Team Pixelboy is now online!

[Pixelboy]

Hello people!

 

I've been working feverishly these past few weeks on the official web site of my new ColecoVision publishing label, and I'm now very proud to present it to you all:

 

Team Pixelboy's official web site

 

As most of you know, Gulkave will be the first ColecoVision release made under this new publishing label. But today, I have an additional special announcement to make! If you look closely at the games in the "outsourced projects" section of the web site, you will notice that Gulkave is not the only upcoming title from Team Pixelboy...

 

Yep, that's right, thanks to the great work currently being done by Bruce Tomlin, Team Pixelboy will also be releasing the SG-1000 port of Girl's Garden on the ColecoVision! Even better, the first 100 copies will come in special light-pink cartridges!

 

Before anything else, I would like to mention that if you were registered on the waiting list for Gulkave (while I was working for Opcode Games) then be assured that you are still on this waiting list. My Gulkave waiting list is actually my general customer list, which means that anyone on this list will be contacted each time a new ColecoVision game is released by Team Pixelboy. This evidently includes Girl's Garden.

 

I can't say for sure yet when Gulkave will be released, as there is still a lot of work to do (mainly where the box and manual are concerned), but I can tell you that we are one release candidate away from having the software finalized and ready.

 

Girl's Garden is also almost done, so I'm contemplating working on the box and manual of both games in parallel, as my free time permits. We'll see how things work out over the next few months.

 

For now, I invite you to browse through my new web site. Comments are welcome.

 

By the way, I haven't set up the e-mail account just yet, but I will do that very soon. In the mean time, if you want to contact me privately, please PM me on AtariAge.

 

EDIT: My Team Pixelboy e-mail account has been created, and is working properly, as far as I can tell.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Pixelboy

[RangerG]

KC's Mega Maze looks like a fantastic idea. Mega-Bug was one of the few gems on the ol' CoCo and I miss playing it.

[youki]

That's a good initiative.

 

But there is something i don't understand. (and it applies to you but Opcode and CollectorVision as well).

 

You announce lot of game "work in progress". Most of them in your case are 1% done.

 

From my experience, i know it is not easy to work on all project at the same time , and when you do it increases the development time for each project individually.

 

I think it would be better to only work a one project and announce that one when it is enough advanced.

 

Personnaly i have tons of "project" in my head , but i prefer don't announce them until i have something really concrete and be sure i could finish that project. And i try to work on one project at time. (in pratice, i'm currently working activly on 3 different project, but only one is a coleco game , but if if could concentrate only my effort on the coleco game it would be already done at 90% now).

 

I can not imagine to be able to work on 3 coleco game at the same time. At least as "individual" as i'm not a Team. But if i consider only your personnal projects, you are not a "team" here too).

 

In fact , just to summarize, i think project should be announced when there are at least 50% done. Just my opinion.

 

And another thing i would like to clarify , for instance you announce Pitfall 2 arcade (at 1% done) . So now suppose, i had decided to port that game on my own and i'm already at 60% done and expected to publish it myself or make it publish by collectorvision. Would it be a problem? (i heard about problem occured between Opcode and CollectorVision about Mario Bros, is there some ?)

 

Does your announcement act like a "Reservation". If i publish the game before you , will i be considered as a Thief ?

 

And it is a shame to see in a so small "market" so much different "publisher". It could be better to group them all under one label and work as a team no? Team pixelboy, Opcode and CollectorVision together. It could create a more active sinergy to make come back to life the colecovision.

 

Anyway, that is just my point of view. Do take that as a critic!.

[Pixelboy]

That's a good initiative.

 

But there is something i don't understand. (and it applies to you but Opcode and CollectorVision as well).

 

You announce lot of game "work in progress". Most of them in your case are 1% done.

 

From my experience, i know it is not easy to work on all project at the same time , and when you do it increases the development time for each project individually.

 

I think it would be better to only work a one project and announce that one when it is enough advanced.

 

Personnaly i have tons of "project" in my head , but i prefer don't announce them until i have something really concrete and be sure i could finish that project. And i try to work on one project at time. (in pratice, i'm currently working activly on 3 different project, but only one is a coleco game , but if if could concentrate only my effort on the coleco game it would be already done at 90% now).

