58 replies to this topic

[walter_J64bit]

sh3-rg, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 6:34 AM, said:

I think we will be making more of these quick & fun games/remakes/whatever you want to call them as it helps keep bigger projects from becomming work-like. As we say on our site & have always said, we're Atari fans not just Jaguar fans & love the games we grew up with on 8-bit machines, the Jaguar is really easy for stuff like this. Sure, some people might think it's not worthy of the system, but also some people are Atari fans first and Jaguar fans second at the best We'll see what happens when Raptor is released, I imagine if anyone makes use of it this kind of game will be good to start with.

I agree, we are Atari fans or "retro gamers" so having update 2600,5200,7800 and XEGS games on the Jag should be the norm, Atari should had did that from the start Just look @ Nintendo they all ways update their retro games and any way the other option is for someone to make some working 2600/5200/7800/XEGS emulator's which I don't see in the Jag's future.

Edited by walter_J64bit, Wed Feb 1, 2012 6:20 PM.

[GroovyBee]

walter_J64bit, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 5:57 PM, said:

I agree, we are Atari fans or "retro gamers" so having update 2600,5200,7800 and XEGS games on the Jag should be the norm

ET RAPTOR? I'll get my coat...

[racerx]

As someone that's been away for a quite a while, is this burnable to CD or do I need a Skunkboard?

[sh3-rg]

racerx, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 6:20 PM, said:

As someone that's been away for a quite a while, is this burnable to CD or do I need a Skunkboard?

It's not the final version of the game (can't say how long it'll be before we release that), but you can use JiFFI to make a CD image and burn that.

walter_J64bit, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 5:57 PM, said:

the other option is for someone to make some working 2600/5200/7800/XEGS emulator's which I don't see in the Jag's future.

Maybe not but you wouldn't be alone in wanting those.

[Gaztee]

Crikey! You avoid the internet for a day & a new jag game gets released! Will fire up my skunk at some point to have a blast of this! I vaguely remember the 2600 original, I love these old activision games! Thanks guys for this & look forward to more distractions in the future! Thanks CDi for the vid review!

A quick question about Raptor to the guys! I really don't know my arse from my elbow when it comes to programming, but with raptor library how easy would it be for a complete beginner to produce something like this (2600 update) I don't have time this year to do much, but when I have gotten my year of study out the way, I would like to attempt some programming.

Cheers!

[CyranoJ]

Gaztee, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:04 PM, said:

A quick question about Raptor to the guys! I really don't know my arse from my elbow when it comes to programming, but with raptor library how easy would it be for a complete beginner to produce something like this (2600 update) I don't have time this year to do much, but when I have gotten my year of study out the way, I would like to attempt some programming.

hi Gaz,

RAPTOR will handle all the setup, graphics format conversion, object movement, animation, collision detection, joypad/rotary input, memorytrack/score saves and music and sound effects for you. The object definitions (what stuff looks like, how it moves, etc) is all scripted, the animation engine (RMotion) is all scripted, and the music bank is all 'scripted' (although slightly differently!)

You will still have to code the 'logic' for a game - but given you have Linko and can always contact us directly, I think you'd be good to go if you decided to try and make something yourself! Can't wait to see what people make with this

[Gaztee]

CyranoJ, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:38 PM, said:

Gaztee, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:04 PM, said:

A quick question about Raptor to the guys! I really don't know my arse from my elbow when it comes to programming, but with raptor library how easy would it be for a complete beginner to produce something like this (2600 update) I don't have time this year to do much, but when I have gotten my year of study out the way, I would like to attempt some programming.

hi Gaz,

RAPTOR will handle all the setup, graphics format conversion, object movement, animation, collision detection, joypad/rotary input, memorytrack/score saves and music and sound effects for you. The object definitions (what stuff looks like, how it moves, etc) is all scripted, the animation engine (RMotion) is all scripted, and the music bank is all 'scripted' (although slightly differently!)

You will still have to code the 'logic' for a game - but given you have Linko and can always contact us directly, I think you'd be good to go if you decided to try and make something yourself! Can't wait to see what people make with this

Thanks for the answer. Will defo be trying something with this. Must also be music to the ears of others in the same situation as me! This will hopefully bring more people into the fold which can only be good for the scene as a whole

[GroovyBee]

I remember ST Format doing a series of articles on making games using 68K. Maybe something like that could be done for RAPTOR (if it doesn't exist already).

[Fadest]

CyranoJ, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:38 PM, said:

Gaztee, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 7:04 PM, said:

A quick question about Raptor to the guys! I really don't know my arse from my elbow when it comes to programming, but with raptor library how easy would it be for a complete beginner to produce something like this (2600 update) I don't have time this year to do much, but when I have gotten my year of study out the way, I would like to attempt some programming.

hi Gaz,

RAPTOR will handle all the setup, graphics format conversion, object movement, animation, collision detection, joypad/rotary input, memorytrack/score saves and music and sound effects for you. The object definitions (what stuff looks like, how it moves, etc) is all scripted, the animation engine (RMotion) is all scripted, and the music bank is all 'scripted' (although slightly differently!)

