AndrewHyperkin

Hi everyone, here is the updated firmware that removes the limit of 18 homebrews per one SD card: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xb6Qo1785LWHtRgE9tNF41qqohqxGGoR/view?usp=sharing Also, here's the source code: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f50StOOvr1M2F9x4G_L0qG-zipIkA6hB/view?usp=sharing This version also includes new games. I've submitted this all to our webpage support team, so they'll likely put everything up tomorrow (U.S. Monday), with proper credit given to all the developers. Stephena's build is not yet implemented in that version (I'll contact him right away to confirm a few technical and legal details). Again, thank you all for your support! The updated "Mammoth" controller is almost ready, and I'm quite happy with our sample's performance.

Yes, we thought it would be a good thing to release both dumper and controller source codes as well, in order to keep this project transparent and flexible. But be aware that flashing microcontrollers (and doing anything outside the SD card sandbox - there is a good reason why we keep everything on it so that experimenting with your own builds wont damage anything) might potentially damage your system. You can easily and quickly reformat the SD card but restoring bricked MCUs is a different story, so proceed at your own risk. Well be releasing the updated firmware with no limit to the amount of homebrew files as well soon. Thanks for your support and feedback! :-)

I have some good news. With more and more developers reaching out to us with their homebrew titles, the number of games that we hope to include in the next batch of our systems is getting close to where the strict limitation doesnt make a lot of sense anymore, and well release an SD card image that takes care or that. We are actively listening to your opinions and wish to make it a better product. For the 1st batch of systems, youll simply need to update the files on your SD card to take advantage of that feature.

No, the Harmony doesnt work. It used to in our last years E3 prototype, but including the solution required to support it would have doubled the cost on our end, and consequentally price on customers end.

Thanks for your feedback, guys! It means a lot to our company and to me personally. To answer your questions - yes, we didnt want people to use the R77 to have tons of ROMs. Not only its illegal, but we wanted to encourage people to actually re-live the experience of using real cartridges, preserve the legacy of this platform and to show their kids what games used to be back in the days. Its a great and very affordable platform to collect for. Now, ROM support is basically there to encourage and support homebrew development and to give people the opportunity to test their games or play freeware titles (some of which are truly amazing btw). Or if you own the real cartidge but it doesnt work for whatever reasons. The limitation can be easily removed if you really require to have lots of freeware / hombrew games - remember its all open-source so the GUI could be modified or removed altogether so that youd have just the basic Stella interface. As for AV output, no, its dead simple to add that feature (I think the connection spot is actually still mapped on the PCB, but Im not sure the final revision still has it), but it made more sense to us to have the system as HD-only. It looks so much better that way. Thanks again for all your support and feedbacks!

swlovinist, Genesis controllers should work without any issues. Are you sure yours work on the Genesis, have you tested them? As for most homebrews, the roms should work just fine, but yeah - non-standard boards will likely be an issue. Thanks for sharing!

"The difference between this and the Atacobox, is that Retron has a good PR department" - lol, not really. I'm an engineer / PM behind most of our latest products (since late 2016). I'm not getting paid for talking to you guys, it's actually not even remotely part of my job. But I care about all our products, and this product in particular, that's why I'm here. gorfcadet, the paddles will work in all games that use a potentiometer input on the corresponding pins; I remember playing Indy 500 on our prototype during last year's E3. The experience was somewhat limited because you can't spin it all 'round but yes - it's playable (it depends on Stella settings but generally there's a microcontroller that converts joystick / paddle input). As for your second question, I don't see why not. If the system proves to be popular, we'll definitely work on many exciting accessories. We are already working on some.

Keatah, I firmly believe that telling the truth is the only way of doing anything worthy. There are no artificial delays nor restrictions to what people say or do about the systems. It benefits everyone to know and all the details.