 

I can not imagine to be able to work on 3 coleco game at the same time. At least as "individual" as i'm not a Team. But if i consider only your personnal projects, you are not a "team" here too).

 

In fact , just to summarize, i think project should be announced when there are at least 50% done. Just my opinion.

My web site should be considered as a checklist of games I want to release. I'm a guy who likes to set goals for himself, and if I were to do like you propose (to only announce games on my web site that are nearing completion), that would be the best way for me to loose focus over the long-term and my interest would eventually fizzle out. Perhaps it will fizzle out anyway eventually, I'm really not sure if I'll ever make and release all the games I have listed, but I feel having a clear checklist is the best approach for me.

 

There are litterally tons of games I would like to see released on the ColecoVision (arcade ports, conversions of excellent games from other consoles or computers, brand new games, etc.), and during these past few years, certain projects have gained more importance than others from my point of view, and all those games you see on my web site are the ones that have become my top priority. You won't see much change on my web site in the coming years, except to announce the completion of projects as they happen.

 

And another thing i would like to clarify , for instance you announce Pitfall 2 arcade (at 1% done) . So now suppose, i had decided to port that game on my own and i'm already at 60% done and expected to publish it myself or make it publish by collectorvision. Would it be a problem? (i heard about problem occured between Opcode and CollectorVision about Mario Bros, is there some ?)

Well, there are two sides to my answer: Where "outsourced" projects are concerned, my only goal is to see those games released on the ColecoVision. If someone else tackles a project like Pitfall II Arcade and wants to release the fruits of his labours using other publishing avenues than Team Pixelboy, I will simply remove the game from my web site, and I'll make sure that I'm on the waiting list to get a copy of that game from the other guy.

 

(One special case is Track & Field, where I would contact the homebrewer and try to reach an agreement about compatibility with the Atari 2600 Track & Field controller.)

 

For "personal" projects, it's more case-by-case. If someone completes his own version of Utopia, Asteroids of even Nibbler, I'll be fine with that, and I'll just remove those projects from my to-do list. Boxxle would bother me more, because it's a project that is closely associated with my Activision PCB project. Of all the games listed on my site, the only games that I would be pissed if they were made and released by someone else would be K.C.'s Mega Maze (because I feel it's really my idea) and Quest for the Golden Chalice (because I've already done all the graphics and general design work for it).

 

Does your announcement act like a "Reservation". If i publish the game before you , will i be considered as a Thief ?

As I said above, it depends on the game. But most of my projects are not "reservations". If someone else makes and releases those games, I'll just say "thank you", and remove them from my web site.

 

And it is a shame to see in a so small "market" so much different "publisher". It could be better to group them all under one label and work as a team no? Team pixelboy, Opcode and CollectorVision together. It could create a more active sinergy to make come back to life the colecovision.

I've gotten to know retroillucid and opcode over the years, and I can't see how synergy would be obtained between all three of us together. Besides, the software aspect is only half of every project. The other half is creating the box and manual, and because those are expensive and very time-consuming, I think it's better to have separate publishing outlets, so that more games can be released in parallel.

 

Anyway, that is just my point of view. Do take that as a critic!.

Your points are well taken, and I may even add them to the F.A.Q. section of my web site.

[Bruce Tomlin]

FWIW, Girl's Garden was essentially done and working two weeks ago. The current binary has some cheats turned on (the keypad is a nice way to support cheats), but it runs fine on real hardware. Anything that still needs to be done hasn't been specified yet. And my current high score without using cheats is 78130. The game starts to get mean at about level 5 or 6.

 

When run under some (many? all?) versions of the MESS emulator, it can lock up due to problems with the VDP losing an interrupt, but since this is a direct port, if you really want to play the game on an emulator, there's no reason you can't just play the original SG-1000 version.

 

I'm working on translating the instructions now.

 

 

When Pixelboy asked me about it a couple of months ago (once he mentioned the pink cartridges, it became a Moral Imperative), I was pleasantly surprised to find I had already almost finished a proper disassembly of it. Only the RAM addresses still needed to be done, and one bad reference found. But Coleco put the VDP interrupt on NMI, which, to put it simply, is a big pain in the butt, and the hard work was in making it work with non-maskable interrupts.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Bruce Tomlin

[Pixelboy]

Anyway, that is just my point of view. Do take that as a critic!.

