Atari Jaguar Homebrew: Atari Owl Project E-JagFest Demo

[saturndual32]

Atari Owl, are you thinking about blowing us away with another clip from your project in the (very)near future. Even if its only slightly improved from this video, it would be aweome to see.

[videooven]

Do you need a modchip or something to run homebrew on the Jaguar? Or do you just burn it to disc?

[nicklapman]

This looks awesome! It's great that the homebrew community is still thriving. I definitely need to buy a jag so I can play this :D Also, I know nothing about making games or programming but I'd really like to make a game, if I was to make a short beginner's project would the jaguar be a good choice or is it hard to program for like the saturn?

[AtariOwl]

@nicklapman

Hi there.. thank you for the kind words.

The Jag.. its a funny machine, some things are easy, some not so much

As a starter machine its not bad, it has a 68k which is a well understood CPU, and faster than the 68k's in the Amiga/ST, so concentrating on that, and the Blitter (which just requires sending a few register values to set it up).. theres no reason not to set up some really fun games that could set the Amiga/ST to shame :)

[nicklapman]

@AtariOwl Thanks, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product :D. Could you recommend a tutorial program/site on game making, or would it be best to try and find a course? P.S. I just bought a jaguar so I'll be ready when this comes out >:D

[AtariOwl]

@nicklapman

Hi... I have to admit its a long hard road that has been embarked upon though.

Hmmm, game making courses... I'm not really sure, i suppose it really depends on the kind of game you would like to make and on what console or computer you would like to make it.

If its the Jag that interests you I'd recommend talking to as many of the homebrew devs as possible. We don't all agree but theres a large pool of knowledge there.

[NotByBreadAlone77]

Wow, love Atari...keep it up! I will definitely be one to purchase this.

[snethss]

Keep up the good work man.

[MizfitZer0]

so how much longer is the game until we will be lucky enough to see it in full working order with the animated character and enemies ect? :)

[AtariOwl]

@MizfitZer0

I wish i could say

As soon as life, work and racing permit is the best answer i can give - i can promise though, that it is not standing still.

[hossainrouf]

Cartridge, CD, or both? Please do not let it be CD only. That peripheral is expensive and unreliable. Also possible price tag for the game?

[AtariOwl]

@hossainrouf

Hi There

The intention is NOT for it to be CD only - for the reasons you already stated.

Cost? We're too far away from completion to be able to project that I'm sorry to say.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

how about making this into alien vs predator II? or a lord of the rings?

[AtariOwl]

@BiffsGamingVideos

Hi There... love the SCES and Jammer CD vids by the way :)

Those are nice ideas, unfortunately I think the copyright holders would have something to say about those, and after seeing various projects closed down (Chrono Trigger springs to mind) we felt an original idea would be better.

So we're trying to make it original... we think we have an interesting storyline and style for it (it'll move away from the more OoT style visuals) and we hope people will like what we do.

[TFiPW]

was it really hard to program?

[AtariOwl]

@TFiPW Hello There :)

In truth, yes. For 2D games, the Jaguar is quite easy to program, but as one pushes the limits it becomes more awkward and unreliable.

It could be claimed that the time might have been more profitably spent, but it's been interesting and fun (for the most part) and we've learned a lot about the Jaguar, and also general points about 3D engines which will help when we move to other Video Game Systems.

[SerblanderStudios]

@ Atari Owl: this looks great mate! I also like the music - is that in-game or just being played over the vid? Anyway, wish you all the best with this!

[AtariOwl]

@SerblanderStudios

Hi Serblander :) This is in-game music. The sampling unfortunately was a little hissy - newer versions sound MUCH better.

[SerblanderStudios]

@AtariOwl Sounds good AO (pun intended ;) Excited to see more of this!

[A31Chris]

@AtariOwl thats actual in game music??? holy crap! thats awesome!! I always assumed it was thrown in the video for effect.

[AtariOwl]

@A31Chris

Hi Chris and thank you. We feel very luck to have Calico on team.

Yes the music is in game as those at JFUK and E-Jagfest can confirm

I do admit to a slight cheat on the video though. Whilst the music WAS played by the jaguar and recorded at the same time as the visuals.The video was not done in one shot.

Contd...

[Reposted to clarify response]

[AtariOwl]

...contd

Essentially, interiors and exteriors are currently loaded separately so they were recorded separately and joined

I had difficulty matching the music ftom each part so i recorded the exteriors for the full minute and then overdubbed the music of the indoors with that of the outdoors

Those who played the demo can confirm however that the music plays throughout in both cases.

