** Maggie / Titan interview / 1135 words ** David Encill of Titan Designs talks to John Summerfield about Titan and their partnership with Black Scorpion Software... ** DAVE1.JPG here ** ** Bold on ** Titan Designs Ltd was formed in 1989 to develop the Reflex Card - a high resolution graphic card for the Mega ST. Soon after release an interface card was produced to allow the card to be used on the rest of the ST range. The Reflex Card proved to be a very successful development and the springboard to launch other projects. I asked David Encill to take up the story... ** bold off ** During 1993, when the Atari Falcon started make an appearance, we concentrated on development of a new video digitizer, which evolved into Expose'. We needed high quality software to support Expose' and aware of the wonderful developments created by the Black Scorpion Software (BSS) team we contacted them and APEX Media was the result. At the time APEX Media was, without doubt, the most sensational software package to appear for the Falcon and proved such a resounding hit we had to release as a stand-alone product. Apart from our current Nemesis Falcon accelerator and videlity screen enhancement software, APEX Alpha and APEX Audio we have other ideas and developments which promise to be every bit as successful as our other products. ** Bold on ** 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 view this statement. ** bold off ** There's no doubt the Atari market has declined but we are finding interest in Falcon products continues unabated. Certainly the interest shown in the APEX Series and Nemesis suggests the professional side of the market is holding its own. ** Bold on ** Have Titan have plans to expand into the PC area?... ** bold off ** Peter Armitage, the developer of our Thought! Ideas Processor, is already converting Thought! to OS/2 and BSS have just finished an art package for this platform and are developing a morphing engine for Windows NT. Unfortunately the future of the OS/2 platform is uncertain, particularly with the advent of Windows 95. However Titan are most definitely not switching development to the PC platform! After completion of APEX Alpha/Audio, our next major software development will be Falcon based - aimed at professional musicians and composers and we're also considering a new Falcon based graphic development. ** Bold on ** When we met at the Atari show in Birmingham last summer I thought the show went well. How did it seem from your point of view?... ** bold off ** I saw the shows as a resounding success! Good attendances with an amazing level of enthusiasm proving the Atari market is still alive and kicking. Other companies I spoke to reported similar experiences. ** Bold on ** Atari Computing was lanched at the show, what did you think of the first issue?... ** bold off ** An excellent foray into this market and something sorely needed following the closure of first Atari World then ST Format. I think the ACG got the balance just about right - there's something for everybody. ** Bold on ** I see the internet playing a crucial role in the survival of the Atari platform, providing a place where Atarians can meet and stay up to date with developments. How do you view the internet and other media - such as disk magazines? ** bold off ** Titan is increasingly making use of the internet. It's so much easier for customers anywhere in the world to contact us and to receive a reply - usually the same day! I'd encourage everyone to use the internet and take advantage of the mass of news and up to date information. Disk magazines also have an important role to play keeping the offline Atari community informed of the latest news and providing a forum where new products can be reviewed - I always looked forward to receiving new issues of Maggie and AtariPhile. ** Bold on ** What has the response to the Titan website been like?... ** bold off ** Extremely good! Our website has received plnety of praise and provides another opportunity to keep people informed of the latest developments. It has also made it much easier for overseas Atarians to contact us - it's much cheaper to email than pick up the phone or send a Fax. Jim helped us get the website started and now it's just a matter of keeping it up to date. ** Bold on ** There are still enough quality programmers on the Atari scence. Does Titan have anything to offer these people? ** bold off ** I often wonder how much good talent is being wasted out there, purely because they believe there's no real incentive to produce applications or utilities. Demo coding is fine - it demonstrates the power of the platform and skill of the coder but they have no real functional use. Our doors are always open to talented programmers or anyone with a good idea, either hardware or software. We have some stunning ideas up our sleeves but there's never enough time to see them all through to completion - maybe one of these could find an outlet for someone to earn money in their spare time... ** Bold on ** The Atari range over the last ten years has seen developments from the ST to the Hades and other top end clones. How do you see the future? ** bold off ** The only problem with the 040/060 clones (apart from our Falcon Afterburner040 accelerator) is none of them support the DSP chip, which prevents the best Falcon graphic programs running on them - I'm talking about APEX Media and Alpha of course! I've heard the new Centek 040/060 is downwardly compatible with the DSP so if the developers are interested in lending us a machine we may be able to get the APEX series up and running on these machines. Although more speed is always welcome, the price tag is high. Sheer speed is not necessarily the answer anyway - take a look at what Doug Little of BSS has achieved using a standard STe and Falcon machines. ** Bold on ** Following the closure of Compo last year Titan has taken over UK distribution for the Gribnif range of products, has this been successful?,,, ** bold off ** Reasonably successful, considering we took over during the summer period when Ataris traditionally gather dust! The Geneva/NeoDesk 4 bundle at £79.95 is attractive and at £39.95 Arabesque Pro should tempt a few people. ** Bold on ** How do you view the products other developers are working on? ** bold off ** There are some excellent GEM based programs under development but whilst these cover the entire Atari range they don't take advantage of the raw power available inside every Falcon. Other developers would be surprised at the level of interest Falcon specific products generate but then that's Titan niche!