blastar

Block Panic DX (NeoSD/ROM)

Block_Panic_DX_250101_(ROM).zip
- ROM version, MAME Rom with XML-Driver

Block_Panic_DX_250101_(ROM_Kizuna).zip
- ROM version matching KIZUNA Romset to use the FTC1B in MAME, does not contain any copyrighted data

Block_Panic_DX_250101_(NeoSD).zip
- NeoSD version, supports NeoTris (AES and compatible MVS) ...

Block Panic DX, the NGCD is a diva and will always remain a diva.

The year 2024 has bring some surprises and challenges for me... like a new job that required more of my time than expected.

Another thing that bothered me a lot was the imperfect emulation of the NGCD in MAME. I usually trust this emulator blindly when I code & test with it and that doesn't seem to be a problem with AES & MVS but with the NGCD there seem to be some undocumented exceptions.
During the development I only did ingame tests on real hardware to check the performan...

NGCD Version soon...

There were some questions about the NGCD version which is still missing. BlockPanicDX was a rushed release because I ran out of time due to some problems. So there is an important (for me) feature missing which I am currently implementing and as soon as I am done with it I will release an update including the missing NGCD version.

BLOCK PANIC DX

The year 2023 is coming to an end... and it's XMAS again.

This year I bring you something special... oh wait, another *tris clone? Yes, I called it BLOCK PANIC DX and it's more like classic gameplay. But of course the game comes with a special feature, it is the first free NEOGEO game that offers a full 4-player mode. To realise this, BLOCK PANIC DX supports the NeoTRIS MultiTap, which unfortunately never was released, as well as the KIZUNA FTC1B extension (or compatible replacements),...

Small update

In the last few weeks I have optimised a lot which is hard to show, but currently the AI is more than twice as fast and stacks up to level 29 without problems.
I finished the (in my opinion) most boring part, I created a menu for all the possible options and completed the gameloop, this menu is mandatory on all three HW's.
If you look closely you can see that the new engine comes with 4 different gamemodes and with an additional set of pieces.

4 Player Party

Wow, so many new supporters in the last few days? Who advertised where? Thanks for that... so much interest motivates me! A warm welcome to my new supporters... stay tuned to find your name in a possible "work in progress" release.

In the video you can see the new engine. The first one used a trick to update a big part of the graphics as fast as possible but it was limited in the colours (like for example the black background), I changed it to the normal method which is slower but looks...

Flappy Chicken... another small update flapping in

If I haven't missed any bugs then this release is close to final:

- Fixed a bug in the competition mode.
- Changed the menu (AES/NGCD) and added a new option.
- With the new menuitem 'border on/off' the black border (recommended by SNK) can be disabled. This also expands the playfield to the complete 320pixel.
- Pause mode for AES & NGCD added, press [SELECT].
- All buttons (A to D) can now be used in the game to flap (suggestion from Mega Shocked), this way you don't we...

Flappy Chicken

Here comes a small update for FLAPPY CHICKEN.

One of my patrons (NeoHomeBrew) has reported a GFX glitch (which does not break the game flow)... this update fixes the bug. Furthermore he suggested a competition mode or a real 2Player mode... so I added that too but it's only available on AES & NGCD at the moment.

A welcome also to my two new supporters!

Multiplayer... anyone?

Hello, here's something new from my lab.

Because I was not satisfied with the bots in LOOPTRIS (very inefficient because of the very special playfield) I used what I learned to push the topic a bit. Here is a short video (no sound etc., just for demonstration) about the current state of my *tris-bots development on the NEOGEO.... efficient enough to run 4 at the same time. With working bots it is also easier to debug and test the multiplayer mode when no human players are available. Now...

Flappy Chicken

After some testing, fixing and polishing.... "Flappy Chicken" is ready for your pleasure.... please report any problems.

* Sorry but I am not able to provide a Darksoft version.

Unbelievable, this are only 16 colors!

...while I was looking for inspiration for a more complex project I stumbled across a beautiful one from another creator. I admire the pixel art of Luis Zuno since a long time because he knows how to create very colorful graphics and animations with as less colors  as possible. A few days ago he published an interesting game  template... not very complex but fun und cute and with everything needed. I was immediately fascinated and wanted to convert it and insert all NeoGeo related f...

Looptris Plus

Oh my... it's Xmas... again.

This year was very busy and stressful for me with little time to work on my own projects... this saddens me a lot and I can only apologize to my supporters.

As a little present I bring you an improved version of Looptris - Looptris Plus.
 + Background music
 + You can start a vs. game against the AI/CPU
 + Menu for selection of the game mode and options
 + Gameplay is a bit faster
 + 3 levels of difficulty a...

LoopTris

HoHoHo, Santa seems to have forgotten this little present for you... but better late than never!

Here comes LoopTris, a slightly different implementation of the well-known TETRAMINO gameplay. You can play it in single mode (hiscore), in parallel with a friend (hiscore) or as a competition.

- runs on NGCD,  MVS (Multislot too) & AES

- supports NVRAM & softdips on MVS

- supports MC on AES

Background story to this:

2 months ago I found this 10 yea...

Update - whats going on?

Hi everyone,

sorry for the silence but I am busy with many things at the moment.

