Recruiting people for arcade shinobi md port

[villahed94]

Hi, after a quite discussed thread about if the original shinobi is possible on the genesis/md, i examinated the rom and the specs of the system 16A board, and decided to create a faithful arcade port of the original Shinobi.
The project is possible because System 16A and genesis share quite a lot of stuff, such as YM2151 being very similar to Ym2612, it´s not very sprite demanding and we have some extra chips on the genesis/md.
However this project is quite challenging and i need some help with this stuff:



VDP: Somebody that can port the graphics/sprites to the VDP format.
SOUND: The audio is perfectly compatible to the YM2612, but needs some rewriting.
Change to the behaviour of input/output

Any help is appreciated, and will be credited.

[Cornholio857]

An idea:

If Melf approves, you should put the Sega-16 logo in the game. Have it show when you load up the game like how the SonicRETRO logo is shown when you load up Sonic Megamix.

[villahed94]

An idea:

If Melf approves, you should put the Sega-16 logo in the game. Have it show when you load up the game like how the SonicRETRO logo is shown when you load up Sonic Megamix.

Of course i´ll do. I´ll also another edition which will have the Sega logo as if it would have been oficially released.

[villahed94]

Need people please!

[oldskool]

I'm not a programmer in any way, if I was I would totally volunteer. Do you have any programming experience of this sort?

[KnightWarrior]

Why??

Revenge of Shinobi is better then Shinobi

[villahed94]

Why??

Revenge of Shinobi is better then Shinobi

We need the original one too, it would be jawusum.
I´ve got some programming knowledge of 68k, but nots about VDP nor YM

[tomaitheous]

A few questions.. Did you make an official thread for this at any of the MD/Gen related dev forums? If so, I'd like to make some suggestions/comments there. If not, maybe Melf can make a programming subforum? There are quite a few members in the Genesis dev community that don't read this forum very often, or at all. Spritesmind is a good place for starting an official thread.

[Lan-Di]

maybe Melf can make a programming subforum

I vote for this! :D

[djshok]

I don't really have any help to offer, but you have my best wishes. I hope you can pull this off. It'd be cool to have another Shinobi game for the Genesis.

[shinobimusashi]

No programming experience here, but

Regardless of how good Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, and Shinobi 3 are, I would pay good money for a decent version of arcade Shinobi

Address for Donations? ***starts gathering change from the neighborhood kids***

p.s. I never "pre order" anything.

[Bramsworth]

Oh no, not one of these again.

I doubt anyone is going to do anything for you until you do something first. You need to prove you can program, make something to show you're not just just trying to get everyone to make a whole game for you.

Friendly advice, that's all. And common sense.

And good god people, don't pay the guy!! You don't even know if he can or WILL do anything. This could end up like every other project where nothing happens.

[shinobimusashi]

I was really just thinking of what would be possible if instead of buying import's and wasting our money on the xbox live arcade, we someway/somehow all pooled our money and resources together for a new Genesis game of some sort.

[Bramsworth]

It just isn't a good idea to be donating to something that hasn't even started yet. Plus what does money have to do with anything to begin with? I didn't see the OP mention that he needs funding to be motivated to do anything(that is, if he even can do anything himself). if you want a new game, look at Pier Solar. =p

villahed94, whats the extent of your knowledge? Can you really program anything? It's a good rule of thumb never to start a topic for a project that's not even off the ground yet. If you're acting as the head of it, you should actually put some work of your own out first before expecting others to just start different aspects of it with no base. Otherwise I see no reason you need to be the one calling the shots on it.

[shinobimusashi]

You must have misunderstood me, I meant that I would pay Good Money for a completed cartridge, like the way some people buy Alien Soldier repro's from here from time to time.


what does money have to do with anything to begin with? I didn't see the OP mention that he needs funding to be motivated to do anything(that is, if he even can do anything himself)

What planet are you on? Money makes the world go round.

[BeaglePuss]

If this project becomes a reality, I'd be more than willing to help out with the actual production aspect (EPROM programming, cart assembly, artwork, etc.).

[Bramsworth]

I'm only commenting on the fact its a bit ridiculous to be talking about funding something that's at zero right now. And personally, I don't have any reason to put any faith in this "project" at all yet. Money makes the world go round, sure. I just wouldn't want to see something that asked for no money to begin with to see your post and then start seeing this as something for profit...

I may be coming off as a jerk here. Whatever. I never find many posts I care to respond to unless it makes me feel like complaining ;) I've just grown way too pessimistic when I see topics like this started. I can't count the amount of times I see something like this: someone gets an idea, or sees other people talking about it, then they start a topic stating that they're officially commencing this project themselves. Then they ask if anyone would be willing to help with all the sound and graphics, and a good programmer? And then the main OP leaves it up in the air exactly what role they themeselves play in the whole thing before seeking out people to do work for them.

Honestly, this may seem dumb, but even the fact the OP, not 30 minutes having made one post, already made another post in this topic yelling "Need people please!" doesn't give me much confidence in this.

Yeah, this projects never going anywhere. Trust me. If I'm wrong(and by all means, I wouldn't mind), I'll gladly eat my hat :) No harm done.

[villahed94]

I have some 68k asm experience

[villahed94]

I'm only commenting on the fact its a bit ridiculous to be talking about funding something that's at zero right now. And personally, I don't have any reason to put any faith in this "project" at all yet. Money makes the world go round, sure. I just wouldn't want to see something that asked for no money to begin with to see your post and then start seeing this as something for profit...

