This place is dead!

RockinB

Established Member
This place is drying out more and more.

It's already as dry as the desert of mohaine (someone else been there, too ;) )!

I remember having read this board a long time before I registered to write my first post.

My impression was that there were a lot of people talking about the SGL

which they magically got from somewhere.

Back then there was no page from Antime and no SGL to download for n00bs like me.

A lot of talk at this board, but noone really doing something.

I was disappointed,

so I registered and asked somebody to give the SGL to someone who needs it for programming and not for collecting leaked stuff.

And I started coding Rockin'-VR and spent 6 months learning C and it's pointers the hard way :D ...

That was then.

But has anything changed in those 4 years?

Now it's been some months since I increased my Saturn activity in november 2004.

I made a lot of Saturn stuff until today and almost everything of it can be downloaded

and almost everything of that got a source download, too.

But what's been released beyond my stuff?

The last things that I can remember is CyberWarrior Xs MPEG example and CDC replacement,

vreuzons floupix and slingas 12 player snake. But when was it released?

Not sure exactly, must be too long ago....

And those rare moments we release something....can it even compete with the results of other consoles homebrew development communities?

No!

Currently it seems I can induce more interest in Saturn dev at a spanish message board. And believe it or not, I'm in contact with two n00bs who are just starting with Saturn dev. But time will have to show how far they get.

Today this board is still full of people with great knowledge in this or that topic.

But their Saturn skills are unused. Why is just noone releasing something?

Not much has changed.

It seems that the only thing of interest is - still is - collecting Saturn ISOs and breaking the Saturn security protection.

This is meant to criticise, not to offend.

Your oppinion?
 
Maybe saturn dev requires more skills than a hobbyist programmer have... Top of that, without a 100% working emulator, debugging is certainely a nightmare.

In addition, too many cpu's, too many specifications and complex architecture...

Also, sdl isn't so fun for those who wants to write all from scratch (it can be a pleasure to understand exactly how a thing works), however it is nearly 100% required cause of the system global complexity...

Thats just my point of view...
 
seriously, using sgl isn't what you would be consider difficult to use. i remember i made a damn ring with knowing very little c.

right now, i'm trying to work on charles' par utility for linux. i'll have to wait until my pc comms link card arrives :)

i am alive, sega saturn dev is very alive to me. i'm going to try to write a nice basic library for the saturn (vdp2 only)
 
I would certainly love to learn how to do stuff like this... but I wouldn't even know where the hell to begin. This making Saturn Dev way the fuck out of my league!

Shit I wish I knew where to begin, I figure I could be ok at it as I (time to be conceded) am a fucking math genious (I have my rights... I can do complex definite integration in my head faster then kids in my class can on paper).
 
Originally posted by lordofduct@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 06:30 PM

Shit I wish I knew where to begin, I figure I could be ok at it as I (time to be conceited) am a fucking math genius


But not a genuis when it comes to English. :p
 
Yes, many people talk here, doing almost nothing.

When I read something like "the two cpus are hard to use", I feel a bit irritated. If you want to start coding with the sega libs, you don't even have to know about the existency of this second cpu. A good game does not have to be a technical challenge.

I think there is a problem with SegaXtreme too : the dev page is incomplete and no good for newcomers. Check the program pages : it does not even contain all the last dev contest program. Slinga's work isn't even mentionned. There are no usefull comments to know what to download first. Rockin'B tutorial isn't there.

The unexplained part is the lack of interest of the sx saturn players for homemade games.
 
Originally posted by vreuzon@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 08:27 PM

I think there is a problem with SegaXtreme too : the dev page is incomplete and no good for newcomers. Check the program pages : it does not even contain all the last dev contest program. Slinga's work isn't even mentionned. There are no usefull comments to know what to download first. Rockin'B tutorial isn't there.

The problem is finding someone who knows at least a little about Saturn dev to maintain the page. Daniel Eriksson is (was?) the maintainer of the dev page but I can't remember the last time I saw him about.

The unexplained part is the lack of interest of the sx saturn players for homemade games.


I haven't played any Saturn games for at least 6 months, if not a year. :(
 
Hmmm...I wonder just how many sat coders there are here?

