56 replies to this topic

[Willard]

Buddybuddies and I recently bought the sourcecode to TinyToons and it compiled into a fully playable demo, it's great to know the first version of the game wasn't lost afterall We have multiple revisions from various stages of the development, the pics attached are from a milestone slightly further along than the one shown on the back of the box. With Crazyace releasing Ultimate Brain games and now the discovery of this, it's been an unusual couple weeks for the Jaguar

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by Willard, Fri Oct 3, 2008 2:30 AM.

[Sayton]

Great job! Looks like it would've been an awesome game! Btw, how do you come into contact about source codes? Just curious.

[doctorclu]

Willard, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 1:12 AM, said:

Buddybuddies and I recently bought the sourcecode to TinyToons and it compiled into a fully playable demo, it's great to know the first version of the game wasn't lost afterall We have multiple revisions from various stages of the development, the pics attached are from a milestone slightly further along than the one shown on the back of the box. With Crazyace releasing Ultimate Brain games and now the discovery of this, it's been an unusual couple weeks for the Jaguar

Man that is awesome news!! It looks a lot like Bubsy, but does it play anything like Bubsy?

[walter_J64bit]

Are we going to be able to download it?

Edited by walter_J64bit, Fri Oct 3, 2008 4:31 AM.

[doctorclu]

Willard, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 1:12 AM, said:

Buddybuddies and I recently bought the sourcecode to TinyToons and it compiled into a fully playable demo, it's great to know the first version of the game wasn't lost afterall

BTW, for those wondering I believe you guys got this off the TT030 that had the Tiny Toones code? If so I'm glad you got that machine.

You know I was looking at the pictures and how it has the background picture with the platform and all in the foreground... kinda like Bubsy, and the character size looks similar.

Just looking at these pictures helps me realize something. First off, looks like the background uses a fairly standard jpeg.. of course this is evident in Jungle Jag (one of the Jaguar developer contest games two years ago), very cool. I need to look into the Jungle Jag code, but maybe you can tell me, how do they code the foreground?

I was hoping that I could at one point rip the maps from the Bubsy code to get the most accurate maps of the Bubsy levels, but looking at these Tiny Toons screen shots, I'm starting to realize that perhaps those are not a jpg for the foreground but more code.

Anyway, am I close on that? How does the foreground action work on platforms like these (that you could see in the code)?

Tiny Toons.. miss that cartoon. It was thanks to them I got into "They Might Be Giants" from their musical/video episode.

[PeterG]

Very cool find, I would be interested to hear the story of its origin if it is not a secret to be kept. Amazing how this stuff comes up again and again after all those years.
This beta looks so much better than the other one found by Glenn I think. Wonder what wasn't right with this version...
How does it play?

[Willard]

Quote

Man that is awesome news!! It looks a lot like Bubsy, but does it play anything like Bubsy?

Quote

This beta looks so much better than the other one found by Glenn I think. Wonder what wasn't right with this version...
How does it play?

Tiny Toons and Bubsy are very different games, so it's very difficult to list similarities. Basically in TTA you have to get from one end of the level to the other, but just moving will deplete your energy. This encourages you to switch characters at teleporter beams every now and then, plus there are energy extentions scattered throughout the level. You actually attack enemies by spraying them with magic dust, then they transform into collectable crystals (very strange!). In early versions they "warp" out to wackyland. There are various obstacles along the way (breakable walls, lava spurts, bottomless pits) and collectible "super-jumps" that help you out of shallow pits. The level ends when you find and deactivate a gold machine.

You can walk in front of, and behind various objects in the foreground and background, but your movement is restricted to the middleground like most platformers. I think the levels are tile-based, the backdrop being a jpeg with minor scrolling.

Quote

Great job! Looks like it would've been an awesome game! Btw, how do you come into contact about source codes? Just curious.

Quote

Very cool find, I would be interested to hear the story of its origin if it is not a secret to be kept. Amazing how this stuff comes up again and again after all those years.

The source came from Glenn who was selling it for one of the members of the dev team, a coincidence that both versions of the game went through his hands I guess

Edited by Willard, Fri Oct 3, 2008 12:16 PM.

[doctorclu]

Willard, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 12:39 PM, said:

Tiny Toons and Bubsy are very different games, so it's very difficult to list similarities. Basically in TTA you have to get from one end of the level to the other, but just moving will deplete your energy. This encourages you to switch characters at teleporter beams every now and then, plus there are energy extentions scattered throughout the level. You actually attack enemies by spraying them with magic dust, then they transform into collectable crystals (very strange!). In early versions they "warp" out to wackyland. There are various obscacles along the way (breakable walls, lava spurts, bottomless pits) and collectible "super-jumps" that help you out of shallow pits. The level ends when you find and deactivate a gold machine.

I think I see why this was scrapped. But still interesting.

I bet the source is interesting to look at.

[Atariman]

Ah, very cool! Nice to see another one of the "long lost" Jag titles has made its way to the surface Nice work!

[doctorclu]

Willard, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 12:39 PM, said:

You actually attack enemies by spraying them with magic dust, then they transform into collectable crystals (very strange!).

Now that I think about this, it was probably to give this a more kiddie and less violent aspect to the game. You dust them rather than shoot them, jump on them, etc. Besides, aside from Dizzy Devil (A little Tazmanian Devil) who in the tiny toons could fight? Plucky? Ha! (As we see in the Particle Man video I listed above.)

