Purist Tracker is a XM player for Sega Dreamcast.

The user interface is primarily designed for genuine Sega Dreamcast hardware with a VGA adapter. CVBS and SCART outputs are also partially supported, but most of the UI is not usable.

Supported input devices:

• Dreamcast Controller
• Dreamcast Mouse (recommended)

Dreamcast emulators (Flycast, Demul, Redream, Reicast, etc..) are not supported. Emulators are detected and discriminated against on start-up. If you do use an emulator, please configure it to use mouse controls. Note that the real Dreamcast Mouse provides a substantially superior experience compared to the mouse implemented in emulators.

Background:

The Dreamcast AICA and Saturn SCSP are the most powerful fixed-function audio processors ever created. Despite this, they are very under-utilized in games.

 My goal in creating Purist Tracker is to demonstrate a small fraction of their true potential for realtime audio synthesis.

Why XM?

.XM is a file format conceptually similar to .MIDI, and was originally used with a DOS program called FastTracker 2 in 1994. Compared to .MIDI, .XM is attractive because it also includes sample data in the file itself, making them slightly more portable.

The UI design is intended to strongly resemble 1990s UI design, while also making use of some of Dreamcast's powerful graphics features.

The .XM interpreter itself was written from-scratch during the jam, based on study of the excellent Unofficial XM file format specification and OpenMPT Effect Reference manuals. Purist Tracker directly interprets real .XM files at run-time without any intermediate conversions.

Credits:

Programmer:

• purist

UI designer

• purist
• Shiroiii

Music composer:

• Shiroiii
• Cai

Icon artist:

• Shiroiii

Cover artist:

• Shiroiii
• Lotus Turtle

Special thanks:

• skmp

Qualifiers:

Your game must offer a 4:3 display ratio by default. You may let users change it. You may use a frame, as long as it is not interactive or impact gameplay.

Purist Tracker initializes the Dreamcast SPG to 320x240 (4:3) for CVBS and SCART and 640x480 (4:3) by default for VGA. It is also possible to select 720x480 (3:2) in the options menu, available via the Start menu.

When your game first loads, display a 32BitJam logo. The logo can be a static 2D image or a fully 3D animation sequence

Purist Tracker displays a 3D animation sequence. On genuine Dreamcast hardware, this is the first scene displayed after the program is loaded.

Why 720x480?

As far as I'm aware, reasonably-priced 4:3 monitors are no longer being produced in any form. In contrast, 720x480 allows for pixel-perfect integer scaling with relatively common and reasonably priced 3:2 1440p monitors.

To my knowledge, this is the first Dreamcast release that offers a 720x480 resolution option.

Can this play random .XM files from modarchive?

Yes, though not all XM effects are implemented. Accuracy will largely depend on how many unimplemented effects that particular XM file uses. There are also a few limits on total file size and sample length.