You can google about this game to learn more.
It has been a dream of mine since high school (2017,right when David announced it).
Over these 5 years, I've been researching how to do a register-perfect recreation of the AdLib music(using mostly free time so of course I'm slow), and I think I'm ready to recreate any DOS game music in both modern(Open MPT/Adtracker II) and CX16(Furnace).
Published in '95, awkward for CT launched the same year.
And the game mechanic is no more complex than a FF3.
But the VGA quality graphics and the wholesome 86 tracks of pure AdLib goodness, last but not the least of which, a heart touching story, is what making it an outstanding DOS RPG.
Need I to say it's fully localized?
You can find the game OST on YT, and you know what I'm talking about. The composer due to the fact that nobody have MT32 in my region, prioritised AdLib music, and boy he did made some awesomeness.
This is not midi on Ym3812, this is programmed for it!
Hence why I'd take my time doing register-based recreation rather than slap the midi tracks(which it has) on and call it a day.
He used some extreme multifactors and feedback settings that pushed the chip so far it created some nice distortions unique to YM3812 and this game.
Heri Canifour And the one did DUNE(whose name I've forgotten) are the only composers I studied using theses settings, and they're moderated compare to Lin Shen Xin's work.
These instrument patches are so violent that if you emulate it on DOSBOX it's imperfect without sample rates turned down to 22.05Khz, which is used on Sound Blaster 2.0
The best thing is, you can only do these distortions on OPL family, think as a bug that has been explored.
The other well known game used chip dependent distortions is Thunder Force IV Metal Squads, just like that guitar patch, you give the OST a listen you'll never forget it.
Seriously, just give it a listen.
I'm staggered by the level of engineering when I sorta decompiled the game music files.
I can compare Heri and the DUNE composer's works with his because I decompiled them all.
Despise his best effort, this doesn't make up the fact that he composed on AdLib Visual Composer v1.5, the tunes faded light when comparing to modern demo tracks composed on AdLib Tracker II for OPL3.
But still, it's really good.
The graphics are better? They clearly was made on Deluxe Paint or something supporting 256 colours natively.(Then again, DUNE is also 256colours but it's a RTS so we don't talk about it.)
It's tile-based with a twist(literally), on a 45degree angle....
But I'm just one man, not even a man, a kid.
And most efforts got into the music stuff, which at the time I think few people can be good at.
Every one's doing the coding so I deemed it shouldn't be to hard to find a partner for help.
If start from scratch, can't probably even hit the gen3 launch.
The game was programmed with Turbo C/Pascal and Lua, require at least a 386 with 640kb of RAM. No way a direct port would work.
The game is properly decompiled and well documented. You can find more info on github/SDLPAL.
The SDL reimplementation is in C++ '98, don't even think about just using it.
A complete rewrite of the SDL engine is the route I'm going for if no engine s was licenced.
Which is both time consuming and not good for CX16 if it's software libraries are getting scattered and everyone just brew thier own.
There is a fan-made NES clone exist, period. It's so ...
So I'm asking if there is a JRPG engine that can be licenced?
PAL is a relatively simple JRPG which is no more complex than FF3.
Anything would work.
If some function is not implemented, you can always reference the SDL version. If nothing works, maybe porting the NES version with music texture updated?
I know some basics of programming, comfortable with chiptune making, video/photo editing and with nearly unlimited free time, I'm willing to learn everything.
My five years of tears and sweat have built up to this moment when I decided it's a go, and I will not allow anything hindering.
If you have a engine and/or looking for challenges to port.
Or you have a DOS game that you want to recreate its music and you team is missing a freerange chiptune hobbyist.
Please do contact me on discord, I'm in the CX16 server and the UID is the same GTR3QQ.