Cheers

AO

[1stgengsx]

looks good for a jag game.

[bobbystar101]

this looks very nice

[ItalianSausage01]

Can you guys make a better working Emulator??? I would like music and sound in Rayman.

[CLS2086]

Keep up the good work

[shpearg]

An elegant solution.

[AtariOwl]

Sorry for the reply ending up out of sequence i was trying to edit and clarify my response

[MadMax2023]

Please keep up the good work!

It will be awesome to release it

[koolkitty8989]

Is that music generated by Jerry??? Or is it on CD?

[AtariOwl]

No CD was connected but some really rather large samples were involved

[shpearg]

So will this be a CD game & spool the sound from there? A game like this is probably going to require maybe a dozen or more pieces of music depending on your location & what you're doing & who you're doing it to ;) If so, how long do I have to save up for a CD add-on? :) and if not, what kind of audio compression are you looking at?

[AtariOwl]

These are very good questions.

Its difficult to look beyond the streaming of sound from CD for the sheer quality and scope it makes possible.

What could be achieved from cart would obviously be correspondingly limited.

We lean towards a basic cart but one which allowed for an included CD for additional content.

To be honest there's a lot worse things people could do that contact us with ideas and preferences about this.

[bobbystar101]

@AtariOwl carts are just really expensive to produce surely isnt that why battlesphere gold edition or not is so expensive and rare.

Cart is dead cd is viable.

[AtariOwl]

@bobbystar101

I think the cost of Battlesphere is more related to availability than medium

Also it seems that MANY people do not have Jaguar CD add-ons -and JagCDs seem to be EXTREMELY expensive these days and becoming more so.

It's not an easy choice - that's for sure.

[bobbystar101]

Seems to me the creators of battlesphere are actively preventing it being played.

Why cant I buy a rom image at least that I could use my falcon or st or pc (whatever is cheapest/easiest) to load it to my jag).

Anyway I think; the fact that jag cd units are a lot more cheap and available than say battlesphere carts of any kind makes it a no brainer to produce cds as well not just carts. I would hate to see this project so completely wasted and futile like the practically vapourware battlesphere.

[AtariOwl]

@bobbystar101

I understand your frustration - but I have no connection to the Battlesphere people and I'm really not in a position to comment on the specifics of that situation which seems to be something of a special case and not representative of the cartridges as a whole.

The cost of a JagCD currently though seems to be significantly greater than cart releases other than Battlesphere

We don't know what the situation will be down the line though - and there is still time to decide

[bobbystar101]

@AtariOwl I agree its a difficult question.

To make it most available couldnt it be released on cart cd and internet?

Thats what battlesphere should have done is sell the rom image on the internet so when all the carts and cds or whatever have run out the game will still be available to download and run over jaguar cd emulator/flash cart or whatever.

[AtariOwl]

@bobbystar101

That's a LOT of options - truthfully it's a long way away yet and it's not really possible to guess what possibilities will exist by then - probably the best is to keep options open as long as possible.

[madmax2069]

@bobbystar101 to much piracy to offer it online as a rom to sell, that would be what one would call a nail in the coffin move.

The Jag and the CD Add-on isn't like today's devices and consoles. There would be no real way to protect against piracy.

A cart is just outright expensive to make when compared to a CD, and given the Jags age it would only make the price that much more higher. a CD on the other hand would be the way to go, but not everyone with a Jag owns a Jag CD Add-on.

[Sypran]

woah amazing! keep up the good work!

[tursilion]

Niiiice! Very nice! Well beyond first gen PSX, even. You're putting the Jaguar to good use!

[A31Chris]

Thats beautiful AO

[3gdosrsfs]

Gorf here....

Well AO....Im just blown to bits. The textures are clear and very professional.

They are not blocky as you see on

some of the other textured games

and the speed is simply awsome.

The indoor engine is fantastic and

the voxel landscape is simply stunning.

I can't wait to see the finished product.

Im not at all suprised either.

As expected...brilliant work my friend!

[saturndual32]

I had no idea the indoor enviroments would look so good! This is incredible for the Jaguar. The artwork, the music, everything is great so far. Great job, keep it up guys!

[SAMBADEAMIGO2K]

Stunning progress made since seeing the last demo at JFUK 09. Keep up the great work Atari Owl. (-: