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Starcat

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Posts posted by Starcat

  2. Posted

    Hi!

     

    It's a weird problem. Nobody I talked to could explain why it works on some jags and not on some others. Even if the models look identical. (same reagion, same series). However we found a work around. There is a boot cd available on my website for download that solves the problems. Thanks to Matthias Domin, for helping out and testing :-)

     

    You can just download the images and burn them with nero, discjuggler or use the original cdrecord files.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  6. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    "Lost Treasures" has been released for Jaguar CD on yesterday's Euro JagFest 2006.

    The feedback very positive and there are 28 units left out of 48 total units. I have to say, I could only bring 24 units to the event, because I didn't have enough time to make all units at once, so it was almost a total sold out of those that I had with me.

    All units are numbered and sealed in plastic foil for those who want to perserve its value or just like professional packageing ;-) Visit my site (http://www.starcat-dev.de), choose multimedia section in the navigation bar o top, select the game you are interested in and you find information and screenshots of it. You can also use the "buy now" link on that page to purchase it.

     

    Have a great time and see you later.

     

    Regards, Lars.

     

    Interesting. Looks like it is about $38 US. Which games are complete or close?

     

    That would be JagWorm. It was done as far as, it just needed some music and more levels to be ready for a stand alone release.

    It's probably the best, most complete and most stable binary on the disc.

    There are also a few mini games like tic-tac-toe and pong that are compelte. Others are very far gameplay wise.

    Juiced (Joust-clone) is almost done when it comes to game mechanics, but there are no enemys and gameplay isn't complete.

    Titles like Star Alliance, Eerievale and so on are playable of course, but mostly still tech demos.

    A few projects are also on it, which were mere project ideas and experiments, which lack collision or are unstable under certain conditions.

     

    Depending on what tv set you use, it's also possible that earlier binaries have odd screen positions. As they are build binaries only without source, that couldn't be changed sadly. In general I can't guarantee that everything works for you. Some binaries only work under certain circumstances and might need a few tries to run, depending on your setup.

     

    Eerievale is the demo shown on eJagFest 2004, which features a much more advanced engine than the demo inside of ocean depths, as well as much more polished graphics. Gameplay wise it's still just a tech demo though without much gameplay. About as much as the first demo, gameplay wise. Engine wise and graphic wise it's a big improvement though.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  7. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    This is meant for those who had loading problems with previous releases of mine.

    I have just recieved the first e-mail about the old and common loading problems of CDR and I really want to clarify it from the beginning now.

     

    All CDs I send out are perfectly flawless and work fine on my test units and that is sadly all I can do as developer. I have no influence on the condition of the user's hardware. I can just verify that it works fine on my hardware. So please MAKE SURE your drive likes CDR and doesn't have any problems, before you buy.

    The discs I send out are perfectly fine on my test units. That's all I can take care of. Please understand that I can not do refunds or replace any discs that don't work on your hardware, as I have no influence on that.

     

    It's just so terribly frustrating when I recieve complains that should rather be addressed to Atari or Philllips. I didn't make the hardware, I can just make sure my software runs fine on my test units. I know how crappy the production quality of the hardware is, and I know I can't change it. Either I can live with it and make games for those who have working hardware, or I can stop right away and spend my time with better things.

     

    I know I am repeating myself. I just want this to be perfectly clear. It's your job to make sure your hardware is fine. My job of creating software that works on my units is done. Please do not send me e-mails complaining about hardware faults I have no influence on. There simply is no other way, than asking the user to take care of his system.

     

    After Ocean Depths I really thought a long time if I should do another CD release. JagMind had no problems, as it was a small game and had minimal loading times and because I used better media. Obviously the problem is still there, though only for a few people. It's a small percentage, but it's frustrating and annoying.

    If it turns out that there are again as many problems with my CDRs as it was with Ocean Depths I will simply stop releasing CD games.

