JagStudio

[Clint Thompson]

On 2/12/2021 at 10:47 AM, jefffulton said:

@Albert I'm going to need a game me Drive for this. When do you think they will be available?

I gather the wait time will be quite extensive due purely to the massive back log (probably 6+ months), in the meantime I would recommend checking out the recently updated Skunkboard that @cubanismo has been working on found here, as you’re likely to receive that in the next few months:

 

[Lavalamp]

16 minutes ago, Clint Thompson said:

I’m not sure what the differences or benefits are but that seems unlikely. The BASIC portion of JagStudio is highly effective and quite easy in the grand scheme of things. Highly recommend you take a peek.

Sorry I'm bit of noob with Jap development, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at here. There's no installer  or IDE that I can see. Is this aimed at a different level of developer? I found the BCX Help file but displays no content...

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Lavalamp

[Sporadic]

36 minutes ago, Lavalamp said:

Sorry I'm bit of noob with Jap development, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at here. There's no installer  or IDE that I can see. Is this aimed at a different level of developer? I found the BCX Help file but displays no content...

 

 

The blank chm help file is a security feature of windows. You have to right click > properties on the file, then one of the tabs has a checkbox at the bottom to tick to "unblock" it. I can't remember the actual wording.

 

I suggest reading the quickstart guide in the docs folder. That walks you through setting things up.

[Lavalamp]

1 hour ago, Sporadic said:

The blank chm help file is a security feature of windows. You have to right click > properties on the file, then one of the tabs has a checkbox at the bottom to tick to "unblock" it. I can't remember the actual wording.

 

I suggest reading the quickstart guide in the docs folder. That walks you through setting things up.

Thanks that did the trick, noticed BCX website no longer exists?  Quick start needs to add run as administrator for the very first step otherwise you get a access denied error.

 

Oh, just realised I put it in the Programs folder...

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Lavalamp

[jefffulton]

20 hours ago, Clint Thompson said:

I gather the wait time will be quite extensive due purely to the massive back log (probably 6+ months), in the meantime I would recommend checking out the recently updated Skunkboard that @cubanismo has been working on found here, as you’re likely to receive that in the next few months:

 

Thanks, this will work too! 

[truss86]

Quote

 

Does it utilize Tom and Jerry or is it mostly 68k based?

 

[+CyranoJ]

First, I apologise for editing your post... I'm new to this moderator lark
To answer your question.
 

Quote

Does it utilize Tom and Jerry or is it mostly 68k based?

RAPTOR API (At the heart of this) is GPU (Tom) bound.

Whatever audio engine you select is DSP (Jerry) bound.

Your application code will run on the 68000 interfacing with the DSP/GPU via library function calls to accelerate performance.

[truss86]

38 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

First, I apologise for editing your post... I'm new to this moderator lark
To answer your question.
 

RAPTOR API (At the heart of this) is GPU (Tom) bound.

Whatever audio engine you select is DSP (Jerry) bound.

Your application code will run on the 68000 interfacing with the DSP/GPU via library function calls to accelerate performance.

Awesome! Thanks for the confirmation!

 

Thanks,

Tim

[masteries]

On 2/5/2021 at 8:33 AM, CyranoJ said:

 

JagStudio is an advanced development suite for the Atari Jaguar that allows you to code using Assembler, BASIC or C and is based around Reboot's powerful RAPTOR API. Regardless of your programming capabilities, Beginners to Advanced coders can utilize this flexible package that will fully suit the needs of anyone looking to program exciting new games for the Jaguar. 

 

The benefits of using JagStudio are the Hardware Abstraction Layers (HALs) and the combination of external modules available to use. This allows you, the developer, to get on with writing your games while taking advantage of the Jaguar's powerful chipset without worrying about tedious, underlying mundane routines.

 

The same results that once took days or weeks to achieve can now be done in a matter of minutes, thanks to the power of JagStudio!

 

You are one click away from 64-bit creativity!