Hi everyone, A few words on our WIP projects for the system. 1. The joystick. We tried to replicate the same mechanics for the one that comes with the system, so I know it's about as fragile as the original thing. Our E3 sample survived some real abuse throughout 3 days of the show, so I'd say it's about the same, give or take. But there are still concerns (MJR messaged me that he broke his), so we decided to make a super strong version - maybe not as similar in terms of operational fidelity to the original one, but really strong (and heavy). So in case if people really end up breaking their joysticks, we plan to offer a free replacement - the coming stronger version. We plan to call it "The Mammoth" as we expect it to be able to take some good beating. 2. The paddle. We know it's really hard to find a paddle in good working condition nowadays, and playing games like Breakout or Pong is not the same without one, so we're making a combo controller that will have both functions (joystick + paddle), with a really strong metal potentiometer that won't break. As advised by my E3 visitors, we decided to step away from the initial super-slim design with the PSP analog stick, and to feature a real strong joystick for the sake of reliability. A few more things are in development, but these two are the priority that we hope to make real soon.

Hi everyone, thanks for your support again, another small update. We are preparing the next batch of systems, and we'd love to take another chance and include your games with it. A lot of people who came to see me on E3, were quite happy to learn about the games that ship with the R77. So I think it's a great opportunity to get more people to know your dev studio or games. Learning from our previous mistakes, we want to go with a very basic license / permission-to-use agreement that literally says the following: "I, _______________ the author hereby give Hyperkin Inc. the right to use my game(s) called ___________________________________________ on their Retron 77 console in exchange for 0$. Hyperkin may use it as they wish for this console, and this right may not be retracted in any way. However, this does not prevent the author of publishing, selling and distributing the game in any way. Signature Author Signature Hyperkin" If that's good with you, and you would like your game to ship with the system, please download the attached file, sign it and email it to me (andrew@hyperkin.com). If you prefer something to be phrased differently - please post your suggestions or contact me directly. Please state in your email how would you prefer to be referred to in the license file (by your dev studio name, real name etc). As for accessories and peripherals that we are working on, I'm not at liberty to say a lot, but some of the suggestions posted in this thread (and said by my E3 guests) have been given a lot of thought, and we hope not to disappoint you. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w04w8MqYe1-7J1oQtRvtjyoRMw6PPhxC

We are not offering international shipping at the moment simply because the first batch isnt that large. No worries though - we are making more, and will get the systems to our overseas distributors real soon as well, but we really wanted for the release date to be symbolic - 7/7, and therefore rushed to get at least the US covered first. We are actually really not as large as many of you might imagine. :-) And I completely understand that you need honest reviews first, thats exactly why we expressed a few devkits and systems to Stella contributors, and I personally gave one to MJR at E3. I wish we had more review units to send to even more people. I was demo-ing a retail this is what you get version for 3 days straight at the event. Of course its still too early to celebrate, but I was very proud to hear my guests saying Hey, this controller is freaking awesome, Wow, there is no input or output lag, and I love the responsiveness of everything or Whoa you have a dedicated Fry/Glitch switch!, Hey, $69.99 isnt a lot to ask for this, Ive preordered it and cant wait to get mine, and many more words of support. It was even more delightful to see young people coming over and expressing a lot of curiousity towards the platform, its iconic (and not so) games, and potential opportunities to learn about homebrew development. I gave a system and my business card to a young kid (some 7-9 years old) who scored 40.000 points at Missile Command. :-) So, hopefully, it all works out. I spoke to many retailers and shop owners at the show who currently carry other 2600-compatible solutions, and they all agree that this is so much more rad, and if the customers response is good, they will definitely carry this. With all that said, Im proudly confident in this system. Please, dont expect perfection and keep your expectations somewhere in the middle - I know that some of you will be disappointed with lack of certain controllers or games support out of the box, or with the fact that if you use too much force, you might crash the tactile switch and break the controller (same as you would with the original console), or that the cartridge label is facing the player... But again, its a great console to own, and Im already working on a few cool add-ons and peripherals for it. Thanks again to you all, and Ill be waiting for your feedbacks. :-)

Hi everyone, sorry for being absent for a while - pretty busy with E3. Just a quick heads-up: it does have an SD card, but it does not support Harmony. If you have any questions, Im here to answer. And thanks for your support! :-)

Actually, we're fully aware of certain cartridge connector problems with our older systems. That's why about six months ago we introduced better connectors for all our new systems ("PinPerfect"). Our news stuff - Supa Retron HD, latest revision of Retron HD, Supaboy SFC and a few systems under development including the R77, will have these improved connectors.

