Laser Hockey DS - March 2008

Filed under: Laser Hockey DS, Nintendo DS, homebrew

We are a little early with this build but I don't think much will change in the next week so we are releasing version 0.3.4 today. This one looks almost identical to the last one. The only difference is that wireless multiplayer actually works! Here are all of the changes since the last public release.

Internal build: 0.3.4

• First DS-DS WiFi communication
• Moved paddle visibility flag into sprite for WiFi transfer
• Paddles can send their position
• Host must press Start to begin multiplayer game
• Ball position is now sent over from host
• Host will do all the game play processing
• Fixed paddle and ball positioning across wireless
• Pressing start will exit Practice...correctly
• Any player pressing start will exit multiplayer
• Cleaning up after each screen
• Sending score over
• Added "Press Start" message for Host, "Waiting" message for Player 2

You can download it by clicking this link: LHDS_2008_03_31.zip

Starting a second multiplayer game can be a little tricky but overall, the build works pretty well.

More multiplayer

Filed under: Nintendo DS, liblobby

You may have guessed already that we think DS-DS multiplayer is very important to the homebrew scene. Well, we are not the only ones promoting it. Since the beginning of last month, you can download liblobby directly off of the PAlib website: http://palib.info/forum/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=3&lid=39 (when it comes back up :P). We don't use PAlib but the spread a multiplayer library is always good news.

Also, the game Tetattds claims multiplayer support with liblobby. We haven't checked it out ourselves but go have a look: http://code.google.com/p/tetattds/.

Things are moving along faster than expected here. We will most certainly make our March deadline.

In the works

Filed under: Laser Hockey DS

We took a month off to play with other projects. However, we now have two CycloDS Evolutions and one M3 DS Real between us. The plan is to get Wi-Fi multiplayer working and tested by the end of the month.

One CycloDS Evolution, please

Filed under: CycloDS Evolution, Nintendo DS, hardware

Ok, we finally got our CycloDS Evolution. We ordered two but something went wrong in processing I guess. I am sure that will be fixed in the near future. We can finally clean up wireless multiplayer.

Laser Hockey DS - January 31 2008

Filed under: Laser Hockey DS, Nintendo DS, homebrew

We have added DS-DS wireless connecting. We can't say multiplayer yet because you can't actually play the game against a friend. One player can host, another can join. Once a connection is established, both players should drop into the usual practice mode. Your mileage may vary. Let us know if anyone gets that far.

Internal build: 0.3.1

• Added multiplayer buttons Join and Host
• Added DS-DS initialization
• Extra update when performing screen switches
• Now drawing right before the V-Blank
• Added status text on connection error
• Wireless no longer turns on before it is supposed to

You can download it by clicking on this link: LHDS_2008_01_31.zip.

Finally, some links for liblobby as info is hard to come by:

• Source code in SVN: http://91.184.39.23/svn/wsvn/liblobby/?sc=0
• 19 pages of forum posts: http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=14198
• QuakeDS uses it: http://quake.drunkencoders.com/net_mods_tcs.html#Networking
• Dicewars has a beta: http://dicewars.drunkencoders.com/beta/
• StarLite had a beta before they were sadly shut down

Laser Hockey DS - January 5

Filed under: Laser Hockey DS, Nintendo DS, homebrew

We have put up a build with a couple more updates.

Internal build: 0.2.0

• We have a nice looking title screen with a single button for Practice which just launches the same old game with no way out.
• Added a real player two paddle, it's blue.

You can download it by clicking this link: LHDS_2008_01_05.zip.

Laser Hockey DS - December

Filed under: Laser Hockey DS, Nintendo DS, homebrew

We have put up a December 2007 release of Laser Hockey DS. Due to the holidays, game development took a back seat to game playing so there are only two minor changes from the November release.

The new internal build number is 0.1.7.

• The scores display on each screen
• The game goes into sleep mode when you close the lid

You can download it by clicking this link: LHDS_2007_12_31.zip.

To add a spot of good news, there is a homebrew DS-DS wireless multiplayer library named liblobby from MightyMax. We will look into using that for multiplayer in the next build.