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- DAVID ENCILL/TITAN DESIGNS INTERVIEW BY JOHN SUMMERFIELD
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
-
- > 1) Firstly can we start with a little history of Titan Designs and
- their partnership with Black Scorpion Sotware
-
- Titan Designs Ltd was formed in 1989 to develop the Reflex Card - a
- high resolution graphic card aimed at the Mega ST. Soon after
- releasing Reflex an interface card was produced to allow interfacing
- to standard 520/1040 STE's. Overall the Reflex Card proved to be a
- very successful development and the springboard for greater things.
-
- During 1993, when the Atari Falcon started to make an appearance, we
- concentrated on a new development in the form of a video digitizer
- (eventually named Expose').
-
- With high quality software needed to support Expose', we had been
- aware for some time of the wonderful developments that were coming
- from the Black Scorpion Software team. They were subsequently
- contacted to see whether a Falcon-specific program could be produced
- to support Expose', and this eventually transpired as APEX Media.
-
- APEX Media was, without doubt, the most sensational software package
- to appear on the Falcon at this time and proved to be a resounding
- hit. Too good in fact to even consider releasing as 'support' software
- for Expose' and it wsa therefore considered necessary to release
- 'Media' as a stand-alone product. Even now, some two years after being
- released, orders are still being received from all over the world.
-
- During the APEX development it was decided to incorporate the company
- and Black Scorpion Software Ltd was formed in February 1994.
-
- Already the future is being planned out in the form of Nemesis (the
- Falcon system accelerator), Videlity screen enhancement software, APEX
- Alpha and APEX Audio. Besides these we have several other new ideas
- Çand developments which promise to be every bit as good as our previous
- products.
-
- > 2) In the last couple of years there have been many claims the Atari
- > market has been in decline. How do you as a company and as an
- > individual see this statement.
-
- There is no doubt that the general Atari market did start declining
- about two years ago, but we are finding that interest in Falcon
- products continues unabated. Certainly the interest shown in the APEX
- Series and Nemesis does support this and seems to suggest that the
- professional side of the market is holding its own (and probably
- increasing in strength).
-
- I have already stated many times that the Falcon's strengths were
- mainly in the audio and graphic fields, and I see no reason to change
- that opinion. This is probably best supported by knowing that one of
- our customers, Eddie McGlone, uses a Falcon running APEX Media, right
- next to a heavy-duty Pentium running 3D Studio - a graphics software
- package costing #2,500!
-
- >3) Because of the larger PC market is it a possibility that Titan may
- >move into that area. Emulators and the like.
-
- Peter Armitage (the developer of Thought! Ideas Processor) is already
- converting this program to OS/2. In addition Black Scorpion have just
- finished an art program for this platform and have already developed a
- Morphing engine for Windows NT. Unfortunately the future of the OS/2
- platform is uncertain, particularly with the advent of Windows 95 - we
- would still like to see OS/2 succeed though...
-
- While this may give the impression that we are actively seeking to
- cross over to PC development, this is most definately not the case.
- After completion of APEX Alpha/Audio, our next major software
- development will be Falcon based, although it will be aimed
- specifically at the professional musician/composer.
-
- ÇWhile we have no plans as yet to develop hardware for the PC - this
- market is already over-crowded and new developments seem to last a few
- months, rather than for years - we are considering a new Falcon
- graphic-based development.
-
- > 4) As you know, I was at the Atari show in Birmingham, my personal
- view was that it went very well, how did you see the success of the
- show and the new companies that apperared there.
-
- My opinion was that the Atari Shows were a resounding success. We
- experienced large attendances, a great deal of interest and it just
- proved that the Atari market is still alive and kicking. I think every
- company that attended had similar experiences.
-
- > 5) The first issue of Atari Computing was released at the show and
- > proved to be a popular magazine. What did you think of the new mag.
-
- Excellent as a first foray into this market, and something which was
- sorely needed following the demise of Atari World and ST Format. I
- think ACG have just about got the balance right, with something in
- there to satisfy everybody.
-
- > 6) Almost following on from question five. The internet will play a
- role in the survival of the Atari platform, providing a place for
- Atarians to meet and locate software. Your views of the internet and
- other media, eg diskmags, will help Maggie to improve its features and
- articles.
-
- We are tending to use the Internet more and more. It's so much easier
- for customers anywhere in the world to contact us and to receive a
- reply on the same day! I try to encourage people to consider using the
- 'net' as much as possible, as it does offer so much more flexibility
- and provides up to date information and news.
-
- Disk magazines also play a very important role in keeping the Atari
- community informed of the latest news and views and I've always looked
- forward to receiving Maggie and Atariphile.
- Ç
- > 7) I quite often visit the Titan web pages. They are very
- informative and very well designed. I believe Jim Morrisey had a part
- to play in its initial design. (Name dropping again). But has it
- proved a useful method of advertising.
-
- Extremely! Our Web site has received much praise and offers us the
- opportunity to use another form of media to keep people informed of
- the latest developments. It has also helped many new overseas users to
- contact us, who are probably reluctant to use the phone. Jim was a
- great help in getting the Web site started and once the design and
- much of the code was written it was just a matter of keeping things up
- to date.
-
- > 8) One problem with the Atari Market has not been the poor design of
- > software but the lack of choice whan compared to the PC platform.
- > How can the Atari third party developers try to change this current
- > situation.
