

    Below is a video showing everything is action, as to the time of this writing. As a developer of the game knowing its inner-workings, I cheat (a lot), in order to show off the features. My paddle (the red one) can move anywhere, and I can dis/enable Unity gameObjects and features on-the-fly using the Unity Editor during runtime. I do this so that I can focus the video recording on specific aspects of our progress. There are a few bugs in the video, but overall, the progress is fine.

C&CC welcomed! Also, if you know me personally in the real world, and want to Beta test the game, email me. I'll be sure to add you to the Credits screen :).

-"Tamkis" (Tony) from the UAHDX team/EagleSoft Ltd

UAHDX Progress #3: Menus & Graphics

UAHDX Progress #3: Menus & Graphics

 

Much has happened in the last month with video game development of Ultra Air Hockey DX.

In Fundamentals of Software Engineering class (which is the university class for which are creating this game for a grade, as well as for EagleSoft Ltd to sell the game and create our first Indie video game title), we created a Software Requirements Statement (SRS) for the game, and classmate Joshua and I have pinned down the main functionality of the game. Furthermore, we have now formally begun development of the game, officially!

 

 

 

    For our 1st week of formal development, we have created the menus for the game, finalized game assets, and fixed textures on all 3D models. You can look at the 3D models on the new models page on the EagleSoft Ltd website, which are 3DPDF files. Furthermore, you can check out the amazing menus in the video below. The GUI has been finalized, but implementation of the options screen actually change game variables and showing message per category and item still need to be implemented. Also, animated gifs of the intro FMVs need fixed.

  

C&CC welcomed!

 

More progress to be shown as work is done!

UAHDX Progress #2: PoC Air Hockey Gameplay

UAHDX Progress #2: PoC Air Hockey Gameplay

 

 

A few weeks ago, co-developer "Josh" and I made some progress in creating a rudimentary, quick and dirty, Proof of Concept of the Air Hockey mode gameplay for Ultra Air Hockey DX! You can check out the video below. Unfortunately, we had problems with textures, so ignore the wrong colors, and also the placeholder menu.

 

 

 

For progress to be shown as we develop it!

Ultra Air Hockey DX Progress #1: Art

Ultra Air Hockey DX Progress #1: Art

Classmate "Josh" and I have made some minor progress on Ultra Air Hockey DX in the past few weeks, for our Fundamental of Software Engineering class project, and for the game which will eventually be available as a paid, indie game, published by EagleSoft Ltd. We've outlined file resources (especially music and sound), and will be creating an Software Requirements Statement, so that we can plan and execute our project.

Most importantly, I have already drawn the 3D Google Sketchup art to be used in the game. You can look at the cool art, and read about the synopsis of the project, at its page on the site. We also are working on a prototype for the collsion system, but are having problems with proper puck collision.

More to show for the project as things develop!

Unity 3D project confirmed: Ultra Air Hockey DX!

Unity 3D Project confirmed:
Ultra Air Hockey DX!

   As part of a university project for Fundamentals of Software Engineering, a classmate ("Josh") and I are working on a Unity3D video game project. As part of the assignment, we needed to come up with 3 ideas of a software engineering project, as detailed in a previous blog post, for which the Prof. would select one of those projects for us to do. 

Our professor, Dr. A, decided to pick Ultra Air Hockey DX!

So we are going to develop it!

 

    Ultra Air Hockey DX is ultimate edition of Ultra Air Hockey, written in Unity3D, multiplatform, and multiplayer. This new edition contains 6 more powerups, 3 modes (Air Hockey, Pinball, and 4P Battle Mode), more music, more sfx, and more action! Full details can be found on the dedicated UAHDX page on my website.

   More news as Josh and I develop the game!

Anthony K

-Owner/Founder/Lead Programmer of EagleSoft Ltd

Future plans for EagleSoft Ltd

Future plans for EagleSoft Ltd

Mid 2014-Early 2015

 

 

 

    Not to sound self-promoting or anything, but EagleSoft Ltd and I have big plans for the remainder of this year and for the beginning of next year!

 

    EagleSoft Ltd is officially and professionally going indie, with the company learning how to develop exciting, new, original, multiplayer, 3D, video games, using Unity3D! Unity3D is a high class, high quality, powerful, 3D Game engine, which can be scripted using C# and is multiplatform; see its official website for more details.

 

 

 

     We are currently working on several, for-sale, for-publish, indie video games, including the retro ports of Ultra Air Hockey (Standard Edition) to the Sega Genesis/CD, and an undisclosed Unity3D project. The Sega Genesis port of Ultra Air Hockey will be released as both a digital ROM download, and as a physical repro copy. The physical repro copy will be released as a cartridge with custom label, and with the option of having a case with manual. The Sega CD version will be released as both a digital ISO ROM, and as a physical CD. The physical CD will be released as either with CD label and a CD sleeve, or as a CD with image and DVD case with manual. Pricing for both pending.