Your points are well taken, and I may even add them to the F.A.Q. section of my web site.

Just wanted to mention that my F.A.Q. has been updated. Thanks for the feedback, youki!

[128Kgames]

Congrats on the site man, I know you'll do great things!

 

Sign me up for any beta tests!

[ozma wars]

Hi there

Sign me up for any beta tests

for UTOPIA in particular we can sponsor the game. think on it

ciao

MAX

[VectorGamer]

I read through the FAQ on your site as well as the different projects and I can understand Youki's concerns about "staking claim" on multiple projects. Although, it seems as if all home brewers do this so...

 

I don't understand how Track & Field, for example, is at 1% completion when there's no work done?

 

Also, "Outsourced Projects" and "Potential Projects" doesn't seem black and white. If a home brewer would like to tackle a "Potential Project" that you have listed, wouldn't you just go ahead and create a contract and forgo listing it as an "Outsourced Project?" Why dismiss the opportunity based on that technicality?

 

On the flip side, I see nothing wrong with posting a listing of Outsourced Projects - it's a business after all and you're simply listing opportunities for "employment." Problems may occur if you list like 25 different opportunities which may give the impression of staking claim to numerous titles. As Eduardo stated in the CVG Issue #2 interview I did with him and Scott Huggins that they will yield to anyone that would like to work on the respective project. But, you are on the inside of the home brew circle and I'm just a gamer on the outside curious on this topic.

 

Also, I didn't see anything regarding ownership of outsourced projects? How does that work? Is a home brewer allowed to modify the title screen to "Distributed By Acme" should the author wish to re-release the cart say 5 years down the road?

[Pixelboy]

I don't understand how Track & Field, for example, is at 1% completion when there's no work done?

The completion percentage isn't linked only to the software. The box, manual, cart label (and controller overlay when applicable) also factor into this percentage. In Track & Field's case, the 1% includes the high-resolution scan of the european T&F arcade flyer that I got from Dan Hower of arcadeflyers.com. Aside from acquiring this scan, no other work has been done so far for that project, but this scan is still an important milestone for me, so it counts as 1% of the work done.

 

So when you see something like 1% for a particular project, it usually means that I was able to acquire a tiny piece of what I need towards the completion of that project. This may include preliminary graphic work that I did myself.

 

Also, "Outsourced Projects" and "Potential Projects" doesn't seem black and white. If a home brewer would like to tackle a "Potential Project" that you have listed, wouldn't you just go ahead and create a contract and forgo listing it as an "Outsourced Project?" Why dismiss the opportunity based on that technicality?

"Potential" projects are simply of lower priority for me, and there's really nothing more to understand beyond that. If someone comes to me saying that he wants to do one of my potential projects, if I accept this offer, I will move that project from "Potential" to "Outsourced" as soon as the actual work has begun.

 

There's one special case relative to this issue, and that's Joust - Complete Edition: As soon as Dutchman2000 transmits the sound data to me (or someone else) and this sound data is confirmed to be usable, Joust will go from "Potential" to "Outsourced" immediately, even before someone volunteers to actually integrate the sound data into the AtariSoft prototype.

 

On the flip side, I see nothing wrong with posting a listing of Outsourced Projects - it's a business after all and you're simply listing opportunities for "employment." Problems may occur if you list like 25 different opportunities which may give the impression of staking claim to numerous titles. As Eduardo stated in the CVG Issue #2 interview I did with him and Scott Huggins that they will yield to anyone that would like to work on the respective project. But, you are on the inside of the home brew circle and I'm just a gamer on the outside curious on this topic.

As I said earlier in this thread, aside from K.C.'s Mega Maze and Quest for the Golden Chalice, I stake no claim on any of these projects. The important thing is that these games eventually get released on the ColecoVision. Whether Pitfall II Arcade or Missile Command gets released under the Team Pixelboy banner or someone else's banner, in the end it's just the same game getting released on the CV. So I have no problem yielding projects to others.

 

Also, I didn't see anything regarding ownership of outsourced projects? How does that work? Is a home brewer allowed to modify the title screen to "Distributed By Acme" should the author wish to re-release the cart say 5 years down the road?

Hmm... I honestly never thought about it until now. My understanding is that since I'm paying good money for these ports, I should normally have exclusive rights to produce copies of those games in any foreseeable future. But I guess if the author of the port comes to me with the intent to produce more copies of a game on his own, I'm quite open to discussing it.

