This is the section that gets updated every now and again with some vague form of news regarding what I am up to in terms of this site and its related developments.

The general idea being to build a history of information that I can look at in years to come and say "I did that".

7 August 2004

Meteor v1.21 Released

Meteor v1.21 has been released, this is a minor fix release. For more detailed information refer to the Meteor page.

6 July 2004

Meteor Mod Manager Released

Meteor Mod Manager v1.0 has been released, this utility makes it easy to manage (play) and create mods for Meteor. More information.

1 July 2004

New Beta Delivery System

There may be one or two betas on the way soon, if you want to receive notifications of new releases or take part in the beta testing programme then you will need to do the following:

• Go over to the jbserver.com forums.
• Sign yourself in using the "Login" link (you may need to create a forum user account).
• Click the "Betas and Notifications" link at the top of the page and tick the "Yes please" box.

7 June 2004

New Official Meteor Modding Site

All of the Meteor mods have been moved to www.meteormods.com which will be dedicated to Meteor and Meteor 2 modding, this site is run by me_mantis.

7 February 2004

Meteor v1.2 Released

Meteor v1.2 has been released, this is a major release (a rewrite) with many new features supporting network/Internet multiplayer support. For more detailed information refer to the Meteor page.

12 October 2003

Meteor v1.1.3 Released

Meteor v1.1.3 has been released, for more information refer to the Meteor download page.

21 September 2003

You can now discuss Meteor issues with other users and myself (when I am around), check out the forums right here.

23 July 2003

New Meteor 2 Forum

The site has been revamped at last, it should now be easier to navigate and have a greater visual appearance, enjoy.

27 June 2003

A new version of Meteor is coming out soon.  Meteor v1.2 will contain many new modding/editing features and fixes.

27 April 2003

Given the site a cosmetic overhaul, added the animations section, enjoy.

12 January 2003

Updated some of the  Meteor documentation, the Map Editor and special tiles guides can now be accessed from the main docs page.

15 December 2002

New Server

jbgames.com is now running on a new server, getting things moved has taken some time.

1 May 2002

New Meteor Maps

Two new Meteor maps (Doom and Nightmare Cruise) have just been added.  Check out the Meteor add-ons page for more info.

07 April 2002

TCP/IP version of Meteor Planned - Play Meteor on the Internet!

A new version of Meteor with TCP/IP network support is planned.  The general idea being that you will be able to play Meteor across the Internet and on local area networks.  You will even be able to host your own Meteor dedicated servers!

Initially all against all mode will be introduced.  Then team mode and perhaps even cooperative modes are planned.

The max number of players is unsure yet, but at least 32 would be nice.

29 November 2001

Site Problems Resolved

Some technical issues have been causing some problems with my web site and email over the last day or two, these have now been resolved.  If you emailed me during this time then you may have had your email rejected and returned, this will no longer be the case.

23 November 2001

Site Move

Today my site has moved to www.jbgames.com, I have set up redirectors at the old site (www.jbgames.co.uk) which should catch and redirect most of the traffic.

You should update your bookmarks to www.jbgames.com (If you have Internet Explorer you can click here to add my new site to your favorites).

16 November 2001

New Dynamic  Site Planned
I am planning to create a new ASP driven dynamic site.  As well as offering greatly improved functionality the new site will also offer more frequent updates.

 Source Code Updates
I have added some more code to the Source Code section.  It still needs a lot more code to be added and improvements need to be made to the section's layout and structure.

Games  Progress
I am still working towards Meteor version 1.2 (this should be the final version).  I expect to release some decent Meteor documentation first which should help people work with the game and its editing tools (and hopefully cut down the amount of emails that I get!).

Emails
If I have not answered your emails then please bare with me because I have been very busy for the last month.

16 October 2001

I have finally got around to updating my site.  I have made several minor changes and have added some initial web code snippets in the Source Code section.  Expect a lot more to come.  I am hoping to get my site moved over to an ASP server at some stage.  If anybody knows any good ASP based hosts then drop me an email!

