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CyranoJ

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Blog Entries posted by CyranoJ

  2. CyranoJ
    Well, last time we tried something like this the environment was a tad more hostile (Project One) - so let's see how this pans out this time.....
     
    We're going to try and build a mini game in public, via the forum. I'll be posting snippets of code along the way to highlight how RAPTOR handles things, along with regular builds.
     
    Anyway, enough preface, over to the thread here!
  3. CyranoJ
    Played with the code a bit more today, this is currently awaiting testing on real hardware by the testing team
     

     
    (Yes, that's a 2nd player... that thing we initially promised, then said we removed.... Are there any Jaguar owners out there with a friend, and a second rotary?)
  4. CyranoJ
    Less than one week to go, and some frantic activity on Rebooteroids to make the eJagFest 2012 build for sh3 to take with him. Lots of new stuff added and a few bugs squished. This one really is moving along nicely now, and with luck, shouldn't take much more to push to completion.
     
    I've also done some work on the Bubble Bobble port. Still a long way to go there until I'm happy with it, but again, this one is moving along well and will make a nice addition to the Jaguar library when we're finished with it.
     
    I'm not sure what else sh3 is taking with him to show, but I hope everyone who goes has a fantastic time - once again i wish I could make it there myself.
  8. CyranoJ
    OK, so real life is still keeping us all busy, but we have managed to almost finish the Raptor example game we mentioned (It just needs some sound effects and a few spot graphics) so that should be around soon.
     
    I took some time this week to look back at the Rebooteroids code, and I'm not at all happy with it. Raptor's object handling was derived from the core code from this game, however this early 'version' of the engine (before it was even an engine) is, compared to the current Raptor builds, a horrible can of unreadable worms. On top of which I can't remember what some of the core routines actually do anymore! (Oh woe is me, why no comments? - hehe!)
     
    And it's not much 'fun' to work on. Which leads me to what I want to write about.
     
    I don't want to scrap this game, as I've invested quite a bit of time in it over the last two or so years. And to be honest, I like the game. It plays well, it moved well, it looks neat and it uses the rotary. However, I can't see us finishing it to the original design specifications unless I start again from scratch, rebuilding the entire thing using Raptor. With our other games we didn't show anything until they were ready, and in many ways the fact that we have previewed this is now working against us, due to people having expectations. If people feel we are letting them down then I apologize for that here.
     
    So, where does that leave us?
     
    The front end menu system is 100% completed. The game mechanics are around 95% completed. The graphics are around 80% completed.
     
    However, after talking it over with sh3, we have come to the conclusion that unless we take radical action this game will never see the light of day. So what we have decided is to trim back our design plan. We'll be removing the front end and using it in another game in the future. We'll strip back the multiple worlds and just use the vector graphic set (which looks the coolest by far!) and turn the game into a pure arcade blast experience.
     
    We'll still have power-ups, and power-downs, and multiple gun types. And it will still retain it's fun. But this way we get to bring this to a closure and finally move on.
     
    Anyway, that's what is going on at the moment.
  9. CyranoJ

    What's been going on?

    By CyranoJ,

    Well, It feels like ages since I wrote anything here... so what have we been up to?
    Well, we've released HMS Raptor - and I've been cleaning the source code up to get ready to ship with the RAPTOR library.

    We've re-worked Kobayashi Maru to v1.1 (FINAL! - even the titlescreen says so!) ready to be sent off to the pressing factory, and then turned into available to buy boxes.

    We've converted Rebooteroids from a ROM cased cart format to a CD-ROM application. This means we'll be able to ship it on CD instead of carts when it's ready. It also means we get CD-Audio music! Yay!

    We started work (and have progressed nicely) on another large-scale project which I'll be showing to a few people on Monday at the South Australian game developers gathering (A good excuse to go to a pub!)

    We're adding the final touches to another RAPTOR example game which I think you'll all enjoy (and I have to extend a huge thank you to Mr PacMan Plus for his assistance)

    We've sketched out the groundwork for ULS2.0, which will allow more flexibility for making homebrew CD's, such as a menu system for multiple binaries, changing the splash logo, etc.

    So, as you can see, all is happy and busy in Jaguar land. We hope to have another thing for you to play really soon. 2012 is looking to be great
  10. CyranoJ

    Collaboration

    By CyranoJ,

    Phew, busy few weeks again.
     
    Since RAPTOR was released internally to Jagware things have moved along at a swift pace. LinkoVitch of u235 has released his DSP Sound Engine, which has been swiftly incorporated into the project, and Matmook of CVSD has written a complete animation engine that takes text-based script files and produces code that interfaces with RAPTOR to handle all kinds of sprite magic, including conditional branching!
     