But then I got to thinking too... in Bubsy 2 (for the SNES and Genesis) in that you could hit enemies with nerf gun nerf bullets and they would turn into collectable cards that you could buy other things with. Kinda makes sense.

So how many levels existed on this? Just one?

As a platformer this actually sounds like it could be some fun.

[BuddyBuddies]

JAGUAR RULES!

[kevincal]

doctorclu, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 4:47 AM, said:

Willard, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 1:12 AM, said:

Buddybuddies and I recently bought the sourcecode to TinyToons and it compiled into a fully playable demo, it's great to know the first version of the game wasn't lost afterall

BTW, for those wondering I believe you guys got this off the TT030 that had the Tiny Toones code? If so I'm glad you got that machine.

You know I was looking at the pictures and how it has the background picture with the platform and all in the foreground... kinda like Bubsy, and the character size looks similar.

Just looking at these pictures helps me realize something. First off, looks like the background uses a fairly standard jpeg.. of course this is evident in Jungle Jag (one of the Jaguar developer contest games two years ago), very cool. I need to look into the Jungle Jag code, but maybe you can tell me, how do they code the foreground?

I was hoping that I could at one point rip the maps from the Bubsy code to get the most accurate maps of the Bubsy levels, but looking at these Tiny Toons screen shots, I'm starting to realize that perhaps those are not a jpg for the foreground but more code.

Anyway, am I close on that? How does the foreground action work on platforms like these (that you could see in the code)?

Tiny Toons.. miss that cartoon. It was thanks to them I got into "They Might Be Giants" from their musical/video episode.

Tiny Toons really was a good cartoon... I miss a lot of cartoons from the 80's & 90's. Most cartoons now are just plain stupid.

[Pocket]

Wow, very cool to see that

Thank you !

[ls650]

Wow - neat!

[Tempest]

ls650, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 9:19 AM, said:

Wow - neat!

Hey that's my line!

Of course this has to be found AFTER I sold my Jaguar...

Tempest

[doctorclu]

Tempest, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 9:55 AM, said:

ls650, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 9:19 AM, said:

Wow - neat!

Hey that's my line!

Of course this has to be found AFTER I sold my Jaguar...

Tempest

Someone who calls himself "Tempest" and you sell your Jaguar when it has one of the most awesome versions of Tempest ever? Blastphemy!!!

Edited by doctorclu, Sat Oct 4, 2008 11:37 AM.

[Fredifredo]

walter_J64bit, on Fri Oct 3, 2008 12:30 PM, said:

Are we going to be able to download it?

... Good idea...

[nonner242]

Freak'n' Kewl!

[Tempest]

doctorclu, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 1:36 PM, said:

Tempest, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 9:55 AM, said:

ls650, on Sat Oct 4, 2008 9:19 AM, said:

Wow - neat!

Hey that's my line!

Of course this has to be found AFTER I sold my Jaguar...

Tempest

Someone who calls himself "Tempest" and you sell your Jaguar when it has one of the most awesome versions of Tempest ever? Blastphemy!!!

My chosen name has nothing to do with the game...

Tempest

[Willard]

Nice to see that others are enthusiastic about this as well. Thanks to all for the kind comments

Quote

So how many levels existed on this? Just one?

As a platformer this actually sounds like it could be some fun.

Gusbucket13's recently released case history notes that the first version of the game continued up to Milestone 3, before the programmer was replaced and the new isometric version was started.

A readme file that reveals the milestone number was included with each revision of the source code that buddies and I acquired. The readme files span from milestone's 1-3, so it's safe to conclude that we have the latest revision of the original attempt at the game.

There appear to be 5 levels. They can be summed up like this:
LVL1 (Dune): Complete
LVL2 (Cave): Complete, Only 1 Enemy
LVL3 (Dune2): The same as LVL1, new volcanic terrain color matches the level theme
LVL4 (Treetops): Empty
LVL5 (Mountainside): Empty

It looks like the developers designed one level and constantly improved it all year long (mechanics and backgrounds change, level design and enemy placement are tweaked, collision detection and collectibles are added .etc). Apparently they were happy enough with level 1 to start the cave level, which includes a new level-specific enemy. It's cool that they got the whole first level 100% complete though, gives us a chance to see how the game would've played.

Edited by Willard, Sat Oct 4, 2008 10:29 PM.

[the.golden.ax]

It simply must be completed, and offered to collectors. I think I speak for everyone who has looked at the Jaguar ad's since release of the system, when I say this has been a long time coming! Make sure it's very visible and public/enough copies if you do, I don't want to miss out.

AX

[Isgoed]

Very, very nice find.

Good work!!

[Atari Smeghead]

This is a very cool find!

I also hope this gets released in some form. I will purchase a copy once it becomes available.

Thanks for sharing!
Smeg

[Paolo]

I read this thread quite quickly, but I don't have time to reread it, so will someone please tell me if the SOURCE has been found along with the executable?
Thanks.

Oh, and, by the way, ...

great find!

[doctorclu]

Paolo, on Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:38 AM, said:

I read this thread quite quickly, but I don't have time to reread it, so will someone please tell me if the SOURCE has been found along with the executable?

LOL, in a word, yes.