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Topic: Port Star Control to GBA? (Read 11898 times)
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marcuslycus
Zebranky food
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Gender: 
Posts: 5
Quack!
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Hi!
I suggest that the Star Control Games should be Ported over to the Game Boy Advance! The graphical level on the Nintendo system is somewhere between Super Nintendo and Playstation 1. I am sure that the system can perform all the necessary actions to make Star Control a reality on the GBA.
Already classic PC games have been ported over to the GBA, like Doom, (Doom II and Quake is in the works), Wolfenstein, and there is a new Duke Nukem game similar to Duke Nukem 3d.
The GBA cartridges may even be able to hold both Star Control 1 and 2 on a single cart! Plus, multiplayer is what the GBA system is all about, so Melee would be a REALLY cool multiplayer option!
What does everyone else think of porting Star Control to GBA?
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Joe Larson
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Now, I actually suggested this on a gba forum. I agree with you that the GBA has the power. (TFB may be able to make the bling from this. Who knows. Maybe they're already planning it.) It's graphic plane is a little bit smaller than snes but bigger than the svga that sc1 and 2 were made in. And a 4 player melee would rock, I agree. I suppose someone could download the development kit at gbxdev.com and start on it, eh?
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JonoPorter
Enlightened
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Posts: 656
Don't mess with the US.
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Ive been thinking that since the GBA first came out. 
i wonder if you could do the same with X-com! 
of course who would do it?
im not much of a programer but i think it would be a-bit harder to remake the game for the GBA.
its not like you can download games onto your gameboy 
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Black Monk
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http://www.nintendo.com/systems/gba/gba_specs.jsp
http://gbd.4t.com/articles/0005%20-%20GBA%20Specs.htm
240x160 resolution
2.9 inch TFT Color LCD Screen (non-backlit)
40.8mm x 61.2mm screen size
32,768 possible colors
32,768 simultaneous colors in bitmap mode
511 simultaneous colors in character mode
32bit ARM7 Custom @16.7Mhz, with reduced Z80 core for Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation.
32 Kbyte + 96 Kbyte VRAM (in CPU), 256 Kbyte WRAM (external of CPU)
Max Catridge size: 512Mbit. (64 MB)
GPU: Nintendo Custom. Supported functions:
- Hardware sprite scaling, rotation, distortion.
- XY scroll, rotation scroll.
- Multi layers.
- 4096 maximum (may not be final) hardware sprites, with maximum of 256 sprites on a single line.
- No dedicated 3D acceleration.
SPU: Nintendo Custom:
- 2 hardware sound channels.
- Maximum sampling rate @44.1KHz.
-------------
So I guess the 3D0 stuff won't make it in--not enough CPU power to decompress the sounds? Not enough RAM to store the sounds as they are being decompressed?
The resolution would be scrunched down from even the original PC versions of SC1 and SC2.
I'd think that MAYBE SC1 could be ported to GBA. Then again, what about actually getting it to the GBA? Anyone here able to make GBA carts? I SUPPOSE you could make a mini-CD-R that fits in the GameCube and somehow use that GameCube to interface with a GBA--but I don't know how that works. So if you need anything with the GBA to interface with the GameCube ANYWAY, then you're still stuck.
Practicality-wise, I don't think it would work out too well. Sure, Doom was ported and apparently looks nice, but that was a commercial release--money backed it and made the cartridges. I'd assume you'd need money to pull off ANY GBA port of SC1 or SC2--and then you'd have to figure out what type of compromises you'd have to make due to hardware, storage, CPU, and even the interface.
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Casey Monroe
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This can be done. There are commercial products that allow you hook a special oversized flash card to your pc and download a ROM into it, then play it on your GBA. Check http://www.consolevision.com/ for more info.
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Black Monk
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Errrr... where on that site?
So we'd need to buy a compact flash card of a certain size (64 MB I assume?) and a PC compact flash reader?
Plus a compact flash adaptor for the GBA?
It kinda sounds like a pain in the ass. Eh, maybe someone will try porting UQM but it seems just as likely to happen as a Dreamcast port. At least those can use regular CD-Rs.
