Tahi - The Arocean War (9-9-09)

[Bob Dobbs]

I have another update from Reticon Entertainment:

To the questions:
1. The new console would not be compatible with the Dreamcast, however, we are REVERSE engineering a Dreamcast and understanding its hardware functionality to basically port into a new console of our own. We love the power of the Dreamcast with its polycount, audio, controller ergonomics and, well, just about everything else. This new console, which still has yet to be named, was a project of mine since high school. I simply brushed it aside until now. The console will have MUCH more RAM than the Dreamcast ever could have imagined. We will be running at 256MB of RAM compared to only 16MB which is the Dreamcast. That means more expansive environments, shorter load times too (because remember, the RAM is being increased, not the polycount, so that means more can be stored for longer periods of time). There still isn't much about it, other than the prototype we've been diligently working on, it includes HDMI options as well as your standard RCA composite cables (yellow, white, red).

2. Why a new console? As I mentioned before, it was a project of mine since the days of my high school career over 10 years ago. It has gone through design iterations. The high school I went to has the only working prototype of my first design known as the EIS. It was an 8-bit machine. We would like to continue breathing the life and legacy of the Dreamcast into a form that ALL developers can enjoy! It would literally be a developer's playground. We want the homebrew community to explode and STILL use the Dreamcast as its programming platform, so the code they write can work on this device

3. The list of other games that exclude TAHI that are being developed at the moment are:
* The J-Man
* Tahi 2 - Rise of Keyzer

Now, yes, you see 'Tahi 2' on the list, there will be visuals for the first Tahi out soon, I know you've all waited an absolutely LONG time for it too, but you will not be displeased. It's a fine art to manage memory in order to deliver an expansive world much like the Elder Scrolls on a limited platform.

As for 'Tahi 2' the script and story is finished, that will remain as it is until the first Tahi is completed. Once that is completed, we will continue Tahi 2.

AND finally. The console may never come together, and the reason for this is you. We would like to hear YOUR input, forum. What would you honestly think? Would you like to see a console like this come into being? Basically 'The Son of Dreamcast' (although NO hardware will be used from SEGA, this is NOT SEGA AFFILIATED AT ALL). We would like to know. The ultimate goal for this console is to bring in a community much like this one to create games on an easy to use platform using the Dreamcast tools they've known to develop with. The console would be priced at a VERY reasonable price, at only $45 roughly, making it the cheapest console release in existence, I believe.

Let us know what you think. If you think it's a bad idea, we will HONESTLY consider it because we are you DC-Talk. We wouldn't be here if it were not for you.

Also I am on a major animated production at the moment and will end in 4 weeks. I am their technical lead for the film and I am programming their rendering systems and animation systems using the SAME techniques that are in the Ionicon engine! It's just that versatile, this is also why my responses have been a little slow, but we're still chugging along with Tahi in our production as well.

Thank you all for your support, we would LOVE to hear from you. You can either respond here or directly to me at [email protected] and tell us what you think, we want to hear from you!


-Frank Lima

[BrianC]

Hey I think its a great idea! I personally love independent games; the developers tend to take risks and make amazing projects which can be seen with AI war, Depths of Peril, and many others. If this system could make you guys money at only $45 then sign me up! Innovation is my main concern and if a game could give me a unique experience then I would take it over a PS3, or 4 game any day. I also think given the power of the system it would be viable as a porting option from Android or iOS given that it releases soon enough. Anyways, my only concern would be from other people (not from the DC-Talk community) but if you could get it in to stores like gamestop I think this could be a huge success.

[mazonemayu]

well, if someone can actually make that cheap I'd buy it even if it has one good game
it would still be cheaper than one ps3 game

[DCUltrapro]

yeah I think it would be a nice piece of kit but I'm a bit lazy and wouldn't make my own games for it, if it came out cheap and I could get games on it then yeah, I'm in, but In terms of broader appeal I'm not sure how well it would do, though modders and coders may find it awesome and may buy it by the truckload... guess it may depend on how the next gen goes, if it falls and crumbles in favour of free to play and micro transaction models it may not be a bad idea

[mazonemayu]

they've just updated their blog

[DCUltrapro]

I know, I read it above, unless you mean they've updated it AGAIN since his last recent post?

[mazonemayu]

oh shit

[DCUltrapro]

what? me confoooooz

[mazonemayu]

wait, no; check their blog anyway, it has nothing to do with what Dobbs posted

[DCUltrapro]

oh ok lol, I'm sure they will probably drop it on here shortly anyway