I've heard a bit about this, and I'm wondering if anyone here has one. The reason I'm asking is that I want to get into Saturn homebrew, and I thought that game basic would be a good place to start. Can anyone tell me from experince if this is a good tool to use?
If you got a history in BASIC / QBASIC or Quickbasic it's worth a shot. That said, there's a whole slew of Saturn only new commands to be learned. I condered it and might create something with it in the future.
I'm pretty good at basic, so it's not the language I'm worried about. Do you know how easy/ hard it is to convert models and sprites into the sega format?
No. Keep an eye on Yahoo Japan auctions and bid with some service (Rinkya, Celga etc). In the end that will work out far cheaper.
There is some stuff here : http://www.segaxtreme.net/index.php?p=satdev I used these tools to do this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKd7jIh-qTA&feature=related Not that impressive, it's a Lightwave model with a background
There are only 2 great english sources for Game Basic on the net: - http://www.segaxtreme.net/index.php?p=satdev as vbt said (he did a great work on this site). vbt also did some basic programs and converted some others to be used with the game basic demo compiler that I extracted and made available as a stand alone version with his great help. You can find it on SX. Most of the programs don't work with this game basic demo compiler (this is why vbt was forced to convert and adapt them for the game basic demo compiler). - http://www.satakore.com/sega-saturn-complete-game-basic,,1,,0.html where you will find mostly all the programs/games/demos made with the game basic: info, screenshots, videos of them running and downloadable basic code sources. All of them can be played with the final game basic released on the SS. 3D models can be used by using the DXFconv.exe tool provided on the game basic CD. Do a search on "poly" on the game basic database at satakore.com to see what people did. Btw, game basic programs can't be run alone. You always need the game basic compiler. If you plan to do homebrew that can be run be everyone, you must go to saturn coding directly. Check out www.segaxtreme.net for that.
Ah, I see. I'm going to forget about game basic and start seeing what I can do with the rockin b's saturn tutorial.
You can try the game basic demo extracted by Madroms, for sure there are some changes between that version and the final release but you can run your own code from an ISO without the devkit. I can help on that version if you want and for sure you can grab many samples from Madroms's SGB page. The first lesson would be to display a picture : http://forums.segaxtreme.net/showthread.php?t=15189 For sure you can start with Rockin'-B tutorial More people can help you including Madroms and me.
You definately want to use 'proper' Saturn coding over the Game Basic for anything other than messing around for your own amusement, really. Get hold of an Action Replay and interface. Then learn to code for the SH2 ;-) It is a console that you program for out of love, and for wanting a challenge. Don't do it if you just want to create a game easily, it is a bitch to code for! If you're up for the challenge, though, go for it! You'll feel you've really achieved something when you get a working product... because you have!!
Alright, my next question is: can I use the action replay USB datalink to play homebrew games on the saturn, or do I need a get a modchip or do the swap trick?
Yes, naturally you can play homebrew using USB datalink. For simple app that can be loaded in memory you can upload the binary in the saturn RAM For advanced applications, you can put data files (background, music,etc) on a CD without the saturn CD header (ip.bin) and upload the binary to the saturn RAM and access data on the CD Then you can finally do a CD release for the mass that will need a modchip or the swap trick.
