what's up?

The Past, Present and Future of SJ3 on May 4th 2005.

past

Heck darn, it's been a decade since I wrote one of these. Since the last one I've grown a beard and gotten very old, but that's about it. Of course it's healthy to keep in mind that all these rambles are secondary, getting a registered version and/or getting the timing right off the inrun table is still what it's all about.

It's mind-boggling that the game is still enjoyed by a lot of people and I want to thank you for the kind support thruout the years. You rule! Even though SJ3 is about as out-of-date as software gets, it's still played around the world, which still goes to show that good playability rules.

Also; Mr. Mariusz Jedrychowski became the second jumper ever to reach the magical 2000 point tally in the SJ3 World Cup. The result was double- and triple-checked, so congratulations to Mariusz for the grand achievement!

present

Due to the fact that SJ3 is antique software built for antique machines, I have been embracing myself compatibility problems for a long time. Microsoft have done an excellent job with backward compatibility, but serious problems have started to arise especially with the Windows XP.

There is some sort of keyboard problem with some XP systems that I haven't been able to figure out just yet. I've created one awful workaround, but those are not good anywhere, so I better come up with a more reasonable solution. Secondly, SJ3 is 16-bit software which will to my knowledge not be supported in new 64-bit operating systems, so that's gonna be a problem too. So it most likely will be necessary to migrate SJ3 to more modern compilers, which is easier said than done. The plan isn't to make SJ3 ultramodern or anything, just playable on most computers. We'll see how that evolves.

future

All kinds of schoolwork etc. will keep me heavily occupied in the coming months, but I hope to sneak in a few hours of SJ3 work once in a while. I'm sorry if I've been slow to answer your mails.

The SJ t-shirts are pretty much sold-out, so I might be doing an extra order on those in the near future. Also; there was an interesting rumor on the SJ3 Messageboard about a possible Net Play possibility for SJ3. Internet play for SJ3 been a dream of mine from the start, but it's quite hard to make. But with the right kind of help, it's not totally ruled out for 2006. It also depends on how the migration to newer compilers goes. :) We'll see.

But; keep on jumping and let me know if you can help with some aspect of the game. And also; remember to register if you dig the game! Thanks.

If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to contact me at vkononen@cc.hut.fi.

Thank you very much for your interest in the game!

A previous Where's the beef can be found here.