 

However, I can't imagine how a situation like this would occur in the first place. The ColecoVision homebrew scene is such a small niche market of devoted fans that the first run of carts produced will likely satisfy most of the demand. For an outsourced game's author to produce more copies on his own, he has to believe that there is enough of a demand for the game beyond the copies already produced by Team Pixelboy. And even then, why would he spend good money (out of his own pocket) on producing carts, manuals or even boxes when he can simply come to me and convince me to release more copies, which I would pay for myself?

 

I do see one game where such an issue could arise, and that's Track & Field: Let's say Eduardo was to port the game for me, and then later tells me that he wants to include his work in Konami Sport Collection (to be released as an Opcode Games title), I'll probably let him do it without any complaint or problem. But then again, Eduardo and I are friends, so Track & Field is really a special case.

 

Thanks for your input!

[Christopher T Leach]

Hello people!

 

I've been working feverishly these past few weeks on the official web site of my new ColecoVision publishing label, and I'm now very proud to present it to you all:

 

Team Pixelboy's official web site

 

As most of you know, Gulkave will be the first ColecoVision release made under this new publishing label. But today, I have an additional special announcement to make! If you look closely at the games in the "outsourced projects" section of the web site, you will notice that Gulkave is not the only upcoming title from Team Pixelboy...

 

Yep, that's right, thanks to the great work currently being done by Bruce Tomlin, Team Pixelboy will also be releasing the SG-1000 port of Girl's Garden on the ColecoVision! Even better, the first 100 copies will come in special light-pink cartridges!

 

Before anything else, I would like to mention that if you were registered on the waiting list for Gulkave (while I was working for Opcode Games) then be assured that you are still on this waiting list. My Gulkave waiting list is actually my general customer list, which means that anyone on this list will be contacted each time a new ColecoVision game is released by Team Pixelboy. This evidently includes Girl's Garden.

 

I can't say for sure yet when Gulkave will be released, as there is still a lot of work to do (mainly where the box and manual are concerned), but I can tell you that we are one release candidate away from having the software finalized and ready.

 

Girl's Garden is also almost done, so I'm contemplating working on the box and manual of both games in parallel, as my free time permits. We'll see how things work out over the next few months.

 

For now, I invite you to browse through my new web site. Comments are welcome.

 

By the way, I haven't set up the e-mail account just yet, but I will do that very soon. In the mean time, if you want to contact me privately, please PM me on AtariAge.

 

EDIT: My Team Pixelboy e-mail account has been created, and is working properly, as far as I can tell.

 

Cant wait for that Asteroids game to be 100%...

[VectorGamer]

 

Hmm... I honestly never thought about it until now. My understanding is that since I'm paying good money for these ports, I should normally have exclusive rights to produce copies of those games in any foreseeable future. But I guess if the author of the port comes to me with the intent to produce more copies of a game on his own, I'm quite open to discussing it.

 

 

 

OK - just for argument's sake. Let's say "Johnny" creates a business offering the same services as you and he pays a homebrewer x amount of dollars to create Satan's Hollow for the ColecoVision since, after all, this title is in high demand but no one wants to add it to their project list. : ]

 

Man, Johnny doesn't know his head from his ass - the carts don't fit in the CV because they're 5200 carts, the labels are scotch-taped pieces of construction paper and the list goes on and on (OK - if it goes to the People's Court it's obvious, at least to me, that Johnny "ain't gonna win" but forget about that for now).

 

What a complete mess. Johnny then decides "I'm not going to give anyone refunds because <insert excuse here>."

 

The home brewer has his CV code on a 5200 cart which is worthless (I don't even know if this is possible but I would think it is).

 

The home brewer turns to Pixelboy and releases the carts, changing the title screen and the whole nine. The whole mess goes to Judge Wopner (is he still alive? Maybe not...) who rules in Johnny's favor because of a loophole in the contract.

 

I don't know - you can make up your own scenario which may be less outlandish than this, but I think it's important to cover your butt.