Currently I'm trying different ways to avoid the splitscreen - it's technically impressive but not very suitable for a 2 player mode, unfortunately. I've found a very talented person who will support me because the original graphic artist is not available at the moment. The first new animations (e.g. pushing and pulling boxes) are ready and allow new game mechanics.... maybe real coop?

So I'm st...

Small update

A small update, it doesn't change much, some minor changes and bug fixes.

CDZ GameLogo

Besides the loading animation there is another optional file which was not supported in the November release - TITLE_*.SYS. This Files contains data for a gamelogo displayed in the CDZ menu screen. This file is only found in later games and is not supported on the Top- or Frontloader unless it is equipped with a UNIBIOS based on the CDZ. The support of this file with the upcoming release does not change anything, it is only for completeness.

BETA (Patrons only)

Hello patrons,

I'm happy to announce the first version of the new engine, this version should be as complete as possible but certainly not bug free or polished. Please share any bugs and problems you find. 

I program for the hardware and not for emulators... that means some parts need the support of raster effects and perfect timing - I am sure that will break most emulators... except MAME & MESS with a very accurate emulation.

You are free to post pictures, informa...

How to play..

"HOW TO PLAY" is implemented and works in arcade and home mode. Here is a short video showing this feature in MVS-mode. I have tried different methods but ended up abusing the gameeninge itself... it's like a commented attractmode...  might need some polishing but works great.

Now all pieces of this puzzle are in place (if I haven't missed anything) and I can finally focus on fixing all bugs (some missing SFX and GFX glitches) and polishing.

Update 11/2020 -

I have stopped working on the engine itself - so far I am very happy with it (most of it runs at 60fps). I have added automatic framskip to avoid slowdowns, the possibility to scroll up or down the viewing area and some other more or less visible changes and optimizations... like the healthiness extended from 3 to 5 because with the new movements of the enemies the game is really hard (even in single player mode). 

Now I will focus on the remaining missing components like the anima...

Full attract loop in MVS mode

I still call it NeoGeoCD techdemo because this hardware is the main target, but anyway, here comes the full attract loop in MVS mode... because of the iconic NeoGeo jingle.  

IceWorld ist back..

The ice world theme works again, everything from the old version is integrated (what a boring task). The enemies in this world also got new and better movements and can now track you more easily... no easy escape anymore ;-)

A visible change is the color of player 2, it is now orange and this is also visible in the score/life display... but the colors are not fixed yet.

2 Player Mode Preview

I've been thinking a lot about a 2 player mode and I've also been looking at a lot of games to find ideas for a working simultaneous 2 player mode... without making the levels more linear that's not possible and I don't like that idea of linear levels.

So I chose another way... maybe some people will dislike it but personally I wonder why no other game on the NeoGeo has ever used this cool feature. Here is a short preview of the current version, I hope you like it.

-=> 3 layer ...

Delay

Sorry but the next version will be delayed for a few days - so no July update. All the changes will take more time because it is more a rewrite than an update.

- new core with MVS/AES compatibility

- simultaneous 2 player mode

- all the necessary tweaks and roll outs that a simultaneous gameplay requires because most calculations have to be done twice.

- some other improvements

- after rebuilding the whole physics system I just add a better movement and AI to the...

a step back can also be a big step forward

Hello patreons and visitors,

another developer told me that I should always develop a module version (even if it is not my target platform) and then 'downgrade' it to CD... the other way would be more difficult. I trust him and so I started to work on it - it was easier than I thought and I got the whole MVS/AES/COINS/CREDITS/MULTISLOT etc stuff working. Unfortunately the structure of the code has to be changed for that. Together with the changes for the 2 player mode it's a lot of work...

Two player mode? Anyone?

Among other things I started working on a two-player mode for the Jump&Run - now I would like to know: what is your favourite?

NeoNoPanepon2 is not dead but..

Hello  everyone,

NeoNoPanepon2 is not dead but it gives me a big headache - more complex than expected, especially in 2 player mode. Since it doesn't make sense to publish an unfinished puzzle game I have another project I was working on besides for you. Even if you don't think so but this game was easier to create than a puzzle game and the hardest part was the level design.

- only available for the neogeocd (for now)

- 2 large level but limited time

- saves high...

2 Player vs.

Sorry for the missing updates in the last months but I was very busy with my new job and my family... now i am back with an important update.

The older version, which looked really good, used code which was already some years old. It works very well and was fast but it was not so easy to implement other functions. The gameloop is also very complex (not to compare with other match-3-games) so I had to try a little how to do that and rewrite a bigger part of the engine. Now I'm working pa...

Those large blocks!

The first draft of the engine was unfortunately not able to handle the 'large garbage blocks' correctly so I had to rewrite some parts, it took some time to experiment - but that was a necessary step because these blocks are an important part for a story-mode or a 2-player-mode, possibly also for a puzzle-mode!? 

Here's a short video showing the new gameplay/feature, all unnecessary stuff (music, graphics, scores etc) I turned off temporarily!

At the moment I insert these large bloc...

ネオのパネポン 2 - SunnyLand Edition

Here is my current project - it has the subtitle 'sunnyland edition' because of the great graphic-pack I use. I have to adapt it a little bit to my needs but it fits great to a puzzlegame. This short video shows the simple gamplay (endless), many things are still missing but the sound (incl. CDDA) works.. also on real hardware. 

The gameplay isn't complete yet, I still have some ideas that  aren't added. After that i'll take care of the other game modes.