microByte

Hi!

I think that the microByte can be an interesting tool to developed your games. So, a while ago a saw the Stage library for microPython and CircuitPython, I was amazed at how good it looks the demos.  

I've "ported" the Stage library to the custom version of microPython that I'm working on, but with some improvements, for example, I've integrated the library on microPython.

One of the advantages of this approach is that now I'm able to separate the rendering process and "paint" processes on differents cores and tasks, or use the ST7889 driver written on C, which uses the standard ESP-IDF SPI calls. All of this gives a huge improvement in performance.

This is a pretty simple demo, but on the naked eye run very smooth:

I'll continue working on the microPython custom version and Stage library because I think that it's possible to obtain very cool results.

Hello guys, 

I'm happy to announce that the campaign on CrowSupply just started!

microByte | Crowd Supply

The device is available in two different packs with 3 different colors and a translucent enclosure. 

About the future updates, I'm working on add new emulators, and mainly I'm focused on developing an Arduino Library where you can easily use all the resources of the device and a port of microPython, which full access to the hardware.

The interesting point is you can compile your binary on the PC, just copy to an SD card and execute it like an App, no more need to reflash the device.

Anyways, I'll share all the project updates here and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me!

Hi!

I pleased to announce that microByte will be available very very soon on CrowSupply for a crowdfunding campaign! 

On the next link you can subscribe to know when the campaign will start:

Email Signups | Crowd Supply

If you like this project and want to support me, you could buy it, and you can choose from four different colors, or choose the basic one and print with your favorite philament! 

During the campaign, I will release some major updates for the firmware and most important, and Arduino Library which will allow you to create easily your sketches or your games for microByte.

When at the start of the campaign I will write another log update.

Hi!

In this new log, I want to show you an interesting experiment the SNES9X port for the microByte!

I considered an experiment because the performance is not good, but you can (more or less) play some games. The FPS counter it shows between 25~30 FPS, but due to it's implemented frameskip of 4 frames, the image is not smooth.

Anyways is more a proof of concept to show the usage of the SNES layout, but I hope to improve the performance in a future release.

The original port for ESP32, was performed by Ducalex(ducalex/snes9x-esp32: Snes9x port to the ODROID-GO (ESP32) (github.com)) for the Odroid-Go, but I've improved the performance and ported to the microByte.

Hi!

I did update the project for a long time because I was improving the emulator's performance, now GameGear can run up to 70 FPS! 

But I will show in a future update with all the details. By now I want to show a port of DOOM to the microBYTE. It runs at 40~30 FPS and totally playable, even has sound. The save functionality is not fully functional but I hope to implement it soon.

Is like a tradition that DOOM must run on every electronic device with a screen.

You can see in the next video:

You can find the source code here:

microByte_external_apps/Doom at main · jfm92/microByte_external_apps (github.com)

The initial port for ESP32 was done by Espressif, but this is a modified version for this specific device.