Jazz Jackrabbit 2 in Unreal Engine 4 [Archive] - JazzJackrabbit Community Forums

luke11685

Jun 1, 2016, 11:31 PM

Well listen up it's not basic gaussian blur image experiments and alpha masking on gimp or even paint.net that's how Backbone Entertainment was doing and that are also stuff for pc emulators(render plugins) maybe 3DS Max and something else is supporting pixel graphics like jcs itself.You should focus on 3D modelling in 2D perspective view.So it's very important to start modelling things like vertices,geometry,polygons,rigging of skeletal meshes,ik bones,cutscenes,game engine,animations(ue4 2D side scroller mode) and in-game hud.Keep this in mind dude.You can try to recreate this Diamondus map in jj2 style on ue4
http://www.mediafire.com/?kmwdoitmjpc56id it's still unfinished,but at least sort of example.

Stijn

Jun 2, 2016, 12:20 AM

Looks interesting. I'm not sure how much I like the blurry background effect, but I suppose one of the advantages of using UE4 is that you can easily try out other effects. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

luke11685

Jun 2, 2016, 01:24 AM

UE4 reminds me blue manequin npc in basic maps.This fangame reminds me sorta SDL game engine clones of famous side scroller games even more like Super Mario Maker.Reminder you can't just clone AngelScript game engine to unreal engine 4.It's not even PC(maybe PC Engine SDK 2016-name came from nowhere)Engine 2 Anyways goodluck with your fangame.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 2, 2016, 04:05 AM

The blurry post process depth of field is just a test, it's dynamic so we can change it even in runtime.
http://s5.postimg.org/n0ksk7006/Screen_Shot00073.jpg

We are 3D artists and game developers, this is just a project we do in our free time for fun.
We can add new effects, dynamic lighting and materials so it can be a little more, but still the good ol' JJ2 in all its pixely glory.

http://s5.postimg.org/rj0vhik7b/Dark_Coin.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/jrk5iyg1z/Jazz_Stomp_Crate2.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/d7lyqcrev/Jazz_Up_Pickup.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/5ikj0w1jb/Jazz_Stomp_On_Grass.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/scdha4q87/Jazz_Heli_Pickup2.gif

luke11685

Jun 2, 2016, 05:31 AM

Well it looks promissing.Instead of lovely pixel graphics you should check lurking in indie games darkness of ubiart petitions I'm wondering how then jj2 suppose to look like via avoiding copyright trademarks.

Jelly Jam

Jun 2, 2016, 06:45 AM

It all looks great.

luke11685

Jun 2, 2016, 07:11 AM

yeah it's fine,but all i expected were maps and character models like in sonic the hedgehog 4 episode 1 or at least sonic generations.I guess Carpaintergeril you're only trying to make render plugins pc engine emulatation inside unreal engine 4,but I guess jazz jackrabbit revival got awesome map designs i guess jazz jackrabbit 3 in 2D on deviantart.Game mechanics is almost the same from jazz jackrabbit online adventure taken from rayman legends.Now I'm just fangame critic so Carpaintergeril your is still looking very well.

Love & Thunder

Jun 2, 2016, 07:15 AM

Looks good, I like the particle effects when you stomp on the grass.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 2, 2016, 08:03 AM

Thanks @Robo4900 it's always fun to make advanced cascade particle systems in a stylised enviroment.

I'm sorry @lukaszdamianpiotrrygal, but I have no idea what are you talking about. We are remaking the game mechanics in Unreal 4 blueprints, using art assets from the original second game plus some from us... So we're not gonna make a sequel, or anything, we're doing it for our own amusement.

luke11685

Jun 2, 2016, 11:07 AM

Dude I'm so sorry I was apodictic and egocentric.Honestly this fangame refreshment method is incredible.I don't want any troubles I should avoid negative consequences.To be honest I can't wait to play a demo.

Primpy

Jun 3, 2016, 09:27 AM

Firstly, what you're doing with your teammate is amazing in my point of view. I'm looking forward to see more of this, everything looks great so far.

Secondly, I'm astonished by the fact that there's a third Jazz related project going on. First "jazzjackrabbit.org", then "Project Carrot", now this? Is this a dream? Please don't wake me up.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 3, 2016, 10:12 AM

Thanks @Primpy!

Here are some more animated gifs:
http://s5.postimg.org/a9y6o4yiv/Jazz_Running_Test01_Small.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/70jrhoafb/Jazz_Lights2.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/4khy3tscn/Jazz_Lights01.gif

luke11685

Jun 3, 2016, 11:40 AM

Dude i love it I want to do the same as you with jj1,jj3.

SAMI

Jun 3, 2016, 12:22 PM

Nice project! If possible, do use Normal and Specular maps on the characters and enemies. Would make a hell lotta difference with dynamic lighting.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 3, 2016, 02:08 PM

Hi @SAMI they already have normalmaps (and metallic, roughness, emissive, cloth and ambient occlusion). But because it is so pixely and sharp, it's pretty hard to notice, especially on an image, or low res gifs.
http://s5.postimg.org/s6rt0v6br/Jazz_Normal_Demo.png

SAMI

Jun 3, 2016, 02:29 PM

I see. Thanks. Hmm, you guys might wanna try adding support for widescreens and with custom screen resolution support. And with a reaolutionnof 1920x1080 it should upscale the game, not increase the field of view. That'd be great.

Stijn

Jun 3, 2016, 02:50 PM

I see. Thanks. Hmm, you guys might wanna try adding support for widescreens and with custom screen resolution support.
This is an UE4 game we're talking about, so I'm pretty sure those things are taken care of...

Carpaintergeril

Jun 3, 2016, 02:59 PM

It's in Unreal Engine 4, so all of the above is possible, and planned. The upscaling... well, the camera is dynamic, the player's speed and direction determine how much you see, not the resolution.
In fact, the whole game is in Unreal 4's 3D environment - meaning multiple 2D planes and sprites in front of each other in 3D.

http://s5.postimg.org/mwmu9km2t/Screen_Shot00159.png

luke11685

Jun 3, 2016, 05:04 PM

dude cartaintergeril shall i'll send you pm message?i don't remember if jazzgruff sent pm to me.This could be way to continue jj3 unofficial patch,but jj3d from ue1 is unfinished.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 4, 2016, 09:25 AM

We're tinkering with the weapon system and pickup item movement. So far it's very basic, but we're making progress.

http://s5.postimg.org/62vf97mbr/Jazz_Shoot2.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/5ige6it3b/Jazz_Shoot3.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/cvvs5hd53/Jazz_Shoot_Pow_Up1.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/uag0dra9z/Jazz_Shoots_Crate1.gif

Love & Thunder

Jun 4, 2016, 09:29 AM

The thing that really amazes me about this is how accurate it is while still improving the particles, lighting, etc. :)

dude cartaintergeril shall i'll send you pm message?i don't remember if jazzgruff sent pm to me.This could be way to continue jj3 unofficial patch,but jj3d from ue1 is unfinished.This is entirely unrelated to Jazz 3 and its unofficial patch.

Treylina

Jun 4, 2016, 10:47 AM

But..blaster doesn't pierce through box ammo crates?

Carpaintergeril

Jun 4, 2016, 11:35 AM

@Treylina:
Yeah, we know. The box collision was a bit glitchy when I made the gif. It's good now.
http://s5.postimg.org/ypyfj0mo7/Jazz_Shoot_Crate2.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/ufjrnfhl3/Jazz_Shoot_Crate3.gif

luke11685

Jun 5, 2016, 07:43 AM

goodluck carpteinter

Primpy

Jun 5, 2016, 10:00 AM

Is it too early to ask when will you release a public alpha of this project?

Carpaintergeril

Jun 5, 2016, 10:37 AM

Primpy

Jun 5, 2016, 11:34 AM

@Primpy... well, we'll try to make the core elements and multiplayer work in the next few weeks, then yeah, its possible.

Does anybody know anything about the legality of this? Some says JJ2 is abandonware, but we don't think so.. We don't want to do anything illegal, and our goal isn't to make money with this. It might be best if we consulted an employee of Epic first.

As far as I'm concerned, JJ2 is NOT abandonware. I'm not very sure though so you'd better consult an employee of Epic Games (or wait for other members of JCF to answer, I'm much of a dummy)

Treylina

Jun 5, 2016, 12:04 PM

As far as I'm concerned, JJ2 is NOT abandonware.

"Abandonware is a product, typically software, ignored by its owner and manufacturer, and for which no product support is available."

Sounds like JJ2 to me.

SAMI

Jun 5, 2016, 01:46 PM

Native stereoscopic and analygraph 3d support. Nvidia does it by itself but sometimes there still can be compability problems. Maybe add 3d support in future? And a shadow under the characters (not thw circle shadow, shape should be sonewhat similar to the characters) can be a good addition aswell.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 5, 2016, 03:15 PM

@SAMI the surfaces are flat, so projected shadows aren't really an option under the character. However the layer behind may receive the projected shadow. For now, there's only ambient occlusion under the character (because it's actually a bit closer to the camera than the background), but we don't think anything more is necessary.

http://s5.postimg.org/68cyo3xs7/Jazz_Dynamic_Shadow01.png
We'd rather use shadows when there is a custom light source present inside the level.

Love & Thunder

Jun 5, 2016, 04:01 PM

This is a fan project; as long as you don't sell it, you're fine. If Nintendo made Jazz, this would be a different story, but it's Epic, they don't mind/care. Besides, doesn't this just read the original game's files to generate levels and such? Or am I misremembering?

SAMI

Jun 5, 2016, 06:49 PM

luke11685

Jun 6, 2016, 12:21 AM

I guess not.It's not like Nintendo own support of Super Mario Maker.It's still abandonware game.Anyways I can't wait to play online mode.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 6, 2016, 01:42 AM

@Robo4900 Nintendo has always been overprotective, yes, but Epic still has the rights to JJ, so it's their right to shut down this project if they want to.
We are only using the art assets (and sounds, but that's very WIP - pretty hard to extract in fact) so it's not really a port but rather a remake in Unreal Engine 4.
We're trying to remain faithful to the original games but we can add more stuff, and use previously unused assets. And we can create more complex environments, puzzles, even connected maps.

Seren

Jun 6, 2016, 03:23 AM

Jesus Christ guys, this community has been reverse engineering JJ2 for 18 years. You wanted sounds, you should have asked. (http://djazz.se/files/sfxTSF_wav.zip)

luke11685

Jun 6, 2016, 03:43 AM

how did you import .j2l files to ue4?

Carpaintergeril

Jun 6, 2016, 05:16 AM

@Sir Ementaler, you are the man!
We were not aware of this.
I guess we should get to creating videos soon.

Lukasz, we did not import any original files. We exported them as pictures, packed them in a texture set/atlas (then made some extra masks, material components, shader maps etc.) then imported them into Ue4, and made our assets based on that.

SAMI

Jun 6, 2016, 05:47 AM

So basically its not possible to create new levels with tilenaps in this version right? But again at the same time, we can make a custom maps without botheribg with creating tilesets and just use them, right? Which also means we can also create light souce infront and back of the characters to have dynamic light?

Jelly Jam

Jun 6, 2016, 06:40 AM

.
http://s5.postimg.org/68cyo3xs7/Jazz_Dynamic_Shadow01.png

This looks so beautiful. Please don't make this end up like an unfinished fan project :! .

Carpaintergeril

Jun 6, 2016, 01:08 PM

@SAMI actually, Unreal 4 has a tileset editor(multi-layered), what makes it a lot easier to create a map, and anyone can make one, if they know how to use basic unreal 4.

@Jelly Jam we'll make no promises. We're working on other projects too, and most of them are paid.
But if we have the support, the inspiration and the time, we're gonna finish it of course!
And if we fail... well, it's in unreal 4, so anybody can continue the development.

luke11685

Jun 6, 2016, 11:39 PM

so are you working on level editor inspired by jazz creation station in epic games launcher=unreal engine 4?

Carpaintergeril

Jun 6, 2016, 11:55 PM

No Lukasz, the editor IS unreal 4, so a standalone level editor would be really unnecessary.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 9, 2016, 08:08 AM

We've started to work on the different weapons. After the default blaster, the first one we've attempted was the TNT.

http://s5.postimg.org/oaexo929z/TNT_7.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/dov2c8vyf/TNT_6.gif
http://s5.postimg.org/9i5mj66yv/TNT_9.gif

It has a custom particle effect for its explosion, but we tried to make it as similar to the original as possible.
They can also be chained, like in the original game (one TNT's explosion triggers the others in the explosion's range).

Since the TNT didn't have an upgraded version in JJ2, we're thinking about adding one, maybe a version that works like a proximity mine (detects nearby movement).
What do you think?

luke11685

Jun 9, 2016, 12:47 PM

that's pretty amazing and custom carrotus map is very good idea.

Primpy

Jun 9, 2016, 11:58 PM

Looks really good, everything seems to work fine except the rock physics. You can clearly see it stops once while being pushed by the explosion. Is it supposed to be like this? Oh, and the explosion animation, well, it seems a bit off. Maybe it should be less opaque? Just my opinion, feel free to argue with it, I don't mind.

Seren

Jun 10, 2016, 12:04 AM

You can clearly see it stops once while being pushed by the explosion.
That would be because there are two pieces of TNT placed on the same position and thus two explosions.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 10, 2016, 03:22 AM

Well @Primpy, @Sir Ementaler is right, there were two charges by the rock.
But, yeah, I too feel that the explosion effect is a bit off. Unreal 4's Cascade particle system is amazing, but translucency is the weakest point of the whole engine. And the smoke is translucent.
Maybe this version is better(?):
http://s5.postimg.org/xwd3iaitj/TNT_12.gif
It's fun to launch Jazz, gaussgun-like:
http://s5.postimg.org/7a0mtbemf/TNT_10_Gauss.gif

Any opinions on the proximity bomb idea?

Stijn

Jun 10, 2016, 03:57 AM

I think TNT already works kind of like a proximity bomb, with the caveat that it will explode anyway if nothing destructible comes close within whatever time it explodes after. Making that time unlimited would be useful in some cases, so that could be a nice powerup. On the other hand, it would make it impossible to use TNT to boost yourself in some direction, rocket jump-like, so that could be a disadvantage in some cases.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 10, 2016, 04:34 AM

@Stijn hm... true. In that case, the proxybomb could ignore players but not bullets, so bullets could trigger explosions, even explosion chains.

luke11685

Jun 10, 2016, 06:22 AM

Dude i love your fangame you should work on reverse engineering with jj1.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 10, 2016, 07:04 AM

No, we have our projects.

luke11685

Jun 10, 2016, 07:36 AM

So only you're reverse engineering jj2?

Love & Thunder

Jun 10, 2016, 01:13 PM

lukaszwhateveryournameis, please -- for the sake of our sanity -- please stay on-topic.

Anyway, as for the TNT powerup, perhaps allow custom detonation timers? (Tap for almost instant, hold for a little for regular length, hold for a while for unlimited)

luke11685

Jun 10, 2016, 01:56 PM

barrel physics is amazing while shooting

Carpaintergeril

Jun 10, 2016, 02:12 PM

Good idea, @Robo4900 !
Funny, my teammate's opinion is the same as yours.

My opinion is that the variable detonation timers should be the default, and the powerup could make the weapon even more useful.
The proximity idea is kinda boring, the charge already blows up if an enemy touches it, so it should be something more... awesome.

Like it could become physically active, or it could be thrown/launched, then stuck to the environment like a sticky bomb.

Darkhog

Jun 11, 2016, 04:25 AM

Or maybe something as simple as increased explosion radius? Anyway, can I play it or not?

Stijn

Jun 11, 2016, 12:38 PM

@Stijn hm... true. In that case, the proxybomb could ignore players but not bullets, so bullets could trigger explosions, even explosion chains.
I guess the question is to what extent you want to deviate from vanilla JJ2. TNT's explosions are relied on for some moves (see 8:40 in this video (https://youtu.be/DXg94FQ1yD8?t=8m40s) for example) which would be broken by pretty much any change more radical than changing the amount of damage the gun does. But if that's not a concern, stuff like making it a launched projectile or a sticky bomb could be a lot of fun.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 11, 2016, 01:21 PM

Our main concept is to make it as fun as we can, and keep as many assets and mechanics as possible.

But there are a lot of things that need to be... modernized? Bah, that's an ugly word.
We want to balance it a bit. Like players could switch (with a button) between ammo upgrades. The reason for that would be because the upgraded ammo would cost double. By doing that, we could balance the pvp, and make ammo upgrades even more different from the original versions.

So if anybody has ideas about weapon changes, - especially veteran JJ2 players - share them with us.
If it's possible and reasonable, we'll implement it.

But we don't want to change the game's flow drastically, so keep that in mind.

Treylina

Jun 11, 2016, 05:26 PM

You could make freezer not simply a glorified version of blaster. Give it unique behavior when shot, like shooting a blizzard for example. Also, I don't think enemy players should be able to break out of it manually.

Also pls nerf seekers.

Primpy

Jun 11, 2016, 11:45 PM

Also pls nerf seekers.

Trey's right, Seekers are one of the biggest flaws of JJ2 MP. A power-up seeker is just horribly OP, even an unexperienced player can beat everyone's ass with it. As someone with not much MP experience (compared to the others), I think shortening the range of the seekers or lowering their precision (making them dodgeable) would nerf them.

Jelly Jam

Jun 12, 2016, 12:36 AM

IMO seekers should stay the way they are.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 12, 2016, 04:40 AM

@Treylina what would be the behavior of the freezer bullets? That's tough...
More fluid-like, so it goes in an arch? Without 360° aim control that would be uncomfortable.
Or it could be like the toaster, but with bigger spread? So it would be short ranged, but very hard to dodge.
And the upgrade could change the bullet's form to become one bigger "ice-ball" or something, that goes forward, but as it goes it could become smaller and lose its power. So if you shot somebody quite far away, the enemy would stay in ice form for only a little time.

Anyway, to make it balanced, the original one should not freeze the enemy with a single shot. With the first successful shot, the enemy would slow down, the second would make it even slower, then the third one would freeze it solid.

And the upgraded one could make the enemy solid with its first shot AND physically active, like a statue. A statue that can receive damage. But falling damage would break it so the user must think fast.

As for the breaking out of it... It should be possible, but not easy. Like you could make yourself move a bit in ice form with jumps or something... that would be very funny.
Just imagine, frozen rabbits trying to flail to the next cliff to fall down and break out.

For the seekers, my idea is just to make them explode when shot in midair. So because of this, you couldn't just spam them any time, if somebody shoots it while it is still near you, you'll receive the damage/blast.
Hmm... and how about the upgraded seekers not exploding with the first hit with a bullet, but just getting derailed? The seeking mechanism would be instantly disabled and the seeker's direction flipped. Then its movement would slowly become more affected by gravity and it would go down in an arch.

http://s5.postimg.org/87g8to4w7/Screen_Shot00162.png

So, with that you're probably only gonna shoot one seeker at a time, because if one explodes, the others just spread, become directionless by the first one's explosion.
So if you use upgraded seekers, you must know how to use them, or somebody with more experience could send them back to you.

All of these are just ideas, and we only want to implement the ideas that the players like, so feel free to discuss or criticize.

Treylina

Jun 12, 2016, 08:14 AM

Yeah, it would act like toaster, but with bigger spread. I thought the powered version could have the projectiles stick around on the walls/floor for a while, along with a slighty longer range.

Anyway, I just had some ideas regarding sprite rotaion.

How about the players sprite rotating if they go on a slope? This would also influence the direction they shoot in. (lets stay, if you were running up 45 degree slope, you'd be shooting in that direction too).

I think seekers could rotate smoothly instead of using the 45 degree sprites, which looks kinda jerky.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 12, 2016, 10:20 AM

The projectiles sticking around is a good idea. They could act like spikes on the floor/walls, hurting the player that walks into them, then disappearing (because the player crushed them). Of course if the projectile touched the player before touching the floor or walls, it could just freeze the player.

Sprite rotation would do more harm than good. We had a similar idea, but changing the shooting direction would make the game unpredictable (tiny changes in the floor's slope or moving objects could throw off the precision of shots).
We're still thinking about an analog aiming mechanism, but that would most likely be out of place as well. Maybe in another version.

The seekers will be able to rotate in any direction, there are no sprite movement limitations in Unreal 4.

Darkhog

Jun 13, 2016, 02:09 AM

Regarding freezer, maybe it should go in sinusoidal shape and upgrade could fire two at once creating DNA helix-like pattern.

luke11685

Jun 13, 2016, 03:48 AM

Like in Mattrix film.

Violet CLM

Jun 13, 2016, 08:34 AM

Like it already does, but more pronounced?

Primpy

Jun 13, 2016, 09:01 AM

Like it already does, but more pronounced?

I suppose it could leave a transparent trail behind them in order to be more pronounced.

Carpaintergeril

Jun 16, 2016, 01:07 PM

The trail behind the freezer bullet can be sinusoidal shaped, but if the bullets move in such a way... that would be inefficient.

So yeah, visually it may be a good idea, but not technically.

Darkhog

Jun 17, 2016, 01:12 PM

Well, I've seen such bullet patterns working in several SHMUPS (albeit of a space-y shippy kind not rabbitty one) so I think that as long as amplitude of the wave will be low (like 32 pixels or so), it'll both look cool and work well.

Anyway, since UE4 is basically a 3D engine, any chances of bonus stages making their return? I think this is the best thing about first JJ game and was kinda bummed out it wasn't in the second (though as a game developer myself I understand now why they did it).

Violet CLM

Jun 17, 2016, 04:04 PM

I think increasing the area that the bullets can hit is good, but yeah, you don't want them to go up and down so much that they just explode against the floor. (So, the lowered gunspot while crouching is also a concern.)

Jelly Jam

Jun 18, 2016, 02:12 AM

Anyway, since UE4 is basically a 3D engine, any chances of bonus stages making their return?
I really want this to happen. Not to mention that JJ2 already has the 3D bunny animations.

luke11685

Jun 27, 2016, 06:43 AM

CarpenterGeril any further progresses?

Roobar

Aug 2, 2016, 08:41 AM

Carpaintergeril: It seems you know what you're doing and the results looks spectacular! And that's even if what was shown is a very early progress. If Epic Games were not entirely out of their mind, they would have followed what SEGA has (finally) done recently with Sonic Mania. And they would have hired you to develop a new classic, yet modern Jazz Jackrabbit game using UE4.

luke11685

Aug 3, 2016, 03:51 AM

Dude your jj2 reverse engineering is look interesting,but launching jazz Jackrabbit 2 Remastered deserves to spend money on selling jazz Jackrabbit licence from Epic Games.

Carpaintergeril

Aug 25, 2016, 03:37 PM

Just want to check in and say that we're still working on the project.
But we have to make money too, and the last two months were pretty tight.

https://s5.postimg.io/z0a81w2vb/Shoot_Block01.gif

So don't worry, we are still gonna make it happen. Just not in a hurry.

But, as always, share your ideas with us! What do you think we'll have to do/change to make this project better?

SAMI

Aug 25, 2016, 10:48 PM

+Make sure the game doesnt stutter at 60fps.
+Slectable Refresh rate.
+21:9 and Multimonitor support.
+Instead of increasing the field of view, just scale up tge game when increasing reaolution.
+Some sorts of filtering options for higher resolutions.
+slight motion blur option (One like in Resident evil 6/Fifa 16).

+If its ever going to be released on Steam- please dont enable VAC cause it will ruin the modding part.

+Support for dual keyboards for double players. (I mean its already possible but the same buttons can't be used. So use raw input to maks it possible somehow).

+Support for seperate monitors for double player.

These are just some ideas I got in my mind. Maybe some of these can be implemented.

Slaz

Aug 26, 2016, 02:26 AM

Most important if it's really going to be JJ2, that level and tileset formats currently in use are going to be supported natively (or perhaps live-converted) in some way.

Really interested in this project as much as Project Carrot!

Carpaintergeril

Aug 26, 2016, 03:01 AM

Wiivn: Epic doesn't really care about their old titles. They are busy making new ones, like Paragon.
Maybe if we complete this project, they'll notice us. But we won't hold our breath.

Sami: Unreal Engine 4 is taking care of those problems. We've added multiple controller support, and it has a splitscreen function.

Slaz: The tilesets are going to be interesting. At the moment we can make tilesets at up to 4096*4096 resolution, so we'll be able to fit multiple level's tilesets into one big tileset. Every tile that is on the same tileset will be able to appear on the same level.

Because it's a fairly simple game, we can probably make it streamable, so there will be no loading screens between levels. But who knows... I mean if we have to use a lot of 4k textures, there probably will be a loading screen at some point. We'll see.

We checked Project Carrot, and Soulweaver is doing really good work! We wish good luck to him.

SAMI

Aug 26, 2016, 03:09 AM

You mean multiple controllers or keyboards? Cause controllers are already supported in JJ2, but not multiple keyboards.

Edit: and I meant seperate monitors, not splitscreen. Like if I have 2 monitors connected- then I can assign each monitor for each players. Not sure if its even possible.

Carpaintergeril

Aug 26, 2016, 03:18 AM

What you're thinking of is two clients running the game on the same computer. That's not optimal, because it uses double the resources. We'll see what we can do, though.
And the multiple keyboards... well, it's possible, but we'd recommend a controller for player two. We'll see if we can add the option in any case.

SAMI

Aug 26, 2016, 03:26 AM

Thanks for the informations :D

Appreciated a lot.

By the way, JJ2 feels much better playibg with keyboard. And I think most of the splitscreen players still use dual keyboards (player 2 uses numpad or something else). So I guess dual keyboards should have more priority over gamepads. Just my opinion.

Gamerz31w

Aug 27, 2016, 11:48 PM

Excelent fangame i hope soon we'll be your beta testers when you give us a download link,but i guess not so fast.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 10, 2016, 02:32 PM

Spaz is now playable, in his spastic glory!

https://s5.postimg.io/o5mt03fk7/Spaz_Idle1.gif
https://s5.postimg.io/w8gdxoarr/Spaz_Shoot1.gif
https://s5.postimg.io/h14zr28av/Spaz_Run_Jump2.gif

And because he is done, the next logical step is the local multiplayer. So stay tuned.
(but not that much, we have a lot of things to do, so we may update late and such)

Darkhog

Sep 11, 2016, 03:43 AM

Spaz isn't done. His moveset didn't include helicopter ears.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 11, 2016, 04:12 AM

Spaz isn't done. His moveset didn't include helicopter ears.
Well... playable is the right word.
We've replaced most of Jazz's animations, but we wanted to post an update before diving into scripting his unique abilities. So the heli ears will go (in fact we replaced it just after posting).

Roobar

Sep 11, 2016, 06:54 AM

That's pretty cool! IMO, it would be great if both characters share each one of their unique JJ2 abilities. Or at least an option to enable/disable them.