 

The current release of JagStudio along with any previous versions can be obtained at its homepage: https://jagstudio.reboot-games.com

 

Some of the features of JagStudio are:

 

• Code in your language preference of Assembly, BASIC or C.  (Assembly and C are currently in Beta... help us make them better!)
• Commands have been renamed (from rB+) to reflect the individual modules they control and prefixed as such: rapPrint, u235PlaySample, etc.
• RAPTOR API Debug Function brings useful program variable visibility to the forefront, aiding ease of game development.
• GameDrive support along with MRQ file creation.
• ROM builder now adds FAST GPU depack by default for quicker startup times.
• Ability to build and split ROMs up to 6MB into HI/LO for EPROM burning.
• Updated both RAPTOR and U235 Sound Engine APIs to current versions, bringing additional benefits of both in a single updated package.
• Added universal JagPad Input - A single call that works with either U235 or ZeroSquare sound engine so projects can be easily converted between the two should your needs change.
• Many enhancements and bug fixes to the original rB+ code (eg, you can now include files >4mb, all files unpacked using GPU by default)
• All documentation and examples have been updated with a simple rB+ to JagStudio conversion guide to bring your old projects over to the fully updated JagStudio.
• Includes project examples for all supported languages (Assembly, BASIC and C) for anyone looking to get started quickly.
• We plan on keeping this alive and active, with ongoing improvements and new features and look forward to seeing what you all make with it.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in this newly created sub-forum.

 

Happy coding, everyone!
 

The JagStudio Team.

@CyranoJ  @Sporadic  @Clint Thompson   

 

A huge "Thank-You" to ggn for creating rB+ upon which all this is based. Please do not pester him with support requests for JagStudio.

 

 

Great game engine tool!

 

 

Is this C capable game engine for Atari Jaguar suitable for port the Atari STE Metal Slug port?  xD  Port of a port...

 

Can Atari Jaguar support 8 bit graphics? 

 

Are preshifting sprites needed such on the STE?   If I can drop preshifting, 2 MB can be enough.

 

What are the typical storage device? Cartridge or CD?

 

 

Thanks,

 

[matmook]

35 minutes ago, masteries said:

 

 

Great game engine tool!

 

 

Is this C capable game engine for Atari Jaguar suitable for port the Atari STE Metal Slug port?  xD  Port of a port...

 

Can Atari Jaguar support 8 bit graphics? 

 

Are preshifting sprites needed such on the STE?   If I can drop preshifting, 2 MB can be enough.

 

What are the typical storage device? Cartridge or CD?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Well, 8bit is the best option. No preshifing (all is managed by the sprite engine). Cart max 6MB.

[+CyranoJ]

1 hour ago, masteries said:

Great game engine tool!

Thank you!

 

Quote

Is this C capable game engine for Atari Jaguar suitable for port the Atari STE Metal Slug port?  xD  Port of a port...

Most likely, I'm not the C guru you need though.  I handle the API/Integration/Assembler.

 

Quote

Can Atari Jaguar support 8 bit graphics? 

RAPTOR API supports: 1,2,4,8,16 bit images

 

Quote

Are preshifting sprites needed such on the STE?   If I can drop preshifting, 2 MB can be enough.

No preshifting nonsense.  And no sprite 'drawing' just define an object and give it an x/y

 

Quote

What are the typical storage device? Cartridge or CD?

Cart.  I don't have any plans to integrate CD, although there is no reason you can't load/use the CDBios directly.  MemoryTrak is supported. With the JaguarGD you can bank switch to have 16MB of storage.

 

[masteries]

19 hours ago, CyranoJ said:

 

RAPTOR API supports: 1,2,4,8,16 bit images

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your quick response,

 

hmmm... 4 bits based graphics... can these graphics be used on an 8 / 16 bits colour depth?

 

I mean, use a general palette of 8 bits, or 16 bits (equal to infinite colours for pixel art, and no worry about general palette);

but use different 4 bits based palette per sprite (to reduce total size, and load tons of graphics). Similar to NeoGeo, where each sprite usually has its own single 16 colour palette.

 

On this way; I can manage to load a high detailed game such Metal Slug port into the 2 MB RAM size of Jaguar  ;)

 

A 6 MB cartridge can be enough, if scenarios are based on 16 colour palettes... the same trick as for MegaDrive, where you can split a map in two parts, and use two palettes.

 

If the response to these questions is satisfactory... you shall view me around Jaguar soon!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sporadic]

39 minutes ago, masteries said:

 

Thanks for your quick response,

 

hmmm... 4 bits based graphics... can these graphics be used on an 8 / 16 bits colour depth?

 

I mean, use a general palette of 8 bits, or 16 bits (equal to infinite colours for pixel art, and no worry about general palette);

but use different 4 bits based palette per sprite (to reduce total size, and load tons of graphics). Similar to NeoGeo, where each sprite usually has its own single 16 colour palette.

