BitJag

The only reason why I suggested a vertical format is because the original game used it as well. It also had two sets of pipes on screen. (I am not implying it is the best design though, and I am sure there is room for improvement). When working on Flappy McFur we used it as a way to alter the difficulty, Flappy McFur has only one set of pipes on screen at any point and it plays well.

Ah yeah! That feels so good.

It isn't on our to-do list, but it is on a list of projects we may get to eventually. Sorry for the vagueness, but we are currently deciding what we want to do next. @tonma Gave this a go recently, great job! Have you considered formatting the game to be vertical rather than horizontal?

Thanks for asking. Yes there are Collector's Bundles still available. We will disable the add to cart button when copies aren't available anymore. http://williamthorup.com/product/flappy-mcfur-bundle/

Thank you CyranoJ! It turned out to be way more work than expected, and we now know how important something like Jagtopus is when it comes to saving time.

Good to hear that orders are arriving at their new homes. Enjoy! We weren't able to get through all the current orders this week, but another batch of about 20 or so will be heading out this coming Monday. Also, for those who have purchased art prints, printing will begin and finish this coming Tuesday or Wednesday, and will be shipping soon after.

An update for those who received a confirmation that their package has shipped. We have the shipping labels purchased, everything packaged, but we just missed the post office . We will get these orders shipped first thing Monday morning. We are planning on getting the rest of the orders finished this coming week, and hopefully shipped before the end of the week. Thank you all for your support and patience.

Amazon

PM sent.

An update for those who have purchased or are interested in seeing cardboard and plastic in still photography. With Inktober out of the way, we were finally able to get a finished unit put together. The printing is now finished, and we have assembled our first complete unit. The local company that we printed with was absolutely awesome, accommodating, and loved the fact that they could be apart of releasing a game for the Jag. The die cut box looks feels very close to an officially released game and gives me tingles all over when I hold it. We had a die cut made for the white insert, to get a better price than what is available online, and to improve on the design slightly. Unless you were paying really close attention, most people won't even know the difference between the new insert and an original insert. Also, there is a nice full color manual and another small surprise that you will get when you open the box for yourself. For those that got collector's bundles, we are very satisfied with the art prints, and we hope you will be as well. The current plan is to finish up at least 25 units and get them shipped by the weekend. If we wake up a bit earlier in the morning, we may be able to get a few more than 25 done this week. We are hopping to get all current orders out within the next 2-3 weeks. If you haven't ordered already, we will have plenty in stock, and we will make sure that we get yours shipped out during the next few weeks as well. As a final note, for anyone who has purchased Will's Inktober 2016 Atari Propaganda art prints, printing for those is starting this week, and will begin shipping sometime next week, with your copy of Flappy McFur. While we are here, we would like to thank everyone for all the support so far. Those who purchased and the positive comments here and on social media mean allot to us, and fit well with the good feelings we hope the game brings as an experience. We forgot to put this in our announcement post and we apologize for it, but we also want to thank those who run Atari Age for providing this awesome platform where all of us can share in what we love. Thank you all for this awesome experience and we will drop by again soon!

Small update and a little (gif)t. Printing will begin this coming Monday, thanks to everyone that has ordered. Thank you all so much. We have begun to burn EPROMs, and are hoping to start getting an assembly line to get them on PCB's and in shells within the next week or two. Painted this the other night at a party. Did McFur's movment digitally. Most people didn't even know what a Jag"Wire" was...

It was an aesthetic choice primarily. To help simulate the cellphone screen. But designing it this way will help with the Lynx port if we decide to port it to the Lynx. (Yay! Another excuse to hold the Lynx vertical). Thanks for asking. Checking out as a guest will save your info to the website, but this is only used to give a nice receipt and order number to your order, and allows me to do refunds conveniently. Everything is done with PayPal on the back end at the end of the day. I do understand your concern though. Shoot me your email address in a PM and I will send a request directly through paypal.

Not permanently unfortunately. We would like everyone who wants a copy to get one. So we are thinking that batches will be the way to go for now, even if the batches end up being small like 10-20 for about 4-6 months. After that, we will keep a few on hand for occasional walk-ins who ask about it on this thread and to try to stem the inevitable eBay high sellers later on.

Nevermind, I just edited the orginal post.