-
- As I mentioned earlier, the Falcon in particular is an excellent tool
- for the musician and graphic artist and perhaps programmers should
- concentrate here. Although this might make it more of a niche
- platform, it does offer so much in these fields. Having said this,
- there is always a market for good utilities, but with regard to
- applications, I really don't think there is room for another word
- processor, DTP, spreadsheet, etc. due to the smaller market potential.
-
- > 9) It would appear there are still a number of high class
- programmers on the Atari. Do you believe it is a job of companies such
- as Titan to push these programmers into creating more commercial type
- software as opposed to just demo coding.
-
- I often wonder how much good talent is being wasted out there, purely
- because they believe there is no real incentive to produce an
- application or utility. Demo coding is fine - it demonstrates the
- power of the Atari (and the programmer) - but they have no real
- functional use.
- Ç
- Our doors are always open to anyone who wants to contact us with a
- good idea, either hardware or software. We also have several stunning
- ideas of our own, but don't have time to see them all reach fruition,
- so perhaps this may provide a new outlet for someone to earn money in
- their spare time.
-
- > 10) A common question. Your views of the Atari Corp and their merger
- > with JTS.
-
- Personally I think it was necessary for Atari to follow this course of
- action, purely for their own survival, but this probably means that
- there will never be another new Atari badged computer.
-
- To a certain extent Atari shot themselves in the foot so many times
- they must have difficulty walking now! Firstly they were unwilling or
- unable to cut the price of the Falcon to a level that was affordable
- to the average user, and secondly by not marketing either the Falcon
- or Jaguar properly. Too often in the past they were content to take a
- back seat and let the third party developers market the computer for
- them. The problem here was that no developer had the strength to
- market such a system for the mainstream user and, consequently, the
- Falcon never got the accolades it deserved.
-
- A great pity that Atari now see a future in producing disk drives :-\
-
- > 11) The atari range in the last ten years has developed from the
- humble, or not so humble, ST to the Hades. How do you view these
- changes.
-
- With great interest - the only problem is that none of the new breed
- of 040/060 clones (besides Afterburner040 which is, of course, a
- Falcon expansion board) support the DSP, which prevent the best Falcon
- graphic programs from running on them - I'm talking of APEX Media and
- Alpha of course!
-
- I have heard that the new Centek 040/060 is downwardly compatible with
- Çthe 56001 which may make the task of porting the APEX Series over, but
- this machine has yet to make an appearance. Still, if anyone wants to
- loan us a Hades or a Centek, we may look into porting the APEX
- Series... :-)
-
- My only doubt is the sheer cost of the Hades, which at this price can
- only really appeal to the power user/dedicated Atarian/lottery winner,
- but I understand they are considerably cheaper on the continent.
-
- Sheer speed is not necessarily the answer anyway - if any application
- is written properly, even the most basic machine can benefit
- enormously. Look what Doug Little of BSS has achieved in the past -
- even his very early STE and Falcon demos were stunning.
-
- > 12) Since Compo left the Atari scene. Titan has taken over the
- > distrubution of the Gribnif products. Has this move gone well.
-
- Reasonably well, considering that we took over the Gribnif range
- during the summer period when most peoples Atari starts gathering
- dust! The new promotion of the Geneva/NeoDesk 4 bundle at #79.95 is
- starting to attract a lot of interest and I anticipate that many users
- will be looking at this combination in the next few months. The new
- price of Arabesque Pro (#39.95) caught a few people by surprise too.
-
- > 13) A difficult question maybe, but can we have your views on the
- > developments that are coming from other developers.
-
- While there are some excellent programs around, virtually all are GEM-
- based and, while this is fine for covering the entire Atari 680x0
- range, it doesn't take true advantage of the Falcon's power. I think
- many developers would be surprised at the level of interest a Falcon-
- specific product would generate, but it's a pity there are so few top-
- class developers remaining. Hopefully though we will see a few more
- companies starting to back individual developers.
-
- On the hardware side, we are fully committed to supporting the
- Afterburner040 which proves to retain excellent compatibility with
- Çexisting Atari software, while still being (semi-) affordable.
-
- > 14) The PC and Mac seem, or are, dominating the computer market. Has
- > does Titan view the policies of companies such as Microsoft and their
- > power struggle.
-
- The competition for quality PC software is fierce and it truly is a
- dog-eat-dog world out there! Many of these problems could be seen as
- excessive competition which forces companies to release programs well
- before they have been properly tested. Microsoft have now become
- market leaders in just about every field of PC applications, but they
- are becoming increasingly remote from the wishes and desires of the
- average user. This tends to manifest itself with software that tells
- the user what to do, rather than the other way round, leading to a
- certain amount of frustration and lack of flexibility.
-
- > 15) Finally. As an exclusive to Maggie what are Titan and BSS
- planning in the next few months that will be of interest to our
- readers.
-
- Following the release of APEX Alpha and Audio, we intend to look at
- developing a new APEX product for the professional musician/composer,
- but it is difficult for me to mention too much at this stage with this
- only being a prospect for the future.
-
- The new hardware development, similarly, is purely an idea at the
- moment but you can be assured that whatever happens we will continue
- our policy of developing ground-breaking products!
-
- While this may appear to be tantalising and as if we were dangling a
- carrot, we have to adopt the policy of protecting our ideas and
- investments until we consider that the time is right to make an
- official announcement of our future intentions.
-
-
