This is something that's been bouncing around in my head for a while and finally fell out.
Having had long time plans to build a Skeeball-style game of my own and watching the excellent progress Brad has been making on the one he is building, I decided to sit down and crank out a full-frilled game logic and display application for use with any model of the KeyWiz.
Here are a couple of screen shots:
"In-Game"
(http://www.groovygamegear.com/screencap1.jpg)
"Classic Attract Mode" (rotating LED Segments)
(http://www.groovygamegear.com/screencap2.jpg)
Current Functionality of the Software:
Large LED Score Digits - Optimized for use with a 15" Display or larger
Skinnable Scoreboard Backdrop - Can be customized to fit the look of your game.
User definable Sound Effects for program start, coin-up, game start, score increment, and game over,.
Can be wired so that each input increases the score by a preset amount. 10, 20 , 30 , 40 , 50 and 100 respectively
Can also be wired for revamping a traditional Skee-Ball type machine where the scoring is incremental based on the number of switches triggered (2 methods allowed)
Tracks Credits, number of balls played, when the game is over, etc. Essentially it is completely functional sans WIN tiers.
Automatically cycles into the classic "Attract Mode" after a pre-determined amount of time following "Game Over"
Should work on just about any mid-level PII or better with any Windows OS (95 or better) , 15" or larger monitor and Sound Card (not required, but more fun). Like anything, it'll probably run smoother on faster systems, but it should work well on quite a range.
Work in Progress:
Single and Multiple Win Tiers - User definable in both quantity and levels.
Multi-Player Modes
Game Variations
Specialized hardware for external device control like Ball releases and ticket dispensers. (This is a "longer-term" one)
*EDIT*
The LED-Wiz can pretty much do this last part now, so it might just be time to re-visit the code to provide some output functionality and maybe take a look at updating it for the LED-Wiz+GP ;)
The Software will be available free of charge, for personal use, to current and future users of the KeyWiz keyboard encoder product line.
If you own a KeyWiz and would like a copy , drop me a line and I'll put you on a beta list.. As usual, all feedback is appreciated. :)
Thanks,
RandyT