Toni Westbrook dot Com » Shredz64

Shredz64 – New Disk Labels

Toni — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:01:38 +0000

I decided to spruce up the hand written labels with a little MS Word mail merge label action. Not the fanciest in the world, but a little nicer looking!

Shredz64 – Video of New Bonus Track “Still Alive (Portal Credits)”

Toni — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:45:26 +0000

With Valve releasing Portal 2 fairly soon, and after realizing a SID version of “Still Alive (Portal Credits)” existed, I realized I had no choice but to make it a bonus track and post a video of it in action.

This and all tracks are available at Synthetic Dreams.

(PS – If you haven’t played Portal yet – go and do it now. It’s a fantastic game, and a fantastic ending song.)

Shredz64 – New Disk Images and Firmware Posted

Toni — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 07:00:57 +0000

For those who want to download the NTSC or PAL version of Shredz64, I updated the disk images available online to include the latest track selection.

Additionally, the link on the blog to the PSX64 firmware now points to version 1.1, the latest update which incorporates the macro and speed fixes. For archival purposes, I’ve left 1.0 and 1.0a in the download directory as well.

Also, hopefully another new track soon, maybe even this weekend!

Shredz64 – Core Track Set Update

Toni — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:07:21 +0000

Just a quick update – I’ve made the following updates:

Replaced the Zak Mckracken remix with the Bombo theme as one of the 10 tracks included in Shredz64
Since there are now a couple versions of Shredz64 out there (the original had the Stairway Intro as a track, others had the Zak remix, and the new ones will have Bombo) – I’ve made ALL tracks available for download off the Synthetic Dreams website, found here. That way, you can grab any songs you’d like, regardless of what version you have.

This balances out the difficulty range of the included tracks a bit better. All disks shipped out from here on will contain the Bombo theme.

Shredz64 – New Track Available

Toni — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:36:10 +0000

First off, lots more sales of boards this week, thanks to everyone for their interest and support!

Also, there is a new download track available on the Synthetic Dreams website – Bombo by Ben Daglish. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people that the game difficulty is quite high, so I was sure to make this track at an easy difficulty level. It’s a great tune – you can take a listen here.

Shredz64 and PSX64 Updates

Toni — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:24:57 +0000

Due to quite a bit of interest and positive support, I’ve tried to kick my butt back in gear and start producing more PSX64 boards, as well as update Shredz64 a bit. We’ve been popping up in a few expos and meetups, including TNMOC’s Vintage Computer Festival 2010 at Bletchley Park, VCF East, SC3 Arcade Party, and most recently at the Commodore Computer Club.

It means a lot that people are still very interested in this work, so I’ve started by making the following updates:

Updated the PSX64 firmware to fix a bug in macro recording, tighten up the analog joystick response, and increase sensitivity for precision game play when a non-Guitar controller is plugged in.
Updated the Shredz64 webpage with a downloadable bonus track, the Stairway to Heaven Intro, by Nantco Bakker. This track appeared on very early versions of Shredz64, but was replaced with Edwin’s Dream. Now both tracks can be enjoyed.
Since shipping varies wildly, and I tend to make boards as the need arises, I replaced the Paypal button on the order page with a link to the contact page. If you’re interested in ordering a PSX64, simply contact me with your shipping address, and I’ll quote you out the total price.

Thanks for your support everyone!

PSX64 – New batch in

Toni — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:57:32 +0000

Just a quick update, I got a batch of 50 boards in today to be assembled. I will make them up asap and get them for sale on the website!

Shredz64 – TPUG’s WoC tomorrow, demoing Shredz64

Toni — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Just a reminder, if you’re in the Toronto area (or have a sick obsession with driving long distances like me), TPUG’s World of Commodore expo is tomorrow (12/6/08) starting at 10. I will be demoing Shredz64 and will have a few PSX64s available for purchase. Also, there are a lot of other neat demos going on by some talented guys, lots of stuff to buy, and good conversations to be had, so stop by if you want to join in the retro fun.

Shredz64 – Board Production Going Well

Toni — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:16:15 +0000

Just a quick heads up that things are on schedule for having a number of boards available at the upcoming World of Commodore expo in Toronto in December, and then online afterwards. The process definitely gets easier and easier as it goes, I’m pushing out about 5-10 a weekend. Stay tuned!

Shredz64 – Difficulty Selection and Upcoming Live Demo

Toni — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:49:51 +0000

Thanks to a few nice, quiet hours I had tonight, I was able to do some Shredz64 development. One thing I quickly noticed at the ECCC convention last month was that Shredz64 is too hard for new players. The timing is different from Guitar Hero, and is pretty demanding on top of that, so unless you’ve been playing for a while, it’s pretty hard. This was where it was nice to see other people using it, as its hard to judge the difficulty of something you’ve been playing for a year.

So to combat this issue, I’ve added the choice to play a track in either “Easy” or “Hard” mode when selecting the song by pressing green or red, respectively.

Selecting hard plays the track at the same difficulty as before, but selecting easy plays the track much more leniently – the notes are the same, but the note matching gives you an additional 10 pixels above and below what is considered a valid note hit in hard mode. This will hopefully make the game a little more approachable for new players coming from playing Guitar Hero.

Live Demo – TPUG’s World of Commodore Expo

Also – just a quick announcement, I will be demoing Shredz64 and the PSX64 interface, as well as selling a few PSX64s at the upcoming World of Commodore Expo hosted by TPUG in Toronto on December 6th. Even if you’re not interested in Shredz64, I urge you to check out WoC, they have quite a few demos, lots of tables with great Commodore stuff for sale, and knowledgeable and friendly people to talk to. Toronto is always a fun place to visit as well, so make a weekend of it! Hope to see you there!