2024 was pretty weak as far as productions went. Perhaps a bit too much frustration with how things are proceeding?
In terms of game production, I was paid for Super Space Acer on the ColecoVision. I've seen the box art and there's supposedly going to be a collector card, but the entire year went by without release. I'm told earlier in the new year.
A couple months after that I declared the TI-99/4A version finished - with some bonus features that take advantage of my UberGROM cart. However, the entire year has gone by here as well due to hardware issues. Most unfortunate. As a result of that I could not release the ROM file for Christmas like I had planned to.
Cool Herders GBA still not being out as well.. I think future publishing deals will need to include a time limit after which I can do with it as I will. ;) That wouldn't help Cool Herders anyway, but the others...
I worked quite a bit on the GBA port of Super Space Acer, getting a perspective view going which helped the entire 256x192 game fit on the GBA's 240x160 display, and takes me back to the PC Arcade port I had started and never finished many years ago. Unfortunately it won't make year end as there are still some bugs to solve and graphics to adapt.
Early in the year I also released a free Tarot Reader for the TI-99/4A and ColecoVision. With graphics based on the Rider deck and reading code that I wrote way back in the early 90s, it was something I'd always wanted to do. It was fun to put it out there.
I also made libti99all my main retro dev library, deprecating the old libti99 and libti99coleco.
I also worked on a small embedded project - basically a keypad driven MP3 player as an information kiosk. It was a fun little project.
In June I attended GameCon Canada as an exhibitor. I didn't make much of an impression, but a lot of people were amused to see a TI-99/4A running on the floor (running Dragon's Lair). I showed off Cool Herders and Super Space Acer. It was a sponsored booth and while I probably wasn't what the sponsor wanted, it was worth the time and I met some cool people. I was the only retro booth I noted, though!
Looks like I did one notable project for someone else - I ported PacMan++ by Cheung for the TI to cartridge. IIRC it was his first project, and it was a neat game in compiled XB, but it booted from cart and loaded the levels from disk, so I patched it to run fully from cart. HIS cart is available for sale, of course. ;)
I also added a TI-99/4A target to CVBasic, a Basic compiler for pretty much every Z80/TMS9918A console and computer. When Oscar added the Creativision and its 6502 core, that gave me a way to also slip in the TI and it's 9900 core. Oscar was able to run with it and port his compression scheme and everything, so it's pretty complete.
And I re-released my old TI Christmas demo from 2015 (since I had nothing to show), and found myself motivated to port it to Applesoft.
I finally moved my server away from IBM after continuously growing frustration with them. The new company is decent so far, no problems. Very quiet.
I did a bit of work on the Second Life Wrestling group this year.
First I updated my WLV enhancement HUD into a full wrestling control HUD, and I've been using that fully. This let me extend some of my overlay enhancements to the opponent as well. It didn't get any interest from people since I'm not well known, and the big well known name released a new HUD as well. But that's okay, I wrote it for me mostly.
I also helped produce two shows. For Halloween we did our annual "Slam-O-Ween", this year with a Haunted Mansion theme. I made the shifting portraits and gave every wrestler a copy of theirs. I also made the piano ghost, scripted the funeral coffin, and helped with some little things. I was happy to be able to help that build.
The second was a silly thing we did for Christmas. In the spirit of the 80's specials, we did "Nate Saves Christmas", a light hearted storyline in which Santa doesn't show up to guest referee, and through five matches the heros discover what happened. (Our bumbling small town sheriff Roy Carter arrested him for impersonating Santa. Santa shows Roy the meaning of Christmas in a steel cage match.)
I also introduced a new wrestler - Taka. (This was started well before the Mufasa movie, but yes, that's the origin of the name). He's a brute of a lion and sells himself as 'The King of UFW'. I was waiting till I felt confident enough before putting him out there. We've got a little storyline starting up at the beginning of the year for that.
As a random in the middle thing, I commissioned a small plush of Ocellus the changeling. It was a cute concept I saw that I had to make real. I also got a copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide - I always loved that there was a technical reference to spooks in the Ghostbusters series.
Then finally travel - I didn't go far in 2024. I did spent a month back in my hometown, and that was nice. While there, I did some things I never did before - I toured the S.S.Sicamous (which has been parked on the beach since before I was born), and I tried parasailing. I even went back out to the lake I used to camp at with the folks.
I did go to the Portland Retro Game Expo - it was a last minute decision boosted by the discovery that Yak was going and the hope we'd get to hang out. (Also wanted to meet R.J. Mical and talk Amiga, but he didn't go in the end.) I eventually caught Yak in the arcade (which was awesome to see), but it was very awkward and I let it go. Sad face. Still, was a fun environment to spend a couple of days in! I did get to talk to the voice of Dexter from Space Ace for a while! And put a high score on Gyruss, though it was not as impressive a score as I'd hoped.
I went to the 42rd annual Chicago TI Faire, hosted by the TI User Group there. It was good to see people again. I showed them Super Space Acer (though the cart was malfunctioning - as ALL DEMOS IN CHICAGO DO, what the heck?) I also ran some Dragon's Lair for them.
I also spent a week out in Ottawa as I like to do. But it is feeling very expensive to do that lately.
Not much else to report for 2024. Plan for 2025 is to start getting some game titles out, probably on Itch and maybe Steam, and see if we can't start making something of all this work. Really need to win the lotto so I can work on that stuff. ;)