Stijn

Sep 11, 2016, 08:01 AM

Spaz isn't done. His moveset didn't include helicopter ears.
:roll:

Excited to see this is still being worked on, and looking forward to the next updates.

Primpy

Sep 11, 2016, 11:14 AM

Something I'd love to see is Jazz being able to double jump and Spaz being able to use helicopter ears. Simply because I like Jazz over Spaz and double jumping is better, in my point of view :\

Treylina

Sep 11, 2016, 02:17 PM

Something I'd love to see is Jazz being able to double jump and Spaz being able to use helicopter ears. Simply because I like Jazz over Spaz and double jumping is better, in my point of view :\

You can do that in pluscharjump.j2l ;p Okay, it only works in the level, but it's possible in plus.

SAMI

Sep 11, 2016, 10:49 PM

Spaz is looking red. Where's his yellow belly and chest?

Primpy

Sep 12, 2016, 01:54 AM

You can do that in pluscharjump.j2l ;p Okay, it only works in the level, but it's possible in plus.

That's good to know, but an in-built feature like this in a JJ2 remake is much much appreciated :)

Spaz is looking red. Where's his yellow belly and chest?

It's because of the bloom effect. I think it looks ok nontheless.

SAMI

Sep 12, 2016, 03:38 AM

That's good to know, but an in-built feature like this in a JJ2 remake is much much appreciated :)

It's because of the bloom effect. I think it looks ok nontheless.

No its not. He is looking completely red except a little yellow which can be seen slightly. He isn't lookin ok. But I guess it will be fixed.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 12, 2016, 05:09 AM

He isn't lookin ok. But I guess it will be fixed.

Strange... I mean this is the original sprite.
The post process and the PBR materials probably change the coloring slightly, but on my screen, Spaz has an orange belly and jaw.
As @Primpy said the bloom (and other post process effects) makes it slightly discolored, but it depends on the environment.

I made some comparison shots:

Left is emissive and unlit (so it can't recive light) and right is the material we use:
https://s5.postimg.io/ghmkvxton/Spaz_Comp1_def.gif

With a point light between them on the ground:
https://s5.postimg.io/dh5qfeidj/Spaz_Comp5_Mild_Light_dwn.gif

With a spotlight in front:
https://s5.postimg.io/6uj2m80p3/Spaz_Comp2_Spot_Light.gif

And just for laughs this is what spaz looks like when he is hit by a maximum brightness light:
https://s5.postimg.io/eyr6qyn47/Spaz_Comp3_Burn_Out_Light.gif

(sorry for the low framerate)

Here is a pic of the raw Spaz material:
https://s5.postimg.io/c9rsn6s93/Spaz_Light_Comp1.png

SAMI

Sep 12, 2016, 09:22 AM

Hmm, Spaz looks okay in the comparison screenshots. So I guess it's just the lightings.

Anyway, thanks for the details, appreciated.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 13, 2016, 03:55 AM

Aaand we have splitscreen multi!

https://s5.postimg.io/rv9me1xmv/Screen_Shot00166.png
https://s5.postimg.io/i36y8empz/Screen_Shot00170.png
https://s5.postimg.io/6x3gfyxs7/Screen_Shot00165.png

Well, there is no working interface and such at the moment, but it's a start. We also have a base menu system to select single or multi, but we'll have to figure out a way (more like decide on a way) to include the player select animations and graphics, because right now Unreal 4 interface widgets don't accept 2D animations.

We'll go on to implement full multiplayer functionality and player moveset customization.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 14, 2016, 01:14 PM

Spaz can now do his signature karate kick!
https://s5.postimg.io/qa3jdq26f/Spaz_Karate1.gif

Oh, and we're trying to make the particle effects looks as bouncy and pixely as the original.

Treylina

Sep 14, 2016, 03:07 PM

Carpaintergeril

Sep 15, 2016, 02:02 AM

I'd recommend using gfycat instead of plain old GIFs.

Just tried it, and it's much better color-wise:
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PalatableNaiveBustard-size_restricted.gif

The problem is the size. It doesn't want to give me the "Large Gif"...
Well, if anyone is interested, here is the original clip for comparison (but a bit blurry somehow): SpazKarateKick (https://gfycat.com/PalatableNaiveBustard)

Darkhog

Sep 16, 2016, 02:35 AM

Can't wait for playable version. Maybe also you could open up donations or patreon to help alleviate some of money issues? Wouldn't be able to sub on patreon, but could donate every so often some bucks.

Primpy

Sep 17, 2016, 12:00 AM

I'd recommend using gfycat instead of plain old GIFs. They will load a lot faster and if you upload as a short video clip, you can get better colour quality (the colour crunch does the footage no justice). https://gfycat.com/about

The frame rate of the original GIF went down significantly. Isn't Imgur the best when it comes to images and gifs?

Treylina

Sep 17, 2016, 07:07 AM

The frame rate of the original GIF went down significantly. Isn't Imgur the best when it comes to images and gifs?

Imgur is weird, their GIFs don't always want to load for me.

All in all I'd rather have an actual short video clip over a GIF anything. That would also give sound too.

Carpaintergeril

Sep 21, 2016, 08:29 AM

Maybe also you could open up donations or patreon to help alleviate some of money issues?

Thanks for the suggestion, but there are several problems with Patreon or any type of donation to us.
First, this game is not ours, Epic holds the game's rights, so we can't ask for money to do a remake.
Second, our country taxes donations beyond belief, so that is out of the question...

