Drunken Coders [News]

After a long time of not hearing anything from loopy_, here comes the latest version of FlashMe, the replacement firmware for the DS that all of you drunkencoders should have installed:

holy crap, it's a flashme update. about damn time...

Changes:

- Added audio cues to tell you when it's flashing.
- Removed MK2/3 booting code, because it was causing problems.
- Noflashme updated to fix issues with DS Lite.
- Made a "no autoboot" version that won't boot SLOT-2 unless A,B,X,Y are held.

link

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13101

From nornagon:

It's been a while, but I've been quietly hacking away at World of Sand for the past few months in my (abundant...) spare time. Anyhow, it doesn't really feel very beta any more, so 0.1 it is!

For those of you who like to download stuff and check it out before reading the changelogs (it's just like Christmas!), the download.

I didn't really keep a sane changelog, since version control only came in halfway through my hackage, so I'll try to come up with a sort of vaguely complete list off the top of my head

• Speed. Speed, speed, speed -- WoS now utilises both the arm7 and the arm9 in its schemings^Wcalculations, so the peak fps is somewhere around 21fps instead of 10.
  
• New materials: Spout, Snow, Liquid fire, Concrete, Acid and Antimatter, plus several new reactions (those you'll have to discover for yourself :))
  
• You can now draw lines of varying thickness.
  
• You can toggle the flows on and off.
  

I guess that's about all the interesting stuff. I should really get around to posting the source code somewhere. It's horribly, disgustingly ugly, but there's some sneaky stuff done with FIFO and shared iwram that could very well be useful to someone.

Enjoy!

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13102

From DragonMinded's blog:

Hey folks. Just popping in to let you know that DSOrganize 2.7 and the source for 2.7 have been released. I gave up waiting for you guys to find the easter egg because noone bothered to try hard enough. Version 2.7 includes a web browser with forms support. As always, get it on http://www.dragonminded.com/?loc=ndsdev/DSOrganize.

To access the easter egg: Make sure you have a proper install, because resource0.bin is required. Edit your sound.dat file so that the only character is a questionmark (?), and then save it. Start DSOrganize up, go to the main screen, and press start (normally pulls up the about screen). I decided to give up waiting for you guys to find it because you were taking so long that its becoming irrelevant.

To compile the source: I don't know why the hell you would need to do this. DSOrganize already includes DLDI support and you know my stance on modifications. If you absolutely must compile it, you need all four libraries off of my site, as well as DKA r17. DO NOT INCLUDE DSORGANIZE IN YOUR FLASHCARD COMMERCIALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION. Basically, do not make me regret putting this out.

For those who had alpha 3, this is what changed on the browser:

- Added link color changing when you click or if it's visited.
- Added very simple utf-8 support for some sites (no extended codepages).
- Added anchors.
- Made links more sensitive to clicking.
- Added forms support.
- Fixed & problem in some URLs.
- Fixed non breaking spaces ( ,  ) showing up as '?'.
- Fixed bullets and dashes on wikipedia for all fonts.
- Fixed html rendering for sites with bad tables.

Just a reminder...What works:
- Normal HTML rendering
- Clicking links
- Server redirects
- Forward/Back history
- Basic caching
- Forms

What doesn't:
- Cookies
- Images
- Meta Tags
- Javascript and CSS

http://dragonminded.blogspot.com/2007/04/27-and-source-released.html

DSrobo is a project by natrium42 enabling you to extend your lovable DS as a cute little robot that can do more then just drive - for example by pluging in a camera.

Be sure to check what the little thing is capable of by using THIS live preview.

http://www.natrium42.com/shop/robods.php

Uwe has released a program to aid people who are unable to speak.

Hi, I just finished the prerelease of my talking aid. Have a look if you like (documentation included).
Emulator.gba is running on NO$GBA.
Before releasing the final version (and the source) I have to write the german documentation and do some more sound recordings.
Comments are welcome.

http://palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=18094

hewenxie has released a new tactic games inspired by the Final Fantasy Series (FFTA?).

I post my new homebrew game "Final Fantasy Battle" here,
The battle is simple, what in this game
~ control your characters by stylus and pad to attack enemies by throwing balls.
~ also, magic can be used(but now only one magic in this version).
~ different stages and difficulties
~ have sound in this game.
~ can save and load data, DLDI supported.(game will create file FFB.sav in boot automatic)
more playing information can be found in game.

I test it on R4 and patching DLDI, working perfectly.

http://palib.info/forum/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2920&forum=9

Quirky has released a new webbrowser, worth checking out:

It is currently buggy and incomplete. It really does the minimum to allow you to search stuff on Google and that's about it. However, it is proper Free Software (GPL), compiles using all the latest stuff (devkitArm r20, dswifi 0.3d, etc) and there is an issue tracker for you to add your feature wishes/bug reports to.