[Pixelboy]

OK - just for argument's sake. Let's say "Johnny" creates a business offering the same services as you and he pays a homebrewer x amount of dollars to create Satan's Hollow for the ColecoVision since, after all, this title is in high demand but no one wants to add it to their project list. : ]

 

Man, Johnny doesn't know his head from his ass - the carts don't fit in the CV because they're 5200 carts, the labels are scotch-taped pieces of construction paper and the list goes on and on (OK - if it goes to the People's Court it's obvious, at least to me, that Johnny "ain't gonna win" but forget about that for now).

 

What a complete mess. Johnny then decides "I'm not going to give anyone refunds because <insert excuse here>."

 

The home brewer has his CV code on a 5200 cart which is worthless (I don't even know if this is possible but I would think it is).

 

The home brewer turns to Pixelboy and releases the carts, changing the title screen and the whole nine. The whole mess goes to Judge Wopner (is he still alive? Maybe not...) who rules in Johnny's favor because of a loophole in the contract.

 

I don't know - you can make up your own scenario which may be less outlandish than this, but I think it's important to cover your butt.

I believe you're assigning "real" business rules and politics to something that is not a real business. My ColecoVision publishing label is what I like to call a "hobby business". It's a hobby for the most part because it's completely non-profit, but I treat it like a business where production and customer service is concerned, because a lot of money is spent on producing these games with a box and manual, and I work to avoid losing too much money in these endeavours. I don't ask those who port games for me to sign any paper contract, it's just a simple friendly agreement made between two parties in good faith, and people around here know me well enough to know that I always honor my side of any agreement.

 

So in your (quite outlandish indeed) case above, if such a case went before an actual judge, I'd bail out of that Satan's Hollow project even before the judge gives his ruling, because the act of bringing the legal system into it would kill the whole "hobby" aspect, at least for me. I'm doing this for the challenge and fun of hobby accomplishment, not to brave any legal frontlines.

 

I'm not aware of any homebrewer or retro-publisher out there actively "covering his butt". They just select projects that they find appealing, they work to get it done, and they don't worry too much about legal issues, especially where the ColecoVision (a console that hasn't been sold in stores in over 25 years) is concerned.

[VectorGamer]

OK - I think at the very least you have something formulated to prevent any misunderstanding.

 

But, I don't want your thread to steer off course so maybe we make that the last word...

[+thegoldenband]

I'm very interested in the outcome of your researches into Utopia, since there are many things about that game's scoring algorithms that I still don't quite understand. Nor does my girlfriend, who'll occasionally turn to me mid-game and ask how the hell I just earned 68 points to her 65 (or vice versa) when we have the exact same buildings and crops!

 

Also, I asked a while back about the Governor's Award referred to in the manual, and whether it's an actual in-game award or just a figure of speech, but got no replies, alas. (This guy wondered the same thing too!) Maybe your inquiries will answer that question as well?

Edited October 28, 2009 by thegoldenband

[Pixelboy]

I'm very interested in the outcome of your researches into Utopia, since there are many things about that game's scoring algorithms that I still don't quite understand. Nor does my girlfriend, who'll occasionally turn to me mid-game and ask how the hell I just earned 68 points to her 65 (or vice versa) when we have the exact same buildings and crops!

 

Also, I asked a while back about the Governor's Award referred to in the manual, and whether it's an actual in-game award or just a figure of speech, but got no replies, alas. (This guy wondered the same thing too!) Maybe your inquiries will answer that question as well?

For Utopia, I'll probably have to find someone who will be willing to disassemble the original ROM and study it for me, and answer those burning questions. I have no idea who could do this, however...

 

EDIT: If the Governor's Award is not really a feature of the original Intellivision game, I'd be tempted to include it in my version, just for kicks.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Pixelboy

[Murph74]

Blue Sky Rangers! Save Team PixelBoy!

 

And while I hate to say it, I'd love to put up a bounty for a game and see multiple efforts run towards the same game and see who does best within a time frame. Of course, I know that's not practical, but still, could be fun.

[GroovyBee]

And while I hate to say it, I'd love to put up a bounty for a game and see multiple efforts run towards the same game and see who does best within a time frame. Of course, I know that's not practical, but still, could be fun.

 

Although not directly related to the Coleco (although it could be ) something like this will be going on over at formatwar between the Atari and Commodore camps.

[Vic George 2K3]

Interesting set of games you've got on the queue for development.

[Mr. John ColecoVision]

I think the web site is great!