Terraonion New Product(s) discussion thread

neosd

Neosd Developer
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956
Hello Everyone,

I have decided to start a new thread to discuss about our new product(s).

I will start quoting the last commend on "the other thread"


I also believe the NeoSD has proven that even within a very niche market there is a demand for FPGA-based products, and that they can be profitably made. (I assume the NeoSD hasn't taken the team to the poorhouse, since they're still coming up with new products.)

This is harder to understand if you don´t see the internals of the company.

We have made money with NEOSD but we haven´t earned money with NEOSD.

We had to hire and pay a lot of people for pcb design, fpga coding and other tasks such as mold design.
Then we have produced in Spain with high quality pcbs and high IC prices. Producing in China not only lowers the pcb and SMT soldering but also the ics are cheaper there, while lowering the pcb and soldering quality aswel ...

Sum to that the pile of taxes we pay. About 50% of what we sell goes there : VAT (only in Europe), Compnay taxes and such things



Our plan for the first year was to invest everything back in new products and so we did.

So where this all goes ? If we want to keep developing, we need to make money and if we want to make money we have to make products that as much people as possible want. As bigger the market is for a product as cheaper we can sell it and save costs while producing it aswel. As more units you produce better prices you can get buying ics, pcbs, mounting those at factory and so.

Resuming, we are about to start on our seccond company year and our goal is to make the company profitable to be able to develop bigger things. So far we have spent 1,5 years working in one project that we still don´t know if it will work (and if we will get our investment back, time and money).

So for now, NEODEV and myself keep putting our time and NEOSD´s money on Terraonion while paying everyone else. Our pockets have the same money as the day we started selling NEOSD, we are ok with that cause only one year passed but if we can´t make the company profitable in 3 years we will have to think in a different task where to put our time at, you just can´t keep working for free you entire life for more than you love what you work at.

I really feel that with our current team we can build anything we or you can imagine. The big issue here is that our resources are limited, so to me the challenge here is not only choose what product to develop to maximize sales, but also to find more skilled people to join our company so we can grow.

BTW this dosen´t means we are not developing niche devices such as NEOSD, cause we are right now, but we need to sell more units than NEOSD did, this is a fact.

Just remember, we are not some forums guys trying to make some device to fast proffit while we have a “real life job” that pays the bills. Selling those fast, not paying taxes an not paying people to develop it. Not investing in production, paying the entire production with preorders. This is how one makes money guys, not spending a single cent and not paying taxes.

Our approach has always been different : to build a company and make it grow, while developing nice things.

Alex,
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
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Thanks for sharing this. One thing I love about your company is how transparent you've always been about what's happening and what you've been through.

Best of luck with your new products, I really hope they'll sell well and you can make a nice profit out of it (you deserve it), hopefully without inflating the final product's price too much. Although there are people passionate about arcade gaming with (very) deep pockets, some of us have to make sacrifices and choose wisely where to put their money.

Since when you announced that you were working on "other things", I've started saving money day by day for the moment when your new device will be made public, and resisted the temptation to just go the DS way because you've shown with NeoSD that your products are nothing short of outstanding and set a new bar for quality in multi systems.

Keep it up.
 

TikTekTak

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
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What exactly is the point of this thread? What are you trying to tell us? :scratch:
 

neosd

Neosd Developer
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What exactly is the point of this thread? What are you trying to tell us? :scratch:

To not expect a product for a system that has 5 games as some guys have asked for on the "other thread". Atleast for some time.

While open a discusion about what you would guys want , based on the previous parameters , for the next year(s)
 

joala

A Joala is for Life., Not Just Christmas.,
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When will the new product announcement be? Will it be in this thread?
 

neosd

Neosd Developer
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956
When will the new product announcement be? Will it be in this thread?

We are waiting for shells and pcbs, it's hard to say but in about 4 weeks I Think, we would like to open sales the same day we have stock/we present it
But this may change,

Btw some users in this forum already saw a video of the device working and know all the details
 

joala

A Joala is for Life., Not Just Christmas.,
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Well its certainly not common knowledge yet (unless I've missed something freaking obvious)
 

Rot

Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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Well its certainly not common knowledge yet (unless I've missed something freaking obvious)

It's a kettle that plays CPS 3 games...

That's the big reveal...

xROTx
 

neosd

Neosd Developer
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Well its certainly not common knowledge yet (unless I've missed something freaking obvious)

You are right, its not. The ones who saw the video promissed not to disclose the details until we make the anouncement.

We are holding the anouncement until we have final factory produced pcbs. Its not the same to show a "hand made soldered" prototype than show the final product,

This is the reason why we haven´t disclossed it, we won´t confuse customers thinking this is a hand made device and so. Once you show a picture or a video you can´t controll where the source was ...
 

joala

A Joala is for Life., Not Just Christmas.,
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It's a kettle that plays CPS 3 games...

xROTx

Two sugars in mine :lolz:



You are right, its not. The ones who saw the video promissed not to disclose the details until we make the anouncement.

We are holding the anouncement until we have final factory produced pcbs. Its not the same to show a "hand made soldered" prototype than show the final product,

This is the reason why we haven´t disclossed it, we won´t confuse customers thinking this is a hand made device and so. Once you show a picture or a video you can´t controll where the source was ...

