lance_ewing

7 ms·

1.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
For a couple of reasons: The first is that there are already a couple of projects using FPGA to create a VIC chip replacement, e.g. Victor by Jon Brawn, and FATVIC by Thomas Lövskog. The main trigger to try a Pico 2 version was when I saw s
2.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
My original VIC 20 machine that I had in the 80s still works as well, but a few things have been replaced along the way. I still have the same 24K expansion cart that my Dad built 40 years ago and it also still works.
3.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
I'm also using the knowledge gained from reverse engineering the VIC chip to contribute to a soon to be released VIC chip replacement device called the PIVIC, powered internally by a Pico 2 chip.
4.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Yeah, it was very difficult, but a lot of fun. We used to book the school library's BBC Micro out after school and spend an hour or two each day trying to beat it. I still remember working out how to use the torches to guide the little
5.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
JVIC (the libGDX version of JVIC) actually started out as mainly an Android project 10 years ago, but I didn't release it at that time. It was only a few months ago that I decided to add the html platform as a target, tidied it up in g
6.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Do you mean specifically the Frogger game? Or in general? - If you mean in general, it hopefully does sound very close to the original VIC 20. I actually reversed engineered the VIC chip schematic from photos of the silicon chip, so the sou
7.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
I probably started the same way. I remember spending forever typing in BASIC games from magazines and books from the local library. They never worked straight off, so a bit of "debugging" was usually required, i.e. spot the typos.
8.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Maybe at 10 years old, I wasn't thinking much about working, but the VIC 20 started me on the programming path, with an IBM PC being our next home computer a few years later.
9.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Yeah, libGDX is my go to now for web-based emulators and interpreters. JVIC is the third one I've written now. The other two are JOric and AGILE: https://oric.games/ https://agi.sierra.games/ They all
10.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Back in the 80s, I was lucky that my father was an electronics design engineer, so he built a 24K expansion cartridge for us. I agree that there were some great games for the unexpanded VIC 20 though, such as Rockman. I loved that game. So
11.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Yeah, that one is a great online emulator. I've played around a bit with that one. I have fond memories of the BBC Micro from my school days, especially the game Castle Quest. How does it handle being run on a mobile phone? My main foc
12.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
Exactly the same story with me. I got my VIC 20 when I was about 10, in the mid 80s, and that is how I learnt how to program and how I knew what I wanted to do as a career.
13.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
In what way did it crash? What browser and device did you try running it on? - There might be an issue where its possible to start typing before the program load sequence has finished, e.g. where it has queued a "RUN" command for
14.
by lance_ewing 8mo ago
The code and instructions on how to use it are here: https://github.com/lanceewing/jvic
15.
JVIC: New web-based Commodore VIC 20 emulator(vic20.games)
39 points by lance_ewing 8mo ago|39 comments
16.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
Only 9 hours remaining in the crowd funding campaign, but already over 400% funded, so this thing is really happening.
17.
Sierra On-Line Documentary to be made with impressive ex-employee cast(backerkit.com)
32 points by lance_ewing 2y ago|4 comments
18.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
This video that Ken Williams put on Youtube a year or so back has got a short bit showing someone using the machine in the Sierra On-Line office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY_JbTYXVjg It is at about 1:47 into the vide
19.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
Yes, certainly, and any gaps could be filled in with what the NAGI project provides: https://github.com/sonneveld/nagi . NAGI is a fan-made AGI interpreter created by Nick Sonneveld. He disassembled the Sierra's or
20.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
Yeah, I do still enjoy them. I have been having to play through a few of them again recently in order to test my own AGI interpreter ( https://agi.sierra.games ). For example, I've recently been playing King's Quest IV o
21.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
That scene at the end, where they land in the car park of the "Redwood" building in Oakhurst where the Sierra offices were, was one of my favourite parts. Like many of you I'm sure, I dreamed of one day working for Sierra in
22.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I think my PC still had EGA when I first played SQ4. I don't think there was a separate EGA version as such. I think it was the VGA version but I believe the interpreter supported a dithered mode that used the EGA palette but was dithe
23.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I can't remember what the specific puzzles in Space Quest II were that I got stuck on. I think the first one was probably still down on the planet. And I can't say for certain now why I was able to finish SQ3 so quickly. I guess t
24.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
> MWC was a C compiler from the Mark Williams company that was very popular in those days. Since publishing the article, I discovered some fragments of not yet linked compiled AGI interpreter obj files from the slack space on a KQ3 disk
25.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I was also wondering about these numbers when putting the article together. The photo of the 2.0D disk is of my own personal copy of the game. I assume the number is unique to that disk, but I haven't spent any time at all researching
26.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I found it very difficult to find references to it online. There is a reference in the "Hackers" book by Steven Levy to Sierra On-Line having one (he uses the name "Form Master"), and former Sierra employees have mention
27.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I bought Space Quest II and III on the same day, back in 1989. I think it was on a Saturday morning, and by the end of the next day, I'd already finished Space Quest III. But Space Quest II took a lot longer, more like 2 months to fini
28.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
I was wondering the same thing. I was the first post, then saw the second one. I was quite surprised to see this third one really take off like this. Yeah, perhaps it does depend on the time of day? - A big thank you to smcameron for repost
29.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
Yeah, sorry, that was a poor choice of words on my part. I have reworded the sentence slightly to hopefully avoid the legal implication.
30.
by lance_ewing 2y ago
Yeah, this could well be true. I was using a Hex Editor a lot back in the late 80s and early 90s, and that involved many of the Sierra games. Most of the time I was looking at the files installed on a hard disk though, as I generally instal

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