Alone in the Dark developer is making a new Genesis game and custom spinner

Frédérick Raynal, the director of the 1992 survival horror classic Alone in the Dark, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new Sega Genesis game called PopCorn Duel. The project is a competitive brick-breaker that comes with a custom rotary controller called the PopCorn Spinner.

Raynal is best known for pioneering 3D horror. His work on Alone in the Dark established the template for the genre. He built a custom 3D engine that placed flat-shaded polygonal characters over pre-rendered 2D backgrounds. This technical solution directly inspired Capcom's Resident Evil a few years later. After leaving Infogrames, he founded Adeline Software International and directed Little Big Adventure, an isometric action game that gained a massive cult following in Europe.

Before all of that, he created a Breakout clone called PopCorn in 1988. He developed the PC title with Christophe Lacaze while working at his father's computer repair shop. PopCorn was distributed as freeware and gained significant success, eventually leading to his job at Infogrames. His first commercial game was Robix (1983/1986).

I find the origin story of this Genesis port incredibly touching. A little over a year ago, Raynal's friend David Mekersa reached out with an idea. Mekersa wrote books on programming. He wanted to create a C coding course for the Mega Drive with the SGDK development kit. He asked Raynal if he had an old game they could adapt for the lessons. Raynal suggested PopCorn, and the two began building a simple version with didactic code.

Mekersa fell ill and passed away during development. Raynal decided to finish the adaptation alone as a tribute to his friend. What started as an educational exercise grew into a full commercial release.

Three games on one cartridge

The final cartridge includes three different titles. The first is a direct port of the 1988 PopCorn, complete with its original four-color CGA graphics. The second is PopCorn 2026, a modernized solo mode that uses the 16-bit hardware to add richer colors and stackable power-ups.

The main draw is PopCorn Duel. This mode shifts the perspective horizontally and pits two players against each other. Players bounce the ball back and forth with special weapons, missiles, and curveballs to break through their opponent's defenses.

4096 steps per revolution

To make the game feel right, Raynal designed a brand new peripheral from scratch. The PopCorn Spinner is a dedicated rotary controller built specifically for the Genesis. It uses Hall effect sensors to allow for infinite rotation without physical wear. The internal electronics register 4,096 steps per turn. This provides much higher precision than the 270-degree rotation of an old Atari 2600 paddle.

Raynal built the spinner because existing arcade rotary controllers are usually bulky and expensive. The Genesis never had an official spinner of its own. Because the new controller interfaces directly with the SGDK, other homebrew developers will be able to program their own games to use it. This opens the door for accurate arcade ports of games like Tempest or Arkanoid on Sega's hardware.

The crowdfunding campaign offers several different hardware bundles. The standard edition includes the game cartridge and one spinner. The highest collector's tier includes a 34-centimeter statue of the game's mascot with a built-in 5.5-inch OLED screen. A Teensy 4.0 microcontroller powers the display, and it plays two exclusive mini-games that work with the spinner.