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To-doing

Nathan Strum

Entry posted by Nathan Strum

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Sounds like a Don Martin sound effect*, doesn't it? To-doing!!

 

But actually, this is yet another To-Do List. However, since some of it is already in progress, that makes it a "To-doing" list.

 

If the blog tags weren't still broken, you would be able to click on a handy link, and look at my previous To-Do List entries. But it's just as well you can't, since even I don't particularly like looking back on lists of things that I never got finished. :roll:

 

That said, I'll continue with the tradition of posting a link to the last To-Do List entry that I wrote up, for the curious or seriously bored amongst you.

 

From that list, I've carried over projects that were in-progress at the time. So let's see where we're at today, shall we? Titles in "quotes" are code-names for as-yet unannounced projects. Items in bold are the parts of the projects I'm involved with. Where known, I've listed the status of the game's development.

 

Homebrews/reproductions still in development from previous "To-Do List":

  • "Chun-Li"** - Game graphics: Finished; Level design: Finished. Game development: Final testing, music. Currently on hold.
  • Chetiry - Title screens (including "Gameboy" variation), various graphics, label and manual artwork: Finished! Game development: Finished.
  • Omicron - Label and manual: Label finished, second pass on manual finished. Game development: Release candidate.
  • "Gut Bomb" - Game graphics and level design: In progress. Game development: On hold.
  • RPS - Game graphics, label and manual: All in progress, to varying degrees. Game development: On hold.
  • "Bruce" - Game graphics: In progress. A speculative project, but a couple of programmers have been working on it from time to time. You never know... :ponder:
  • Good Luck Charlie Brown (formerly "Weifang" - unreleased prototype) - Game graphics, gameplay feedback for enhanced version: Preliminary work started. Enhanced game development: On hold. Original version of prototype released.
  • "Unreleased prototype #2" - Title screen bitmap: Done; (w/Dave Dries) Box, label and manual: First pass done on box artwork - will resume in the spring. Game development finished, release slated for sometime in 2013.

New projects since the last "To-Do List":

  • "Cat Food" - Game graphics, concepts, play-testing. Game development: display kernel working. Project is on hold.
  • Space Rocks - Game graphics: Finished. Entries for label contest: Finished (runner-up). Game development: Finished.
  • "Project Retro" - Demo graphics: Finished. Another speculative project akin to "Bruce", but now appears to be a dead-end. I'll probably post a blog entry about this in a couple of months.
  • Halo 2600 - Manual layout: Finished.
  • Star Castle - Game graphics: Revising and enhancing graphics; (w/Dave Dries) Label and manual: Preliminary work underway. Game in active development.
  • Boulder Dash - (Using André Bolfing's contest-winning artwork) Box, label and manual layout: Done. Game development: Finished.

Miscellaneous unfinished projects:

  • AtariVox+ - Manual and label. I have no idea what the status of the AtariVox+ is. Hopefully production will be able to resume at some point. I'm still not even sure I'm slated to work on it anymore.
  • Stella at 20 - I finally bought a new Mac, so I could begin working on it again. However, now I need to sort out whether I'll be moving to Final Cut Pro X, or Avid Media Composer 6. So, don't expect this anytime soon. Think "Boulder Dash" if you're looking for a similar timeline. ;)
  • Update MacMAME.net movie reviews - Someday. Maybe this year. Maybe next. MacMAME.net doesn't exist anymore, but I have registered a new domain name for the reviews to reside at.
  • 2600 Mods Comparison Project - Would really like to update this during the summer - especially since the site is coming up on ten years old. My last two summers I've been so completely buried at work that I haven't had the time for it. Plus, my 2600 is dead right now, so I need to revive that before I even think about testing video mods again.

So, there you have it. Some of this should be wrapped up "fairly soon". Some... well... maybe never. :ponder: But such is the world of hobbyist projects. You work on them when (or if) you have the time, interest, and resources to do so.

 

Some homebrew projects have been all-but-abandoned by their programmers for all manner of reasons (health, other real-life issues), and as such I no longer include them in my lists. But I'm hoping someday we can see some of them completed...

 

I've also been meaning to post some more "behind the scenes" of some of the labels I've created, but again, haven't had the time or inclination. I suppose at the least I should set up some sort of gallery here of them with a little info about each one. That shouldn't be too painful to sort out.

 

Finally, I've got some more Artie the Atari strips written, so I should get back to that sometime as well. Hopefully soon. And by "soon", I mean before August. ;)

 

 

*As an aside - try playing "Sound Effects Scrabble" sometime. It's just like regular Scrabble, except with the house rule that you can make up any word, as long as you can justify it as a sound effect.

**Chun-Li's actual title was revealed at the Houston Arcade Expo last year, and here, but not "officially" announced as far as I know.

