Starcat

@goatdan: While I fully understand that you and Tursi don't want to support piracy, there is another legit way to use the skunkboard... As a possible platform for future games, that are designed for the skunk. If enough people decide to get a skunkboard, this may really be a good option for digital distribution of games for the Jag. Afterall you can lock programs to a skunkboard, so piracy would not be a concern there. Just thought, you may want to mention that as well, as it could open up new possibilities for the Jaguar development community if there are enough users out there to make it worthwhile.

I wouldn't object to more though - if possible... later on. Same here. It may not be necessary for most Jag releases, but it would be cool to have an option in the future to allow bigger releases if it's needed.

I think this list was intended to ask what re-releases of games that already exist as homebrew, people are interested in. At least that's how I understood it. If it was a general wishlist (and we didn't have enough of those already ), there is little point to ask about cart only, as I'm sure new games would be welcome to the community either way.

@Fadest, sorry I think I overread it. At least now you can tell how excited I am about it.

This is so amazing!! I ALWAYS wanted to develop games for cart and I will definately consider it in the future. I wanted an affordable solution to create carts ever since I started on the Jag. This really is a dream come true. Hats off to the whole team. A few questions: Is there a way to detect individual flash carts, like an individual serial on the skunkboard? Is there a way to "lock" flash carts after programming so the user can't erase it accidently but running the wrong programs on his bjl? For example maybe zero ohm smd resistor could close the circuit for programming (like it does in terms of 50/60Hz on the Jag), if removed the cart can't be reprogrammed. Just an idea. Are there any plans for bigger carts? (4MB is awesome already, but if there was a way to get more like 6 or more it would be even better.) Regards, Lars.

This looks really promising! Keep up the great work Zerosquare! I can't wait to see more of it.

Great to see this available! It's another thing that the scene has waited for a long time. Great work! :-)

One of my Jaguars has the caps over the one ram IC as well, and I think it also has the blue wire. I don't have it here in front of me, but I remember the caps for sure. It's a stubulator Jaguar from oct '93, K series for use with the alpine board. I have seen the caps in different Jaguars over the years. It's definately something done by Atari. Regards, Lars.

Great interview! I really enjoyed reading it.

Looks great! Keep up the good work!

I think for anyone who doesn't own several complete Jag setups with multiple copys of air cars or battlesphere (the few games that support network play via the catbox) and who at the same time has friends who enjoy the system and games to play them together, the catbox is very hard to find, very expensive and pointless. Unless you are a collector and don't care how much money you spend. If it's just a way to get easier access to the video port, you can just buy the right cables and be done with it. prodigal-son said he would try something like 10 games and if they suck in his opinion, he would drop the Jag, so it doesn't sound like he's that kind of collector. So why a catbox? I once had one many years ago, but it seems like one of the items you hardly ever hear people talk about these days. Mainly because it's only interesting for network play (which is a big investment) or collecting. I'm surprised somebody who just got a Jag would ask for good games (as most games are well known from other systems and don't need much explaining) and at the same time know about the catbox, which is much less obvious. A JagCD may make sense, though, but only if you're into the Jag and its games.

You probably mean Raiden (1), I wish there was a Raiden III (3) for the Jag Also it's Protector SE (not II). Just correcting the names, to avoid confusion. In terms of fighters many people don't seem to like Kasumi Ninja, me neither. So if you like fighters be careful about Kasumi Ninja. You might or might not like it. Ultra Vortek is usually considered a lot better.

Welcome to Atariage! Hmm, what games do you like just as an example? There are not many (good) beat em ups/fighting games on the Jaguar. In fact, fighting game fans usually argue there is no decent one, but Ultra Vortek is at least technically alright. So far there also are no typical action/adventure games, although a very promising new game by the working title of Atari Owl Project is in development. It has a fantasy theme though. In terms of shooters you need to be more exact in what you like. There are games like AvP, Doom and Wolfenstein3D. For 2D Shooters there is Raiden, which most people enjoy. From your statement, including Iron Solider when you said it was among the worst games you ever played, I fear you have too high expectations. Iron Solider is one of the finer games and got very high ratings back in the day, too. Syndicate of course is not a very good port on the Jaguar and Hoverstrike is also a bit controversal. Personally I don't like it, because the missions feel repetitive, but many people enjoy it, too. Some games you may want to try (as most people enjoy those games): Tempest 2000 (Arcade, Action), Rayman (Jump 'n Run), Super Burnout (Bike Racing), of course titles like Doom, AvP (don't mistake this for the PC version it's a different game and has an entirely different feeling to it).

