TI-83 Game Clones

[batteries]

Disclaimer: I'm brand-new to the scene.

The graphics capabilities of the Gamebuino appear similar to the TI-83/83+ (although slightly higher res @ 96x64). ( Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-LAkTP4G2E ) There are lots of YouTube videos on TI-83 games. TI-83 games are written in asm or basic. Would it be possible to copy or clone some games from the TI-83 library without much hassle? (Recoding from scratch might even be something I'm willing to do.)

There are a lot of Nintendo game clones for the TI-83 and I imagine some of the more popular franchises would hold some inspiration and interest for the masses.

TI-83 Games: http://www.ticalc.org/pub/83plus/

[Sorunome]

As the Ti-83+ has a Z80 processor and the Gamebuino an AVR processor they work very differently, so the easy answer is no, you wouldn't be able to just simply make something so that you can run ti-83+ games on it.
Then again, another issue is, as you pointed out, the screen is a different size.

The easier thing would be to just inspire yourself of those ideas and write your own version of those from scratch.

Another issue with just emulating the ti-83+ is the waaaaaay larger RAM you have available, 24K and some free areas all across the OS, the screen drivers are way different, the games might use more keys etc.

The upside is that the gamebuino has a more powerful processor, though. But then again, if it had to emulate the Z80 I'm not too sure if that would help any.



Also, lol, being active in the TI-83+/84+ programming community i find it funny you bring it up ^.^

[Marcus]

Wow, some of these TI game adaptions look very good. It would be great to see some of those.

I love RPG games (Secret of Mana, Zelda,...) it would be great to see one for the Gamebuino I started making sprites for Mana but have only done a little bit of coding so far.

The lower screen resolution and lack of gray-scale (except one / some hacks) make it challanging (but also fun)

I'm also guessing that you would have to rewrite all of it; I programmed a few simple things for the classical gameboy in C a few years ago, and Arduino/Gamebuino is much easier IMO.

[batteries]

Thanks for the awesome replies! That's exactly the the info I was looking for.

I do intend on making some games that shamelessly borrow designs from the Ti-Calc library.

The lower res on the Gamebuino is restrictive but i think restriction inspires innovation and creativity.

Next question: I don't have much experience with sprites. What's the best way to create and manage (lots of) sprite data for coding and testing?

[Sorunome]

[...]
The lower screen resolution and lack of gray-scale (except one / some hacks) make it challanging (but also fun)
[...]

Believe it or not, but the gray is also hacked for those calcs, they only have a B/W screen, too. And the gamebuino screen driver is actually more powerful and quicker than that one of the 83+/84+

[Marcus]

Oh, I did not know My brother hat a TI but that was some time ago.