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32 Comments

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thegoldenband

Hey, I didn't know that Omicron was coming out! Great news for me, since it'll be the first published game to use my music (unless you count the massively changed knockdown tune from K.O. Cruiser).

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Nathan Strum

I'm glad it's coming out, too. It's an another awesome game from Seemo (along with Lead and Sync). The final binary is in post #16 in this thread. I'm hoping to have the manual finished soon so when Albert's ready to add more games to the store, it's ready to go.

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LS_Dracon

I remember the "Zombie" I thought was Boulder Dash.

And I figured by myself "Chunli" because I'm a big Street Fighter 2 aka "SF2" fan. :)

Bruce still unknow to me....

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Nathan Strum

Update:

  • Star Castle - Changed Game graphics to: First pass complete.

Chris now has a (near as I can tell) full set of graphics for Star Castle. Things may need to get tweaked as they're implemented in the real world, and of course that's where the real work lies, but Chris is doing an amazing job on the game!

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Zach

Chetiry is worth waiting for. Hey, Nathan, congrats on finishing the artwork. Do we get a sneak peek?

 

(BTW if anyone is wondering, according to Google translate, 潍坊 is Weifang, a city in Eastern China.)

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Nathan Strum

Chetiry is worth waiting for. Hey, Nathan, congrats on finishing the artwork. Do we get a sneak peek?

 

Only 'cause you asked so nice. ;)

 

chetiry-sneak.jpg

 

(BTW if anyone is wondering, according to Google translate, 潍坊 is Weifang, a city in Eastern China.)

 

That much is true... but why would I pick that city? :ponder:

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Zach
That much is true... but why would I pick that city?

 

Something to do with this? (from Wikipedia)

 

Kite flying is a traditional custom among the people in Weifang in spring time. In 1984' date=' the first international kite festival was held in Weifang. More than ten thousand kite fans attended the opening ceremony. People from eleven different countries and regions, including the United States and Canada, took part in the festival, flying kites. Since then, Weifang holds the Weifang International Kite Festival each year. It is held each April.[/quote']
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atari2600land
That much is true... but why would I pick that city?
Something to do with this? (from Wikipedia)
Kite flying is a traditional custom among the people in Weifang in spring time. In 1984' date=' the first international kite festival was held in Weifang. More than ten thousand kite fans attended the opening ceremony. People from eleven different countries and regions, including the United States and Canada, took part in the festival, flying kites. Since then, Weifang holds the Weifang International Kite Festival each year. It is held each April.[/quote']

 

Why not just call it "Lincoln City, Oregon" then?

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cd-w

It is a little sad to see so many projects on hold, but hopefully they will eventually get finished. I guess too many of us are getting bogged down with RL issues (myself included). If only there was some way to make a living out of the hobby ...

 

Chris

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Nathan Strum

The projects on hold don't bother me so much - I've seen a lot of them ultimately finished (most, if not all homebrews get put "on hold" at some point). It's the ones that become abandoned that are disheartening. Worse yet, when a programmer steps away from making games entirely. I can certainly understand all of the above scenarios though. I'm not even a programmer, and there's sometimes when I get burned out on projects and don't want anything to do with them anymore.

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Zach

Inside me there's something like a big pendulum swinging, as if I always have 7 programming years followed by 7 gaming years ;)

 

That's cool. It takes just a little math to figure out that it won't be much longer until we get a new Cybergoth game.

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Nathan Strum

You might want to add Star Castle label and manual :)

 

Added:

  • Star Castle - (w/Dave Dries) Label and manual.

Thought it would be fun to team up with Dave again on this one, and he's on board. He's got a great eye for classic arcade stuff. We've worked together on Juno First (which was mostly his work - but I drew the little space guy), Squish 'Em, Space Battle and the not-yet-finished "prototype #2". He's also done Dungeon, Phantom II and Wolfenstein VCS, and has given me a lot of input on many projects over the years. Should be fun!

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cd-w

Added:

  • Star Castle - (w/Dave Dries) Label and manual.

Thought it would be fun to team up with Dave again on this one, and he's on board. He's got a great eye for classic arcade stuff. We've worked together on Juno First (which was mostly his work - but I drew the little space guy), Squish 'Em, Space Battle and the not-yet-finished "prototype #2". He's also done Dungeon, Phantom II and Wolfenstein VCS, and has given me a lot of input on many projects over the years. Should be fun!

 

Excellent - can't wait to see what you guys come up with this time!

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Nathan Strum

Update:

  • Star Castle - (w/Dave Dries) Label and manual: Concept sketches underway

 

Started on some ideas for the Star Castle label. Just kicking around some concepts at this point, but it's a start.

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