 

On this way; I can manage to load a high detailed game such Metal Slug port into the 2 MB RAM size of Jaguar 

 

A 6 MB cartridge can be enough, if scenarios are based on 16 colour palettes... the same trick as for MegaDrive, where you can split a map in two parts, and use two palettes.

 

If the response to these questions is satisfactory... you shall view me around Jaguar soon!

 

 

 

 

 

You can mix and match all colour depths.  There is only a single CLUT of up to 256 colours. You can use that as 1 large 256 colour palette or you can split that up to multiple smaller palettes. So you could have 16 X 16 colour palettes. Multiple sprites can share the same palette too.

 

You can also use 16 bit graphics at the same time.

[Fadest]

All layer on this demo are 4bits, and use a different palette (so 4 layers, and the monk spritesheet). So this is exactly what you want to do with Metal Slug.

 

To be clear, this is just a (rather) quick tech test made this afternoon, maybe it will turn into a game, or maybe not.

And no, the mouse is not in the game  

[masteries]

3 hours ago, Sporadic said:

You can mix and match all colour depths.  There is only a single CLUT of up to 256 colours. You can use that as 1 large 256 colour palette or you can split that up to multiple smaller palettes. So you could have 16 X 16 colour palettes. Multiple sprites can share the same palette too.

 

You can also use 16 bit graphics at the same time.

16x  4 bits palettes... much better than MegaDrive (4x 4 bits palettes)

[masteries]

1 hour ago, Fadest said:

All layer on this demo are 4bits, and use a different palette (so 4 layers, and the monk spritesheet). So this is exactly what you want to do with Metal Slug.

 

To be clear, this is just a (rather) quick tech test made this afternoon, maybe it will turn into a game, or maybe not.

And no, the mouse is not in the game  

Awesome!

 

The engine appears to be pretty mature;

 

And the sound engine? How many mixing voices? Is there support for compressed audio formats?

 

Be prepared for many questions; I downloaded the Jag Studio package

 

[Sporadic]

6 minutes ago, masteries said:

Awesome!

 

The engine appears to be pretty mature;

 

And the sound engine? How many mixing voices? Is there support for compressed audio formats?

 

Be prepared for many questions; I downloaded the Jag Studio package

 

Please have a read through the old Raptor Basic+ sub forum here.

There are loads of great posts and hints and tips on how things work.

JagStudio was based on RB+ so fundamentally they are the same. Most of the commands have been renamed, but the principles are the same.

There's good information in there on Sprite formats, audio, all sorts of things.

 

RB+ is no longer maintained though. So if you have any questions, post them in the Jagstudio forum.

 

Have fun!

[SlidellMan]

Fadest, that looks amazing.

[agradeneu]

3 hours ago, Fadest said:

All layer on this demo are 4bits, and use a different palette (so 4 layers, and the monk spritesheet). So this is exactly what you want to do with Metal Slug.

 

To be clear, this is just a (rather) quick tech test made this afternoon, maybe it will turn into a game, or maybe not.

And no, the mouse is not in the game  

Looks great!!! Welcome to Jaguar!

[agradeneu]

8 hours ago, masteries said:

16x  4 bits palettes... much better than MegaDrive (4x 4 bits palettes)

There is more possible: Convert some of your 4 bit sprites or artwork to 16 bit to display a lot more colors/4 bit palettes. You can mix 4 bit, 8 bit and 16 bit color dephts. RAM and ROM is the limiting factor. But 4 bit artwork packs better than 16 bit artwork I guess?

Edited February 18, 2021 by agradeneu

[swapd0]

IMHO try to save as much bandwidth as you can with 1, 2 or 4 bits bitmaps or the OP will eat all the bus cycles and you won't have enough free time for the 68000 to run the game logic loop.

[Fadest]

9 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Fadest, that looks amazing.

Right now, this is just some great assets from ansimuz (on itch.io) and Raptor underground work.

I have just put some code in order to tell which sprite to display, and tell if sprite or background is moving... Nothing really complex.

[UltraNarwhal]

Thanks to the people that made this tool possibe, looks like another possible retro system for my games to appear on. ?

 

[LordKraken]

Really like the multiple example, best way to learn the lib

 

@CyranoJ Are you open to contribution to add new C examples into the lib?

[Sporadic]

1 hour ago, LordKraken said:

Really like the multiple example, best way to learn the lib

 

@CyranoJ Are you open to contribution to add new C examples into the lib?

Contributions would be great for C examples. As long as theres no copyright material included.

 

The C side of things is beta at the moment so will be good to have some more examples and tests in there.