cts-agon

Hello!

During MADE’s First Friday this month, you showed interest in the Agon computing platform and my development project for it, A-nib. If this is in error let me know. I will use this list for occasional updates(~once a month).

I’ve also been giving micro-updates on specific tasks through an ongoing Mastodon thread here:

https://pounced-on.me/@Triplefox/116360563007691847

General information on Agon and community resources(Discord etc.) can be found here:

https://agonplatform.github.io/agon-doc

For our next MADE showcase (which will be moved up to the 8th for May) I want to make progress on two things:

Complete the A-nib bitmap editor enough to use it to make some tiles. I have some other features from testing planned, but right now all it needs is file handling code.
Port Stephen Stout’s “Adventure Creation Kit” type-in as published in Antic over three issues, including a creation contest and an updated “deluxe” version with animation:

Antic Vol. 6 No. 11 - March 1988 - Video Game Shootout
- https://archive.org/details/1988-03-anticmagazine/page/14/mode/2up
Antic Vol. 7 No. 6 - October 1988 - Atari Grand Slam
- https://archive.org/details/1988-10-anticmagazine/page/20/mode/2up
Antic Vol. 7, No. 7 - November 1988 - Atari Brain Surgery
- https://archive.org/details/1988-11-anticmagazine/page/34/mode/2up

Independently of the software work I am considering making prebuilds of the hardware to demo and sell at conventions. Right now the only “packaged” version of Agon is Heber’s Console8, which comes with import costs:

https://heber.co.uk/agon-cosole8/

All the alternatives involve more DIY - assembling the case, flashing the firmware, finding a compatible keyboard, and loading an SD card. Boards and cases for the Olimex Agon Light 2 are widely available through Digikey, Mouser, etc. so for me the risk is mostly in how many units I want to try building.

I would price the resulting build around $160. I’m thinking I would test it out with a small batch of 10 first.

James (Triplefox)