But in any case, no matter how popular..I'll always dev for saturn. The hardware fascinates me, the games are niche and truly original, and next to the PC-FX its one of the best looking consoles ever. :lol:

It kinda stinks when you make something and no one really notices. It gets you thinking "what the hell is the point!?" I used to feel that way, but even after all these years the more and more I play Saturn, the more fond of the machine I become. Its like the perfect fusion of a Neo Geo & Sega arcade machine! Everytime I see that intro screen, I can feel a smile forming. Heck, I learned C/C++ off of the web, bought a MIDI keyboard, and am trying to learn to 3D modelling just for the thing.

I've only ever met 2 other people that actually owned a Saturn here(and 1 was from Mexico). Finding even a small following would be tough as you've gotta find people interested in console dev, and on top of that, who are interested in coding for an older system when there are much more powerful consoles available. But personally I take solace in knowing that there are at least a few, die-hard coders out there still programming away...able to appreciate the work, or at very least the dedication that comes with every homebrew item released.

If Saturn dev becomes more popular then that would be bonus!! But regardless, you can bank on the fact that there will always be a few of us up till 2am bug-checking, and CD burning, for our favorite system ever! (shakes fist with dedication)

Heh, I feel damn revitalized now! ;)

I'm still working on the lib and just put a new modchip in my dev Saturn (after countless years, my old gamegizmo one finally died and swaptricking for dev takes forever to test the smallest thing).

See ya'!!
 
Originally posted by vreuzon@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 12:27 PM

Rockin'B tutorial isn't there.

[post=136259]Quoted post[/post]​


I said I will add it with his samples.
 
Originally posted by Piratero+Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 06:15 AM-->QUOTE(Piratero @ Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 06:15 AM)i'm going to try to write a nice basic library for the saturn (vdp2 only)

[/b]


Is that the project you said would not use any sega libs?

How is it going?

Originally posted by lordofduct@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 08:30 AM

I would certainly love to learn how to do stuff like this... but I wouldn't even know where the hell to begin.


It would be simply like that:

1. download & install SaturnOrbit

2. download & unzip

SaturnGameTutorial_050701.rar and

SaturnGameTutorial_music.rar

3. burn (and play) the SaturnGameTutorial.cue for using on Saturn or mount it in daemon tools as virtual drive for the emus.

See:

SaturnGameTutorial.htm#burnCDDA

SaturnGameTutorial.htm#runISO

4. Have a look at the Saturn Game Tutorial and the source code.

5. Modify it to make an own game.

Originally posted by lordofduct@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 08:30 AM

... I (time to be conceded) am a fucking math genious (I have my rights... I can do complex definite integration in my head faster then kids in my class can on paper).


Is that true? I've studied maths, but I'm no genius in that topic.
sad.gif


Originally posted by vreuzon@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 10:27 AM

When I read something like "the two cpus are hard to use", I feel a bit irritated. If you want to start coding with the sega libs, you don't even have to know about the existency of this second cpu. A good game does not have to be a technical challenge.


This is really the quote of the year! I can't say that better myself, although I tried several times.

Originally posted by vreuzon@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 10:27 AM

I think there is a problem with SegaXtreme too : the dev page is incomplete and no good for newcomers.


You are right! We should encourage someone to overwork it. Don't know if VBT got the time, he definitely got the knowledge
wink.gif


@Mon, 2005-07-04 @ 10:27 AM

The unexplained part is the lack of interest of the sx saturn players for homemade games.


This didn't came to my mind, but now that you point that out, it's absolutely true.

The gamers don't care about the stuff we make.

I focused on the developer side and there are not much options left for me to do. Maybe I sould focus the gamer side a little bit.

But how to increase the gamers interest?

Making a killer demo with mindblowing GFX?

3D stuff on Saturn isn't anything too difficult for me anymore. I'll continue working on the Texture Coordinate stuff which will bring some new 3D GFX to Saturn.
 
Originally posted by Rockin'-B@Tue, 2005-07-05 @ 01:51 PM

The gamers don't care about the stuff we make.

Maybe I sould focus the gamer side a little bit.


Well, I think that gamers who still use a Saturn play alone, or just with a friend. RPG and/or VS fighting are the games that keep gamers on the Saturn.

So they don't care about party games like Floupix or 12-player snake. Floupix is for me at least as fun as Deathtank but suppose somebody releases Deathtank today (i suppose it's possible to make a homebrew game like DT), though everybody agrees it's a great game, it won't have much success because party gamers have quit playing Saturn for a long time :rolleyes:

But how to increase the gamers interest?

Making a killer demo with mindblowing GFX?

