January 06, 2021

I originally started development for this game on PC a couple weeks ago where I kept debating myself on whether or not I should start from scratch (like here[youtube] and here[youtube] ), or use a game engine. I ended up using raylib, which is a nice middle ground between the two. Here's how far I got before switching back to the PSX:

Another thing that happened in December was that I started work on a custom 3D file format called S3D. I wrote a python script for use in blender that exports a 3D model into this format. The script isn't ready at all, but it does the job, and the S3D format is incredibly primitive as it only supports flat-shaded 3-vertex and 4-vertex polygons. The script assigns random colors per polygon.

I recently came back to finish the renderer, and, after spending half a day fixing some stupid flickering issue, it's perfect! I'm thinking that the game should be primarily 2D with some 3D interspersed so I can dip my toes in.

I avoid using PSn00b because several months ago, I did some experiments on uploading VAG data to the PS1's sound buffer using PsyQ's libspu. The first sound effect played fine, the second gave me a high-pitched noise. PsyQ's libsnd solved this issue succinctly via the Ss* series functions, and once PSn00b implements them, I'll likely make the switch.. unless I decide to try uploading VAG data from scratch again... who knows.

addendum

• I got BUILDCD to work under Windows 64-bit thanks to this video[youtube] by Wituz. I don't know what the downsides are to using NTVDM, but it is amazing. I still need to find the "one-command" solution to importing images though.
• If you want to see the S3D specification, click here

February 23, 2021

Okay, I figured it out. Just express everything in terms of world coordinates, and not in screen coordinates. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

March 03, 2021

Spherehead has been cancelled. See here for more information.