Mac OS 9 Lives

Mac OS 9 Discussion => Software => Topic started by: Phlogios on April 02, 2024, 12:38:52 AM

Title: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 02, 2024, 12:38:52 AM
Greetings! I have released a new 3D game for Mac OS 9.
https://phlogios.itch.io/blokzrave

It is a free tetris-like game with 3D graphics, designed to run on an original iBook or newer.
Let me know what you like or hate about it.

For the programming nerds out there: the game is written in C++ using CodeWarrior Pro 8.3, and is actually cross-platform and runs on Windows 98 as well, however that binary will not be released. The mac version uses Quickdraw3d RAVE for hardware accelerated graphics.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Knezzen on April 02, 2024, 12:43:06 AM
Wow! Nice! Will give it a go for sure :D
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 02, 2024, 04:05:20 AM
This one is fun, I like it!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: ovalking on April 02, 2024, 04:47:48 AM
Great, except website doesn't seem to be accessible...!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Knezzen on April 02, 2024, 04:49:14 AM
Great, except website doesn't seem to be accessible...!

Works fine here. You need a modern browser though (or Crypto Ancienne/Carl and Classilla).
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 02, 2024, 07:55:22 AM
Great, except website doesn't seem to be accessible...!

Works fine here. You need a modern browser though (or Crypto Ancienne/Carl and Classilla).

Modern (or "modern-enough") browser only. While Crypto Ancienne works fine to access itch.io via HTTPS, Classilla 9.3.4b seems to have a problem in triggering the download link in a way that the download actually gets started, at least on my end. I don't know if using MacLynx instead could work, though.

Another option is Virtual PC, like Windows XP SP3 + Firefox (+ Crypto Ancienne if needed).
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 02, 2024, 08:18:58 AM
What I do is I just download the .sit from a PC and put it on a USB stick. You can also get the game on macintoshgarden but I don’t maintain that page so to get the latest version you have to get it from itch.io or have someone send the file to you over globaltalk. The game is completely free.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Bolkonskij on April 02, 2024, 11:28:55 PM
Cool, a new game! Couldn't grab the image with Classilla despite a SSL proxy. Probably because I have JavaScript disabled and it relies on it. Anyway, heaving over to the Mac Garden now ...

Thanks for your efforts, Phlogios! Any other projects in the making?
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 02, 2024, 11:57:33 PM
Thank you Bolkonskij. I have no other Mac OS 9 projects planned at the moment, been thinking of getting back into Nintendo DS homebrew…. If people like Blokz RAVE I might make another game but at the moment I am enjoying a vacation from the constant crashes and long compile times associated with classic Mac OS development :) this game is thousands of lines of code, most of it written in Windows 98, but the port was written on a PowerMac G4 and an iBook G3 Clamshell.

What type of 3D game would you like to see on OS9?
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Greystash on April 03, 2024, 12:03:18 AM
Very cool, looking forward to playing it!!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 03, 2024, 01:34:09 AM
What type of 3D game would you like to see on OS9?

An ultra-barebones Action RPG, with multiplayer support, maybe with hotseat available, but TCP/IP networking would be best. :) Might be a tall order, though. Can be 3D, or "2.5D", but even plain 2D pixel art would be fine, could even be black & white...

Something like this?

(http://revontulet.org/2024/04/03/46cc9c1bbac64b8592cc4f26a837735a.png)
(Screenshot of Seiken Densetsu, the first "Mana series" game, for Game Boy, prequel to Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3)

Maybe it could look even more simple and blocky than this, I would not mind. Mechanics & core engine first!

Then you could even release that as your Nintendo DS homebrew project, as well... AND as a native Mac OS project simultaneously, all done using the same C/C++? *wink wink* :) ;)
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 04, 2024, 02:02:25 PM
Version 1.2 has been released. It fixes some graphical bugs, most importantly the window dragging bug that was reported by some players. For the latest version, download from https://phlogios.itch.io/blokzrave

You can follow me for updates if you have an account on itch.io
It also lets me know that people are interested in my Mac OS 9 games.

Let me know if you find more issues!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Bolkonskij on April 04, 2024, 11:58:13 PM
Thanks for ironing out the few issues, Phlogios. Thumbs up from me!

As for new project ideas, there is the Zelda ROTH "Homebrew" that you may be aware of and that very much fits what Jubadub posted. It's open-source and would be an awesome port to have on Mac OS, since we never got many games of that style. Given assets and all are already there, it might be a reasonable project to take on?
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 05, 2024, 01:32:42 AM
Ah cool game, haven’t seen Zelda ROTH before. Unfortunately, for contractual reasons I cannot work on other people’s games, let alone one that uses Nintendo’s intellectual property. But it doesn’t look like it would be so hard for someone else to port to mac os 9, given that SDL 1.2 was recently shown to be compilable for OS9.

For my next game I’ve been considering exploring 3D a bit more, maybe make a silky-smooth space game.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: ovalking on April 06, 2024, 11:32:05 AM
> You can also get the game on macintoshgarden

Thank you - that works!