This has been a long time coming, and we are excited to get this out to those who are interested in owning a physical copy of Flappy McFur. Below is the press release and QA. Feel free to ask questions here, I will try answer as quickly as possible. Introduction You may think that this is just another Flappy Bird clone, and well, you may be right. Regardless, the already well known format has been expanded by BitJag into four different play modes, offering players more replayability. Also, a set of 15 awards are ready to be unlocked. With just a sprinkle of a story added, Flappy McFur is an addicting experience that you will can only find on the Atari Jaguar. Screenshots Video Release Video Gameplay Footage Description A Fun Addition to the Arcade Runner Genre Flappy McFur follows the popular arcade “Runner” genre. Simply control Flappy McFur in such a way to avoid hitting the pipes and ground. You receive pipe points when you successfully pass a set of pipes, and you receive coin points when you collect a coin. Collecting pipe points and coin points will allow you to finish the game, and unlock awards. Play Modes To improve replayability and to cater to playtester feedback, there are four different playmodes. Classic mode moves McFur at a normal pace, with each set of pipes, and each coin collected increasing the scores by 1. This mode is designed for the purists who enjoy the long-haul experience. Mover mode adds a level of difficulty to the classic gameplay, by making each set of pipes move up and down. Flyer mode is designed for the more experienced player, doubling McFur’s Speed, with stationary pipes. Dodger mode takes the double speed of Flyer and spaces the pipes out so the upper and lower pipe never line up. Questions Release Details What do I get and how much does a copy cost? A single copy includes a standard box, cartridge caddy insert, manual, business card art print, and the game itself. The cost and pre-order cost of a single copy is $45 USD + shipping (Limit 2 units per customer). If you would like a little bit more, we have a “Collectors” bundle that includes 1x copy of the game, and 3x art prints (approx. 8.5” x 11”) of official Flappy McFur artwork signed by the artist (Will). This bundle costs $66 + shipping. See the images below. Where can I order/pre-order? On Will’s personal website. (It was easier to sell here since his shop was already set up.) Normal Purchase - ORDER NOW http://williamthorup.com/product/flappy-mcfur-boxed-cartridge-atari-jaguar-homebrew/ Bundle Purchase - ORDER NOW http://williamthorup.com/product/flappy-mcfur-bundle/ Why a pre-order? To pay for the up front production of the printed materials (diecuts are expensive!), and, because we are doing this in batches, this will be used to gauge interest and make sure that we don’t overspend on something that we will release for free later on. Is there a limit on how many copies I can order/pre-order? We would like to limit it to 2 copies per person (we will cancel orders that are more than 2). If you are a retailer, and interested in helping with distribution, please PM me. When will you begin shipping? Sometime in November. Again, we will be shipping in batches. How many batches will you be doing? This depends on interest, but we are projecting 2-3 batches of around 50. Other Questions Why not just release a ROM? We will release the ROM within a few months after release for free, allowing others to have fun flapping around. This will be a slightly modified version of the game with some kind of messaging stating that it is free. There are a few reasons we decided to sell upfront. First, this is a first time we have done anything like this, and we felt that producing a finished physical product with a smaller project would help us better prepare for future projects. We know there are collector’s out there that like to have something more official sitting on their shelves. Also, a percentage of money made from this game will be used for the next release. Why not release it on CD? Not everyone has a CD unit, it is a small game, and cartridges feel so good in your hands. Will you release the source for Flappy McFur? Not sure yet. If we do, it will be when we release the ROM. Will you port Flappy McFur to the Atari Lynx or other consoles? We are thinking about it. How did you make Flappy McFur? We used Linux, the Removers Library, and the Jaguar C Library. Both libraries are made by Seb of the Removers. Thank you Seb! Other tools were used, such as Jiffi, Skunkboard CD encrypter (Thank you Reboot!), and Virtual Jaguar (a Atari Jaguar emulator. Thank you Shamus!). Also without the Skunkboard and the software behind the device, it would be difficult for us to test on real hardware. A big thank you to the team behind this wonderful device. Is this a prequel or a sequel to Trevor Mcfur in the Crescent Galaxy? Think of it more as terrible fan fiction, that isn’t really based in the same universe. Does this game utilize the full 64-Bit prowess of the Jaguar? No, it does not, but it does produce some interesting fumes during gameplay. About BitJag Who is BitJag? Two brothers who live in Utah (USA) who grew up with Atari in the home, and want to make games for the consoles of their childhoods, for nostalgia's sake. We also consider a large group of family and friends a part of BitJag as well. They put up with allot of crap when it comes to this little obsession of ours. What do you look like? Meet the family! What do each of you do in relation to BitJag? Will is the artist, programmer, composer, and everything else. Bryce is a much more experienced programmer and helps Will with troubleshooting code, and other consulting needs. Have you made other Jaguar games? Nope, this is technically our first video game release under BitJag. We did make a small demo using the Removers Library and it was featured at the 8-Bit Fix booth at the Portland Retro Gaming Convention a few years back. What kind of programming experience do each of you have? Neither Bryce or Will grew up programming on older systems in lower level languages like assembler, we missed that boat unfortunately (A little on the Atari ST, but nothing substantial). Bryce has a background in BASIC, PYTHON, JAVASCRIPT, and other various web languages. Will has a background in web languages, and a little in C code thanks to this project. To them, programming on the Jaguar, and other Atari consoles, is an opportunity to start learning to program for consoles that they have always wanted to make games for, but were too young at the time to do anything about it. Are you planning on making more games for the Jaguar? Yes we are, check them out at http://bitjag.com. We can’t guarantee when or if they will ever be finished because we know we are a bit over ambitious when it comes to these things. Please keep in mind, for us this is for fun and learning. Like many other homebrew developers in the past, we may just fizzle and disappear into the ether. We hope not though, as we are quite dedicated to this now. Brief Development History Flappy McFur stems from the brief craze of the success of Flappy Bird in 2013, and the need for Will to begin learning C code in order to utilize the preexisting Removers Library and Jaguar C libraries. Development began in December of 2013. Over the years, and during the the team’s free time, core elements were developed separately and then implemented together later on. Also, production of illustrations featuring the game’s characters, graphic design for box art and other physical elements of the package, and music composition were produced by the team. The first public beta version of the game was released in April of 2014 on BitJag,s official website. This received a small but positive response from the Atariage community and from others who were geographically near to the development team. Since the beta version’s release, and up to the official release in November 2016, the beta version has been downloaded approximately 400 times. During development the game was playtested and publicly demoed multiple times at Thor Media LLC offices in Salt Lake City Utah. It has also been demoed at various family, school, and community social functions within the Salt Lake valley. Development for Flappy McFur officially ended September 15, 2016. Orders and shipment of the product began in November 2016.