    This weekend has seen the first implementation of RAPTOR_Particles - a primitive particle effects subsystem for adding pixel based effects easily to games. Want a spaceship to have debris flying off it when it thrusts? Want bits of junk to fly off things when they explode? Well, now its only another text based script away! The particle system is currently running in prototype 68000 code, but it won't take us long to get it shoehorned into the GPU - we have set aside a chunk of RAM there for it to sit in.
     
    While we're not quite ready to release RAPTOR to the public, please bear with us while we continue to push the flexibility and ease of use higher and simultaneously further lower the 'entry level requirements' for people to use and make things.
     
    Just as an example, some of the Jagware graphics people have written applications using the beta of RAPTOR - Everyone is having a go at making Jaguar apps! Who said 'this shit is hard!' ??
     
    PUSH. THE. BUTTON.
  11. CyranoJ

    Happy Holidays Everyone

    By CyranoJ,

    Well, here we are again - another Christmas.
     
    It's been an interesting year. A long year. A satisfying year. And a frustrating year. But most of all, it's been a happy year.
     
    I'd like to take some time now to say thank you to several people.
     
    The gang at Reboot - It as been an absolute pleasure working and playing with you all. Here's to another great year ahead full of fun!
     
    The Jagware Team - Your continued support and assistance has made all the difference, thank you all. I am excited to think about some of the things 2012 will bring from you guys.
     
    Shamus and the Virtual Jaguar Team - For bringing Jaguar emulation just that little bit closer to reality, for not giving up, and for implementing some of the non-emulation features I requested - It really makes development easier and is truly appreciated. VJ gets better with every build.
     
    The RAPTOR beta team - It has been absolutely amazing to see many different people come together to help improve this project. Linkovitch - Your sound engine will change the way audio is designed into Jaguar home brew from this point on. Matmook, your RMotion scripting engine will truly put the ability to make Jaguar applications into the hands of everyone.
     
    Other Jaguar Developers
    - U235 - Excellent work with the abovementioned SoundEngine and the first High Resolution game (Coded in 24 hours, no less!)
    - Matthias Domin - Really looking forward to Impuse X!
    - Stormworks Interactive - It's great to see a new bunch of folks working on the Jaguar!
    - Starcat - I hope 2012 is the year one of your games comes to fruition.
    - SubQMod - I've switched over exclusivly to SMAC/SLN now, thanks for making them. Also, I hope work continues on Jagulator!
     
    The Gaming Public - Thank you for your continued interest in our games. For good or for bad, your comments inspire us to strive to make our games better. I can only hope you've had fun with what we have released so far. Games are meant to be played. It takes both sides of the equation, the authors, and the players, to make this happen.
     
    Merry Christmas, everyone. Happy Hollidays, Best Wishes and a Happy New Year to all.
  12. CyranoJ

    Run, it's a RAPTOR!

    By CyranoJ,

    Well, another project successfully completed, and a new game engine/api announced. Busy week! Many thanks to u-235 for committing to the RAPTOR project and handling the audio side of things! Collaboration ROCKS, far more gets achieved when people work together instead of dance together
     
    Head over the the Reboot website for more details, and thanks for reading.
     
    Push those buttons!
  13. CyranoJ

    Kobayashi Maru!

    By CyranoJ,

    Well, the name of the game has leaked out..... but that is ok!
     
    The final build has just been uploaded to our internal testing share and the play testers are all over it. If you would like to be one of the first people to play our new Jaguar game then I suggest you head over to eJagFest this coming weekend and say a big "Hi!" to sh3 at the Reboot table.
     
    It will, of course, be available to download shortly after the event from our website, however what it actually is is in no way as important as what it was made with
     
    Have fun everyone!
  14. CyranoJ
    Yep, we're in BETA phase again.... Could there possibly be a major Jaguar party next month?
     
     
    The last few weeks have been a bit busy getting things ready for eJagfest and RGC. Right now, we're planning to have something available for both events, hopefully you will enjoy them. Both things are on track to be ready in time, unforseen events non-withstanding.
     
    Rebooteroids is still on the back burner, I would estimate its probably about 75% complete right now, but we are waiting on a supply of flash carts so we can actually produce it. Until they appear it will take a back seat to other projects. If anyone would like to play the latest build of it (or any of our other stuff) I'm certain they'll be at eJagfest. Please pop by and say 'hi' to sh3!
     
    Plenty of irons in the fire! November is going to be a great Jaguar month. It's great to see the console finally getting some attention from other developers!
  16. CyranoJ
    Just in case people are sitting on the fence over getting one, I would recommend that you source one with at least 72 clicks per spin (ie, Chaos Reigns)
     
    The game will allow you to calibrate to whatever you get, but higher is better.
     