From the ReadMe
>SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
>Physical macintosh (I don't think this runs in SheepShaver)
>Mac OS 9.1+ (I think? Maybe it runs on 8 with extensions)
>Graphics card that support RAVE 1.6
>300 MHz G3
>32 MB RAM

Apart from some minor drawing glitches, it runs acceptably on 8500/G3 OS8.1, built-in video. Well done!
Some basic instructions might be a helpful addition...˛
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 07, 2024, 06:30:28 AM
Thank you ovalking!
The newest version has instructions in the readme (but it is not on macintoshgarden)
I will definitely add in-game instructions, that is excellent feedback.

If you have rendering issues, please send me screenshots of what it looks like and I will try to figure out what’s going wrong. Unfortunately only my iBook works reliably at the moment so it helps a lot.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 07, 2024, 01:09:32 PM
Version 1.3 added to macintosh garden. Thank you ovalking!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: ovalking on April 07, 2024, 02:14:29 PM
Thank you Phlogios for adding the instructions so quickly.

Unfortunately the 1.3 update has broken the buttons - they don't respond to clicks. But if you click just below the Quit button it will start a game!
Also note the version number does not show in Get Info window.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 07, 2024, 10:37:49 PM
Thank you ovalking. What resolution are you running the game in? I had the opposite problem with the buttons and 1.3 fixed my issue… for some reason GetMouse() does not return actual screen coords in fullscreen and the range seems to vary between computers.

I haven’t figured out how to display the version number yet.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 08, 2024, 02:05:42 AM
Does anyone still have the older version 1.2? I would like to make some comparisons with it and the other versions.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 08, 2024, 02:34:57 AM
There is an expected performance degradation in the menu for 1.3 due to the added text. My text rendering code’s performance does not scale well at the moment. Performance optimizations will have to wait until I have solved the compatibility issues.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 08, 2024, 02:40:19 AM
There is an expected performance degradation in the menu for 1.3 due to the added text. My text rendering code’s performance does not scale well at the moment. Performance optimizations will have to wait until I have solved the compatibility issues.

Just wanted to say thanks for putting in all this effort, it's really cool to see new Mac OS 9 apps being made, and the OS getting some love like that. :)
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 08, 2024, 02:56:35 AM
It’s not an advanced game, just a tetris clone, but you have to start somewhere. It is an entirely custom game engine so bugs are to be expected :) if I can get this game to run reliably, it will be easier to make more impressive games using this engine in the future. Thank you for your patience!
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 08, 2024, 12:39:22 PM
Thank you Phlogios for adding the instructions so quickly.

Unfortunately the 1.3 update has broken the buttons - they don't respond to clicks. But if you click just below the Quit button it will start a game!
Also note the version number does not show in Get Info window.

Version 1.3.1 has been uploaded to itch and macintoshgarden. This hopefully fixes your menu button issue, and adds a version number to the executable (although I forgot to verify that...)
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: ovalking on April 08, 2024, 01:24:52 PM
>Version 1.3.1 has been uploaded to itch and macintoshgarden. This hopefully fixes your menu button issue,

Yes - Buttons working again - Super!

For info, I use 640*480 (with dual monitors) and it looks like this on my machine.
http://81.143.238.236/images/BlokzRave8500os81.jpg

Thanks,
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 08, 2024, 01:43:45 PM
Thank you @ovalking for the screenshot. Your graphics card does not support the texture format I am using I think. It’s possible that I can make the text work if I use a fallback method for text rendering, but the textures in the 3D world will have to be disabled to make the game look alright. I am not promising anything though as the game engine is designed for hardware-accelerated macs. Very surprised that the game even runs on your machine, I could never get it to even start on my 6500/300.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 10, 2024, 08:52:18 AM
Version 1.3.2 has been released. This version possibly fixes Classic Mode, so please give it a try. It worked on my machine.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: MacTron on April 15, 2024, 12:40:26 PM
Awesome, thank you. It's really impressive to see new software for Mac Os 9 nowadays. ;D
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 19, 2024, 12:16:25 AM
Version 1.4 has been released with some general improvements and polish.
https://phlogios.itch.io/blokzrave/devlog/717280/gameplay-fixes
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Knezzen on April 19, 2024, 12:20:32 AM
Nice! :D
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 19, 2024, 01:09:45 AM
For history preservation's sake, I will again ask if, by any chance, anyone has version 1.2? It's the only version that wasn't archived in the Garden.

Perhaps @ovalking? @Bolkonskij? Anyone?
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 19, 2024, 01:13:34 AM
I have version 1.2 but I don’t see the point in preserving it as it is just a worse version of the game compared to later versions. The game is in active development and will be continuously improved, adding more compatibility, more stability and better performance. Version 1.2 does nothing that 1.4 does not do better. If I make breaking changes, I will write that in the release notes.
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Phlogios on April 19, 2024, 01:16:21 AM
@jubadub: https://phlogios.itch.io/blokzrave/devlog/709601/fixed-window-moving-bug
Title: Re: Blokz RAVE released
Post by: Jubadub on April 19, 2024, 02:45:29 AM
Thank you, @Phlogios. You are right, 1.4 does everything needed in all platforms we saw, the game is maturing more and more quite nicely. :)

The reason I asked about 1.2 is because, maybe sometime in the future, we can look back at some of the older versions, and then go like "oooh, look how far this project has come! It used to be like THIS before!".

You can think of 1.2 etc. like a "photograph" for keeping good memories. :)

(By the way, on that link for 1.2, the actual downloaded file still seems to be 1.4.)