 

   Furthermore, a university classmate ("Josh") and I are working on a Unity3D project for a class project. We are thinking about either doing a multiplatform, deluxe edition of Ultra Air Hockey in 3D and with online multiplayer, a 3D Asteroids clone, or a 3D clone of Scorched Earth.

 

More news about these exciting developments in the coming months!

-EagleSoft Ltd

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega) VGM OST Released!

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega) VGM OST
& Sega CD CDDA Released!

 

 

Over the last week, the OST for the Sega ports of my homebrew video game, Ultra Air Hockey, was finalized and mastered! Some songs underwent extensive revisions (some up to 9), and SMPS voices were swapped out for better ones. SMPS voices that were tinny or not playing correctly, due to too much TL or problems with XM coordination flags, were fixed.

 

Below is a video to listen to a preview of the finalized music. The intro sequence song was also created, and the intro sequence of the game is now relatively in sync with it. Furthermore, I've created a VGM pack of the music from the Sega Genesis, so that you can listen into your favorite VGM player. I also have finalized the Sega CD CDDA OST, although no work on the Sega CD port has occurred yet. Both are available at my Sega Genesis/CD/32x music page :).

 

 

Tentative digital and physical release of the game is either Thanksgiving 2014 or Christmas 2014. The Sega Genesis port will be released as both a ROM download and as a physical repro cartridge for sale. The future Sega CD port will be released as both an ISO and as a physical CD for sale.

Due to university life booting up again, I will have much LESS time to develop the game; but I'll try to work on it as I can. No promise on the release dates, however.
Enjoy!

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega): Game Engine Progress #1

Ultra Air Hockey (Sega): Game Engine Progress #1

 

Over the past month of June, I've coded/ported some more of the Ultra Air Hockey game engine to the Sega Genesis. Things accomplished include adding my EagleSoft Ltd logo and a Sega Genesis 25th anniversary logo, fixing tabs and the display for the Credits screen and  converting most background graphics from uncompressed fullscreen mapping to tile-map based graphics. Also, for the Options screen, I fixed the On/Off options to work now, added song/sfx names, and added the EagleSoft Ltd PCM intro song.

As for the game engine itself, I've begun work on coding GSpriteLibrary, have added basic 8-direction player stick movement, added a simple powerup HUD, and added a pause screen. I've also implemented the announcer, which is tested via a debug test feature, and have implement collision box outlining and coordinate debug tracking.

Below is a video showing the progress!

Stay tuned for more progress in the coming months!

(If college/real life does not intervene too much, which it probably will.)

Progress on Ultra Air Hockey (Sega homebrew ports)

Homebrew development for the Sega Genesis port of Ultra Air Hockey begins!

 

 

   Only a few months later after the original, PC version of Ultra Air Hockey was released in April, and development for the Sega Genesis/Sega CD ports of Ultra Air Hockey has already begun! The Sega Genesis port of the game is being written with BasiEgaXorz, a TinyBASIC compiler for the Sega Genesis/CD/32x. Graphics are being converted into the tile-based format that the Sega Genesis, music has been converted to the Echo Stream format, for use with the Echo Sound Engine, and sound effects are DAC converted versions of their .wav counterparts from the original/definitive PC version.

 

  So far, everything but the game play itself has been coded, and even then, there are some bugs to fix. Below is a video of progress so far, and a video of a test ROM showing the Echo Sound Engine in action. Game play should be coded within the following months, hopefully to be completed by the end of summer.

 

You can keep track of development at this blog, or as I upload media to the project's corresponding page, on my portfolio/project website.

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more developments!

 

-EagleSoft Ltd

-Tamkis

Ultra Air Hockey Relesed! (PC, v1.0)

Ultra Air Hockey for PC released! (V1.0)

 

 

Ultra Air Hockey for PC was released over spring break during March 2014! You can download it from here. It will be ported to the Sega Genesis/Sega CD over summer 2014. Enjoy, and have fun!



 

 

Progress on Ultra Air Hockey (PC)

        Progress for the main/PC version of Ultra Air Hockey currently has been very rapid and exciting! Development of the main/PC version of the game started on January 08, 2014, and is still ongoing (as of the time of this writing, 02/26/14). Up to today, the title screen, main menu, options screen, main gameplay, and sfx/bgm have been coded in. Also, physics, powerups, and controls for player one have been created. Currently, the game is ~75% complete.

   What is left to do for the game is to create a credits screen; fix physics, graphical, and other bugs; create controls for a human player #2, and create AI for the CPU player #2. If everything goes according to plans, the PC version of the game should be complete by early April 2014... however, there are no guarantees on this date, as my University work is getting difficult and time consuming.