The completion of Meteor 1.2 and ROD 1.5 are still dragging on because I have not had much time to get things sorted.

24 July 2001

Meteor 1.1 Test 2, ROD 1.5 is Coming and Goodbye Escape 2 Gold

Meteor 1.1 Test 2 was uploaded today.  This is the fastest and most stable version of Meteor ever released.  Although it is technically a test version it has superseded v1.0 to become the only version currently available.

A new version of the original ROD (v1.5) is nearing completion.  As you would expect this runs under Win32 DirectX.  It is much faster and a lot more reliable than current versions of the game.  It also runs in a much higher screen resolution so it looks nicer too.

Escape 2 Gold was taken off-line today.  Sad really but this ancient DOS game is just too old to work on today's computers.  As it had many technical problems I have decided that it is more trouble than it is worth.  However I am sure that this will return in an upgraded form (probably using the updated ROD 1.5 engine).

11 July 2001

Meteor 1.1 Test 1

The first test version of Meteor 1.1 was uploaded today.  Meteor v1.1 is a Win32 Direct X version which has total conversion support plus many new features and fixes. It also features new music, sounds and pigs (sheep and cows were not enough)! You can download this from my site along with a sample total conversion "Bully Meteor".

08 June  2001

Bubbles v1.02

Bubbles v1.02 was released today.  This contains some new functionality and several bug fixes.  It now works OK under Windows 2000.

24 June 2001

Meteor Update

Meteor v1.1 is due for testing soon.  This will contain total conversion support and high quality HTML documentation.  Many new features and fixes are also included.

This will initially be for the DOS platform, however a Win32 DirectX will follow shortly after its release.  Note that the music files for Meteor will be included in a single download so there will be no need to download 2 files, this is handy for people linking to the file from other locations.

Thanks to all of you that have sent in your maps for Meteor, many of these have already been published on the site.  Please keep them coming.

More Win32 DirectX Porting

At the moment I have a goal to provide my games for Win32 DirectX.  This does not mean that the DOS games on this site will not be available in the future but it does mean that when DOS support for sound and video disappears you will still be able to play my games.

I am investigating whether or not Escape 2 and ROD can be ported.  Hopefully this should just be a matter of recompiling the code in MSVC and perhaps making a few changes to the data files, I shall see.

04 February 2001

Meteor 1.0 Released

Meteor v1.0 was released today.  It has certainly been long in the coming but it should be noted that I have been kinda busy in recent months on other projects.

Enjoy.

04 October 2000

A new version of Meteor was released today.  Version 0.63R Beta (release 2) has many refinements and bug fixes as well as the new instant contact projectiles!  It is HARDER!

Check out the Meteor page for more info.

27 August 2000

I just added a game add-ons section.  Initially this contains add on maps for Doom and Warcraft 2.  Also, a few days ago I added the Meteor add-ons page.  This page contains 3rd party Meteor maps that are available for download.  So it is now time to send in your Meteor maps!

17 May 2000

New Meteor released.

A new version of Meteor (v0.63R Beta) was released today.  It is not the big new version that is due soon but it does contain new features and many fixes.

01 May 2000

A New Look Site for a New Meteor.

In recent days I have been updating my site to give it a new look and feel.  This includes new standardised fonts and a central cascading style sheet.  I am also ironing out a lot of typos and spelling mistakes. :o)

A finial version of Meteor is coming along.  I intend to give the game a more arcade style look and feel as well as making it much easier to make modifications (new missions and total conversions etc).

I have a new job and have been working at it for well over a month now.

07 February 2000

Today I gave my site a bit of a facelift. I also merged the old News and Events section with the Work in Progress section to make the News Archive.

Today I wrote a Hiscores editor for Buggers (a game by Leo Lam). I am hoping to make him a map editor in the near future.

03 February 2000

Go For It!

Today Go For It was released. This is a small and simple 2 player game.

 being however, all game projects are on hold. :o(

28 July 1999

I just remembered that I have a computer and a web site. Yesterday I did a bit of coding for the first time in weeks. Ok it was only a few minutes worth but its a step in the right direction.

