MSXdev'04 entry: Gniffel

Thanks to the MSXdev'04 competition something very unusual has happened this week. In 3 days time, 4 new MSX1 games were released. Who would have thought that was possible, only 2 years ago?

Todays MSXdev'04 release is called Gniffel. It's an addictive German dice game created by Dioniso, who also created another MSXdev'04 entry: T-Virus. On the MSXdev'04 status page you can find a ROM image, instructions and a cartridge-label of the game.

Relevant link: Robsy's MSX Workshop

Comments (15)

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6442)

30-07-2004, 19:17

To play this game with blueMSX, the following line must be added in the romdb.dat file :

30C3F4B7 mirrored Gniffel (2004)(Dioniso)[30C3F4B7]

By viejo_archivero

Paragon (1395)

30-07-2004, 19:26

Wow, a lot of new MSX games! :-). This is great!. We want more! more! more!

By dioniso

Champion (479)

30-07-2004, 19:45

Thank you, mars2000you, BLueMSX is a very good emulator. I will start to use this one instead of the others I used to use (And this time you wrote 'Dioniso' instead of 'Mojonware'! Thanks).

But there's a problem with this game (well, actually not with the game itself but with the emulators). This game is based in ramdom numbers, achieved with the refresh byte, mainly, so in the emulators I usually get the same dice combination. With BlueMSX I can only get three different combinations every time I roll the 5 dice:

4,3,2,1,4 , 6,5,4,3,6 or 2,1,6,5,2 :-(

The AY-3-8910 emulation is very good, but I recommend a real MSX1 with RF cable.

Anyway, without emulators, it would take me longer to code games.

By viejo_archivero

Paragon (1395)

30-07-2004, 19:58

I've tested your game in my HB10P and it works fine!. Good job, Dionisio!.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6442)

30-07-2004, 20:00

That's indeed annoying ... I will report the problem ... My first impression is that we have a refresh problem, because to get more accuracy and avoid blockages of the emulator, blueMSX uses regular refresh of the emulation ... if this is the case, than it should mean that we need to rewrite the Z80 part and to make it (partially ?) independant of the refreshing system.

As you know, this Z80 emulation rewriting will be made for Turbo-R support in the future

By dioniso

Champion (479)

30-07-2004, 20:11

Thank you Jon. Can you see (hear?) the difference with the RF cable and the SCART? Drums and envelopes sound much better.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6442)

30-07-2004, 20:22

About "Mojonware" in place of "Dioniso" in the blueMSX rom database for the game T-Virus :

Sorry for the confusion ! I'll correct that in the next official release that I'll upload this week-end !

By dioniso

Champion (479)

30-07-2004, 20:25

"About "Mojonware" in place of "Dioniso" ..."

Je,je. Don't worry. If you can change it then do it, but if you can't it's alright.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6442)

30-07-2004, 20:29

It will be very easy to change that ... because on the Resource page of the blueMSX, you can always download the last official version of the rom database that is now fully independant from the emulator (it will be the same in the future for the cas and dsk databases !)

By dioniso

Champion (479)

30-07-2004, 20:40

I was wondering if I could download the ROM db somewhere ... I can't make SOUKOBAN work. Obviously, from the official web-site. I'll download it right now.

By dioniso

Champion (479)

30-07-2004, 20:43

OK, sorry. I've seen it's not updated already.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6442)

30-07-2004, 21:36

For Soukoban, the line to add in the romdb.dat file is :

D523BE9F mirrored Soukoban Pocket Edition (2004)(Karoshi Corp.)[D523BE9F]

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

30-07-2004, 23:07