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Eric D. Smith
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Whereas it certainly would be possible to redo the graphics, downsize the sound samples, and rework the code, there are three distinct problems inherent with porting to GBA. (although, it would be sooooo cool) Otherwise, the GBA should have little difficulty inperforming the task with the right coding.
A) Getting Nintendo to market it. For any of you who owned an N64 you will remember all the promised titles that never made the console. Nintendo had a really nasty habbit of being controlling of it's software titles and development hardware. Not to mention that the only company who is allowed to manufacture game carts for GBA is... You guessed it.. Nintendo. Speaking witha buddy of mine (He created *snicker* Mary Kate and Ashleys pocket organiser for the GBC) regailed me of the problems he had in dealing with the big "N". They want their money. Period.
B) Accolade (or whoever owns them) licence problems with the title. This very problem has been spoken about before in reguards to the title the game now posesses. Not really a "problem" per-se , but it's just a little wierd calling SC - Ur-Quan Masters.
C) Finding a bunch of coders to get cracking on it for little pay, bad food, no sleep and.. oh, wait.. they do that anyway.. Maybe not a problem then 
I'm not saying it's impossible, but if Nintendo gets wind that someone is selling carts for their handheld system without giving them a cut, they're gunna be pissed and sue the crap out of anyone they possibly can. That's why it kinda has to go thru them. In other words, the only thing that could get SC on the GBA is a fat wad of cash. *sniff*
Arcain.
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UNCHAIN THE SPATHI!!!
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Black Monk
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Heh, was it really that hard to just link directly to:
http://zelda.times.lv/gba/gameboy/gba_flash_advance_linker.htm
http://zelda.times.lv/gba/gameboy/gba_flash_2_advance_linker.htm
I'd have figured that since you had intimate knowledge of this you'd have a link handy... guess not.
http://zelda.times.lv/gba/gameboy/gba_flash_advance_card.htm
The sucky part is that the storage seems to be proprietary. So... can't just use existing CompactFlash or SmartMedia if you have it.
So the 64 Mb link plus media costs around $100 plus shipping. The media alone starting at 64 Mb seems to be $100 and up.
The 512 Mb (same size as a GBA cartridge) is around $250? I only saw it for sale as a bundle with a link, but since the links seem to be for free (judging from the 64 Mb and 128 Mb link/bundle prices) I'd guess this is close to what a bare card would cost.
So you pay $250 for 64 MB of space. Or $100 for 8 MB of space. I don't think even the PC version of SC2 will fit in only 8 MB so there'd have to be cuts with that right off.
GBA games might fit 2 or 3 per 64 Mb card, but this is a PC port and the content is geared towards basically no space limits and a larger screen.
Ok, so you downsample all the graphics (yuck) and rip out all the vocal stuff, render the MODs to digital audio and reduce it to something small (8-bit 11.025 KHz mono?) so you can fit it into that 8 MB.
Already that's a ton of content compromise in order to get the largest possible audience... people who have 64 Mb or larger cards. Hopefully there are no 32 Mb cards out there as 4 MB to work with would probably be pure hell.
I wasn't able to check out the ROMs section of that site you pointed me to, but... is this mainly to make copies of GBA games without paying for them? You know, like Dreamcast and PS game piracy?
It kinda seems in bad taste to target an audience who is using this stuff primarily for warezing.
At least with the Dreamcast the community began to openly develop original content for that platform (http://www.dcemulation.com/) and the distribution media is relatively cheap and readily-available (CD-R discs). With the higher hardware baseline you could keep all the media, have higher-resolution OpenGL scaling (or whatnot), and keep the mods (and vocals) for playback on the sound hardware.
I don't mean to be so critical, but if there were ANY console that it'd make sense to port UQM to, I'd think it would be the Dreamcast. While it has a smaller installed base than GBA (I'm guessing), the GBA base that can actually use UQM would be limited to ONLY those who paid at least $100 to buy the flash media adaptor so they could copy games. I'd venture that THAT installed base is much smaller than the Dreamcast installed base.
