Okay thank.  That's great news.  I've seen a lot of projects get released, but sadly I have seen just as many end up in demo limbo.  Just being cautious.

Hi, I am very interested in your game but I have a question.  If I buy the demo will that give me access to the finished game when it is released? I ask this because it's a little bit unusual to pay for a demo rom, (on itch.io) especially at the price that you have listed here. Thank you for supporting the Sega Genesis/ MD.

well, the pre render gives it a pretty unique look.  I think it's working for you.  How do you enjoy working with the Sega Genesis so far?  It seems like you are tapping into the speed of the console.

Impressive!  Well I like the direction it's going in.  The theme reminds me of a really fun arcade style racer my wife and I used to play.  It was called "Gas Guzzlers - Car Carnage".  Used to be on Steam.  Not sure if it's still around.

Amazing concept and great controls.  I can see myself putting some time into this one.  Question before I buy, would you say that this current prototype is close to what the finished product will be?  I like it as is, and so I'm trying to get a bead on what your vision for the finished game will be?  Thanks.

Cool.  I'll try it out.

Ah, I thought so, but I didn't want to presume.  I'll give it a try.

Hi.  Cool looking game.  I noticed you tagged this "Sega Genesis".  Was this game inspired by a specific Genesis game?  Thanks.

Hi.  Cool art style.  I noticed you tagged this "Sega Genesis".  Was this game inspired by a specific Genesis game?  Thanks.

Hi, I remember trying an earlier demo and enjoying it.  Great work so far.  Out of curiosity, if I pay the five euros, am I getting the latest demo, or a completed game?  Thanks.

You know, that makes so much sense... I remember one of the early versions of GunSlugs DID save my progress.  So, if you had accidentally deleted the info in the header in a later version, well that explains everything

Space panda is now working perfectly on the MegaSD, so as promised, I bought it!  :D  I'm curious what you did to all three of your games to fix them?  Maybe it's too technical to go into detail, but I'm glad you found a fix.

awesome.  I'll test it out right away.

No, thank you.  It's fun to have roguelite elements in a retro game.

I like that you are collaborating with one of the original artists.

This appears to work perfectly on my MegaSD cart.  Amazing work so far.

Woo Hoo!  It works flawlessly on the MegaSD!  Now saves scores and tours.  Amazing.  Out of curiosity, is this game complete now?

Thank you so much once again for polishing and working away at these projects. At the moment I would say you are the number one Homebrew guy, but don't let it go to your head.  I am yet to test it on the dreaded mega SD. ;)  I'll thoroughly test it this evening and get back to you.

Update: GunSlugs still loads perfectly on the MegaSD, but the "Tours" and "score" reset to zero after death.  (still no .srm file being created)

Will do.  I don't understand the "invalid header" error either.  I messed with the rom with a couple of utilities but I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand the code.  I can say that the MegaSD (with updated firmware) has a very good reputation for compatibility.  I have about 465 games on there, not counting Sega CD and I rarely have an issue.  Otherwise I wouldn't be bugging you.  :)  That said, I really appreciate you taking one more look at it.  And congratulation on winning first place in the jam.

Okay, I have a request, so forgive me if I am asking a big favor, but I promise I mean well.  My wife and I were enjoying the bit jam version of this game on our MegaSD cart and it was working great.  Since releasing versions 2 and 3, we can't load the rom anymore.  We are getting an "invalid header" warning.  So, I reached out to the MegaSD support and they had this to say: "I kinda doubt changing the header will fix it. Likely a mapper thing."  So, if you could take a look and see if there is something you can do, and we can play this on our MegaSD cart again, I'll definitely drop $20 for it.  Thanks and sorry for the long post.

Okay, sadly Kega's .srm file wasn't recognized by my MegaSD.  This is as far as my knowledge goes, but the discord forum is pretty helpful.  I'm sure they can give you an easy fix.  Here is the link: 

https://discord.com/channels/525743232886505504/590246931234553868

MegaSD on real hardware.  Latest firmware.  From what I understand, the MegaSD creates a file whenever you start up (or save) a game that has battery-backup capabilities.  In this case, the file would be called "GunSlugs_RC2.srm".  All .srm files are stored at root in a folder called "BUP".  At the moment, Kega Fusion creates the same kind of file and stores it root.  Hm.. idea just popped into my head.  I'll copy Kega's .srm into my BUP folder on my MegaSD, re-name it to match the rom, and let you know if I have any luck.