    As for button/rocker - I can't comment. I don't own one of the rocker type controllers, so it's not been tested with it. It looks like it works ok with tempest, but the controls are significantly different for Rebooteroids. You have to hold a button for thrust - not sure if you could hit the other buttons while doing that, and if fire or hyperspace is the opposite direction on the rocker... well, I don't see how you can push it in both directions at once.
     
    Anyway, as previously stated, we're building and testing against Chaos Reigns as the stock standard spinner. I can promise you won't go wrong with one of those.
     
    We also have a few more spinner games in the pipeline for future releases, so it should get more use than just Rebooteroids and Tempest - plus I think Impulse! will be using them?
  17. CyranoJ
    I'm finally getting back into doing some more work on Roids, and spent some time today working on some more powerups.
     
    So, today we have the all new Dual Shot, Triple Shot and Rear Shot powerups. I'm also considering a "Death Blossom" powerup which when activated will spin around firing randomly, and then leave your ship powered down, drifting and unable to move or fire for a short period. I need to plan this one out a bit more though, because I don't want to use any extra buttons for the controls. It'll probably turn out to be a silly and unused option, but I think it might be fun, and, after all, this is my game.
     
    The Challenges screen is now functional and is tied back to the main game, which is calling handlers for the current challenge mode to test for win/fail events. It feels like its now shaping up towards an alpha build. There's still a heap of work to be done planning and designing levels, and adding assets but we are getting closer.
     
    Minor unlockable rewards are shown at the bottom (blue), major unlockable rewards are shown at the right (green), and the final 100% unlockable is in the corner (yellow)
     
    Finally, if you'd like to get a "hands on" on the current build, or see some of the other things we're working on at the moment, then head to Outline this week and ask ggn politely, I'm sure he'll let you have a go :-)
     
    One day, I'll get there myself. The commute to the event is currently a bit of a bitch
  18. CyranoJ
    Wow, three weeks since I posted anything. What's been going on?
     
    I did start work on the Challenges screen for Rebooteroids, and actually got it working so you could move around it, both with a Jaguar pad and also a rotary controller. And then we got sidetracked. Twice. Or possibly three times.
     
    The first sidetrack resulted in what could be a fun multiplayer game should we ever finish it, and also some rather nice libraries for us to use in the future.
     
    The second sidetrack was a return to something I started over a year ago (one of the previously mentioned abandoned projects). I found an earlier build of the source from before I stopped working on it, and took it in a slightly different direction, and now it's nearly a complete mini game all on its own. I think we have our easter egg for Rebooteroids :-)
     
    So, to sum up the past three weeks. Progress!
     
    PS, anyone raptured yet? And New Zealand is still there, folks
  19. CyranoJ

    Top 31 Homebrew

    By CyranoJ,

    1up did a nice roundup of homebrew games here.
     
    Lots of multiplatform hombrew fun, congratulations to everyone on that list! It's an honour for one of our games to be one of the two Jaguar titles mentioned. I would personally have selected Superfly DX over Downfall, but I won't complain!
     
    Today is a good day
  20. CyranoJ
    Spent some time this week working on something that wasn't Rebooteroids. It's going quite well. We've even got a nice new logo for it. Maybe I should get some mugs made at cafepress? Oh that's right, we make games not f*&F^Cing mugs, I forgot.
     
    Anyway, this will be a big game changer for us. Happy times.
  21. CyranoJ

    ...ROCK ON

    By CyranoJ,

    Easter weekend, never a good thing when it comes to coding. Many eggs were found and consumed. Yumm. Anyway, back to the coding accompanied by "All You Need Is Now" which I finally picked up on CD.
     
    I said last time I'd discuss the game features... well, since then SH3 has put up a placeholder webpage for the game on our site. You can find that here.
     
    Here's what the webpage has to say on the "In Depth" - I'll try to add some more text about each below:
     
    Rotary control *COMPLETE*
     
    The game will function with both a normal jagpad and a rotary - I've implemented what I've called "rotary trim" so that different rotaries with different pulse counts can be pseudo-calibrated to work with the game. I'm developing the game with a Chaos Reigns controller. I suspect we'll do a few more rotary mini games in the near future, they're FUN!
     
    RMW CRY FX *ALWAYS IN PROGRESS*
     
    The game makes heavy use of the CRY RMW (Read Modify Write) modes of the Object Processor to enable lighting and effects. This can be seen in the video by the illumination around the bullets (check as they fly near a roid or pass below the scores!), the explosions, and the thrusting. It's also used more subtly in other areas to give the game a nice visual boost.
     
    2-player co-op *NOT CODED YET*
     
    I'm planning on the game having both players work together in two player mode, one flying a ship with a slow gun and one controlling a low damage fast moving turret on top of the ship (think BLASTEROIDS!) - hopefully this will work out nicely (and enable two player rotaries)
     
    Custom sound engine based on Sinister codebase *COMPLETE*
     
    I've re-worked the Sinister MOD player quite a bit for this one. It's now around 20-25% quicker than it was, plus has extra functionality for moving around inside a MOD (Multiple start points) - I've also added unprioritised samples because some things just work better like that.
     
