Published by PT_ on June 21, 2018 at 10:49:04 AM CST | Discuss this article (1)

Cemetech member and assembly expert calc84maniac has finally released the alpha version of TI-Boy CE, a Game Boy emulator he has been working on for about 2 years for the latest Texas Instruments calculator, the TI-84 Plus CE, and its French counterpart, the TI-83 Premium CE. With this program, you can play Game Boy games on your calculator, though note that Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advanced games are not supported (yet). In the development process, he already showed us some marvelous videos running games on his calculator, and now it's finally public! The program is still in alpha stage, which means it still contains some issues. According to the official website, it has these features:

• Emulates original Game Boy hardware (except audio and linking)
• Emulates real-time clock for certain cartridges
• Save states with compression
• Fullscreen and 1:1 scaling modes (with optional skin)
• Automatic and manual frameskip
• Turbo mode (with speed display)
• GBC-style selectable color palettes for Game Boy games
• Customizable controls

calc84maniac managed to reach the 60FPS, thanks to the highly optimized assembly and the extra RAM in this system, which allows caching for speeding up graphics rendering. Yes, it's entirely written in ez80 assembly, which is absolutely remarkable because of the system's complexity. He also published the source code, so if you want to take a look at the source, go for it and try to understand it! Your bug reports (in the attached topic or posted as issues on his repository) and your positive feedback will no doubt help him continue to hone this flagship community project.

Download:
TI-Boy CE (alpha version)



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Published by PT_ on June 20, 2018 at 5:59:52 PM CST | Discuss this article (4)

Like previous month, May has been extremely busy with people showing off their programs and updates. Unfortunately, not all of those projects could be featured, else the post would have grown way too long. Anyway, take a look at the list, and visit all the topics to get more information!

• Age of CEmpires I: PT_ continued to work on Age of CEmpires, an Age of Empires clone for the TI-84+CE. He managed to add units to the codebase, resulting in all of the graphics being finished. Take a look at the thread for some eye-candy!
  
• ARPG (A TI-Basic Demo RPG): Michael2_3B has been developing a new RPG for the color calculators, called "ARPG", featuring a player going around a map with bushes, friends and enemies. It features diverse things, such as lives, a regular sword and a stronger sword. The game is not done yet, so encourage the author to work on it some more!
  
• BasicNote CE Progress Thread: Michael2_3B has also been working really hard on his BASIC note editor, BasicNote CE. He added cursor alignment, text rendering, a scroll bar, note deletion, manual save feature and much more! Definitely go check out the thread for more features!
  
• Brum: Arduino-Controlled Race Car: Joining the trend of several Arduino-related projects last month, PT_ has been working on controlling a racecar with an Arduino, which has the goal of following a line using 4 sensors. Check out the thread for some footage.
  
• Calc Crusader (TI-84 Plus CE, ICE): dankcalculatorbro started a new project, written in ICE, called "Calc Crusader". This is a game where you have to conquer cities and supply their armies. So far, several features have been implemented, so visit the topic to see what he's working on!
  
• Chip-84 - A Chip-8 Emulator for TI-84 Plus CE: ckosmic has written a CHIP-8 emulator for the TI-84+CE. It supports SuperChip-8 ROMs, custom keymapping and emulation speed control, and some more features I can't list here. If you have ever wanted to play CHIP-8 programs on your CE, don't wait to try this program!
  
• Columns CE: Iambian is still working on his new game Columns CE, a port of the video game Columns. There are lots of updates and new features, including a game over screen, bugfixes and jewel displaying. Check out the thread for some more information!
  
• Digital animated fursona badge: Spyro543 created an electronic animated fursona badge, which is a monochrome OLED display powered an Adafruit Feather M0. Check out the thread for some more information and pictures.
  
• Homemade Arduino-Based Drone: Nik managed to fix some things of his homemade Arduino-based drone, like the stabilization algorithm, in order to keep the drone stable. The drone can now actually fly, despite the lots of challenges to overcome. Curious to what he did? Visit this topic!
  