Congratulations on the great looking and professional packaging! While I personally don't care much for the proto itself, I think it's amazing to hear that you found a good way to produce original looking Jaguar packaging and I can imagine how much effort and money that costs to get together. Hats off to you. And while I don't buy unreleased protos such as AvP, IS, BIWN, FFL, Spacewar, all those sports games that are produced and sold, I hate to see these dual standards. On one hand people are happy about these releases I just mentioned and at least show their appreciation, if not celebrate the releases. On the other hand, I see this very negative feedback from a few people on this release. What's up with that? I think this release looks a lot more professional in terms of packaging, manual and so on. Just like I don't understand why some people are actually flaming new games if it's not their cup of tea... If you don't like it, fine, but why is it necessary to badmouth the hard work involved? There are many games out there I can't stand, but others love them. They know what they're buying and they know what they're getting. If they enjoy it, fine. I don't see a point to badmouth it, if it's just not my cup of tea. The least I can do is appreciate the hard work. What I'm trying to say is, while aircars is not my kind of game and I don't have the money to spend on it, I know there are people who like this release. Even if it's just curiosity, for collecting sake or to support the hard work that went into the authentic packaging. I appreciate this work that was done for the community and the least anyone could do is show their support or let those who enjoy it, well, enjoy it.

I think there is a lot more demand in the skunkboard and it's not available to those people unless they are lucky and find one on ebay. If there were enough skunkboards for everyone who wants one, you can be sure, more people would use it. I know I would develop games that use the higher rom space, but as of now it just doesn't make much sense, because so few people have one. I could imagine other developers feel the same way. Still you can't compare the Jag to Xbox, PSP, DS or Wii in terms of homebrew, of course. Those communitys are huge compared to the Jag's. Millions of people have those systems and a lot of people have the possibility to play homebrew titles and there are a lot more people developing something. Not as many games as you'd think though. Mostly tools of some sort or small hacks from what I can see.

I fully agree with you. There seems to be too much talk about pushing the hardware to the boundaries, that people tend to forget that good design can make a game into an unforgettable gem without pushing the hardware to the limit, but simply using it well to deliver the experience the developer had in mind. I think that's actually the main problem of today, it's all about graphics, people tend to forget that games are about fun, great gameplay and exploring different worlds. Doing things you can't do in the real world. Rather than just recreating the world we live in and ending up with so many uninspired and boring mass titles of today. Of course the Jag can't deliver the same visuals as todays consoles, but developers shouldn't make the same mistake to underestimate the value of what a game actually is about: Gameplay. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see more games push the Jaguar to its limits as well, but if I had to choose between pushing the system and great design, I would always choose great design. So many people outside the community underestimate the Jaguar. But in a way it's easy to make the same mistake, when talking about pushing the Jaguar to its limit. The Jag is powerful enough to deliver a lot of great game ideas just fine. Not every idea needs to push the system to its limit. It just needs to push the game idea far enough to deliver the experience the developer had in mind. Superfly DX is a good example, how fun and great looking a game can be, even though they used mainly the 68k and OP.

Personally I think there are a lot of creative people out there, who could contribute to a game. I believe if one puts his mind to it, he can learn almost anything up to a certain point. It's my impression that a lot of people feel they could do it, but just don't do it. They should at least give it a try, as it would probably teach them a lot of the difficulties of game development, even if they feel it's not for them. It might make them appreciate homebrew games a lot more. From a programming point of view, I think every person who really wants to learn it, can learn to program a bit. It's just a matter of time and understanding the right way of thinking. And if assembler seems to difficult, you can always learn C these days. It's a lot less abstract. You don't have to reach for the stars with every project. Starting small is better than not starting at all. Depending on what you want to create this is just scratching the surface and you may need skilled people to help you with other aspects (such as game design, graphics, level design, writing, music), but there are a lot of game ideas you could create just with this knowledge. Regarding the "lack of time" statement, it's of course true. It takes a lot of time, patience and work to create your own games, even small projects. Whatever the reason is why you don't create your own games, you can always help and support other developers.

Recently I found an unsold copy of Lost Treasures (limited ejagfest edition), when looking through a box which holds part of my Jaguar collection. I never offered this copy for sale back in 2006 when I heard people had problems to boot the ejagfest release on some CD units, due to a problem with the encryption track on the disc. Only some CD units refused to boot the disc and a bypass cart would probably fix it. Long story short: I decided to put a special and very rare copy of it up for auction. It's the only signed copy (box and cd), sealed and numbered (37/48). To be on the save side, I will also include a standard edition Lost Treasures, which should work fine. So collectors won't even have to open the shrinkwrap of the limited edition. The game content is the same. The release features about 30 work in progress binaries and prototypes of games I had been working on until 2005. Many of which are playable such as the scrolling shooter Star Alliance or the 2004 Eerievale tech demo. Some prototypes are even close to being complete such as the arcade/puzzle game Jagworm. All money that is earned with the auction is put right into the development of Eerievale. The ebay auction will start on 1st July and run for ten days. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 260628604073 This is your chance to add a unique item to your collection, enjoy a rare Jaguar release and do your part to support the future of a promising new independent game!