I may be coming off as a jerk here. Whatever. I never find many posts I care to respond to unless it makes me feel like complaining ;) I've just grown way too pessimistic when I see topics like this started. I can't count the amount of times I see something like this: someone gets an idea, or sees other people talking about it, then they start a topic stating that they're officially commencing this project themselves. Then they ask if anyone would be willing to help with all the sound and graphics, and a good programmer? And then the main OP leaves it up in the air exactly what role they themeselves play in the whole thing before seeking out people to do work for them.

Honestly, this may seem dumb, but even the fact the OP, not 30 minutes having made one post, already made another post in this topic yelling "Need people please!" doesn't give me much confidence in this.

Yeah, this projects never going anywhere. Trust me. If I'm wrong(and by all means, I wouldn't mind), I'll gladly eat my hat :) No harm done.

I did that because i hate when this type of threads starts to go down on the list to finally dissappear.

[segagamer]

Why??

Revenge of Shinobi is better then Shinobi

I have to differ, even though I like Revenge of Shinobi, I much prefer the arcade version due to the faster paced gameplay and the challenging boss stages in general. And who can resist the bonus stage!!!

[KnightWarrior]

By looking at it on youtube, it's still blan for a Genesis Game....

[villahed94]

i´m starting to dissassemble the arcade roms to check their coding...

[tomaitheous]

Well, I guess this is the only thread for this...

Here's a few pointers. Don't worry about the video/input just yet. Get the binaries of the arcade and put them into the correct address range. Get the code to boot on any 68k debugger. That's the first step.

This should help: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=wcfW23PU

That's from the mame source code. B3 looks to be the first rom, mapped to $00000000, contains the vector table (and very importantly the reset vector).

Secondly, I highly recommend finding an assembler that will let you include this binary *BUT* also allow you to redefine/overlap ORG addresses. It doesn't matter if the binary is in hex (text) or not. As long as you can redefine address over the exiting include, to make changes. This is very important. Gives you the ability to directly change code, without disassembling it at all, *and* have a direct record of what you changed (let as many comments as you can).

Third, more important than finding people that know the Genesis VDP (which is easy. It's pretty straight forward chip) is that you need to find someone that's familiar with System16 VDP. That's much-much more important. Because you need to understand how the 68k map/sprite code works. Although, it's probably pretty straight forward (tile address offsets in the map entries, etc).

Worry about sound last.

This project is a little different than the one I did for NES 2 PCE. I made video and sound emulator code so that I wouldn't have to deal with RE'ing the map and sprite handling routines. Plus, my goal was to make it modular (for other games to use). It also takes a good amount of CPU time to do as well. You have a specific target - a single game. It'll take a bit of work, but it'll be realtime speed for replacement map/sprite routines (won't have the overhead of realtime translation). On top of that, you might need addition layer of code to run on top, or spy on the map/sprite routines. Remember, the System16 uses ROM for sprites/tiles. It doesn't have to preload VRAM with any such GFX. The Genesis does not, so you have to take this into account.

Edit: Oh and I forgot. Mednafen has Genesis emulation, as well as a debugger. It's open source, so you can add to the debugger windows (I did this early on for PCE debugging, but the author made official changes so I didn't have to bother anymore).

[NeoVamp]

i´m starting to dissassemble the arcade roms to check their coding...

Thats good, now you're actually going somewhere!

You could also use a debug emulator like GENS GS to see how the Genesis Shinobi's work,
then maybe you could create an engine from that and then change it to behave more like the arcade version,
(will probably require extensive decompiling/figuring out though)

Then once an engine is somewhat working you can look into recruiting people for the eye and ear candy part.

[tomaitheous]

i´m starting to dissassemble the arcade roms to check their coding...

You know that B3 and B1 (and other roms) are interleaved byte roms, right? You need to combine them back in order to correctly step through the 68k code.

[villahed94]

My current proposed deadline is to having it released by Xmas ´11 or before

[NeoVamp]

My current proposed deadline is to having it released by Xmas ´11 or before

Waaaaaay too early to talk like that.

[-RT]

Why not use Shadow Dancer engine?

[tomaitheous]

Why not use Shadow Dancer engine?

If you have to ask, well... ;)

Also: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=0gZhYbf1

Looks like the game only uses 16k of work ram. Very Nice. Leaves some room for your top layer of code, without worrying about finding free space for vars.

Also gives you the arcade VDP port layouts.

[villahed94]

Maybe shadow dancer can do the work but it would start losing the original engine, which i´m trying to convert.

[sheath]

As long as it gets out before the Mayans destroy us all and the magnetic polls shift, thus creating the great electronics massacre of 2012, I'll be happy . ;)

[Golpezas]

Show us your progress. Last thing I saw was some scrolling stages very well recreated.

[villahed94]

I´m sorry, in fact i haven´t dissassembled it , because of real life time constraints and also because IDA doesn´t want to disassemble it. I´ll try to make a 1 level demo ASAP
Sorry!

[maxxfarras]

I´m sorry, in fact i haven´t dissassembled it , because of real life time constraints and also because IDA doesn´t want to disassemble it. I´ll try to make a 1 level demo ASAP
Sorry!


I cant wait for it! I love shinobi game!