rvan wrote:

Thanks for your answers.  I look forward to reading your full write-up.  I have looked at a number of Z80 systems, both commercial kitsets and hobbyist builds, with eventual plans to building one myself.  What sets your design apart is the use of the Propeller as the GPU.  I'm not especially well-versed in Z80 graphics architecture (other than the Game Boy's, which I am passingly familiar with), but I would like to know about the interface between the Z80 and the Propeller.  Does the Z80 see the Propeller purely as a memory-mapped peripheral?

As for selling this as a commercial product (if you are still trying to), I think you are in for a hard task. Projects like this are mostly of interest to hobbyists (like ourselves) who like to build things rather than buy them, although you might have some success selling this as a kitset.  There are a number of kitsets out there for the Z80, but I have not seen many targeted towards video games as opposed to general-purpose microcomputer systems (although I haven't been looking for them specifically).  On the other hand, there are many, many video game console kitsets that are not specifically Z80-based.  This means that you are entering a more-or-less saturated market and will have to come up with a unique selling point.

The Propeller from the Z80's point-of-view is nothing more than a memory-mapped video adapter; it sits beside RAM and ROM on the map so accessing it is not a problem. The general architecture of the system is actually more similar to the NES. It's all tile-mapped graphics with a system palette. Writing games for this is surprisingly simple if you're comfortable with assembly and even if you're not, learning the language is not that difficult.

As for selling this...yeah at this stage, I realize that what I'm trying to do is not going to be easy. I coming to grips with the possibility that I may not be as good at coming up with good ideas as I thought. I'm considering going into a partnership electronics venture, and I'll post a thread on that too.

Hey,

I decided to make a separate thread for this.

So, for those of you who saw the parent thread, you know that I'm into electronics. I'm looking into starting an electronics business and my start-up product was supposed to be this 8-bit video game console that I designed a few summers ago, however, I haven't secured a market for it yet, so, it's just collecting dust on my workbench.

I do plan to get some videos up soon. So far I have written Tetris for it. If you're wondering, the language is assembly.

rvan wrote:
BitCruncher wrote:

You should check out the 8-bit console I built recently.

This looks quite interesting.  I would enjoy reading a detailed write-up if you are planning on making one.  I assume you are storing sprite data on the EEPROM and that this is copied to the Propeller's internal RAM on boot?  If so, is the Z80 involved in this process, or does the Propeller access the EEPROM directly?  Also, does your Cartridge ROM also contain your bootloader, or do you have a separate boot ROM?  I am aware this is off-topic for this thread, so you may wish to start a separate thread about this project.

Well, I was planning on doing a write-up for it when I got a software team together, but that hasn't happened yet, so...

It's just as you say; the sprite data is stored on the EEPROM and it is loaded to the Prop on system start-up. During this process, not only is the Z80 involved in the process, but it's doing all the work; The Prop does nothing as it's just a memory device in the system. The bootloader is on a separate ROM.

Thanks guys for all of your input.

To tell a little bit more about myself, I'm starting an electronics business and I'm thinking of starting points; areas where I can begin. I am interested in video games, music, computers, and robotics (to say the least) and I'm just thinking of start-up projects that people would actually buy.

I am 100% willing to build anything computer electronics related. You should check out the 8-bit console I built recently.

http://imgur.com/gallery/VZRax

Thanks again for your input guys.

Hmm. These are interesting. Ah well; back to the whiteboard I guess. There must be something someone hasn't thought of doing in this field.

Nerdsynth does look really cool. The core difference between it and my idea is the core playback style. Nerdsynth has primarily tracker style playback while my idea is based on real-time synthesis (keys, knobs, controls). It would also have a jack out so that you could run it through filters/amps.

Hey Guys,

I'm new to the Chipmusic community but not to the music. I'm sure I'll enjoy my time here.

I am a computer engineer and I have an idea for an "All-In-One" solution to chiptune music production and development and I just wanted to get some input and/or thoughts from the community.

It is to my understanding that chiptune is produced via video game hardware and software (i.e. sequencers, trackers, emulators, etc.) These are all great methods of capturing the classic sounds of the game hardware that we know and love.

I would like to introduce the alternative concept of a singular specialized portable instrument that can produce all of these sounds using a simple user interface like that of a synthesizer.

I thought of this idea because I believe that chiptune has not reached the popularity it believe that it can ultimately achieve. People who are new to the 8-bit / chiptune scene are most likely eager to learn how to produce this kind of music but I feel that they may be intimidated by the quantity and complexity of the equipment necessary to produce over-the-top and awesome chiptune.

I also think that this could be a portable solution to current experience producers who have to move a good deal of equipment around between gigs. Additionally, the device could also help current experienced artists to produce better music as it can be connected with other music effect modules.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

What do you guys think about this project idea?