New Dragon 32/64 Software

A place to discuss everything Dragon related that doesn't fall into the other categories.
Mdemon101
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 4:50 pm

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by Mdemon101 »

Nice to see we've had a few posts on this thread. It would be interesting to know of we can get some new software developed and released if there's still people out there that want it. I have never programmed and wouldn't know where to start but happily contribute to a Kickstarter project. Someone on another thread asked whether there was a Beachhead clone ever released. I don't believe there was but worth a try?
zephyr
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Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:18 am

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by zephyr »

Fahrfall is a new game by John W. Linville.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4613&p=10057
Alastair
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Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:33 pm

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by Alastair »

pser1 wrote:The game [Knights & Demons] was developed for the Spectrum with nice graphics.
The port to Dragon has been done just using the semigraphics-4, painful, to me :-(
It's a pity they didn't take the time to learn how to program it with the same graphic quality as the spectrum version ....
According to Google Translate the programmer acquired his Dragon just a few days before creating the Dragon version, the port being mostly recycled MSX code (Spanish page), so it's little wonder that he did not have the time to learn how to make better use of the graphics.
drmarkb
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 4:13 pm

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by drmarkb »

BBass wrote:Regarding Ed Scio, he also wrote Wizards Quest which was I understand was the prequel to Airball.

Not sure of anything else though.
Of course....I am an idiot- I even keep Airball and WQ together on the shelf together....
Reading fail on my part.....
sorchard
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Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:43 pm
Location: Norwich UK

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by sorchard »

robcfg wrote:Don't give up!

Today we have better understanding and tools that may help recover those tapes, and I would love to see your game!

I also think that ROTABB was quite impressive.

Good luck! And if you need some help, we are here for you ;)
Just a quick update on the incomplete 'Black Planet' game:

Incredibly, my 30 year old cassette deck is still working and I spent an afternoon capturing wav files from several cassettes I found in a box in the loft. It was a bit of a struggle but I think I've got the key files. There are quite a few binaries to move to the right places in the D64 memory map plus the in progress section of source code. There must have been a tool to automate this process but so much time has passed I can't remember.

Looks like I've got myself a jigsaw to piece together! If I can't figure it out, I'll upload the files anyway in case someone else would like a go.

Incidentally, I don't know what tricks other people are using to capture old cassettes, but I found that passing the signal through a 2n2 capacitor helped greatly by blocking DC & low frequency noise. I also found that chopping off the start of the leader where the AGC is messing around helps things too.
Stew
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Bosco
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Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:49 pm
Location: Nottingham, UK

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by Bosco »

Hi.

I've uploaded a little Dragon/CoCo game I've been working recently.

It's my first attempt at anything like this. If you watch the title screen, I've included some `thanks' to users who have helped me along the way.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4881

Cheers.
sorchard
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Location: Norwich UK

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by sorchard »

Mdemon101 wrote:Does anyone know of any software that was under development by any of the Dragon software houses that never saw the light of day? For instance did Microdeal release everything they had under development? I would also be interested to know if the gentleman who produced Airball did anything else for the Dragon.
After a lot of forensic reconstruction I've got the Black Planet demo working (The Kouga Software game that never was) I've written a loader routine to put the various bits into the right places in memory but is otherwise original code more than 20 years old.

Notes:
D64 required
Right joystick
Up/down arrow keys select different weapons (This conflicts with using cursor keys as joystick in emulator)
Clear key quits
Attachments
bp.cas
(17.96 KiB) Downloaded 251 times
Stew
Mdemon101
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 4:50 pm

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by Mdemon101 »

We seem to be building up a bit of a head of steam here so thanks for everyone who has posted. Just a quick question - how do I convert the attached Black Planet cas file to run on a Dragon 64?
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CaptainNemo
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Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:23 pm

Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by CaptainNemo »

Great job, sorchard, very impressive!!!
Spaceship, torrents, weapons and background -- everything looks polished and elegant!
Do you think you'll complete it sometime in the future? I love it so far!


That enemy-seeking spiraling side missile is my favorite weapon...
jedie
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Re: New Dragon 32/64 Software

Post by jedie »

Wow, didn't know that this is possible on the Dragon!

Not enough memory on a dragon 32 to run?
... too many ideas and too little time ... Related stuff written in Python:
Dragon 32 emulator / PyDC - Python Dragon 32 converter: https://github.com/jedie/DragonPy
DWLOAD server / Dragon-Lib and other stuff: https://github.com/6809
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