Small update: we have signed a few contracts to include some homebrew games with the system. To the best of my knowledge, our lawyers agreed to the contract form suggested here by the community (it was signed right away, as submitted), and that was the case for most authors; and according to our development / legal departments, those who signed the early version, have explicitly expressed their agreement to go ahead with that. For those earlier contracts, I'm saying this again: under no condition Hyperkin shall ever restrict these developers' rights to publish their games, sell them or modify them. What we want is really simple: A. We have the right to put your games on the SD card that ships with our system. and B. There will be no situation when suddenly there's a contributor out of nowhere saying: "Hey I never wanted my game to be there, and you published it without my consent". I think all that has been reflected in the updated contracts, so everything should be good to go. With that said, I'm signing off the SD card images to mass production. :-) To be transparent, here are the games that we will bundle with the system: 1. astronomerV1.0 2. Baby 3. Muncher77 4. NeXioN_3D After all, I'm glad that this situation happened; it was not a pleasant experience for anyone, but we at Hyperkin have learnt our lesson. In particular, for Stella license, we will be sending a few developer kits to the authors / contributors to make sure everyone's happy with the wording and contents. It is our first experience with an open-source community-friendly project like this, and we want to do it right.

Guys, lets all just calm down. Your message was loud and clear; the contract is not acceptable. Ive forwarded your suggestions to our legal department to work on a better version. I appreciate all your feedbacks - I truly do, even the harsh and emotional ones, and will act upon them.. Chances are that we wont be able to get the legal paperwork straight real fast, so the first batch of systems is likely not going to have any homebrew games. Sorry about that. We do have a couple of signed contracts already, but we shall not use them to keep everyone in equal and fair conditions (unless the respective authors provide us with a direct confirmation). Again: it is not our intent to take advantage of anyone. I hope this draws a line and settles everything. Thanks again.

Thomas, does it sound to you that I don’t care at all? I’ve personally agreed to send a system devkit to you and two other members of this forum for free simply because I recognize your contributions and hope (but not giving you an obligation in any way - it’s simply a present), to possibly do some early troubleshooting together and make it a better product with an early patch if necessary for the sake of everyone? I’m sorry, but your post above and this new one right here, isn’t it too harsh? Am I not clear that we don’t want to take anyone’s games, and this rant is all about a draft?

PikoInteractive, nothing is wrong with that at all. There are famous games and developers whose work sells quite well. They don’t need to rely on the Retron 77 at all. We are being realistic in thinking that we probably can’t afford getting those anyway at the moment. But there are many great games - less popular yet quite promising, that could benefit from being on the R77. We simply want to offer an opportunity to do so. Albert, it’s a personal choice - to sign or not to sign. Or to offer us a better version if you disagree. One thing though. Adding games was a last-minute idea, and if for whatever reason we can’t come to terms in a timely manner - the system will simply come with no games. I’m gonna have to sign the SD card image off to mass production real soon to ensure we can release it on the designated date. After the production starts, we’ll only be able to include new games in future software updates.

Ok, again - I’m not a lawyer and I won’t try pretend to be one. My legal expertise doesn’t go much further than a bunch of Phoenix Wright games. But I spoke to our legal department, and according to them, that draft doesn’t restrict homebrew authors in any way. You can totally sell or reproduce the game in any way, and we don’t ask you to abandon your legal rights whatsoever (that would indeed be completely moronic and weird). We don’t want to own your game - that’d be wrong on so many levels. Their main concern is that very often a game could be written by a lot of people, and they are afraid of situations when hypothetically someone shows up and says: “Hey, John Doe had no right to allow you publishing that game, and I actually own 70% of the code”. That sounds like a legit concern to me. I don’t know whether it’s properly reflected in that paper though. Also, I should say that actually including homebrew games is simply our friendly step towards the community; a step that is intended to promote your game / studio / team and make it available for more people. I personally asked the management to allow that, because I thought that would be a great idea. We hardly will sell more units simply because we include your game (especially if people can just legally download it for free right from this forum), but we are risking a lawsuit in a hypothetical situation described above. Please take that draft as a suggestion, possibly an overkill, but that’s what our lawyers saw as a “necessary evil” on their part (again, I’m not qualified nor trained to judge that); we are open to your suggestions, and if you don’t like it - you don’t have to sign it. If you have a better version - please share it. We are not some huge evil corporation with contract terms made in granite. It’s all flexible and negotiable, if you don’t like the terms - suggest yours. I won’t have a lot of time to monitor this thread, and hopefully I made our intentions clear enough. Please address legal issues and send legal concerns to chris@hyperkin.com.