Fair enough, waiting with bated breath here... :drool_2:
 

GadgetUK

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I think that's a good post! I see a lot of expectations from people - which we know for fact you COULD meet (anything is possible, its just time and money), but as you've said, you clearly need to focus initially on the right products in order that the company can grow. And therefore some of us might be disappointed that our fav arcade board has been skipped over this time around. But on the flip side I feel like an amazing product is waiting never the less! I am super exited for the reveal because knowing the attention to detail you guys apply to your products and knowing how you like to focus on amazing products that might feel out of the reach or too complicated for most other developers, this is going to be something special again =D
 
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ShootTheCore

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In terms of developing a retro video gaming product that would sell in bigger numbers than NeoSD, I think you should look more at FPGA console clones with 1080p HDMI output. The Analog NES and SNES FPGA clones are getting a lot of attention right now, as are the Nintendo-made NES and SNES Minis. But there are a lot of Sega and NEC enthusiasts that would be interested in a similar quality FPGA solution for Genesis and TurboGrafx / PC Engine - especially if it also had analog outputs, wireless controllers, and the ability to run either original carts or ROMs from an SD card.

One more completely different suggestion-a 4K gaming upscaler along the lines of the 1080p Framemeister and OSSC.
 

heihachi

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I think something for PSX/Saturn/Dreamcast would have the biggest untapped markets at this point. The original disc drives for these kinda suck and I don't think are any great alternatives to original hardware. PS4 still doesn't support PSX emulation ffs. I don't know if it's even technically realistic or even possible, but an FPGA box with a drive that could play PSX discs or even just .isos could be very successful.
 

fenikso

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I have to admit a new PCE/TG-16 console, region free, and outputting 1080P would be tits. You could release the console one year, and a multi speed CD unit the next.

That being said... I haven't purchased any everdrives, and now that I've experienced the Terraonion quality first-hand, I'll be waiting until you release all the '*SD' carts until I buy such a thing for a system.
 

egg_sanwich

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I really hope it isn't a console clone. Yeah I understand the need to sell volume, which a niche market can't necessarily support, but I'm really hoping for something arcade related.
 

sr20det510

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I have to admit a new PCE/TG-16 console, region free, and outputting 1080P would be tits. You could release the console one year, and a multi speed CD unit the next.

That being said... I haven't purchased any everdrives, and now that I've experienced the Terraonion quality first-hand, I'll be waiting until you release all the '*SD' carts until I buy such a thing for a system.

That sounds awesome!
 

sr20det510

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I think something for PSX/Saturn/Dreamcast would have the biggest untapped markets at this point. The original disc drives for these kinda suck and I don't think are any great alternatives to original hardware. PS4 still doesn't support PSX emulation ffs. I don't know if it's even technically realistic or even possible, but an FPGA box with a drive that could play PSX discs or even just .isos could be very successful.

Saturn had over 1200 games produced in Japan, so it meets Terraonion's more than 5 game rule!!

Whatever it is it should kick ass!!
 

massimiliano

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IMO, now, after NeoGeo, FPGA-based CPS1 and CPS2 multi (better if all-in-one)without patched roms, are the elephant in the room... I don't get the molding comment from neosd though, as it makes more sense for cartdridge-based hardware...(frankly I doubt a console clone).
...RAM-based, plastic shell...I wonder what is that really!
 

Morden

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It's a kettle that plays CPS 3 games...

It suicides once the temperature drops below 45°C. To bring it to life, you need to buy resurrection tokens. It's a sustainable business model. I get it.

neosd said:
To not expect a product for a system that has 5 games as some guys have asked for on the "other thread".

So we're definitely not getting a Taito FX-1A multi, but there's still hope for a Taito F2! On a serious note, though, CPS + Q Sound equals 30 games, things are looking good. PGM is also 30 something, plus cartridge conversions, like Ketsui. I'm not losing hope!
 

fenikso

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I agree a console clone is unlikely, but the thread is about what we'd like to see, so I'll keep hope alive, inside, if not reality.
 

GadgetUK

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I hope they never release a replacement console since those just dont interest me at all! Yes I get the HDMI output, but surely a better product would be something that can provide HDMI out for original hardware, or convert RGB to HDMI like the OSSC / framemeister etc. The market is full of those FPGA based consoles. Emulation is already there on HD on whatever device you want - PC, phone, Rasberry Pi etc.
 

RevQuixo

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A more accessible/available (ie not Darksoft) ST-V, F3 or CPS2 multi would be right up my alley.
 

CORY

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IMO, now, after NeoGeo, FPGA-based CPS1 and CPS2 multi (better if all-in-one)without patched roms, are the elephant in the room...

I would buy that in a heartbeat but I think they should also offer a consolized version as well to reach a bigger audience and make some money for future projects.
 

Morden

Somewhere in Europe.,
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I would buy that in a heartbeat but I think they should also offer a consolized version as well to reach a bigger audience and make some money for future projects.

You mean a consolized version of a CPS + CPS2 multi, all in one? This never happening aside, what bigger audience? It wouldn't be anywhere near $80 you'd pay for a SNES mini, or $190 for Super NT. In fact, it would probably cost more that whopping $450 Analogue is asking for NT Mini. Arcade fanatics are willing to pay high prices, because single PCBs can cost more than that, but it's not exactly a hobby for the masses. You'll either have to be dedicated to your hobby, or be a Mr. Goldbar Moneybags.
 
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