Please keep in mind:

• It uses wi-fi auto connect. So routers only and configured from an official game, I'm afraid.
  
• It has the font compiled in - originally it read them from the card but...
  
• ... my EZF 5 has stopped working, so DLDI is now more or less un-testable by me.
  
• The keyboard is crap
  
• It has no history feature (yet)
  
• There is no cache (this is good since it means no corruption and bad since it goes slower)
  
• No, it doesn't support Flash, javascript, images, style sheets (or most HTML in fact).
  
• There is a lot of room for optimisation - "make it right, then make it fast"
  
• I can only test on the phat DS, so it might not work at all on the lite.

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13048

Lick have successfully ported FreeType2 library to the DS.

Anyway, FreeType2 (2.3.4) that *should* support:
- TrueType, OpenType and Windows Fonts.
- Monotone vs Antialiased rendering.

I have only tested the initialization of FreeType2 and loaded a font. That all works, but I haven't tried anything beyond that. I kind of released this in a hurry, since I don't have a lot of time on my hands. I will try to squeeze in a font rendering demo this week.

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13061

bob_fossil has released a word wrapping game:

What's new in version 1.00

- New game modes - Time Attack A, Time Attack B and Endless.
- New graphics from DarkanX.
- New font.
- Sound effects.
- Much faster / accurate word generation.
- Multiple difficulty levels.

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13038

This one is not specifically DS, however I know a lot of people out there are interested in console design in general:

"Shipping in a few days from GP2X Stores Worldwide comes what must be considered the Future of Handheld Innovation.

Gamepark have finally released to the Public the Gp2x Commercial Interface Board Cradle it was previously known as the Breakout Board and was for developers only.

The Cradle is a revolution to the handheld gaming community. This device is only for the GP2X but it shows the world what can be done."

http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/the-future-of-handheld-innovation-60659.html

From Cearn's Site:

The Readme:

Last changes:
- (1.7.7): update to grit 0.7 exporter
- (1.7.7): use of register instead of ini-files
- (1.7.7): fixed append mode for C/asm export (more a replace mode now)

What is this tool?:

Usenti is a simple bitmap editor for paletted images, it is the result of me being completely fed up with the lack of dec^H^H^Hany palette support in Paint, and finding the bigger photo applications a little too big for comfort. The basic toolset is very similar to MS-Paint, but often less annoying. The various palette/color manipulation tools like the palette-bar palette swapper, and variable zooms and gridlines can make drawing basic things a lot easier.

The main drive for Usenti has always been for use in GBA development. As such, it has a good exporter to GBA-usable formats. The same one as in grit in fact, so I'll refer you to that for further details.

Personal Comment from gmgl:  2D on the DS uses the same graphics formats as the DS so don't be afraid to use this for DS 2d graphics for libnds, it is among those venerable tools like gfx2gba that really has most of the bugs wrung out of it   Unlike gfx2gba there is some extra palette support options and  the exporter is better for those of us with human memories and most importantly a  reassuring DON'T PANIC header for gba exports.  

http://coranac.com/projects.php

A nice demo from Rajveer showing the start of a racing game.

"Not much has been implemented when compared to what I wanted and it's REALLY SIMPLE, at the moment it's just a ship which can be moved along a single track, but hopefully I aim to one day evolve this into a full game! I'd like some criticism and thoughts, keeping in mind that I've never programmed anything properly before and that this is my first real foray into coding and game development :)"

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13042

bjoerngiesler has released an impressive teaser of his upcoming DSGUI library:

"I'm getting very close to finishing ReadMore; afterwards, I'll document the GUI lib and release it as source code."

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?p=126129#126129

Stravingo has released a new version of his mine-hinting game, Ka-BoOm.

Seems like he added DLDI support, an easter egg and a highscore system.
(Those foreign developers has to write in english if they want anyone to understand what they write...)

http://stravingo.over-blog.fr/article-10130703.html

3D_geek has released a preview of his nearly complete game called hardball

"Anyway - all that's left is sound effects/music - plus some special case collision detection (so you can actually score goals by shooting the ball into the 'crane buckets' and so the AI code knows where to aim for when it scores goals). There are also some final bits like scoring and some icons on the bottom screen to show who has the ball at the moment - plus 'game over' and restart code. (I've temporarily rigged the 'X' button to score a goal whenever you push it so I can test my 2D stuff - that'll get fixed in the next version). Right now you can play all four characters so I can check out the animation but eventually (of course) you'll only be able to play as one of the two guys on your team."

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=13012

gamergirl is busy, so I post instead. I know I'm not as good as she, but news are news!

stravingo has released his first game for the DS.

"this is not a revolutionary game as this is "only" a minesweeper. However, I'm trying to make it as fun as possible, with some improvement on gameplay. You can play on terrains that are as large as 1 screen (normal), 1x2 screens (double) or 2x2 screens (huge)."

http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=12989