     

    However all who had no problems with previous releases by myself, shouldn't have any problems with this one either. :-) Enjoy.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  8. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    "Lost Treasures" has been released for Jaguar CD on yesterday's Euro JagFest 2006.

    The feedback very positive and there are 28 units left out of 48 total units. I have to say, I could only bring 24 units to the event, because I didn't have enough time to make all units at once, so it was almost a total sold out of those that I had with me.

    All units are numbered and sealed in plastic foil for those who want to perserve its value or just like professional packageing ;-) Visit my site (http://www.starcat-dev.de), choose multimedia section in the navigation bar o top, select the game you are interested in and you find information and screenshots of it. You can also use the "buy now" link on that page to purchase it.

     

    Have a great time and see you later.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  9. Posted

    Atari Jaguar Europe Festival 2006

     

    The Atari Jaguar Europe Festival, short "e-jagfest" will take place on 4th november in Kaarst, Germany.

     

    It’s a show for all video game fans of europe, center of interest is Atari and their systems, especially Jaguar and Lynx. Of course other systems are welcome as well, for example NUON and other exotic systems were a common seen guest.

     

    Playing games is just one part of the event. Homebrew developers from different countries also take the chance to present and sometimes even offer their exclusive releases for sale.

    Last year there was an limited e-jagfest edition of Starcat’s “Jag Mind:Bomb Squad” for example. This year a new release was annouced to be offered for sale. You will also hear the latest news about the upcoming Jaguar adventure game “Eerievale” as well as two new VCS 2600 games called “Raster Fahndung" and "Encaved". Matthias Domin will be showing two projects as well. It will be an exciting time for sure.

     

    There will also be a Battlesphere network as well as popular lynx network sessions such as Checkered Flag and of course it’s a must for every event to enjoy little fun competitions of games such as Club Drive or Kasumi Ninja. It’s guaranteed to create a great, fun atmosphere.

    In the last years there have always been retrailers on the event, this year Nick Harlow of 16/32 Systems couldn’t promise to attend due to health reasons. But maybe he will surprise us :-) The Starcat Developments releases will be available for sure. If you want to pick up a game, make sure you contact Starcat before, so he can bring enough units.

     

    It will be a great time for sure, that’s something all e-jagfests had in common, as all visitors will gladly tell you. If you are a gamer or developer, even if you don’t play atari games, you are welcome to attend and bring along your favorite system, or just drop by and join the fun bare handed. There is enough time to check out games and play at the many installed systems.

     

    The event has reached ist 6th anniversary and takes place for the 3rd time in a row in Kaarst, Germany.

     

    Beginning time is on 4th november at 10:30 in the morning. Entrace fee is 5 euro.

    Additional information can be found on the website: www.e-jagfest.de

  10. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    Yes, it is still in progress and I'm working hard on it, but as you can probably imagine, a project as big as EV, needs a lot of time. A lot of people seem to fear that the project will never be finished or see the light of day. Don't worry. It will be finished at some point and it will be well worth the waiting time. Wait and C ;-) Until that day has come, it will still require some patience from you. One reason why this fear came up, might be that the Eerievale homepage disapeared in its old form and was replaced by my new homepage. Except for the blog, which will be used to give you the latest info on everything I do, including Eerievale, there is little information about Eerievale on it. This is the reason why I want to create a new website for it and I am collecting ideas what you would like to see on it.

     

    So I would like to invite all of you, to tell me their ideas or expectations what the new Eerievale website should offer.

    Some ideas I had already are, news and information about the game of course, screenshots, trailer and similar things. What else would you like to see? In the past I also did polls and had the forum online, but as contribution got less the longer it was online, I decided to take it offline, as it really didn't make much sense, if nobody contributes anything. Anyway, you are welcome to tell me whatever ideas you have. Even crazy ideas are welcome ;-)

     

    The goal of the new website should not only be to inform you about news and offer screenshots or trailers, but to entertain the visitor and make him come back again and again.

