DIM X a new game by Kai Magazine

DIM X a new game by Kai Magazine

by Pac on 20-11-2016, 19:44
Topic: Software
Tags: Kai Magazine
Languages:

Source: MSX BLOG

Once again and in a short period of time Kai Magazine surprises us with a new creation for MSX2 called DIM X (Dimensional Explorer). The most remarkable thing about this is not how quickly a new production is released but the concept of the game itself. It will be the first 3D stereoscopic game for MSX, probably for any 8bit home computer, and it features smooth vertical scroll in Screen 5 with interlaced Screen 7 pictures. Little is known about this new game which will be sold during the next 50th MSX meeting in BCN.

Relevant link: Kai Magazine on facebook

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Comments (17)

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)

hamlet's picture

20-11-2016, 20:28

MSX goes 3D. Interesting idea.

By Rataplan

Champion (338)

Rataplan's picture

20-11-2016, 23:37

Hmm.. The first 8bit system with 3d? How about the Sega mastersystem, it had 3d glasses ????.
But anyway this looks promising again!

By spl

Paragon (1470)

spl's picture

21-11-2016, 17:03

Right, Master System and Famicom had real 3D glasses, and Rad Racer for NES had blue/red glasses (for Famicom, the game there called Highway Star used the real 3D glasses).

But yes, it will be the first 3D game for MSX Smile Great!

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

21-11-2016, 18:26

Hi, I just saw the news post right now.
Judging by the comments I guess the original newspost has been modified and it contained something in the lines of "the first 3d game on an 8 bit system".
Our original facebook anouncement stated "the first 8 bit home computer" (because we know there were some 8 bit consoles and arcades with 3d stereoscopic support). Anyway that turns to be incorrect as well since I found out there was an spectrum game featuring anaglyphic 3d, so we corrected that statament as well.
But I am pretty sure it is the first msx 3d stereoscopic game Tongue
It is also the first game (AFAIK) to support Klingon language (English and Spanish are also available for those not fluent enough in the native tongue of Kronos).
I will upload videos and a playable demo very soon.

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

22-11-2016, 22:47

Dim X cover:

By Pac

Scribe (7007)

Pac's picture

23-11-2016, 21:40

Yes Kai my fault, I was not precise like you wrote in facebook so I deleted the comment, now it's fixed. BTW if you still have the chance, I would modify the big MSX2 logo, it's not the original one and should be like the one you show just below. Sorry if I'm so purist Wink .

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

23-11-2016, 22:55

No problem, I will check that msx logo Wink

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

23-11-2016, 22:56

Dim X preorder + video + demo

This video is recorded at 60fps. Please make sure you play it on youtube directly and you select HD720p 60 in "options".

gameplay video, first half in 3d, second half in 2d

The story:
An 18 year old scientific girl has created a device which allows her to go beyond her 2 dimensional world and travel through the third dimension.
She will travel several dimensions and she will take selfies (photos of herself) in those dimensions to show her collegues.
Due to the constant increase of temperature in the dimensional explorer, she will be forced to remove her clothing overtime, so she will appear with less clothing in each new picture :P
The erotic 2d and 3d pictures will be optional, those can be disabled at will.

The gameplay:
The dimensional explorer bounces like a ball. Basically you have to avoid falling or being hit by enemies or spikes on the floor.
You can recover hit points by bouncing over rounded platforms.
The Hit Points indicator is a small bar at the top-left part of the screen (top-right for player 2).
There are special platforms which will help you jump further.

There are 4 dimensions and 6 stages in each dimension, so a total of 24 stages.

The 2 players mode is both cooperative and competitive at the same time:
The player who dies first loses.
If both players arrive at the end of the stage alive, the player with more HP wins.
If one of both players reaches the end of the stage, both will proceed to the next stage.

I am attaching a small demo so you can test the 3d:

demo rom

Your tv/monitor color setting should be calibrated accordingly. In most cases (if the color setting is in the middle, at 50%) you will see the 3d correctly.
Your glasses can affect the experiencie as well, since not all glasses have the same tone of red and blue. Some glasses even gave the colors inverted (the red should be in your LEFT eye and the blue in your RIGHT eye).

You can flash the demo in your megaflashrom with the following dos command:

OPFXSD dimxdemo /k5 /u

The game is fm pac/msx music compatible, music module/msx audio compatible and moonsound/opl4 compatible.
If you use moonsound, the sound effects will be played in moonsound only in turbo-r computers
Msx2 and 2+ computers will use PSG to play the sound effects, and the PSG will be played via your tv speakers (not together with the moonsound, sorry).

