Author Archives: omegalfa

New upcoming CD-i demo under work


After the wide success of Nobelia, Twilight Burn (TwBurn) is working on another project for a possible CD-i homebrew game, this time in 3D, based on SkyRoads from 1993.
You don’t know what is SkyRoads? It is a DOS game, you are a spaceship driving on a road with traps. You must stay on the track by avoiding walls (by jumping) and holes (turning left or right). You also can control your speed but will lose time (points). The goal is to reach the end of the road as fast as possible and get access to the next level. Nothing better than watch for the original game to get a better understanding of what we are talking about!

For now the demo is on a very basic stage. No spaceship is placed, only the 3D roads are in movement. 2 short videos has been shared by TwBurn, the first one is a very primitive 3D rendering, being slower when more objects are shown. The second one is much better, with better graphics and a good speed.

Demo 1, very archaic.

Demo 2, better graphics and speed.

As you can see, for now, there is no FX sound or music and no background image.
He is working on placing a background still image and will try to add an Mpeg video, but as he said, “video could add unpredictable performance as the documentation is very minimal, and it’s hard to test/debug”.

As he is still in a very initial work, he still doesn’t know the name of this game but it might not be SkyRoads.
Will it have enemies to shoot? It is also unknown. He firstly wants to get the demo working, by toying with some tech.

To make this 3D visuals he used a Level Editor where he exported the level, then he used a 3D engine in Javascript to draw it, and finally, he converted it to CD-i graphics.

We can expect a pretty cool game based on quick choices, TwBurn has shown he is capable of premium work.

The Future is bright for the CD-i scene in 2022 with many things in the pipeline.
Many brilliant minds are present in our Interactive Community.


CD-i 2 Bluetooth

Maartje Eyskens is an applied computer science teacher in Belgium, she is one of the many other developers from the Philips CD-i Discord server who are enjoying developing new accessories for the Philips CD-i system.

We all know how expensive it is to get an original CD-i gamepad or touchpad, that is why she has developed a CD-i accessory to connect any Bluetooth controller and let you play your favourite titles with.
Her work is based on Anarterb SNES2CDi and TwBurn Controller Library, but with modification to get the Bluetooth working, and she still keep it as an Open-Source on her GiHub.
But she went further… you can pair 2 Bluetooth controllers and play 2 player games! No need to use the same controllers to play Head-to-Head. Any working controller will be OK (the compatible controllers is on this article).

Visit her personal website at www.eyskens.me to discover all the process done since day 1 until the final product.

You can buy them at the official online store. Depending on your skills you can buy different products:

The complete set-box is for me the best choice you can make as it is a ready to go device, including a Mini DIN-8 pin cable!

Compatible controller list:

  • DualSense (PS5)
  • DUALSHOCK 4 (PS4) controller, both 2013 and 2016 editions
  • DUALSHOCK 3 (PS3) controller
  • Nintendo Switch Pro controller Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Switch JoyCon Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Switch Online SNES Controller Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Wii U Pro controller
  • Nintendo Wii Remote and Remote Motion Plus, including Nunchuk and Classic Controller Confirmed by community
  • Xbox Wireless controller (model 1708, not the Series controllers) Confirmed by community
  • 8BitDo controllers Confirmed by community
  • Android controllers
  • iCade controllers
  • Nimbus SteelSeries
  • OUYA controllers
  • Some TV remote controls, like the Amazon Fire TV

From the first attempt until the final product, it just took a few days… incredible!
She worked on it mostly figuring out hardware issues at first, the biggest challenges were to re-work TwBurn library to work on ARM based micro controllers and debugging behaviour of the latest CD-i devices not recognising the controller due to a timing issue.
Only 3 prototypes where needed to get a final full working device, a very efficient work.

With the help of MrMii6 and Victonator, they designed a PCB, produced a prototype batch. Tested in well. Prepared packaging, shipping, assembly, a website a shipping box was made and a website for selling setup.