So we're working on this little project in our free time, step by step making it something that hopefully you all will like.

And every suggestion, idea, original game asset -or even kind words- helps.

Primpy

Sep 22, 2016, 03:35 AM

And every suggestion, idea, original game asset -or even kind words- helps.

Keep it up, my friends c:

Carpaintergeril

Sep 23, 2016, 12:20 AM

Keep it up, my friends c:

Thanks!

Slaz

Oct 8, 2016, 11:46 AM

Sorry for not checking here in a while, haha. You guys made amazing progress adding the local multiplayer and Spaz's kicking move! Keep it up!

And too bad donations won't work out otherwise I'd be willing to put in some bucks too. I understand the reasoning though, and hope you have fun spending your free time on this knowing this little community appreciates it! ;)

szmol96

Dec 25, 2016, 02:29 AM

We're still thinking about an analog aiming mechanism, but that would most likely be out of place as well. Maybe in another version.

I'm a bit late replying to this, but i guess a dedicated aim key would solve this problem. The player would be able to aim in eight directions with the direction keys. Something like in Axiom Verge or Contra.

Primpy

Dec 25, 2016, 10:40 AM

With Project Carrot going on, I almost forgot about this. Is this project still going on or is it paused?

Carpaintergeril

Dec 25, 2016, 02:13 PM

@smol96 Never too late! The only problem with 8-direction or analog aiming is the sprite animations. We don't want to change the original sprites, or create new ones. At least not until the first public release or something...

@Primpy We haven't abandoned this little project. We just have to make money and other things so we're developing it in our spare time (that we're lacking lately).
But yeah, we should update it more frequently...

https://s5.postimg.org/wd7p6nsav/Fret.png

Oh and Merry Christmas to y'all!

Slaz

Dec 28, 2016, 10:55 AM

Merry (late) christmas Carpaintergeril!

Looking forward to more updates on this project in 2017. :)

YRSHKD

Apr 9, 2017, 03:58 PM

Hey first of all, sorry for the bump.
I wasn't there for a long time and this project gave me goosebumps and I can't wait for next updates ASAP.

Thanks so much for the effort, these images look exciting!

kiklanisune

Jul 1, 2017, 04:24 PM

Hoping we will see more updates on this and possibly a way to fund / procure early access? kickstarter or another donation I'm sure many of us would be more than happy to donate to this cause - it looks fantastic!

* just saw the reasoning to no donations.
If i might add you guys could just do a generalized donations option - "buy us a coffee" etc as a work around?

umisery

Jul 1, 2017, 10:38 PM

All I can say is.. WOW! Like holy hell, I've been dreaming for a JJ2 remake in a modern engine for years. Just awesome to see it's actually happening :D

Hoping this project doesn't get abandoned like they always do :(

UED

Jul 1, 2017, 11:32 PM

Please tell me that you're still working on this amazing project. :)

Carpaintergeril

Jul 3, 2017, 10:17 AM

We've had a lot of work to take care of in the last half year, doing outsourced projects and just in general, working to get money and experience.

Every time we saw you guys still had interest in the project after all this time, we tried to squeeze in some time into our schedule to work on it. It still has control issues, and the multiplayer still only works in local mode and is unstable. We need to put in a lot more time and energy to make it presentable. There are however some very minor, experimental updates we can show off.

With some tinkering we've made the foliage move according to the in-game wind setting. https://s5.postimg.org/829xgcxon/JJ_Foliage01.gif
https://s5.postimg.org/eep2q70qv/JJ_Hanging_Moss.gif
It's far from finished, especially around the trees, but this allows foliage to react to guns and blast waves.

Also, with some fine tuning and post process effects, we've made a pretty cool shadow effect. Every layer casts a shadow onto the ones that are farther back.
https://s5.postimg.org/d27dob3bb/JJ_BGShadow3.gif
The GIFs are kind of garbage in quality, but believe us, it looks good.

Towards the end of summer, we'll probably have more time to work on the project. As long as there are still people looking forward to it, we'll do the best we can!

Thank you for the support.

umisery

Jul 3, 2017, 09:30 PM

Good to know you're still working on this, thanks for the update too! :)

Foliage reacting to the wind of guns/bullets is awesome and something I've never heard of before, are there any other games that do this?

Slaz

Jul 4, 2017, 12:02 AM

Haha, that eyecandy looks very modern game-ish. I'd love to see it react to gunfire and fast movement like on games such as Ori. :)

Talec

Jul 4, 2017, 10:13 AM

Aaaa, those look super neat!

Primpy

Jul 4, 2017, 01:56 PM

Oh my god, that looks so beautiful! I can't wait for a playable version of this ;-;

szmol96

Aug 21, 2017, 09:13 AM

In addition to the moving foliage, can you also add waves to water when jumped into? It would look awesome in my opinion.

ionut

Aug 21, 2017, 10:33 AM

Wow man is amazing . Which is the launch date?

rea987

Sep 14, 2017, 11:36 PM

Is there an official or unrealengine.com forums page of the project? I kinda remember such page at unrealengine.com forums but couldn't find it now. As the project uses Unreal Engine 4 which is cross-platform, will there be GNU/Linux, macOS and Android support? If yes, please use SDL2 to make things easier for you. Thank you, good luck!