     

    I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  11. Posted

    I honestly can't wait for this peripheral, but am hoping that when it's released I don't get left in the dust from all the other die hard fans buying up all the supplies *cough*Battlesphereandscatbox*cough*. Any idea of how many of these will be produced?

     

    The JagCF will not be number limited, we think everybody who want one, can get one, we don't want some people sell at an extra price JagCF because there will be only a small quantity. We don't want that, we do that only for pleasure ;) Just for fun !!

     

    December, JagCF will be available, the developpers version will be available before, with that when the JagCF will be available for everybody, some games will be finished. Games like Project Apocalypse ( http://www.jagware.org/index.php?showtopic=306 )

     

    and some others games better than Project Apocalypse ;)

     

    and never forget one thing, there is an special option nobody know inside the JagCF ;)

     

     

    GT Turbo (Jagware)

     

    Hi GT Turbo!

     

    That's great news! I can't wait to get my hands on the JagCF carts and work with it. If the dev version is available soon enough I might have something finished for the full launch as well :-) So be sure to announce the dev release soon enough. More games mean, a lot more people will want to get a JagCF as soon as possible ;-) And more JagCFs in the community mean more developers will want to work with it. So it would be good for both sides, fans and developers, to have some games at the launch.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  12. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    It's amazing how fast news spread on the net. Yesterday I posted a new blog entry on my site, with some personal talk and the next day I get many e-mails about it already and even german game sites reading the site and posting news. It was just a surprise to me, as I didn't expect so many people were reading my site these days and this frequently. Especially as I hardly ever get comments on the entries. But of course it's great to see that many people actually read my site, even if they don't write comments. Those who have read the last blog entry, do not worry about me too much. I don't usually write so much personal stuff on my site, but I just felt I had to yesterday. A lot of things run through my head at this time. If that's too private in your opinion, then do not read it or skip the private text passages. This is no easy time for me, but difficult times often show who your true friends are. The people who are there for you and encourage you and I am sure I will get through this with their help. Things will get better at some point I hope. Anyway I just wanted to drop by and thanks those of you, who send encouraging e-mails and messages my way. :-)

     

    I did a lot of thinking about everything lately, as you can probably imagine and a lot of things will change in my life. Not talking about jag dev though. So don't worry. I thought about my time in the jag scene, though. How I lost many projects in the hard disc crash a year ago and what a shock that was to all of us. Especially to me, as it's never easy to see years of work being destroyed. But also to many of you, as you were looking forward to the games. I can't say how grateful I am for the encouraging words many of you had for me back then. Thanks a lot. You might say "no big deal", but it meant a lot to me, and I know not everybody said positive things.

    So thanks a lot for all the supportive words. I always thought I had to give something back to all you loyal fans, collectors and supporters out there who encouraged me, even though projects they anticipated for years were lost all of a sudden and would never be finished. I released the jagworm binary back then as that was the only thing that survived, that I could recover, but it never seemed enough to me. For a long time I just didn't know what I could do, until I got a new idea. And with that idea in mind and the motivation of giving something back to the scene, and also to get my head clear in this hard time, I started working on something new a bit. I am not yet going into detail what exactly it will be about, but I can tell you already, it will be a jagcd title, you will surely like it, it's not a puzzle game ;-) and it will be finished and released within the next few weeks I guess. The exact date and details will be revealed when the time comes on my site.

     

    Anyway. Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who dropped me a message and encouraged me :-) Keep an eye on my site for more news.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  15. Posted

    Hi!

     

    Cheaper and easier than getting an eprom reader and writer would be just to write a program that read the whole content and saves it somewhere (memory track, serial connection to a pc, or whatever...) and in the worst case of a failing eprom you can still open the cart and solder in a replacement eprom and copy the data back on it. the serial eproms are quite cheap as far as I know...

     

    Just an idea, but of course it requires some programming knowledge and technical skill. And to be honest I don't know if a savegame can be so important that it's worse all the trouble. I would probably just get a new cart and play until I reach the same or higher score or level again.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  17. Posted

    Hi!