I don't think the PSOne or PS2 allow for CD-R media as bootable games unless they have been modded? I don't know about X-Box, either, but I don't think they do? Maybe the Gamecube can handle mini-CD-Rs but that would cut things close in regards to capacity, I think, if the GC even allows 3rd-party games to boot from mini-CD-Rs. Heck, didn't even the original 3DO require a license to make a properly-encrypted 3DO game that would boot when inserted in the console?
The DC's advantage is that, basically, there's no limitation on what content you want to put on it. A CD-R, decent hardware, and easy to make self-booting games that work on unmodified Dreamcasts--no $$$ required to get an otherwise free game like UQM to work.
Technically, I guess it would be neat to see UQM running on such ghetto hardware but I see a much more viable alternative for a console platorm in the Dreamcast. I mean, the GBA is in the same boat as the PSOne--you need additional hardware (and $) to get the console to work with "backup" games. DC is nicely unique in that there is no such limitation.
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Black Monk
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BTW, I think a port of the original Star Control to GBA would be cooler. Still, though, there's the installed base issue to look at but I think you'd have much less compromise to make in the way of content.
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Casey Monroe
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The Playstation 2 and X-Box both use DVD-ROM discs. The Gamecube uses a so-far unique format, incompatible with Mini-CDRs or Mini-DVDRs (if such things exist). Hold up mini CDR against a Gamecube disc and you'll discover that the sizes are different.
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Casey Monroe
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And btw--I wasn't thinking of a commercial release. If you created a ROM of SC for the GBA, it could be easily put on a cart using a Flashlinker. Creating the ROM would be the hard part. Or you could even play it on the PC using a GBA emulator.
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Black Monk
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Oh, I'm not talking about a commercial release, either.
I'm more thinking about, "who will actually be able to play this game?" It'd suck for someone to put a ton of time and energy into a port (ANY port) and have only three people play it--especially with the major content editing that would have to go on with a GBA port. I mean, that's not an insubstantial piece of work, eh.
If I had a GBA, I'd have to buy at least $100 of stuff, probably much more in order to play the game. From a GBA player's perspective, that'd suck to find out that I had to plop down $100+ for a "free" game, eh?
Dreamcast... I guess it's an advert. I was just thinking of distribution. A PS1 can play CD-R-based games but only with a modchip. So it's in the same boat as the DC in my mind, hardware-wise (enough space and hardware that the content doesn't have to be eliminated or reduced in quality) but you'd still have to plunk down $$$ to be able to play the game--PS1 doesn't allow booting off of CD-R without a modchip, right? I only go into depth about the DC because I am most familiar with the DC--mainly because I heard that you didn't need anything special to play backup copies of games, but uh... I... only was interested in that for NEW DC games, yeah.
I don't know too much about the PS2 or XBox. Though they use DVDs I was under the assuption that they could also read CDs. And perhaps CD-Rs? But it's the CD-R part where it gets foggy to me... can you boot a game that would fit on a CD-R? Or will it only tread a CD-sized piece of media as CD-Audio and you're SOL? I just don't know.
Bummer about the GameCube media.
I'd have to wonder about making a GBA port ONLY to have it played in an emulator on a PC. Look, the cool thing about porting UQM to GBA would be that you could play UQM anytime, anyplace. If you're going to play it on a PC you might was well use the full PC version of UQM, right? The novelty of portability can be filled with a laptop, but this isn't about just functionality, it is about the coolness factor.
I agree that it'd be interesting to see UQM on a GBA. It would lose much of the coolness if it were on an emulator, though. There's just something about seeing it running on the actual hardware...
I'm just looking at this more from a practical standpoint. Assuming the PC UQM is done, I'd think it would be easiest to port it to something like SGI-Irix, HP-UX, XBox (depending on how easy it is to get content loaded on it?), some IA-64 based system, OpenBeOS, Dreamcast, then GBA. I don't list the PS consoles because I have heard they are extremely difficult to program for. I don't list the GC because, well, media limitations have already been pointed out.
I believe DC would be a better porting target than GBA. XBox would be even better than DC but I don't know enough about the XBox to start yapping about "it would be kewl if you ported UQM to the XBox!"
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