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DKAFE - Donkey Kong Arcade Frontend (Windows and Raspberry Pi4)
10yard:
Hi, I haven't been here for a while. I took a long break from the hobby to sort out my life and health issues. I now find myself in a much better place and am getting excited about arcade gaming again. I wasn't able to reset my forum password from my original login (degenatrons) but maybe it's good to start over.
To give myself a project and some focus during lockdown, I decided to build a Donkey Kong arcade machine. The machine was made 2/3 scale and adapted to a bartop form factor from the plans at https://www.classicarcadecabinets.com/donkey-kong.html
I wondered for some time about making my own frontend to compliment the arcade machine - I'm a software developer. I did not like the feel of the 60-in-1 and I was only really interested in running DK on the machine. The frontend would be based on Donkey Kong gameplay. You would control Jumpman on the girders stage navigating the platforms to pick an arcade game to launch by simply walking up to it. This led me to think about the frontend becoming more like a game itself, having the frontend set challenges and awarding coins when you play well. I researched into Donkey Kong Hacking and the LUA scripting language for MAME. I was inspired to create DKAFE (The Donkey Kong Arcade Frontend).
https://github.com/10yard/dkafe#readme
A very short video review - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RtjCKfJuoo
DKAFE can be configured to work with any roms as a general arcade frontend BUT the default setup is geared towards Donkey Kong.
The frontend comes bundled with DKWolf emulator. It's my own custom lightweight build of WolfMAME (for Windows and Raspberry Pi4) which supports only the Donkey Kong drivers. LUA scripts integrate with DKWolf to add functionality to all the Donkey Kong roms including visibility of your progress towards objectives during gameplay and a HUD.
The default set up simply requires that you place dkong.zip (and optionally dkongjr.zip) into DKAFE's roms folder. The frontend will automatically generate around 40 additional Donkey Kong roms using the built-in rom patcher.
DKAFE showcases all the excellent rom hacks that have been developed by the Donkey Kong community along with some new ones that were made by me specifically for this frontend.
See the full list of Donkey Kong hacks with credit given to the original authors at https://github.com/10yard/dkafe#automatically-generated-roms
Some hacks I made specifically for DKAFE are as follows.
Vector Kong: A hack of the original arcade game which suppresses the normal video output completely and renders high resolution vectors to the screen instead of pixels. See my project thread.
GalaKong: A Galaga themed Donkey Kong shoot 'em up. Jumpman is assisted by an accompanying ship which can take out barrels, fireballs, firefoxes, pies and springs. Bonus points are awarded for destroying multiple targets.
DK Lava Panic: Jumpman must keep his cool and move quickly up platforms to avoid rising Lava. Try not to panic!
Konkey Dong: A mixed up version of Donkey Kong. The barrels stage plays backwards and the level order is changed. The rom hack was requested by PBJ of this forum.
The frontend has a credit system and you begin with 500 coins. You must collect coins which are thrown by Donkey Kong. You'll be charged 100 coins to launch a game.
By default, The DKAFE frontend will run in unlock mode so you must earn more coins to unlock arcade machines. If you're not up for the challenge then it is possible to adjust things and have all machines unlocked and set to free play. Pauline will love it when you beat all the machines though.
The DKAFE reward system will payout coins when you beat target scores for 3rd, 2nd and 1st prize. Coins will drop from the top of the screen when returning to the frontend. Jumpman must collect coins before they fall from the bottom of the screen.
I developed DKAFE from scratch in Python and it can run on multiple platforms. I made Binary releases for Windows and an SD card image for Raspberry Pi4.
The latest DKAFE releases can be found at https://github.com/10yard/dkafe#get-dkafe-for-your-system
Please refer to my git hub page for install and set up information - https://github.com/10yard/dkafe
DKAFE is open source so you can contribute with development or ideas if you like. I would greatly appreciate help with testing and feedback.
Jon
PL1:
Welcome back, Jon. ;D
Glad to hear you're doing well and cool new project to announce your return. :cheers:
Scott
KenToad:
Wow, this is amazingly cool! Thanks so much for sharing.
I'm playing the 64 bit version on Windows 10 and I tried remapping button 5 to button 3 for CONTROL_COIN = 3 and the changes aren't working. Pushing button 5 still works to drop a coin in-game, though.
Just want to reiterate that the work you've done here is incredible and I think it will help to bring attention to all these great romhacks.
10yard:
--- Quote from: PL1 on April 16, 2021, 02:09:50 pm ---Welcome back, Jon. ;D
Glad to hear you're doing well and cool new project to announce your return. :cheers:
Scott
--- End quote ---
Thanks very much for the welcome Scott. It's been a while! I hope you are well my friend.
10yard:
--- Quote from: KenToad on April 16, 2021, 02:42:58 pm ---Wow, this is amazingly cool! Thanks so much for sharing.
I'm playing the 64 bit version on Windows 10 and I tried remapping button 5 to button 3 for CONTROL_COIN = 3 and the changes aren't working. Pushing button 5 still works to drop a coin in-game, though.
Just want to reiterate that the work you've done here is incredible and I think it will help to bring attention to all these great romhacks.
--- End quote ---
Hey, thanks for getting it install already! I love the DK romhacks and it was really my intention to showcase them.
The coin function in the frontend simply displays information above the arcade machine icons. It doesn't do a lot. Does nothing at all happen when you press 3 on the keyboard?
and can you confirm your settings line reads like this with no extra spaces:
CONTROL_COIN = 3
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