Here is a great article about trademarks. http://www.yospinlaw.com/2015/05/18/can_i_register_or_use_a_dead_trademark/ My interpretation of this info leads me to believe that Atari "owns" the trademark, but because the trademarks aren't active, Atari would be unable to sue anyone. Also, since they have haven't actively protected their logo in 20+ years, they would be hard pressed to get a judge to recognize "damages" caused by a game release by a small company or individual who use/used their logo (unless you started making millions off of ST ports to the Jag). This could change if they re-registered the trademark, and they pursued anyone who used the logo after the trademark had been re-registered. My personal opinion, is that the logo is open game as long as Atari doesn't care about it. And the sleeping bear has not stirred for 20 years over people using a logo for a product that didn't really do much for is image anyways. Feels safe to me. Regardless of what you do, I am glad to support someone who wants to play it safe, if it means more games on the Jag. Thank you for keeping our favorite cat kicking! Sources "Jaguar" trademark - http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4810:rth2wa.2.1 "Atari Jaguar" trademark - http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:egwpwp.5.264 You cannot copyright a logo - http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#title

I was just having a conversation with another individual about tracking motion without a sensor, and they had a very similar answers. It makes sense, thank you for clarifying this for me Zerosquare. Fortunately, no stereoscopic 3D trickery makes things easier on the display side of things. Thanks for the feedback gentlemen! Before I dive into making a simple diagram, could someone second me on there being no simple diagram showing how a JagVR is connected to the console? It will be a fun project, I just don't want to double up on work that has already been done if I don't have to.

Thanks for the pics Zerosquare. I am going to try and find time to diagram the this for history's sake (couldn't find anything publicly available online), and start filling in the blanks with the info from Stephen Moss and TXG/MNX. Based on what TXG/MNX said, it seems that all you need is a way to translate of the analog movement of your accelerometer to controller movement through the controller port. If this is true, then I was thinking about this way too hard. You could have an intermediary box (small computer of some sort) that your controller and your VR display (occulus, vive, android phone) plug into, then come out of that box and plug right into the first player port, and have external power feeding into the intermediary box. You could turn "any" jag game into a VR game, sacrificing the stereoscopic 3D effect of course. In regards to the display, I am not sure where to even begin with that. I assume the Jag VR is converting the RGB or composite signal to something interlaced or half resolution (somehow...) and then outputting that to the two LCD's in the helmet creating a stereoscopic 3D effect. Am I even close with that guess?

Has anyone here put any thought into using a modern device (i.e. occulus, vive, smartphone) as a replacement VR tracker/display for Missile Command 3D? I haven't put much thought into it myself, but it seems that after you figure out how the inferred tracker is pinned through the serial port, you could create an interface with an modern accelerometer device (I am just focused on the movement at the moment). Then work on an interpreter that converts the accelerometer data into something the Jag/game is expecting. The "hard" part it seems would be figuring out what information the VR tracking device is sending to the Jaguar. Getting the actual VR headset to test on is out of the question, but if the source code for the game was available it would sure beat sending random numbers through serial to see what happens on screen and in ram. A few other questions I had that I can't easily find answers for at the moment: Is there some kind of handshake code that happens between the game and the VR device? Or does the VR Tracker just start pouring in the data through serial? I assume the Jaguar console isn't sending any data back to the VR tracker. Is this true? How is the VR Tracker powered (not the helmet)? (separate power supply, through serial) Are there any diagrams/sources for the VR Headset available? Thanks for the replies. Please let me know if my head is in the clouds on this one.

Thank you for your efforts, it is great to play and show this to others on the Jag.

Awesome to hear that this might happen. I will definately preorder, and I am more that willing to wait until 2018.

Wow. That is a good thing to know when using superglue for things. If that is the case, would a piece of masking tape over the contacts be enough to keep from needing to sandpaper the contacts after applying the glue?

Glad to spread the good word. The post is just a few threads down on the first page. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/254003-upcoming-jaguar-sd-cartridge/

Skunks work just fine with any modern Windows/Linux machine. The real issue with them now is getting one. People are trying to sell them for ~$500 on eBay, because their value will most likely drop considerably when SainT's SD card reader comes out.

More good news. Great work on the labels for the ST ports.