The last month has been very quiet here... I've been very busy with my personal life and some non-NeoGeo-related projects but I'm still here and active.

This weekend I joined the Flashback Symposion #2 32k-Game competition... very challenging but it was fun working with these limits, here's the result... This time it's not a puzzle game, it's something with more action.

I simply call my little game “WorldRacer” because the map is very large (13 screen wide & 18 screens high), one lap takes ~3 minutes, and you have to drive through different climate zones (asphalt, mud, sand, snow/ice and water) with different types of roads which affect the car's driving physics.
At the moment it's some kind of time attack... who drives the fastest lap or who races to which place in the high score table?

You can play the game alone, with two players or even with four players using NeoTap. The game always uses a four-player split screen, and free slots are always replaced by a CPU opponent, so you're never alone on the track. Be warned, the CPU opponents are not bad.

Maybe the graphics are simple, the gameplay isn't perfect, and the sound effects are a bit annoying, but we had a lot of fun playing four-player matches... live on stage!

After loading very quickly, it takes about 9 seconds to unpack... so please be patient.

WorldRacer_NGCD_32kb.zip

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 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 wear out A on your controller.

Flappy_Chicken_(NGCD)_230430.zip

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 2 Player mode... so I added that too but it's only available on AES & NGCD at the moment.

Flappy_Chicken_(NGCD)_230310.zip

Here comes a little side project I finished in a few days - a conversion of the wonderful game template "Flappy Chicken" from the Patreon creator Luis Zuno.

Flappy_Chicken_(NGCD).zip

Youtube

There are also versions available for NeoSD and ROM on my Patreon Page.

After 10 years I had an idea, I have used a completely different method this time which consumes fewer resources.

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.

Youtube

Looptris 211226 (NeoSD).zip

Looptris 211226 (NGCD).zip

Looptris 211226 (ROM).zip

Here comes a special version of the famous tetris theme.

I created this more than 10 years ago but cancelled it when I realized that this solution to create the playfield wastes too many sprites and therefore no 2 player mode is possible. It is completely playable and also too good to be lost!

Youtube

NTRIS3D_Techdemo_(NGCD).zip

In the last months I don't find much time to work on bigger projects or to continue working on started ones but in the past I have worked on some game ideas... one of these concepts I want to share with you because it's too good to be lost.

- super smooth, 50fps, no tearing
- some popping tiles in the border area which can probably be avoided by clever level design or optimization
- no car physics or collision detection, I was only interested in the look and feel, not the playability
- the tiles have a size of 32x32 pixel and the map currently is made of 128x128 tiles... this results in a map size of 4096x4096pixel.

If i remember correctly, the technical side is pretty simple once you figure out how to organize everything.

Youtube

Neo_DriftOut_Arcade_Techdemo_(MAME).zip

Neo_DriftOut_Arcade_Techdemo_(NeoSD).zip

- added 'ADPCM_MUTE' & 'ADPCM_SET_MAX_VOL' [NeoHomeBrew]
- added 'NAME ARRAY' [NeoHomeBrew]
- added 16MB VSize option for PCM & MaxPCM [totologic]
- added 'CDDA_STOP' in Z80 Startup because most comercial games forces an Z80Reset when dealing with 'USER_REQUEST' & Co.

NGFX_SoundBuilder_210808.zip

With the introduction of 8 soundbanks the NGFX soundbuilder now supports up to 1792 sounds (ADPCMA, ADPCMB & CDDA).

NGFX_SoundBuilder_210501.zip

Due to several requests, here come a new build with the 32mb option enabled. These changes only apply to the GUI, the Z80 core remains unchanged. Furthermore I added some text about the license/usage of the data generated by the NGFX soundbuilder.

No other changes!

NGFX_SoundBuilder_200624.zip