• NOS - A alternative shell: LAX18 has added a bunch of features to NOS, a shell written in ICE. Now it can run BASIC and Assembly programs, read and browse files, and display the Cesium icon. This shell looks promising, so go take a look at the topic!
  
• PolyJS: _iPhoenix_ has written a fast and small Javascript library to let you easily create 2D graphics. It allows you to create, modify and draw polygons. You can also attach polygons together, with or without an offset! Check out the thread for examples, images, and a download link!
  
• Puzzler's Crossword: JWinslow23 has written a crossword game for the monochrome calculators. It features a puzzle with a grid of squares where you have to fill in the blanks in order to solve it. It has smooth scrolling and a bunch of clues. Can you solve it?
  
• Stock Sim CE (ICE) Progress Thread: LAX18 has released his Stock Simulator, which is a program simulating stocks. You can buy and sell stocks, while monitoring several charts. Players have to determine the best times to sell, whilst monitoring best times to buy other stocks. Check it out!
  
• Tanks! CE: commandblockguy is busy with his program "Tanks!", a port of the Wii game for the TI-84+CE. It can already display the map, the tanks and tanks shooting bullets. Visit this topic to encourage the author to finish it!
  
• [TI-Basic] CECraft for the CE: Michael2_3B has released an update of his game "CECraft". In this version you can customize the roughness or smoothness of the world and some minor updates. Check out the thread if you want some screenshots.

As always, go through this list and visit the topics to give the authors some love and motivate them to continue working on their programs! There are quite a bunch of amazing projects this month, so please vote in the poll above which program you think is the best.

May has been an extremely busy month, and we hope to see that continue in the coming months. Keep up the great work everyone!

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Published by KermMartian on June 15, 2018 at 12:05:49 AM CST | Discuss this article (8)

As we continue to look forward to rolling out Minecraft 1.13 on the Cemetech Minecraft Server, we are keen to bring you the best possible experience. Some of our most die-hard members no doubt know that we've encountered interest and occasional low TPS (ticks per second) during busy periods. We have done a great deal of investigation to try to narrow down the cause, so far with minimal success. "But did you try-" yes, we tried that. "Ah, but how about-" yes, that too. "I bet you didn't-" yes, we thought of that as well. Therefore, using our current Minecraft 1.12 server, we're going to apply the scientific method and determine which (if any) plugins are responsible, or if the builds and machines in the world are to blame.

But we need your help. It's summer, which means you no doubt are rolling in free time, so we need you to come visit our Minecraft server and continue working on your towns, your builds, your adventures, and your exploration.

• Starting this Saturday, June 16th, we will start with Phase 1 by disabling some of our least-important plugins, primarily those that have some aesthetic effect only, or at most some minor effect on gameplay. We encourage as many of you to come and play as possible.
  
• In Phase 2, starting next Thursday, June 21st, we will disable another set of plugins, and due to the set of plugins we're disabling, we'll be turning our current graylist into a whitelist (i.e., if you're not already a Member, you won't be able to log into the server).
  
• Finally, Phase 3 will begin the following Tuesday, June 26th, during which we'll switch the server to pure Vanilla. It should go without saying that we expect the same maturity and mutual respect that is enforced by our plugins: we will have a zero-tolerance policy towards theft, grief, vandalism, or any rule-breaking, and you will be permanently banned from both the 1.12 and 1.13 (and later) servers.

Therefore, just in time for the hot summer sun and brutal humidity, you should get back into Minecraft, think of something impressive to build, or gather your fellow Cemetechians for some cooperative (or competitive) Minecrafting: you'll be helping us make the Minecraft 1.13 server as fast and enjoyable as possible. See you on the server!



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Published by Nik on June 1, 2018 at 9:17:00 AM CST | Discuss this article (5)

(Hey, before you read this post, please take a minute to appreciate the fact that we caught up with those articles and remain up-to-date!)

