A downloadable Chiptune Alarm Clock

Turn your Gameboy into a chiptunes alarm clock!

This is my entry for the GBJam21 in the homebrew/tool section.

I first tried to do a hardware hack to fit a LCD clock into a Gameboy case and
decided it would me much more fun to write code on  a real Gameboy.
This is a rewrite in assembly of the proof of concept I did with GBDK, and this time it features a previously unreleased song by The Other Days.
The switch to assembly was motivated by the use of lsdpack to allow playing LSDJ songs.
For this project, you need to lay your Gameboy on the left side, because this way, the DMG looks a bit more like an alarm clock.

Why?

This project started as an excuse to do some Gameboy development. I agree it may not be the most practical alarm clock in the world but I like the retro touch of it I plan to release the source code at some point, but as I'm releasing this version in a rush to meet the deadline, the code is in a pretty ugly state right now, with lots of hacks and unfinished parts, I'll polish the source before releasing it. Once released, users should be able to build a create a cartridge with their own song.

The commands:

Aset the alarm time
Bset the time
Up/Downselect the digit you want to change
Left/Rightincrease/decrease the digit
Startplay the chiptunes if you don't want to wait for the alarm
Selectenable, disable or set the alarm in Konami mode

If the alarm is enabled, you just need to press any button to stop the music, but if the alarm is in Konami mode, you need to do the Konami code (up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-b-a) to stop it ;-)

Download

Download
the_other_alarm1.gb 128 kB
Download
the_other_alarm2.gb 128 kB

Development log

Comments

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Awesome app !  Please add a function to use RTC feature from flash cart with battery (Ez flash jr for example). 

 

Very nice and funny idea. If you work further on this, i would request the possibility to rotate the clock to make it compatible with the normal gba and the possibility to switch between analogue and digital design. 

Thanks!
I don't know if I will find the time and motivation to resume working on the GB version. But maybe I will do a GBA version because the hardware looks fun and easier to use. And it's even possible to develop GBA games in Rust, something I wanted to do.

That sounds very nice. Keep Us updated 😉

Great update!

I wonder how long the battery lasts.

Modded Gameboy with IPS Screen and Clean Juice battery.

(1 edit)

It looks great on an IPS screen!
I designed a 3D printable horizontal support for the Gameboy, I uploaded it on thingiverse, I need to wait 24h before it's available, I'll post the link here.
Edit: here it is https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5028185

It's time to use the ClockBoy!  :)

And it's finally time for an update ;-)
I uploaded a new version with animated sprites when the alarm is ringing, check it out!

Your a legend!