3D stuff on Saturn isn't anything too difficult for me anymore. I'll continue working on the Texture Coordinate stuff which will bring some new 3D GFX to Saturn.


Gamers who want mindblowing 3D GFX don't care about Saturn, they're all on XBox, PS2, GC or simply PC. I'd say that 2D gorgeous graphics would create some visual appeal (Princess crown... :wub:) , but it's damn hard to do. And what's the point ?

I still believe it's massive multiplayer that can make a homebrew Saturn great. The only problem is to find friends to play with.

:party

Djidjo
 
well, i first have to see if the any uploading tool works under freebsd and linux! then i'll try to continue with my library.
 
Just coming from an end-user perspective here, the lack of interest for me stems from a few things:

1- first and foremost, no mod chip. You have to have one installed to run stuff. Sure, a fair percentage of people here have a chip installed, but it's a relatively tiny number compared to other consoles. I'm sure there are more people capable of running DC homebrews, and probably even more people capable of running Sega CD homebrews. Lack of a decent emulator doesn't help.

2- Lack of variety/cool stuff. The Saturn isn't the most powerful machine, and few people can code effectively for it. The dev tools are rudimentary compared to what's available, say, on the Dreamcast, and the releases show it. I can totally understand wanting to code for a certain machine because you like it, but it's hard to get as excited about a Saturn release compared to the latest version of a cool emu on DC or something.

Anyway, I'm not trying to discourage people with the above. I know that some people like coding for the Saturn because they want to figure it's architecture out, help with the dev environment, etc. More power to you. But if you're in it for the glory, you're probably developing for the wrong console.
 
Originally posted by it290@Thu, 2005-07-07 @ 05:55 AM

Lack of a decent emulator doesn't help.


It's intended to work on a real saturn : there is no point for me in programming a console if i need a pc to play it.

I don't understand your second point : people are more excited about the dreamcast games because there are more cool game because the console is more exciting ?

I don't need technical challenges, neither glory, and i i really don't care about the sega saturn. It is the console I own, thanks to djidjo, and I have some ideas about games, so I code for it.
 
Vreuzon: The point of having a decent emulator is to make coding and debugging easier. If I didn't have Satourne, there is now way I would of coded anything for saturn. The process of compiling a binary and loading it in satourne takes less than 15 seconds. Burning a cd takes considerably more time not to mention the cost of the CD. I don't know how long a commlink transfer takes, but I'm sure it's longer than loading it to an emu.
 
Emulators have become a lot better, but not enough. Satourne is fast, but crashes often. Saturnin does not crash, but is slower.

Compared to other consoles, Saturn is not very wide spread. So emulators are needed to make more people play our stuff.

But good debugging features of emus makes them importand for devvers, too (my 4 emus, impossible without good debuggers for the emulated systems). A lot of people cannot test on real Saturn.

Unlike others, I believe that one could shock the crowd with a mindblowing demo. People are smart enough to compare it to other games for Saturn and not to games for XBOX.

(but yet I'll have to convince you of the new GFX possibilities enabled with the texture coordinate stuff I'm doing)

edit:

About multiplayer games: you just said it, it's difficult to find others to play with.

I'd just say it more general: a Saturn homebrew game can get more interest if it supports a lot of rare features, like RAM cart, MPEG cart, peripheral controlers like analog pad, gun or multitap.
 
Vreuzon: The point of having a decent emulator is to make coding and debugging easier.

Yes, but it290 was talking from an user point of view.

rare features, like RAM cart, MPEG cart, peripheral controlers like analog pad, gun or multitap.

Is the multitap such a rare feature ? I believed everybody had one.
 
Maybe this whole board is going down in general. Have you noticed the decreasing activity at SX? There are other boards which already died and only seem to be updated by newsbots, like the board of consolevision.

I'm looking out for places with more activity myself.

Having a board is without a doubt not enough to create a community. One thing one could do is a website refresh with new layout or GFX.... :D
 
Originally posted by Rockin'-B@Fri, 2005-07-22 @ 08:41 PM

Maybe this whole board is going down in general. Have you noticed the decreasing activity at SX?


Yes I see that :(

I'm looking out for places with more activity myself.

Having a board is without a doubt not enough to create a community. One thing one could do is a website refresh with new layout or GFX.... :D

[post=137082]Quoted post[/post]​


We deserve to see a new design here :) Maybe something will come, I hope.
 
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