     

    Eerievale will still need some time. I also think that it might take some time to get used to the new hardware and take full advantage of the important features, so even after the CF cart is available it might take some time to do games for it. Although I certainly hope good librarys are provided that make it easy to get started. Good example is the Jag CD, even though the CD bios does everything you need for you, many developers have not yet had much success reading data from CD for example or playing audio or similar things. So even if the hardware is there and the libs and so on, it might take some time to get used to it. That's why I would personally prefer if the CF cart was available to developers before the initial release to the scene. That way they can test the librarys, prepare launch titles and still come up with comments and suggestions on how to improve the libs or make the docs and example for others, so it's easier to use for all.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  20. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    Due to many requests I got in the past few weeks, I finally decided to offer the Starcat Developments Jag games again. You can order them on my site. Visit the multimedia section. There you can find information, screenshots, movies and so on about "Ocean Depths" and "JagMIND:Bomb Squad". On top of the information pages you also find a BUY NOW link, if you are interested. Payment is done with paypal.

     

    Starcat's Place of Silence

     

    Enjoy and long live the Jaguar!

     

    Regards, Lars.

  21. Posted

    Hi!

     

    Hey Lars, why aren't you using Ace this time? I don't know about you, but the music that he has done thus far for Metro Blaster is awesome as Hell. I have been nothing but totally amazed at what he has been able to pull out for this game and will be proud to showcase it in the game and the soundtrack CD when it releases! He really is very proficiant at this stuff. :)

     

    He was the first person I asked, but sadly he is very busy lately and doesn't have time to help. :( So we are still searching for somebody who can do good music for the game.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  22. Posted

    Hi folks!

     

    Just a quick update. We still haven't recieved any music and to be honest it would be a real shame if all the work so far would be in vain, because the game doesn't get suitable music. So I would like to encourage all talented musicians who can do cd audio and have time and are willing to take the challenge of working on some jump and run-like game music to get in contact with either me or Holger. More details about the project and possibly a playable version to allow you to make the music suitable to the game will be revealed to you once you submitted some samples of your work and we agree that you have what it takes. Don't be shy, give it a try :D

     

    On a sidenote you can find updates and behind the scene information about the project (at least about the parts that I do) on my site in the blog. In the future I might also show some of the wip graphics, if there is enough interest. Just keep an eye on the site, and you might find something cool. :)

    Starcats Place of Silence

     

    Make the Jaguar roar again!

     

    Regards, Lars.

  23. Posted

    Hi!

     

    Of course you need dev hardware and software to work on the project. Do you mean that by cost intense?

    Except for that I wouldn't see much reason why it would cost much money. Only time.

     

    Of course it highly depends on the genre of the project. For Star Alliance I just had to spend money for the hardware, software tools and of course CDRs to burn test discs and stuff like that. So it wasn't too much.

     

    With Eerievale it's a whole different story, so far it has cost me a fortune, for tools, test cds, but most impoortantly books and other research and development materials.

    At some point I had a cafepress store too, but I never got any money from it, as there wasn't enough interest. So I gave up on trying to get money back from the development of Eerievale. That's why I'm just doing it for fun these days. Such huge projects like Eerievale or other complex adventure or roleplaying games are much too complex, time consuming and expensive to do develop, if you hope to get money back.

     

    Anyway, I hope you have more luck with your cafepress store.

     

    Regards, Lars.

  24. Posted

    Hi!

     

    I fully agree with what Holger said. Time will tell which releases are later considered the best. Especially because most promising games are still in development. Every new game will be a welcome addition to the Jag's game library that's for sure.

    Personally I don't really see Jag dev as competition, so I wouldn't say, one team or developer is better than an other.

     

    But when you are seeing it as a competition, which is another way to see it, I wouldn't just look at how active a team is, but rather how good the final game is. That is what matters most I think.

     

    Regards, Lars.

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