@Gorf: I don't know the background of this thread, but I think it's good to try and correct misinformation that is out there and it's a shame people spread misinformation in the first place. It's just sad if people can't give credit to or appreciate great work. Credits to those who deserve it. @carmel_andrews: I don't agree with you there. There are plenty things about the Jaguar which are not documented. I'm not sure if the GPU main ram execution was ever done before. In fact I never heard of it working before Atariowl and Gorf started talking about it. The only thing I recall is a rumor that Dactyl Joust used the main ram to some point, but we don't know if they actually succeeded to use it like this or if they just wrote code without jumps. If a coding tweek was done before, but it's never documented and thus not recreatable, it's quite worthless to the community. Now if somebody comes up with a way to make it work by himself, he's definately the one who deserves the credits for it. The way I see it Atariowl and Gorf are the pioneers of bringing this technique to the Jaguar community and I highly appreciate it that they even shared their information with the rest of us.

Because it would be bad-ass to play a game like Hypertension on the Jaguar. And since no one in this community is willing or able to do the things you outlined from lack of skill or lack of interest going with Hypertension would probably be a better bet since the HT developer is willing to do the engine rebuilding/artwork and just needs help with Jag specific stuff. run on sentence. deal with it. And since no one seems to be willing to even help with that good luck getting someone doing a whole new game. By themselves. Artwork/sound/engine rebuild. Yeah right. Even converting Heretic would take some work with the engine since it has to jump and look up and down. And that is not going to happen. And while JagWare makes some neat little contributions game wise to the community they are really not what we all are waiting for on the Jag unfortunately. @JagChris: The things I outlined is creating new original games. Are you saying, nobody in the Jag scene has the skill or interest in doing that? What is there to doubt about someone creating a whole new game by himself? Sure it takes time and skill, but it's not like nobody could do it. Isn't your statement kind of insulting to all the hard working Jaguar developers out there who still create new and original games for the system? If you think nobody is doing that, you must have missed something. Because last time I checked, there are quite some projects out there that are in development for the Jag, which are created either by individuals or very small teams. Those games I'm refering to ARE whole new and original games. I also think there are definately people who appreciate the work of Jagware and are looking forward to their games. If you prefer other games that's one thing, but you can't really put your opinion as a statement of the whole community, saying the community is waiting for other titles. I just don't think it's fair to Jagware's efforts and I'm sure there are people who are looking forward to their games. I understand you would like a FPS, but really it's not the only genre. If you want a new FPS, your best chance probably is to learn and do it yourself. Besides isn't there still a problem of copyright connected to games like heretic, hypertension and so on? Did the original developers allows their assets to be used freely in ports? If not that's probably quite a problem.

@Zerosquare: So the switch toggles the bit that indicates a PAL or NTSC console? I thought it also changed the clockspeed and timing. I know a jaguar program has to take care of the video settings, but I didn't know it had an influence on the clock speed. With other words, I thought just by software you wouldn't get the slight speed difference between 50/60 Hz, which probably is the reason to do a 50/60Hz mod as a gamer. To a developer of course it can be useful for testing, too.

Hehe Actually my post wasn't even intended to relate to my demo release. I just wanted to say how much I like to see new Jaguar stuff of great quality being created and released and that it's an inspiration to me and a good way to keep the community together.

How is that supposed to work? If you detect the region of your Jaguar, you could still allow the user to choose to ignore it and set display values for a different region, but wouldn't that mess up the display and timing of the game? I guess the whole purpose would be to have the slight speed increase or slowing gameplay slightly down to make it easier? Is it really possible to create the same functionality of a 50/60 Hz switch by software?

It's up to each Jaguar game to handle "region codes", Atari's standard setup and publishing standard required all games to detect the region and set the video up accordingly. So unless we are talking about a bug or custom video code in a homebrew game which doesn't handle the detection, all games are region free. Only exception as Atariowl stated is Dragon's Lair, which doesn't like PAL machines. There is no regional lock in the hardware like on other consoles of the time.

Personally I wouldn't mind 16-bit-like games. It's my favorite generation of games, IF the games are original and well designed. i.e. not just ports of average games like bubsy, dragon, brutal sports or something like it Regarding what kskunk said: I think a cheap cart design would really encourage people to publish more on cartridge. I know, I would do cart releases, if I could get and produce them at a reasonable price. Flash memory in the form of SD cards or USB sticks is dirt cheap, even several GB. There must be cheap flash chips in smaller ranges, too. Maybe you could even use bigger chips and just make the size usable that the Jaguar can address. For some games 2MB carts may be enough, but if we could get cheap 6MB carts or more with bankswitching, now that would be perfect.