Sniper

Sep 15, 2017, 09:20 AM

Never noticed this but it looks damn amazing

PT32

Sep 17, 2017, 05:19 AM

Looks awesome, keep up the good work!

savasavic94

Nov 11, 2017, 03:19 PM

Did you thinking to add game when is finised to steam mby :)

Jelly Jam

Nov 12, 2017, 08:22 AM

It's been a while since he last posted here.
Captaintergeril, any further progress? :(

Primpy

Dec 16, 2017, 02:21 AM

Bump.
An update regarding the state of JJ2 UE would be much appreciated :)

watercat

Jan 14, 2018, 06:41 PM

pls add and jazz jacribit 1 map and secret files and chrisman

watercat

Jan 14, 2018, 07:02 PM

for the split screen to have a choice to leave without leave all player play for my fernd and i need to leave all player

watercat

Jan 14, 2018, 07:24 PM

the lori is uceble chrater pls add higher jump

watercat

Jan 14, 2018, 08:12 PM

i carate the logo
https://sites.google.com/s/1b6Qa33jFTCpbjmw94nugfPrKKIR9l7kc/p/1sRDImtsU79E3aztHLnFM3yXMk-N38giD/edit

watercat

Jan 15, 2018, 05:30 AM

this 1 of the syte we have all spriters for Jazz Jackrabbit
i carate World X-B - Candion and World X-C - Bloxonius and all enemy spriters drop swort and open clone box
https://sites.google.com/view/jazz-2/home
https://www.spriters-resource.com/search/?q=jazz+jackrabbit

thi site i have jazz 1 map for jazz 2 https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/search/jj1/ i don have the enemy for jazz 1

luke11685

Jan 15, 2018, 05:55 AM

If you want Carpaintergeril you can also use these sprites to your fan project https://www.spriters-resource.com/custom_edited/jazzjackrabbitcustoms/sheet/81447/

watercat

Jan 19, 2018, 06:59 AM

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 i have this problem
1 the life if you dai respone
2 the box push is not rotesion
3 the jazz Jackrabbit 2 is mor esey for Jazz Jackrabbit 1 i need mor logyci for npc or mor npc
4 for Jazz Jackrabbit 2 if if it has no ground it falls and is no jump or diehttps://sites.google.com/view/jazz-problem/home
5 the rocket rotesion 45° sprite this is esey to fix for unrial engin
6 if have mvement floor and the folr ender inside the ceiling and not have one way the plaer i don have damage and sticks a few sec
7 if run for For a long time after with not put pls add option the run mod swap wolck and run or just press the button
8 if add the all jazz Jackrabbit 1 map this eria is full of bug https://sites.google.com/view/jazz-problem/home
9 the tnt kill for dethmach i don give you kiil the only to give is death for Jazz Jackrabbit 2

snzspeed

Jan 20, 2018, 03:41 AM

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 i have this problem
1 the life if you dai respone
2 the box push is not rotesion
3 the jazz Jackrabbit 2 is mor esey for Jazz Jackrabbit 1 i need mor logyci for npc or mor npc
4 for Jazz Jackrabbit 2 if if it has no ground it falls and is no jump or diehttps://sites.google.com/view/jazz-problem/home
5 the rocket rotesion 45° sprite this is esey to fix for unrial engin
6 if have mvement floor and the folr ender inside the ceiling and not have one way the plaer i don have damage and sticks a few sec
7 if run for For a long time after with not put pls add option the run mod swap wolck and run or just press the button
8 if add the all jazz Jackrabbit 1 map this eria is full of bug https://sites.google.com/view/jazz-problem/home

I like this thread. Besides discovering this amazing looking project, ive also discovered a whole new language.

Carpaintergeril

Jan 20, 2018, 07:50 PM

We've got a day job and we're working full-time in Unreal Engine 4, so this little project sadly doesn't get too much attention from us.
Not that we don't want to continue it, it's just that we have a lot of things going on in our life.

But time after time we look at the project and think about what we could do with it.
Last time I created a chunk of one of the castle maps.
https://s5.postimg.org/vzdoem4k7/bandicam_2018-01-21_04-59-19-066.png
https://s5.postimg.org/ka9oqnlbb/bandicam_2018-01-21_04-58-23-871.png

I know it's not much, but if we have some time, we'll work on it!

Jelly Jam

Jan 21, 2018, 03:35 AM

I'm only glad to hear it's not completely abandoned. Take your time. (y)

Stijn

Jan 21, 2018, 03:10 PM

I'm not sure what you did to Castle, but I like it. Some kind of lighting effect I think? And heightened contrast? Looks great on those screenshots, at least.

Carpaintergeril

Jan 22, 2018, 11:58 AM

I'm not sure what you did to Castle, but I like it. Some kind of lighting effect I think? And heightened contrast? Looks great on those screenshots, at least.

It's mostly just post process effects.
I saturated it, toned down the contrast, gave it a bit of a brown tone and added a lot of ambient occulusion.
Then threw in some colorised atmospheric fog and lights with temperature for the sake of the atmosphere.
It's easy to do things like that in Unreal 4, even during runtime, so these settings can change based on the enviromental differences even in the same level.

bog2k3

Jan 25, 2018, 12:10 PM

Wow, this really looks amazing guys! Great job so far, and please don't let it fade away, keep working on it whenever you can spare some time.
Also, I believe you could save tons of time if you'd invest a little effort into a script that could read the original level files and import the data in UE so you wouldn't have to recreate the levels by hand. There's another jazz2 remake project on github called "Project Carrot" (https://github.com/soulweaver91/project-carrot) that does just that (although in C++), so you could maybe check it out to at least least understand the file format from it and how to read it.
Good luck and I really hope to see this finished, you did a great job so far!

watercat

Jan 28, 2018, 04:33 AM