My first attempt at Jagstudio

[ColecoGamer]

I’m currently working on an arcade port of a side scrolling beat ‘em up on the Jaguar.

 

I have read through a lot of the posts here, some of which mention the best tools to use (i.e. Grafx2, Audacity, etc).

 

I have all the sprites as single sprite sheets and the stages themselves. I figured sound can happen later. I understand the images should be in .BMP format, etc., but I am curious what the screen resolution should be for the stages, which are quite long.

 

I know this will sound incredibly noobish, 

but I stare at my text editor a little loss on how to start building this title. Do I just start by importing the sprites and backgrounds and work on from there, or is there something I’m missing (or should do) at the start? I’m just trying to clarify my confusion. 
 

I will do my very best to answer any questions I receive. I am open to any and all help the community can offer.

 

Thank you in advance for reading this confusing post and responding.

 

Basically, I don’t know where to begin.

 

[Clint Thompson]

Without knowing more about your coding experience, etc. it’s hard to gauge where to direct you outside of just starting with the basics.

 

Use the examples and work up from there after, experimenting with everything first and getting a firm grasp or understanding on how everything is setup, how it works and why. Then most importantly, what doesn’t work (or can’t rather due to hardware limitations and/or experience) and go from there.

 

What is the last thing you coded?

[ColecoGamer]

3 hours ago, Clint Thompson said:

Without knowing more about your coding experience, etc. it’s hard to gauge where to direct you outside of just starting with the basics.

 

Use the examples and work up from there after, experimenting with everything first and getting a firm grasp or understanding on how everything is setup, how it works and why. Then most importantly, what doesn’t work (or can’t rather due to hardware limitations and/or experience) and go from there.

 

What is the last thing you coded?

I have zero experience programming the Jaguar. My programming skills are Basic, MYSQL, CGI scripting… all world’s apart from programming the Jag, which I have a burning passion for. Right now I have nothing written for this project, but I know where I want to go with it.

[ColecoGamer]

3 hours ago, Clint Thompson said:

What is the last thing you coded?

A database for a Realtor. Lol

[ColecoGamer]

I’ve found the start guide on the Jagstudio’s website and I understand what to do now.

 

This is going to be fun!

[SlidellMan]

I look forward to what you make.

[+Biff Burgertime]

These threads are among my favorites to lurk. It's great when someone hits some obstacles, figures them out, moves onto the next step. Before you know it, it's a year later and if nothing else? We've all learned a few things.

 

[Traxx]

If you haven't programmed games before you might want to start with something simpler then a scrolling beat em up.

[42bs]

On 6/28/2022 at 12:12 AM, ColecoGamer said:

I have zero experience programming the Jaguar. My programming skills are Basic, MYSQL, CGI scripting… all world’s apart from programming the Jag, which I have a burning passion for. Right now I have nothing written for this project, but I know where I want to go with it.

oh, I'd go for a single screen game then. First learn to walk before you learn to run.

[+cubanismo]

Good luck! I agree with those above that I'll be eager to hear about your progress, even if it's just getting that first sprite on screen or something. Might seem small, but little things like that are often the most exciting milestone when you're a developer! The thrill of seeing the Jaguar draw your pixels for the first time.

[SlidellMan]

Coleco, if you need some graphics assistance, I can provide it.

[ColecoGamer]

Hey all!

 

I’m back at it again after figuring out the setup process, and right now I am working on sprites.

 

When I compile my project to see the sprites on screen, the compiler says the file is missing even though the image is in BMP format, and is present in the assets’ gfx folder. The appropriate file name for the bmp image is present in all relative scripts, as the tutorial states.
 

The sprite sheet is a 256color BMP. Maybe I overlooked a step somewhere, but the instructions only state to save the image as a BMP, with no mention on whether the image should be, say, a 16 color BMP or what the max resolution should be. I believe this might be the cause of the error.

 

Any assistance that can be provided on this matter, will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you for reading my post and responding.

Edited July 23, 2022 by ColecoGamer

[+CyranoJ]

Hard to tell without more context, but..

 

All BMP files must be uncompressed (not RLE!) and, generally, of the same bit depth as you want them to be.

 

There's a discord channel for helping with this stuff you might like to join:  https://discord.gg/KB9r9FtS6d

 

 

[Clint Thompson]

Generally speaking, if it's a 256-color bmp then you would certainly want to save it as the same.

 

No idea what you're trying to do exactly but I would say start with just one single image, successfully display that, then proceed forward after.

 

Sounds like you're setting up multiple from the same image and running into an issue? 9 times out of 10 I generally find it's a typo somewhere on my end when I run into these kind of errors or forgetting (missing) the CLUT values within the basic file itself that has to be present otherwise it treats it as a missing file.

[ColecoGamer]

38 minutes ago, Clint Thompson said:

Generally speaking, if it's a 256-color bmp then you would certainly want to save it as the same.

 

No idea what you're trying to do exactly but I would say start with just one single image, successfully display that, then proceed forward after.

 

Sounds like you're setting up multiple from the same image and running into an issue? 9 times out of 10 I generally find it's a typo somewhere on my end when I run into these kind of errors or forgetting (missing) the CLUT values within the basic file itself that has to be present otherwise it treats it as a missing file.

Thank you, Clint. I’ll check and see if my spelling is off.

 

Its a sprite sheet of a single character with multiple frames of animation. I’m just trying to get the sprite to appear on-screen and nothing else atm.

Edited July 24, 2022 by ColecoGamer

[42bs]

7 hours ago, ColecoGamer said:

compiler says the file is missing

It would be easier to help if you'd poste the error output.

[ColecoGamer]

17 hours ago, 42bs said:

It would be easier to help if you'd poste the error output.

Great idea. As soon as I can, I’ll take a picture and post it.

[42bs]

5 hours ago, ColecoGamer said:

Great idea. As soon as I can, I’ll take a picture and post it.

If it is in the terminal copy it, no need for a 'picture'.

[Clint Thompson]

17 hours ago, ColecoGamer said:

Great idea. As soon as I can, I’ll take a picture and post it.

You’re still stuck? You are defining the CLUT of the graphic in BASIC as well, correct? 

[ColecoGamer]

On 7/25/2022 at 11:38 AM, Clint Thompson said:

You’re still stuck? You are defining the CLUT of the graphic in BASIC as well, correct? 

The Holiday kept me from spending a lot of time on this project. Now that Christmas is over, I can spend more time on making things work.

 

I was trying to have a single, animated sprite walk across the screen. And this is where I left things when my available time ran short. I’m back at it, though, so I’ll post updates here.

[Jag_Mag]

On 12/28/2022 at 7:41 PM, ColecoGamer said:

I was trying to have a single, animated sprite walk across the screen. And this is where I left things when my available time ran short. I’m back at it, though, so I’ll post updates here.

 

 

walking.zip

Edited December 30, 2022 by Jag_Mag