   Below is a YouTube video showing a PoC of the current development of the PC version of the Ultra Air Hockey video game. Enjoy! Please post your comments and suggestions for the game here. I am tired of having no audience/followers for my homebrew/indie software, and would like some intelligent human interaction!

   Stay tuned for more developments on Ultra Air Hockey!

-Tamkis

About Ultra Air Hockey

    Currently, I am creating new video game, called Ultra Air Hockey. Ultra Air Hockey is the new and exciting, multi-platform, Air Hockey homebrew/indie video game, coming to your PC, Sega Genesis/Sega CD retro video game consoles, and Android (in the future)! The main copy of the game will be written in QB64GL for Windows PCs, and will utilize QB64's new commands, especially the multimedia commands. After game development is finished for the PC version, the game will be indirectly ported to the Sega Genesis/CD as homebrew software using BasiEgaXors.

Unlike the other boring Air Hockey video games out there, Ultra Air Hockey has various features that make it unique and fun, including:

• Features
• 1 and 2 Player modes
• Difficulty settings
• Each difficulty has a different length for goal
• x3 difficulty settings per mode
• Easy (small goal)
• Medium (larger goal)
• Hard (largest goal)
• Powerups
• Powerups are collectible by hitting powerup icons with hockey puck
• Powerup is then kept in reserve until player uses it
• x 9 powerups
• Multi puck
• Big stick
• Makes your stick x3 bigger
• Blockade
• Puts a giant wall in the middle of the table!
• Slowmo
• Kill opponent
• Opponent is taken out of the game until next goal
• Swap places
• Fastmo
• Invisibility mode
• Makes players invisible for a brief amount of time
• Bumpers
• Randomly places x7 bumpers on the table
• Puck and sticks interact with them!
• Graphics
• 100% Original graphics
• Pre-rendered snapshots from original Google Sketchup models
• Original 2D sprites

• Music
• Public domain, classic .mod chiptunes
• x16 Chiptunes
• x3 for the difficulty modes
• x7 for the powerups
• x3 other
• Sound effects
• Realistic, original, exciting sound effects!
• Creative Common sounds from Freesound.org
• Announcer proclaimes
• What the current score is
• Who is winner
• Other things
• High quality, fun game, for family and friends!

Stay tuned on my blog for more updates on development for Ultra Air Hockey!

Plans for 2014

Goodbye 2013, hello new year, 2014!

  

   Christmas break 2013 was not very eventful for me, other than visiting family and relaxing from a long, stressful, but successful university semester. I did get a Ti-89 graphing calculator and an RCA cable for my Atari 130XE from "Santa"! The Ti-89 I will be using for higher-level math classes, as well as for software engineering development, as this calculator has most of the functionality and programming ease which is lacking on the z80-based TI calculators. I have no current plans of software to write for the Ti-89 yet, especially since I am still learning how to use it; however, I may be dealing more with programs written in assembly language. Why? Because the Ti-89 calculator is Motorola 68k-based, which is a processor and an assembly language I am very familiar with, what with a few years of tinkering with the Sega Genesis and a PC breakout engine called Break GOLD, which utilizes Motorola 68k assembly for scripting.

Ti-89 Calculator!

   Currently, the Spring 2014 semester is in session. Although university life and responbilities take up most of my leisure time, I am hoping to have some time to create more software and homebrew/amateur video games. Several projects are underway, including:

• Ultra Air Hockey (PC, Sega, and someday Android)
• Tower Tic Tac Toe (Atari 8-bit computer port)
• Completion on Sonic CD Breakout

=========

Ultra Air Hockey:

Ultra Air Hockey is a multi-platform Air Hockey video game, which is being developed for PC, the Sega Genesis/Sega CD as homebrew, and in the future, Android. You can read more about on my website, and under the "Ultra Air Hockey" topic of my blog.
=========
Tower Tic Tac Toe:

   Tower Tic Tac Toe is an original 3D Tic Tac Toe game, which has a 3x3x3 playing field and powerups. You can learn more about it here and here. I will soon be porting the game from the PC version to the Atari 8-bit computers, in vanilla Atari-BASIC. The sounds and music will be generated from the beeps and boops of the POKEY chip, from Atari-BASIC. This port will be hardest, as it may require an epic rewrite of the code, since Atari-BASIC is DOS-like, and includes line numbers. Also, I am very new at the specifics of Atari-BASIC. The cool part is that I will be able to test this game on my physical Atari 130XE once finished :).
=========

More projects and news will be posted here at Eaglesoft Labs, and, as usual, releases of games and software posted at my EagleSoft Ltd.

--Tamkis