You will still have to code the 'logic' for a game - but given you have Linko and can always contact us directly, I think you'd be good to go if you decided to try and make something yourself! Can't wait to see what people make with this

You only need to code the logic ?
Are there any plan to write a simple 'script' to ASM converter in order to make game writing with RAPTOR even easier ?

[GroovyBee]

Fadest, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:09 AM, said:

Are there any plan to write a simple 'script' to ASM converter in order to make game writing with RAPTOR even easier ?

I think a BASIC to ASM converter would be better. If a developer is going to all the trouble of parsing a complex script (like the kind needed for games) it would make more sense to make the script a "real" language in my opinion. The need for a BASIC like language on the jag has been discussed in the past so maybe its a good time to discuss it again?

[Sauron]

I don't think the question is whether or not the Jag needs a BASIC-like language. I think it's more of a question of who is going to do it?

[GroovyBee]

Sauron, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:49 AM, said:

I don't think the question is whether or not the Jag needs a BASIC-like language. I think it's more of a question of who is going to do it?

True! I know that there are BASIC to "C" converters out there. Maybe that is a possible route too.

[Fadest]

Of course, a real language like Basic would be better, I put intentionally 'script' between '' because if many things are managed by Raptor, we could deal with something more light (even if it restrict the potential, at least in first script language version).

The question of who is of course more important, I have deal with stuff like this 20 years ago (compiler, interpreter, even from imaginary simili-Pascal language to imaginary assembler on imaginary silly processor, with or without LEX/YACC), but this is really old (and I had multiple brain washes till this time) and I have strictly no experience in 68k programming, so writing a converter to 68k or an interpreter in 68k (there are some sources on the net for this, but that would need lots of rework) would probably be out of my capacities right now for me

But first, I would probably need to know more about Raptor.
Matmook, Sh3, Linko, will you have some spare time during AC ?

[CyranoJ]

Well, I'm quite happy writing the "core" of RAPTOR (and then using it myself with assembler) - while I'd love to see a higher level language be able to drive that core, it's not something I feel lies along my path. I have no experience at all writing compilers/interpreters (and, interpreters would be too slow to be useful IMHO) - However, saying that, I will gladly help as much as I can if someone else would like to give it a serious go.

[GroovyBee]

There is BCX :-

http://bcx-basic.sourceforge.net

Which does BASIC to "C" conversion. I'm not familiar with the syntax of its BASIC but if it is modern and allows new keywords to be defined it'd be a good investigation starting point. That means it is down to me do the "C" wrapper for RAPTOR.

[matmook]

Quote

Matmook, Sh3, Linko, will you have some spare time during AC ?

Yes and I will have some question for you about Lynx in return

[Clay]

sh3-rg, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 3:59 AM, said:

K3V, on Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:27 PM, said:

If I may offer a gameplay suggestion: have the sub "lock in" to shooting in one direction while the fire button is pressed down. Would allow for some more strategic maneuvering

I like that idea, we'll give it a go and see how it plays before we release the final version (with Sauron's levels and edits), cheers!

masematte, on Wed Feb 1, 2012 2:47 AM, said:

I.think your Raptor give.us.good games in the future

Have you been looking at our svn? I think we might show what a proper Raptor game can look like at AC 2012 and hopefully Matmook will do the same with the stuff he's been working on as he helps further develop Raptor (and maybe also in the 24 hour coding competition?!). Would be good to see some of the ejagfest regulars make it to AC this year, it really is an amazing, productive event and worth the trip being over 2 days.

Ok I'll bite and look really dumb by asking; What is AC 2012, when and where?

[Fadest]

It is a french convention, nearly in the middle of nowhere (in fact, in a nice small village near Paris)
This year, it will help in April 14 and 15th.

There are historicaly lots of Atari fans, coders and even gamers. But other retro stuff like Amstrad, MSX, Amiga (even the new and cool OS and computer) are well represented.

Based on some older stupid challenges (wonder who were stupid enough to make things like that ), there is now a 24h coding contest. Last year, it was based on Tetris thema, there have been 2 projects on Jaguar (Reactris, and Tetrisbug), 1 on Amstrad, 1 on GBA, 1 on GP32 (winner of the competition) and 1 on Lynx (my Tetris Raiden concept)... Fun, creative and exciting contest...

[CyranoJ]

Fadest, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:26 AM, said:

But first, I would probably need to know more about Raptor.

Send me a PM with any questions, or... visit the Jagware IRC channel

[Gaztee]

Damn you reboot! You just forced me to buy an original copy of seaquest, as it turns out I don't have a copy in my collection!!

[Fadest]

CyranoJ, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:19 PM, said:

Fadest, on Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:26 AM, said:

But first, I would probably need to know more about Raptor.

Send me a PM with any questions, or... visit the Jagware IRC channel

No more IRC, it's too much time consuming and dangerous for family life
I guess that dev doc will be available sooner or later ?

[skip]

I played Seaquest endlessly during the day. Great update. +1 for the hold button and lock direction thing. Though maybe it could be made as an option so people can choose...?

[Orion_]

I just tried it on my jaguar, well done !
It's a really nice and well polished game

[JagChris]

fun game.

[CyranoJ]

Thanks guys! If I can drag myself away from my PS3 for a few hours there's another game nearing completion