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Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:06 pm
by GTR3QQ
I'm kinda looking into porting The legend of sword and fairies.

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. :o

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.

Re: Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?Can I be licenced to use it? Would you like to work with me porting a RPG?

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 2:34 am
by TomXP411
Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?
Not a complete one, no.

I think the closest thing so far is Take To The Skies.

Jestin basically uses the "Tiled" map editor and has written custom code to import the maps into his engine. I get the impression he's developing this to be a general purpose game engine, so you might contact him for more details.

Re: Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?Can I be licenced to use it? Would you like to work with me porting a RPG?

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 6:15 am
by Cyber
SlithyMatt also worked on RPG engine. You may also try contacting him.
SlithyMatt wrote: This is an early demo of the overworld map engine that I am writing for Ani Kirilov's RPG.
More videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... kWVvcd3fHe

Re: Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?Can I be licenced to use it? Would you like to work with me porting a RPG?

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 2:09 pm
by Jestin
I wouldn't say I'm writing my game to be a re-usable game engine...but it probably could be. I've had to make certain decisions about things like how many animated tiles are allowed, how many animated sprites, and other things like that. Once I'm finished, I could probably find a friendly way to package it and write up some docs. I should warn you, however, that my game is definitely not in the JRPG style, so you certainly shouldn't wait on me. It will always be lacking elements you will likely need.

I'm not sure if you are going to be successful in finding an out-of-the-box game engine that will allow you to port a DOS JRPG. The X16 is new (not even available yet), and does not have a many out-of-the-box solutions yet. The only ones that really come to mind are:
I know that Squall in discord was once showing off a JRPG dialog he made (https://discord.com/channels/5475596260 ... 1909022743). I don't think there's any pre-packaged way to use his demo, but you could always reach out and ask.

Re: Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?Can I be licenced to use it? Would you like to work with me porting a RPG?

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 3:43 pm
by GTR3QQ
Thank you all! :D
I honestly did not expect any replie and only log in to delete the post.
But hey!
Alright then, let's rock!

Re: Is there a working JRPG engine for CX16?Can I be licenced to use it? Would you like to work with me porting a RPG?

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:17 pm
by GTR3QQ
If this goes well enough. I think I mighta coulda maybe looking into porting CT as well.
It's long enough for the game's life cycle which matters to SE to be considered as an end for them.
Someone has to touch the forbidden fruit and be a window breaker for all the homebrews to come.
And I don't think they can sue me from where I live.
It should be high time to F Square Enix before it's too late and all the passionate depleted.
There is also a SDL2 remake of CT floating around the github....

....getting ambitious.
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