Ok can't believe I havent tried this sooner!

Very crappy walrii model that I made in 30mins! But still, it's a start .

Over the past few years I have been developing a 3D engine for the z80 line of calcs with the aim of creating a Star Wars inspired space sim. Although that never happened I did release a 3D model viewer which can be found here: http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/450/45097.html

Some test screenshots:





I haven't touched it in a while and although I did port it to the CSE as a VERY quick test () it never went anywhere so I thought that I would bring it to the CE given the increase in power that the platform has. At this point in time there are only a couple of test screenshots:




With the Star Wars craze still going I was thinking about picking up where I left off regarding the space sim, though anything of that calibre would be a while off.

Wasn't there a FIFA that came out for the ps2 but not the WiiU?

It's not that I prefer the most graphically capable console, it's that if the Wii U were closer to the ps4/xb1 then it takes away that advantage AND makes it a lot easier on developers who use popular middleware to support the console. This is the main reason why 3rd party support died on the Wii U. I bought the clearance priced ACIV:Black Flag and it runs just OK on Wii U, but with the gamepad integration it is much more enjoyable to play vs the other consoles.

That said I still think what killed the console is its name.

The reason the Wii U has struggled is because the mainstream thought that it was nothing more than a new controller for the Wii, instead of a new console entirely.

Virtually all of my non-gamer friends+family thought this.

The other reason is that it is not powerful enough when compared to the ps4/xb1. In this day and age developers need to maximise resources and guaranteed returns. Devoting time and staff for the sole purpose of trying to optimise the heck out of something just so it is 'runnable' on one of 3 potential platforms. As mentioned this turned the majority of middle-ware reliant developers away - automatically killing the console as the game lineup is baron and void of most AAA 3rd party titles. This is a shame as the gamepad really does aid gameplay and could do so for potentially all games had the console been attractive enough to developers.

IT HAS BEEN RUMORED that the NX will be 'comparable' to the ps4/xb1 in terms of performance which means that Nintendo have gone on the cheap again regarding the hardware; choosing to compete with consoles that were released in 2013 ... It is likely that instead of the necessary power to future-proof the console they are putting their eggs in a different basket for the 3rd console in a row. Once again, for the 3rd console in a row, Nintendo will have no games aside from their own.

I was surprised by the amount of litigation signs in the US when I visited a few years ago.

Image if this one got over the line?

The GetVersion command will return the version of xLIB is running, which will be able to tell you what calc you are on.

DCSE8.0 shows xLIBC version 1
DCSE8.1 shows xLIBC version 2
DCSE9.0 shows xLIBC version 16

Custom palettes are implemented but require a bit of testing, as are functions to change individual colour entries as opposed to needing an entire palette each time.

As soon as you change the palette colour any pixels that index that entry are updated automatically.

Unfortunately the small font is 4 pixel's wide while the font's linked at 5 pixels.

Very elaborate AF's ... I think it looks great .

Good news, I have included a fixed-width small font as per people's request. Here is a screenshot :

You can also structure your palette and then use the xLIBC ColourOffset function to offset to each different set of colours as required instead of manually manipulating the palette all the time .

yes custom palettes and the ability to modify individual palette entries are already implemented. There is no restriction on whether colours are the same or not; completely up to the programmer.

It worked ok on the CSE

I had previously created a small isometric tilemap test for the CSE shown below:






And I have since ported it over to the CE:


Just a proof of concept and really to test a 16x16 sprite routine. A proper implementation would work much faster which is encouraging.