Protector: RESURGENCE for Atari Jaguar CD!

[TrekMD]

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[size=140]Songbird Productions has just announced Protector: RESURGENCE is coming for the Jaguar CD in September 2014! RESURGENCE is an expansion CD for the Protector SE cartridge and features 24 new waves, a new galaxy, new ground graphics, new ship graphics, new enemies, and more. A limited 50-disc run will be made available at CGE in Las Vegas, including some graphics and audio unique to that disc, followed by the general release of the game.

Invaders have jammed our newly deployed missile silos, meteor storms strike at will, and scouting reports indicate the deadly Vorton obliterates everything in its path. Will you be the next PROTECTOR?[/size]

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[Shadowrunner]

On one hand I'm a little disappointed that it's just an expansion and not an entirely new game. On the other hand though, it's pretty cool that he figured out a way to use a CD and cartridge at the same time, and Protector SE is a great game! I'm assuming the price wont be that high either so I will be buying this for sure

[TrekMD]

I have to admit that I felt the same way when I first saw it but the idea of using both a cart and CD together to expand the original game is cool.  Wish I were going to CGE to get one of those versions! 

[guest5199]

Was really necessary to have to use the cartridge Protector SE and not included all games in the same CD? (note: nobody would buy the cartridge...), this is very aggressive, like a DLC.

[TrekMD]

The cartridge was released years ago and is still available to purchase.  So, many of us already have it and this is an added bonus to the game.

[64bitRuss]

I was really hoping for a side scrolling shmup judging from the tiny screens provided previously. But, I'll buy this since I have Protector SE and can play this little add-on. It could be the last Jaguar game released by Songbird, and I have them all, not going to stop now.

[TrekMD]

I wonder if something similar could be done for other Jaguar carts.  Doom, perhaps?

[AmigaJay]

Thought the encryption had been unlocked by Hasbro?, why the need to buy the cartridge as well? As mentioned above would be better to just have the game on CD. Does look like he's pushing for more sales of the cartridge, would be a good gesture to at least give the CD for free with the cartridge if you dont own it yet.

[TrekMD]

The question about doing this for other games was raised over in AA and here is what Carl answered:

That would be nice, but it's not that simple for most games. The cartridge needs to have at least minimal hooks in it to support RAM-based content, whether loaded from CD or BJL or whatever. So, realize that I put the hooks in Protector SE 12 years (!) ago. I did a couple of quick tests to convince myself it was possible to load new waves via RAM, then released Protector SE on cartridge.
 
As to why it is being released as a CD...

The reason I'm releasing this as a CD and requiring Protector SE is because it does not contain the Protector game engine or any of the original enemies, music, etc. This CD is a true expansion which provides new audio/video assets and a limited amount of new code, but basically the Protector SE engine is still running on the cartridge and has no idea the expansion is there. So, I get to leverage all of Prot SE then add more goodies on top of it.

[64bitRuss]

I don't like that people who can make it to Las Vegas get a special edition of the game, I mean I've bought every Jaguar game Songbird has released, plus a boatload of other Lynx and Jaguar items from his store over the past 12 years. I would like the special edition, but I can't go to Vegas. 

[TrekMD]

I don't like that people who can make it to Las Vegas get a special edition of the game, I mean I've bought every Jaguar game Songbird has released, plus a boatload of other Lynx and Jaguar items from his store over the past 12 years. I would like the special edition, but I can't go to Vegas. 

I hear you.

[AmigaJay]

I don't like that people who can make it to Las Vegas get a special edition of the game, I mean I've bought every Jaguar game Songbird has released, plus a boatload of other Lynx and Jaguar items from his store over the past 12 years. I would like the special edition, but I can't go to Vegas. 

I think what Songbird has done before is release a SE with a Las Vegas title screen or whatever in limited numbers, then still sold the normal version on his website.

@Trek, so basically the game is a add on that would require alot more work to implement into each other to have a standalone CD version?

[zapiy]

I don't like that people who can make it to Las Vegas get a special edition of the game, I mean I've bought every Jaguar game Songbird has released, plus a boatload of other Lynx and Jaguar items from his store over the past 12 years. I would like the special edition, but I can't go to Vegas. 

That's actually a valid point. If there was a loyalty system in place then they could offer people like you a chance to buy the game.

[TrekMD]

I think what Songbird has done before is release a SE with a Las Vegas title screen or whatever in limited numbers, then still sold the normal version on his website.

Yes, and the version only has some minor graphical changes compared to the standard version.  That was just clarified.  Essentially CGE will appear on some screens. 

@Trek, so basically the game is a add on that would require alot more work to implement into each other to have a standalone CD version?

Based on what has been explained, yes. 

[rush6432]

I wonder if something similar could be done for other Jaguar carts.  Doom, perhaps?

Due to the way the game works, it streams some of the assets from the cart and decompresses them in realtime so, more than likely not. I dont think you could stream data reliably from the cd rom for gfx/sfx. Currently it reads the rom from cart and uses the gpu to decompress the data on the fly while rendering.

This isnt to say that levels couldnt be streamed from a cd into ram at load time... but sfx/gfx more than likely not with the way it sits now. Doesnt mean it couldnt be done, just would be more work than its worth i think to stream most data from the cd to where it needs to go.