This game contains some modified open source material.

The game will be available on December 3rd in digital format at 12 euro and cartridge format at 42 euro + shipping.
The shipping costs to Europe are 9,80. Shipments outside Europe are 12,80

Those who wish to support us by purchasing the game in advance (so we can purchase the cartridges) will receive a discount of 3 euro (39 euro) for the cartridge version, as usual.

You can contact us at: kennethalbero@hotmail.com
We always reply ALL messages in a period of 24 hours tops. If after 24 hours you did not receive an answer this means we did not get the message for some reason (this happened several times). Please contact us via facebook (kai magazine) or twitter (@kai_MSX), or write to us again using a different email address.

Thank you everyone for your amazing support!

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

26-11-2016, 13:24

The demo download link is not responding at the moment.
Here is another download link:

http://www.filedropper.com/dimxdemo

and another:

https://ufile.io/0f328

By Samor

Prophet (2174)

Samor's picture

30-11-2016, 00:25

I just watched the video and in that the 3D works really well with anaglyph glasses; I didn't even need to adjust anything.
It helps you didn't go with a "wild" color palette; anaglyph is usually pretty straining on the eyes but I was relatively comfortable watching the YouTube video.

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

30-11-2016, 10:48

I went for the most "eye friendly" palette possible. I did not attempt to show colors or many tones, I just went for plain grey scale 3d (3 tones of grey) because it is the most confortable to watch at.

By Manuel

Ascended (19466)

Manuel's picture

30-11-2016, 13:19

Reminds me of Life in the Fast Lane and Bounder Smile But then cool!

By Jupp3

Resident (41)

Jupp3's picture

03-12-2016, 23:55

I've actually thought of something similar.

On C64, there's already BluREU 3D (youtube video), which does 3D effect by having pictures for each eye side by side. Then, if you cross your eyes (so that left eye looks at the right picture, and right looks at the left one - actually easier than spreading them "outwards"), you can see the 3D effect. Personally I have some focus problems with static images, but with animations, it works better.

Oh, and before you say "wow!" too loud, the demo requires Ram Expansion Unit, which (unlike the name suggests), is actually more like ram disk. Once initialized, it can copy data 1 byte each cpu cycle (while CPU is disabled), which is MUCH faster than CPU alone can. It's still a nice technical achievement, but not quite as big one as you thought before knowing this :-)

Now where could this become even more exciting? 3D televisions. Some can play 3D videos with similar arrangement, so could you feed image data from a computer instead?

NOTE: I have absolutely no idea, if this works (and if it does, with how many 3D TV models). Of course the biggest benefit would be, that you can use colors completely freely, the downside is, you have to draw everything twice. With colored glasses, you can easily have images for both eyes within the same gfx block.

There's also a format that has frames above & below, which might suit MSX better.

So, if anyone has a 3D tv with such functionality, you could try the concept by enabling the mode, and drawing graphics at certain edges of the screen, and seeing, if they appear for specific eye.

The game itself reminds me of Bounder, which was one of my favourite C64 games back in the day!

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

04-12-2016, 17:45

Yes, I took Bounder as the main inspiration source.

I do have a 3d tv set which can show any image source as 3d SBS (side by side).
I did tests with the msx and it works perfectly. The problem:
first, each user needs a 3d ready tv compatible with SBS.
Second, SBS 3d halves the horizontal resolution, so what you see is a 128x212 3d image (instead of 256x212). It is too low, it looks like amstrad.
SBS gives you full colors but it halves the resolution.
I went for the cheapest, more affordable solution which also gives full resolution, at the cost of full color: anaglyphic 3d-

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

04-12-2016, 17:51

Dim X is complete and it was sold yesterday at the 50th Barcelona MSX users meeting.
Only 6 Dim X copys available.
We do not know when will be able to make a second batch (it can be months) so if you have any interest on ordering the game in cartridge format, do it soon.
Digital version is also available for 12 euro.

By Kai Magazine

Paragon (1428)

Kai Magazine's picture

11-12-2016, 11:58

Final video:

video

By spl

Paragon (1470)

spl's picture

13-12-2016, 09:00

I tried it at the 50 MSX RU, it's so great! Big smile