    Cartridge release *TBA*
     
    This is our biggest game to date. It won't fit in 2mb. Not even with loading the files off CD (Parts of it NEED to be in ROM) - Therefor it will be a cart only release.
     
    Jagtopia functionality *COMPLETE*
     
    Jagtopia, the CD Bypass software we released recently is built in as an option from the menu. No need to buy an expensive bypass cart anymore, as we hope the final release of this will cost less than they are currently selling for.
     
    Save games *NOT CODED YET*
     
    Game data will save to the internal cart memory, just like ye olde atari games.
     
    BJL loader *NOT YET IMPLEMENTED*
     
    I'm planning on a BJL softloader to include. This will allow you to connect a BJL cable to a completely unmodified Jaguar, and using Rebooteroids, get access to the wonderful world of homebrew!
     
    Regular 1/2 player mode plus extensive Challenge mode *IN PROGRESS*
     
    The arcade modes are pretty much already done. Just add GFX and level data. I've just started working on the challenge mode. More news as it breaks!
     
    Custom level design & load from CD *not 100% confirmed*
     
    The plan is to enable custom level/world sets to be loaded via CD. Like XMAS world! Anyway, thats the plan. We'll see how it goes. By the time the rest of the game is complete I may be so sick of working on this that it doesn't get added.
     
    Now about the game engine....
     
    It all started out in 68000, and in fact, there is still quite a lot of 68000 in there. However, all the grunt work is on the GPU. This allows it to be very flexible while we're working on it, but also fast enough to seriously kick some arse! (Yes, I'm British, ASS is just wrong)
     
    Currently, the rock processing, collision detection and other object update routines are on the GPU. The starfield is also running on the GPU. It's actually only plotting around 1/3 of the stars it can handle, because it looks too messy with more! I think we still have around 2k of GPU memory left, so plenty of room for more optimization if needed.
     
    What's in the videos is just the engine ticking over quite happily in the first few levels, we've made some stress tests where the screen is completely full of rocks and bullets, and its all still nicely ticking along at 50/60fps. If you check to the end of one of the videos you will see the bonus level, which is a screen flooded with coins to collect. You'll be able to use these to buy upgrades as you progress.
     
    That'll do for now. Happy Easter everyone.
  22. CyranoJ

    Whoohoo! A blog!

    By CyranoJ,

    Well, you may or may not have heard about the little group of developers I'm a part of called Reboot. Anyway, we've been making some new games recently for the Atari Jaguar.
     
    Last weekend we released a new mini game called "Downfall" - which you can read all about here.
     
    At the same event that this was released (AC11 in France) we also previewed one of the other games we've been working on, called Rebooteroids. You can see a video of this in action here - I plan on continuing to blog the progress of the rest of this game on this here site.
     
    Anyway, that's it for now. I just wanted to start this blog off. More coming soon
     
    Keep pushing those buttons.
  23. CyranoJ

    Work Resumes!

    By CyranoJ,

    Just wrapping up on another Reboot project, which means its nice to be working on this again!
     
    The final code module required is nearing completion - the high score / name entry / eeprom management screen. With this done, I can finally start assembling a 'feature complete and working' ROM - leaving 'only' bug fixes, level designs and clean up left.
     
    Lots of work ahead, but the end is finally in sight!
     
     
  24. CyranoJ

    Primary coding completed!

    By CyranoJ,

    HAPPY DAY: Rebooteroids - Primary coding completed.......
     

     
    So, is it finished? No. Still awaiting some assets (music, graphics, level data), play-testing and any and all bug-fixes that brings to the surface.
     
    However, this is a major milestone! - CJ
  25. CyranoJ

    Another Milestone

    By CyranoJ,

    Another long gap between posts, but... another milestone hit.
     
    Today Rebooteroids ran for the first time from a production Jagtopus board, complete with all high score tables (4 of them) and all game options (control config/audio settings/etc) saved to the card EEPROM chip.
     
    Since the last update there have been many changes/fixes/additions, some of which are below:
     
    The boot loader intro has been completed.
    Name entry and high score screens added.
    Interlaced High Resolution title picture added.
    Multi-player Co-Operative mode has been added (For main game and skirmish)
    Multip-layer Kombateroids has been finalized, complete with a config screen and 10 battlemaps for head to head action.
    A code entry screen has been added (cheats, hidden stuff, etc)
    Extra config for rotary to give even more (finer) adjustment for different spinners.
    Several bugs have been documented, located and squished.
     
    Phew!
     
    More news on the Reboot Facebook page as it happens.
     
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