First of all, welcome back.  :)  Secondly, the FM synth music is a huge improvement.  No more slowdown!  The sound effects are barely audible in this build but I can tell that they are there when the music pauses here and there.  I love the new jump button too.  Lastly, On MegaSD and real hardware, I can't get the game to save my progress after I die.  Reverts to 00000 points and 00000 tours after starting again.  Same thing with EmuHawk  (Genesis Plus GX core).  THE GOOD NEWS: I WAS able to get the game to save my progress in Kega Fusion, which is exciting.  Why is this do you think?  All in all, so glad to have stuck with this project.

Game looks cool.  I noticed you tagged it as a Mega Drive game.  Was it inspired by a Genesis / Mega Drive game you grew up with?

Wonderful.  Thanks and I appreciate your work.

Out of curiosity, is this a complete game, or is it a work in progress?  Thanks.

Sorry, just noticed your reply (18 days later... facepalm).  I'm excited to try Wacky Races again this afternoon.  Especially since it was almost complete.  Waterworld sounds like something I would explore with cheats... just to see the tech.  :)

Ha, you got me off my butt and trying new emulators this morning.  :D.  Glad I did.  Blastem is very accurate I see.

A few months ago I was diving into unreleased prototypes and I played a bit of both games.  On Waterworld, someone released a rom hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6644/.  Wacky Races and I go WAY back, and I believe that you captured the look and feel of the cartoon.  The music is awesome too.  It seemed so close to finished, and way better than most cart racers.  How close was it to it's final form?

Okay, now I'll have to try Gens and Blastem.  Not sure why my kega didn't save.  Thank you for your hard work on GunSlugs.

Okay, here is my official report.  RC1 seems to have a problem saving progress in general.  No record of score, tours, or unlocks.  This is on hw and in emu.  I checked to see if save ram files were being created on my cartridge, and nothing shows up.  EmuHawk doesn't create a save file either.  Kega does create an sram file, but progress doesn't save there either.  Hope this helps.

Okay, so that is what I was hearing.  Luckily, playing at original speed and lag improved the audio quite a bit.  I'm just a fan but I am super into genesis audio.  There's something special about it.  A guy on YouTube called "Look Mum No Computer" made a massive synthesizer from a bunch of Mega Drives.  Most amazing sound.  In terms of save ram, I'm playing on a MegaSD cartridge which supports save ram.  If the game saves, a file is created in the sd cards directory. If the save works, it will show up there.  I'll test it once more and check for the file.

Oh, I should have assumed you worked on original hw.  Feeling silly now.  Any games I might have heard of?

Awesome.  I think you'll enjoy the sound difference between real hardware and emulators.  There is a sound bleed or "roll-off" that makes the HW experience pretty unique.  Genesis models 1 and 2 have distinct sound profiles from one another.

Works in kega and emuhawk.  The music seems to be synced up to the game speed.  Is that correct?  On Analogue Mega SG (real "clone" hardware), the music sounds better if I set the video buffer to "single buffer" which keeps the original game speed.  "Zero delay" made the music slow down along with the gameplay.  Very noticeable.  One other thing, I don't think the save ram is working.  I played through the first three or four levels and then died.  When I returned to the title screen, my score was reset to zero.  Not sure if I missed something?  Thanks for all the amazing work you've done.

My pleasure.  I'll test release client 1 on hardware today.  Loving the dedication to the project!

No problem.  In terms of real hardware, I played beta 3 on my Analogue Mega for about 30 minutes last night with no problems.  MegaSD menus worked as well.

Beta 4 wouldn't load in emuhawk or kega, haven't tried on real hardware yet.  Tried FixChecksum, but no change.

Amazing work.  Fun mini-game with lots of charm.