[Coco] Nick M and gaming alternatives

[Nick Marentes]

 > Nick, could you share with us a bit about that PIC BASIC computer 
thing you have been working with?

I've been playing with a small Australian designed and made kit computer 
called the Maximite.

http://geoffg.net/maximite.html

It's a single chip computer based on Microchip's PIC32 microcontroller. 
Everything is done with this chip, 8 colour video VGA generation, Basic 
interpreter and extensive I/O for real world interfacing.

I have contributed to the Basic by suggesting graphics commands for the 
designer to include such as software Sprites and Blit operations. It 
even play stereo Amiga MOD files.

The amazing thing is that this chip only costs $10.

Because programming is in good old Basic, I have ported my game Donut 
Dilemma to it.

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nickma/MaximiteProjects/


 > How big is that market, Nick?

Only small. It's a kit computer primarily for electronics enthusiasts 
wishing to control devices.


 > As a former CoCo developer, what would get you interested in doing 
another CoCo program?

Interestingly, the only thing stopping me is the small size of the CoCo 
market.

It's hard to justify spending the month's required to create a new game 
if there is a only a handful of people prepared to show their 
appreciation of your work and buy it.

It's not about the technology. I really think the CoCo3's current specs 
are fine if only there was a market to justify the time required to 
develop.

The skill of a programmer and the real fun in programming for a "retro" 
system is trying to create great things from the limited hardware. 
Surprisingly, it's the limitations that make it a challenging experience.

Nick