Congratulations and thank you Maartje Eyskens,you did an awesome work!

A work done by a lady must have a feminine touch, look at the back of the PCB “Made with ♥ in Belgium for the CD-i community”
A HUGE thumb up for the Interactive Community technical experts who contributed to the final product:
cdifan, Rosewood (retrostuff.org) and TwBurn with helpful tips on the community, MrMii6 with testing.


Nobelia available now!

Time has come my dear CD-i… It is now time to read something new, something exciting!
Yes, this is it, TwBurn’s is now selling his first Philips CD-i homebrew game Nobelia, right here.
It all started on February 2021, when he became curious about what he could do for the CD-i, beside his USB2CDi, he jumped into an adventure many of us would though it was impossible…
In September of the same year a playable demo was ready and now in March 2022 the game is complete! In just 1 year…
A handful of testers including us did a massive bug hunt in a very short time, it was almost an online tracking and solving issues with many builds released and burned discs for the good of the Community. We can now guarantee compatibility with most part (to not say all of them) for PAL and NTSC players.

Purchase now:
35€ for Europe, 37,50€ for Europe (non-UE) and 40€ for Worldwide (here).
If you are from the USA, you can go directly to our friends at Good Deal Games.

Buy the physical release and you will also get access to a digital copy to burn on a CD-R.

After all tested and working properly, TwBurn begun the game’s artwork and showed to the world he is not only good in hardware and programming, but also in digital design, and the final result is just astonishing! Look at that…

Let’s talk a little bit about the game:
I’ve got the privilege to play the complete game along the tests, and I am still amazed how cool it is… I stil wonder why back in the 90’s, nobody got a similar idea…?

Nobelia is a Bomberman game into a Legend of Zelda’s looking world.
“After investigating a portal that has opened up in your backyard, you find yourself transported to a new land. All of your wit and courage is needed to explore this place and seek out the tools needed to return home. And maybe, if you’re skilled and observant enough, you can find the seven golden coins that have been scattered throughout the world according to some legends.”
This is how he resumes the game.

https://youtu.be/ISqvzJca8qg
The game does not need a Digital Video Cartridge, play 30 levels, get different power-ups and collect hidden coins and 4 worlds! Enough things to make anyone happy!

CONTEST

Find all the coins and win a signed copy!
“The first person to find all seven coins, open all the chests and complete the game 100% will win a signed copy of Nobelia, as well as a yet to be determined small prize. In order to be eligible, a screenshot or photo of the ending screen and/or highscore screen at the “100%” tab must be supplied, together with a (small) description where, and how each of the seven coins were found in game. These can be mailed to nobelia@nmotion.nl.”

Thank you TwBurn, and thank you all testers!


Watermarks removed from The World of CD-i

It is now known that the Interactive Dreams blog run by Bas is closed, and the Twitter and Facebook page accounts related to it seem to have disappeared as well.
Of course the disappearance of a CD-i website is always negative for the whole community, ALWAYS.
It is also known that we have added watermarks on all our images due to them being used without asking or any references to their origin (this site, the forum and our Facebook Group), and we weren’t the only ones asking for such as we have now figured out. Information not verified was also asked to be confirmed before published.

I predicted right after our come back in April 2019 about the possibility of the Community losing sites, with the fact of trying to be everywhere and get every day’s posts. Maintaining a website seen by most part of the Community takes a lot of personal time (time many times taken from family) and responsibilities. We (The World of CD-i) left the CD-i scene 12 years ago for some reasons not needing to be discussed again, and also for the wear and tear it gave us.

We now believe the problem is not relevant anymore. In our “team room” we discuss everything that is done on the site, we all hate the watermarks. When they were implemented, I made it clear we were going to remove them when things would become normal (about crediting). We are people of our word, and that is why we will be removing the watermarks.
This affects more than 7000 images, watermarks need to be removed one by one manually. We believe one week will be enough, but some watermarks might remain for a while as they were added directly on image editing. After the initial watermark removals, we will do our best to also restore these remaining ones.

