It's time to talk about ares

As many people are aware, Cxbx-Reloaded only scratches the surface when it comes to what projects I'm involved with. At this point it's well known that I also work on Insignia, an Xbox Live revival server but not everything I do is Xbox related.

ares is a multi-system emulator derived from higan, which was derived from bsnes, originating as a Super Nintendo/Super Famicom emulator but growing over the years. This history is rather complex but is summed up nicely on the ares website: https://ares-emulator.github.io/about

Ares was developed by Near with occasional help from external collaborators. In late 2020-early 2021, I became one of these collaborators: helping to improve the Sony PlayStation emulation, providing various fixes to SEGA Master System emulation, and also helping to design the Neo Geo emulator core. My first collaborations became available in ares v118.

Sadly, Near is no longer with us. This situation is very well-documented online at this point, so I won't go into detail (and it should not be discussed here), but as a result, ares was left without leadership and a small group of collaborators were left wondering how to proceed.

In the following months, I was voted the BDFL (Benevolent Dictator for Life) by the remaining collaborators. As such, I am now the leader of the ares project.

Under my leadership, we have currently shipped ares v122 and v123. Our next version (v124) will be available in the next few days.

This post has little point other than transparency. With my workload being split over an additional project, I have had less time to work on Cxbx-Reloaded than in previous months. I just wanted to make it clear that I haven't been sitting idle while still collecting funds.

This also raises a question: Would people like to see development insights/information about my other projects here? Currently, my Patreon posts have focused on Cxbx-Reloaded, but I could share development background, notes, etc from other projects too. Let me know in the comments if this is something you would wish to see more of in the future.

More information about the ares project can be found on the new official website at https://ares-emulator.github.io/