DoubleTalk

Doubletalk is a game of audio manipulation which I wrote in Z80 assembler for the Gameboy. It synthesizes three loves of mine: audio, cheap hackable hardware, and Z80 assembler.

Doubletalk Screenshot: Nintendo Gameboy Color
Doubletalk Screenshot: Nintendo Gameboy Color

Cheap hackable hardware such as the Gameboy has enormous potential: it would cost considerably more to interface a microcontroller to buttons and a color screen than to buy any Gameboy selling on eBay.

Now more than 20 years old, the Z80 has long since been abandoned for use in microcomputers. However, it has found its way more recently in less expensive digital organizers and game machines.

Doubletalk, a two player audio-manipulation game was my first serious endeaver with the Gameboy. The game used the Pocketvoice, a Gameboy cartridge with a built-in amplified speaker and microphone. In Doubletalk, players record themselves, reverse their recordings, then try to guess what each other is saying.

My work on Doubletalk and my other hacking projects with the Gameboy such as Gameboy Hardware Interfacing eventually led me to use the Gameboy as the platform for an assembly language programming course I taught at Wichita State University in 2008.

Similar Posts

  • Contrapuntal Composer

    Contrapuntal Composer is Prolog code which writes music for three simultaneous voices. Depending on initial parameters, it can write a fugue, a rondo, or any other contrapuntal form. Contrapuntal Composer obeys the rules of good voice leading within each voice and between the voices.

  • LegalLanguage

    I wrote LegalLanguage, a scripting language for lawyers at Legal Services Corporation in West Virginia. The staff used LegalLanguage to write simple scripts that could then ask clients questions, give guidance, and print out the appropriate forms. This freed up resources to focus on the large number of cases involving domestic violence.

  • Touch #1

    In 2012 I created my first interactive touch wall: Touch #1. The work built on my experience creating the visuals for Still Life and was largely inspired by seeing autistic children experiencing pure joy while interacting in an immersive environment. Touch #1 received a great response and was later installed at Exploration Place and at…

  • Ballet Wichita: Innovations

    As part of the Ballet Wichita’s Innovations performance April 2024 I teamed up with Wichita State University’s Shocker Studios to track a dancer live, reinterpreting their motions on a stage-sized display behind them. Wichita State University’s Fairmount String Trio accompanied the dance, performing Dohnányi’s Serenade. To track the dancer we used 3 Vive 3.0 trackers…

  • Assembly Language Programming

    In the Spring of 2008 I taught Wichita State University’s Assembly Language Programming for Engineers course. As explained in the syllabus, the course used the Z80 microprocessor and the GameBoy platform to introduce general concepts of computer architecture, machine and assembly language programming. Students practiced the ideas and concepts introduced in the course with programming…

  • Avian Migration

    In 2018 I collaborated with Artist Lisa Rundstrom and artist/engineer Tom McGuire to create the public art sculpture, Avian Migration at Wichita’s new Advanced Learning Library. Avian Migration consists of more than 1,300 LEDs controlled by 8 motion-activated sensors spread throughout the library. I was primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the software…