Pier Solar and the Great Architects homebrew games for retired consoles... Pier Solar and the Great Architects is a 16-bit role playing game for the Sega Mega Drive, released in December 2010 by WaterMelon Co. The game optionally utilizes the Mega-CD expansion device to enhance its audio capabilities. Development of the game began on June 8, 2004 as a small project by the community of the website Eidolon's Inn, a community dedicated to homebrew-development for Sega video game consoles. The project was originally intended to be a simple RPG based on the members of the community, and the target platform was the Sega Mega-CD. At that time the project was simply called Tavern RPG, a reference to the website's message boards being called "The Tavern". As development progressed the original idea was abandoned in favor of a full-fledged fantasy RPG of greater scale. By 2006 the game engine had become sophisticated enough that the creation of actual content could really begin. While most of the Eidolon's Inn community was no longer directly involved, other people joined the team, leading to a core of eight members with additional help from many more.
This game just shipped in December of 2010. With the success of MineCraft and the constant emergence of new polished homebrew for retro consoles, 2011 may turn out to be a year where we see a best selling game that's not available on any current console.
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This is Ravel, a picture puzzle. You are a postman who one day wakes up in a mysterious place. What is going on, is it a dream? You come across a signpost in the road. It reads:
Welcome friend to a place called Ravel,
Should you wish to leave; there's no need to travel.
Open your mind and believe what you see,
Follow my words carefully and you will be free.
Beware the creature chained to the guillotine,
A close encounter, and death he will bring.
He bears your semblance like a deranged twin,
To get past you must slay him from within.
The weapon you seek is neither sword nor spear,
It is rather small and shaped like a sphere.
But judge not this toxic fruit by its size,
The bones of the Great Beast tell no lies.
Finding the exit is your next task,
There's no gate or portal, so don't even ask.
Look to the stars and you will find your way,
They light your path as clear as day.
Point the Northern Star southeast,
To the south you will shine the Star of the Northeast
Point the Eastern Star southwest
And the Southwest Star east. (You're almost done with your quest!)
The obsidian block marks the compass center,
And where the light beams cross, there you will enter.
Pick up the tools once guarded by the creature,
Now dig dig dig your way to departure! Puzzle by Nannan Zhang. Click the image to biggify. Solution here. Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in LEGO | Digg this! 
Akiba of Freak Labs wrote in to share how he used one of his open hardware Freakduino boards to create a realtime wireless protocol analyzer for the 802.15.4 standard. If you haven't heard of the concept before, a protocol analyzer is a device that captures and analyzes all of the information that is sent across a communication channel (such as a serial line, Ethernet connection, or in this case a specific wireless format). This data can then be used to debug or reverse engineer whatever protocols were being sent over the communication channel. Akiba's project is specifically aimed at monitoring the 802.15.4 wireless protocol, which is the underlying protocol used by xBee devices, as well as anything that uses the Zigbee protocol. By feeding captured data from his Freakduino board into Wireshark, an open source protocol analyzer that knows how to decode different kinds of data packets, he shows it is easy to reconstruct the conversations between two xBee nodes. From a security standpoint, none of this is really new- there are already both commercial and homebrew projects that accomplish the same goal. What Akiba has done, however, is to provide a simple, fully open source version that is affordable to hobbyists. This could get really interesting, as more commercial devices come out that use these standards! Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Wireless | Digg this! In response to our Dremel PDF project to mod some Lego bricks into a USB drive case with a working cap, reader Pieter Leeuwen sent us images of this version he made years ago (after seeing a similar project here on MAKE that he thought he could improve upon). He's been using this drive ever since. Please keep in mind that I've been walking around with this stick for almost 5 years now and it was made out of some old pieces I used to play with as a child which were already banged up. The project was just a proof of concept at the time. Nevertheless, I think this can be easily copied with better quality. At the time I made it, it was the first time I had ever held a (fake) Dremel in my hand and I didn't have the proper attachments nor a third-hand or a vise. Because of that, I sanded off quite a lot of skin from my fingertips, burned myself ;) and found that it is not easy to sand plastic in the first place, because of the friction melts it!
More:
Create a Lego flash drive with functioning cap
See all of our Lego coverage on MAKE
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It seems to me that the only sensible reason to make a spherical barbeque grill that looks like the Earth is that it is delightful, and makes the grill more enjoyable to use or just look at while it's sitting in the corner of the patio. And it seems to me, further, that the purpose of bringing delight to its users is rather spoiled by the suggestion that the grill "is a symbol of human consumption of natural resources." My BBQ grill doesn't have to symbolize anything. In fact, it's better if it doesn't. But if it wants to look like a globe just because it makes me and my family enjoy using it and having it around that much more, I'm all for it. The World BBQ is a prototype from Australia's GoldenHen design studio. More: Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Furniture | Digg this! 
I'm often surprised how much one can fit inside a trailer. Check out this deceptively accommodating movie theater crammed into a recycled 1960's era travel trailer. The Sol Cinema is solar powered and comes complete with ticket booth, concession stand, and seating for eight adults. [via LaughingSquid] The Sol Cinema was commissioned by media arts charity Undercurrents and designed and constructed by Jo Furlong in 2009 with support from Ami Marsden & Beth Marsden. Jo recycled a 1960's two berth caravan to produce the Sol Cinema we see today. What makes it possible to operate such a compact cinema is our Lithium ion batteries. These are usually used in electric cars but they are ideal for our work. Our 120W solar panels receive Sunlight to charge our batteries ensuring that we always have power, whatever the weather. Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Portable Audio and Video | Digg this! More Recent Articles | |
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