TI Nano Pets anyone?

Got a brilliant program idea? Let us know!

Moderator: MaxCoderz Staff

User avatar
L4E_WakaMol-King
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 342
Joined: Tue 01 Nov, 2005 6:34 am

TI Nano Pets anyone?

Post by L4E_WakaMol-King »

My current programming project is keeping me quite tied up right now, and after I finish it, I already have my next program in mind (won't say what it is... but I will say that it is a port of an X-tremely good side-scroller ;)). So, I thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone wants to have a crack at it.

Remember Tomagatchis (sp?) and Nano-Pets? They were bascially little animals that lived in a key chain, and you had to feed them on a regular basis. You could play, train them, watch them grow, etc. Anyway, this might make an entertaining game for a TI calc... especially for someone who luggs their calculator around school all day for math class and is looking for brief bits of entertainment between classes. It almost might (prepare to be shocked here) appeal to the opposite sex. I don't know about you, but girls playing calculator games sounds kind of nice to me. :P

The main problem that I see with the project is that there's no real way for the thing to keep track of itself when it's not in use. When your calculator is off, the program has no way of knowing that you pet is slowly burning the food in its stomach and will need to be fed soon. Still, it might be a fun idea anyway.

If anyone does make this, I'd appreciate a shoutout in the credits.
Image - Now Under Development - [Progress]
User avatar
kv83
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 2735
Joined: Wed 15 Dec, 2004 7:26 pm
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by kv83 »

It's spelled "Tamagotchi", and it's quite popular again in Japan. A game called "Tamagotchi's Shop" or something was just released in Japan and is selling very, very well.... It outsells all PSP games together :P (including Winning Eleven 10)

Also you might heard of Nintendogs, which is also a "virtual pet" thingie... just an advanced one :)
Image
User avatar
L4E_WakaMol-King
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 342
Joined: Tue 01 Nov, 2005 6:34 am

Post by L4E_WakaMol-King »

Yeah, that's the basic concept. Nintendogs is what gave me the idea.

Perhaps this could be done as a virtual fish tank? I'm thinking grayscale, since it would be graphics heavy and wouldn't really need to be that fast. Maybe the program could keep track of how many times it is run, and award you points each time... then you could buy new fish or new decorations for the fish tank with the points.

Just tossing out ideas. :)
Image - Now Under Development - [Progress]
User avatar
kv83
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 2735
Joined: Wed 15 Dec, 2004 7:26 pm
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by kv83 »

L4E_WakaMol-King wrote:Yeah, that's the basic concept. Nintendogs is what gave me the idea.

Perhaps this could be done as a virtual fish tank? I'm thinking grayscale, since it would be graphics heavy and wouldn't really need to be that fast. Maybe the program could keep track of how many times it is run, and award you points each time... then you could buy new fish or new decorations for the fish tank with the points.

Just tossing out ideas. :)
The problem is, only the 84 (?) has a clock, which is essiantly for this type of games.
Image
User avatar
L4E_WakaMol-King
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 342
Joined: Tue 01 Nov, 2005 6:34 am

Post by L4E_WakaMol-King »

I know. Like I said, that time thing is the basic issue that would make this a challenge.

The best I can come up with would be a bit of code in the game that would check certain often-used variables in the calc... for example, the [Ans] and [Entry] variables. Every time the program closed, it would save the state of those variables, and every time it is run, it checks the variables against what is saved. If they are different, then there has probably been some sort of activity since the last running of the program.

As long as the source code is not released with the game, it might keep your average joe guessing for long enough to be entertaining. This would prevent someone from just running the program over and over again to get points.

The other option is simply to have the program keep track of how long it has been run for. The longer it runs, the more points you get.
Image - Now Under Development - [Progress]
User avatar
dysfunction
Calc Master
Posts: 1454
Joined: Wed 22 Dec, 2004 3:07 am
Location: Through the Aura

Post by dysfunction »

Image


"You're very clever, young man, but it's turtles all the way down!"
User avatar
L4E_WakaMol-King
Maxcoderz Staff
Posts: 342
Joined: Tue 01 Nov, 2005 6:34 am

Post by L4E_WakaMol-King »

Not bad! Thanks for the link. I think it could be improved a bit though ;).
Image - Now Under Development - [Progress]
CompWiz
Calc King
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu 13 Oct, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: UB

Post by CompWiz »

A lot of the new students are buying the 84 series calculators. You could use the built in clock on these to monitor how long it has been since the pet has been fed/whatever. When the program is turned on, it could quickly simulate what would have happened to the pet during the time it was off(without the knowledge of the user) and just show your pet how it would be after that amount of time.
In Memory of the Maxcoderz Trophy Image
User avatar
kalan_vod
Calc King
Posts: 2932
Joined: Sat 18 Dec, 2004 6:46 am
Contact:

Post by kalan_vod »

But when it ram clears then the clock resets and that makes it a little diff.
CompWiz
Calc King
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu 13 Oct, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: UB

Post by CompWiz »

Well, that is a problem. But ram resets don't really happen all that often. If it does get reset and the program finds that the time on the calc is lower than the time it has stored, it could just use the amount of time that has elapsed since the calc was reset to determine the effects on the pet. Also, to stop teachers and students from clearing the ram, have the program load up fakeres3 somehow. :twisted:
In Memory of the Maxcoderz Trophy Image
katmaster
Sir Posts-A-Lot
Posts: 252
Joined: Tue 09 Aug, 2005 9:34 pm
Location: south of the north pole
Contact:

Re: TI Nano Pets anyone?

Post by katmaster »

L4E_WakaMol-King wrote: It almost might (prepare to be shocked here) appeal to the opposite sex. I don't know about you, but girls playing calculator games sounds kind of nice to me. :P
A lot of girls i know play Tetris all the time on calcs.....
cheese=yum
Image
threefingeredguy
Calc King
Posts: 2195
Joined: Sun 27 Mar, 2005 4:06 am
Location: sleeping
Contact:

Post by threefingeredguy »

A girl in my math class got me hooked on calc games a few years ago, I didn't have a calc until she got me addicted to BombKids and PuzzPack.
Image
Liazon
Calc Guru
Posts: 962
Joined: Thu 27 Oct, 2005 8:28 pm

Post by Liazon »

at my school very few girls play calc games. I wouldn't be surprised if they used it for anything besides basic math operations and function graphing.
Image Image Image
User avatar
axcho
New Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu 20 Oct, 2005 5:44 pm
Contact:

Post by axcho »

Were you thinking of making this yourself, or is it just an idea? I might like to do something like this too, so let me know if you want to design it together. I'm thinking of something with a little more complexity than the original Tomagotchi.
threefingeredguy
Calc King
Posts: 2195
Joined: Sun 27 Mar, 2005 4:06 am
Location: sleeping
Contact:

Post by threefingeredguy »

I am planning on making Monster Rancher before I grow up and leave the community, does that count?
Image
Post Reply