So, the last month has been incredibly busy. And I mean it - I had to remove lots of projects which would have otherwise been featured here. The post would just get too long without these removals. In fact, I had so many tabs open while writing this summary, that my browser ran out of memory and crashed.
But hey, keep making those projects! We love them! An (unfortunately heavily shortened) insight into what was made in April:

• Advanced Brightness Utility: So, have you ever wanted to have full control over your CE's screen? Make it really bright when the sun is shining on it? Or really dark when you're staying up late and programming or playing games? TheLastMillennial has you covered! This little program allows you to set your calculator to levels of brightness not achievable by the TI OS.
  
• Agario: As a new Cemetechian, misoloo started off with a clone of Agar.io for the CE. The game runs amazingly smoothly and features a decent AI. Very few additions remain until a release is possible, so you should head over to the thread and show some support and encouragement!
  
• Age of CEmpires I: Long time Cemetechian and Admin PT_ has resumed work on his Age of Empires clone for TI-84 CE calculators! Most of the graphics are finished, and you can see the eye-candy in his thread. If you like this classic strategy game on your desktop PC, this is one you don't want to miss!
  
• Arduino Stabilized/Guided Rockets: A while ago, theprogrammingcube has already made and launched model rockets, however, he is taking this to a new level by mounting an Arduino and other electronics for guidance. The thread features some nice images and videos which you should see!
  
• BasicNote CE: Michael2_3B continued working on his text editor project. There was lots of progress and of course some eye-candy! You should go and have a look yourself, because this may very well turn out to be on your calculator once it's released!
  
• Blast Calculator Security Suite: Are you a CALCnet user? Have you ever considered the possibility to catch a virus on your calculator? This is a possibility, so you best protect your calc now! This program for the CE calculators by ACagliano might very well be the first real antivirus program written for calculators. It is in the earliest stages of development, but we are eager to see the progress on such a complex undertaking!
  
• Columns CE: Iambian's port of the classic arcade game has seen lots of progress! The thread features some extraordinarily polished graphics and the project is very close to completion. We can't wait to see how it turns out, and highly recommend you to have a look yourself!
  
• Gateway to Legend: 123outerme provided a first public pre-release of their desktop role playing game! There was lots of progress, another bunch of stunning videos of the gameplay and overall, the project is nearing completion! This is one you should check out!
  
• Arduino-Based Drone: Nik posted a thread for a project he has been working on. The title is pretty self-describing - it is a drone that was made from scratch and controlled by an Arduino. The post is somewhat messy, but it provides a project summary, and a video of a flight. If you're into this kind of thing, go and have a look!
  
• JPL: JPL is a game for the monochrome calculator series by TheLastMillennial which allows you to build and fly your own spacecraft. He continued work and made some progress this month. While there is a lot left to do, he has found the motivation to complete and release the project as soon as possible. You should visit his thread and have a look yourself, though!
  
• Life Simulator: What you might expect to be another Conyway's Game of Life program is actually a totally different thing! 21tmccauley's Life Simulator for the CE calculators is, in fact, a simulator of a typical person's life. The project was picked up again after a longer delay, but it has seen lots of interesting changes, and we are looking forward to seeing what direction this project will go in!
  
• Pi84--: Muessigb's Raspberry Pi powered calculator has seen some hardware revisions, and the first boards are almost ready to be assembled. He also posted a list of the most important components and refined his design. This is a project that we are following with great interest, and if you want to build an own TI-84+ or just like reading through people's hardware projects, you should visit the topic!
  
• Stock Sim CE: LAX18 has continued porting his Stock Sim program to the CE calculators. He got a lot of the work done, and documented it with beautiful screenshots. He also significantly optimized the program. We invite you to have a look on your own, though!
  

That's it for now! Enjoy browsing through this list, and I can only repeat, lots of projects were not featured, simply because they physically don't fit into this post - but hopefully we can show them next month! Finally thank you all for creating and participating in these and other projects, and making this place awesome!

Note that TheLastMillennial's Advanced Brightness Utility is the only project that was completed in April, and, as such, is automatically nominated for the Projects of the Year 2018 poll.

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