11 July 1999

Today the AGRI (or Allegro Game Reviews Index) was handed over to the capable hands of Nick Kochakian because I do not have the time to keep up with it at the moment. Thanks Nick!

01 July 1999

Meteor version 0.621R Beta was uploaded today because a couple of nasty bugs were discovered in version 0.62! :o)

30 June 1999

Meteor version 0.62R Beta was uploaded today.

Still no job as yet! :o)

But at least that gives me loads of time to get on with some games coding. At present all available resources are being filtered into the completion of Meteor.

20 June 1999

The Degree is now over (well for now at least).

All I have to do now is get my head back together and get into the coding. Perhaps I should get a job aswell. :o)

27 June 1999

Meteor version 0.6R Beta was uploaded today. A couple of minor bugs were found so version 0.61R Beta (along with a patch for 0.6R Beta users) was uploaded later on. :)

28 May 1999

ROD version 1.31 Beta was uploaded today. It is pretty much the same as version 1.3 Beta except that it works in true DOS mode! :)

25 May 1999

Today the Quest Gold page was uploaded. It is hoped that the game itself will follow soon.

23 May 1999

Today I added the Source Code section and kicked it off by uploading some example programs written using Allegro and the source for the ROD editor.

I also replaced the Feedback section with my Guestbook.

18 May 1999

Today I added a section for my degree project, ("Game Development Tools") and uploaded my data gathering questionnaire.

15 May 1999

I added the new Work in Progress section today to keep people informed of what I am currenly up to. It also gives the reason as to why things are moving a little slowly around at the moment.

There is not much happening at the moment because I am very busy in the final weeks of my degree course and it stinks. :o)

Due to this I have no spare time at the moment to work on my games or this site. I am going to busy until the end of June. :o(

I am sorry if your game reviews are not getting done very quickly at the moment. When my degree is out of the way I will try to catch up. :o)

12 May 1999

As from today this site has been made even easier to use due to the addition of a new frame driven interface.

06 April 1999

Meteor is Released!

Today a the first general release Beta version of Meteor was released, this game is a must!

27 January 1999

ROD version1.3 Beta was uploaded today.

16 January 1999

I am now with the New Games Programmer's Guild. Today I am launching the Allegro Game Reviews Index.

03 January 1999

Bye Bye ROD and Hello Meteor...

Sorry folks, no more ROD, it is far too old to be developed in 1999, this also means that Escape ][ Gold gets a golden boot! All resources are now been "filtered" into Meteor for a January/February release. Meteor makes ROD look quite out of date.

20 December 1998

I am now on the Allegro Webb Ring. ROD 1.3 will be up very very soon, stay tuned

13 December 1998

The first Meteor screen shots have been uploaded, ROD version 1.3 will be here soon.

09 December 1998

ROD has been released. This is official sequel to Escape ][. The full version is here NOW, and its FREE so DOWNLOAD it!

07 December 1998

A Beta version Escape ][ Gold is almost complete and will be uploaded soon. This supports multiple screen resolutions (high resolution graphics), 2 player mode (split screen only) and a whole feast of other new features.

A ROD Beta will also be uploaded very soon.

17 November 1998

TFO gives way to METEOR!

The Almighty TFO has been put back until next year! A new game known as Meteor is now in the works. TFO is a massive project and will take time to develop. It is about time that JbS got a real game out so Meteor has been brought forward for immediate development. An alpha version should be out very soon.

16 November 1998

An alpha version of Escape ][ Gold (version 0.3) has been uploaded an is now available for download.

13 November 1998

A remake of the JbS classic Escape ][ is well underway. Known as Escape ][ Gold this version uses a new 32 bit game engine with several new features. It will also have network play. This should be available for download in late November 1998.

TFO is grinding along. It will be at least January 1999 before a release, but it will be well worth the wait.

The final version of ROD will also be available soon from this site.

I will soon be adding a game programming tutorials section dedicated to DJGPP and Allegro games programming.