We do not know if Interactive Dreams will come back or not, under the same or a different name, we are all sad with the loss of a reference CD-i site, but we are still worried about the credits of this site, of our work, of our time spent on it. If we have to re-implement watermarks in the future, we will not hesitate.


School 2000 project

The School 2000 was a Philips Media project for the future of education at schools. With the idea of modernising classes with new technology, a TV screen and a CD-i player.
Helping teachers with new methods of teaching and students new methods of learning.
Many titles were specifically developed for this project. Some of them can be easily recognised as they have this beautiful logo on the cover.
Other titles including edutainment (kids titles) and multimedia, usually used on Philips Media consumer catalogues also became available for the School 2000.

We deliberately haven’t added more than 20 titles into this list, as they still haven’t been found and preserved. To avoid any pricing speculation (rarity), we will only add them here after being preserved.

I asked Mr Data and Anata to create this School 2000 vectored logo from an old and used scanned one.
It took Anata 2 hours to complete this artwork.
Thank you for this amazing work!

Anata is the same person who also vectored the Digital Video Cartridge logo.
Most of the DVC titles have this logo on the box.

TITLES:

  1. A Child is Born
  2. AIMS CD Instructor – Temperature, Pressure and Humidity
  3. AIMS CD Instructor – Photosynthesis
  4. AIMS CD Instructor – Learning About Ecology
  5. AIMS CD Instructor – Insects: Reproduction and Metamorphosis
  6. AIMS CD Instructor – How We Classify Animals
  7. AIMS CD Instructor – How Animals Survive
  8. AIMS CD Instructor – Frogs and How They Live
  9. AIMS CD Instructor – Evolution: Change Through Natural Selection
  10. AIMS CD Instructor – Exploring our Solar System
  11. AIMS CD Instructor – Civil War: 4 Years of War and Its Aftermath
  12. AIMS CD Instructor – Civil War: The South Secedes and War Begins
  13. AIMS CD Instructor – Animal Communities
  14. AIMS CD Instructor – A First Look at Birds
  15. AIMS CD Instructor – Bees and How They Live
  16. AIMS CD Instructor – Beavers and How They Live
  17. AIMS CD Instructor – Animal Life in a Tidepool
  18. AIMS CD Instructor – Wind, Fronts and Storms
  19. AIMS CD Instructor – A First Look at Trees
  20. AIMS CD Instructor – A First Look at Mammals
  21. AIMS CD Instructor – Ecosystems: Nature in Balance
  22. CD-i in Schools
  23. European Party
  24. In the Wake of Captain Cook
  25. Interactive Math – Whole Numbers
  26. Interactive Math – Percentages
  27. Interactive Math – Decimals
  28. Interactive Math – Fractions
  29. Journeys Through Victorian London
  30. Leren Leren
  31. Muzzy™
  32. Routes to Reading
  33. Shipwreck
  34. Soundtrap
  35. Space Safari
  36. Stickybear® – Math
  37. Stickybear® – Preschool
  38. Stickybear® – Reading
  39. “The Great Art Series” – A Revolution in Color
  40. “The Great Art Series” – Dutch Masters of the 17th Century
  41. “The Great Art Series” – Harvest of the Sun – Van Gogh
  42. “The Great Art Series” – The Art of the Czars
  43. “The Great Art Series” – The French Impressionists
  44. “The Great Art Series” – Rembrandt
  45. The Number Factory
  46. The Smithsonian Presents – The Riches of Coins
  47. The Smithsonian Presents – Stamps
  48. The World of Number – Disc 1
  49. The World of Number – Disc 2
  50. The World of Number – Disc 3
  51. The World of Number – Disc 4
  52. Tim & Bear® at the Hospital
  53. Tim & Bear® at the Airport
  54. Tim & Bear® at the Harbour
  55. Tim & Bear® at the Movies
  56. Treasures of the Smithsonian