I’ve already posted a comment in that thread and I’d like to repeat it here. Guys, there’s no need to over-react. This contract is simply a draft from our lawyers, and if it contains any wrong parts, let’s talk about it. I’m not a lawyer myself, and to the best of my knowledge, that contract was supposed to be a simple “I’m the author and I give consent to bundle my game with the system” thing. We don’t want to take your games, and if our laywers made it sound like that - let’s edit that contract to make it reasonable and saying just that.

Guys, there’s no need to over-react. This contract is simply a draft from our lawyers, and if it contains any wrong parts, let’s talk about it. I’m not a lawyer myself, and to the best of my knowledge, that contract was supposed to be a simple “I’m the author and I give consent to bundle my game with the system” thing. We don’t want to take your games, and if our laywers made it sound like that - let’s edit that contract to make it reasonable and saying just that.

Inky, fingers crossed - earlier than that.

No, it's definitely not September 11 - we aren't crazy. But there is actually a correct answer in this thread. As for the platform technical capabilities - it's really hard to tell. In the beginning of our work even quite advanced development boards did not show satisfactory results, and even earlier versions of Stella weren't up to our performance standards out of the box. By removing irrelevant Linux stuff and leaving just the barebone well-optimized core and porting / updating libraries we were actually able to run lots of things on a dev board identical to the hardware we'd ended up using, including latest versions of Stella (I remember it was version 5-something). But running it is one thing, while bringing it to the point of good user experience is an entirely different thing. So we simply opted out for something stable and easy to be able to release this product earlier and shorten our development time. But since we managed to get our optimizations done and to bring the system to satisfactory performance levels with a year-old version of Stella, I'm quite optimistic about it running latter versions as well. Since currently only about 20-25% of this hardware platform potential is used (Allwinner H3 actually), I'd say there's a good chance it will run 5.x. As a gamer myself I'd love to see it running the latest version flawlessly but as a business, we simply need to justify investing more resources into the project. Since it's not going to be a very expensive product, we expect to rely on its good reception and sales to go on developing for it, and to work on further updates. And of course since it's an open-source project, we also hope for the community to get on board with development. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who PM'ed me about the games, I've forwarded your info to our dev team; they are mega busy right now, but they should respond soon if they haven't yet.

Release date, we hope for it to be symbolic. Sorry can't tell you more just yet. We don't have a list of incompatible cartridges / games, but I tested Space Rocks last Friday, it works. xucaen, that sounds great, could you reach out to us at developer@hyperkin.com? As for the latest Stella build, we think it might be a good idea to simply set up a support page on our server with experimental revisions in the future. Also, since it's a community-friendly project, we expect people to make their own "unofficial" builds with whatever extra features they might consider useful. P.S. Also, by experimental / unoptimized I was referring not to Stella 5x per se (we know it's good and stable), but to running it on the R77.

Thanks for your support, guys! Just to be clear, we had some porting difficulties with the latest version of Stella (lots of new modules so it would take longer to refine everything), so we decided to roll back a bit (about one year), and to use a slightly older build for the consumer release. Technically there's nothing wrong with using the latest version, but on our end it makes more sense to have a stable build shipped with the system rather than an unoptimized / experimental one.

User interface is fully customizable, you can simply replace .bmp files (background, game icons etc) on the SD card if you don't like the way it looks. We encourage the community to get on board and create new cool themes together after this thing's released. Sneak peek at the current GUI version: This GUI shows up when the cartridge is removed or when you turn the system on without a cartridge.