KLund1 Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I think reproduction labels are a good idea. How many of us have a frogger, 007, Invader Deluxe, or other paper label cart that has the thumb rub out at the top center? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 (edited) I think reproduction labels are a good idea. How many of us have a frogger, 007, Invader Deluxe, or other paper label cart that has the thumb rub out at the top center? That, and glue failure or other mishap. It's more of an issue for me actually, with 2600/7800 labels, but it would be nice to know when looking for a cartridge, I didn't have to worry about a shoddy or no label one to save a few quid, and be able to print out my own. I want MINT condition stuff as much as the next guy, but I'm not rich, so I'll settle for fixer-upper just to have it. I've already got unofficial cartridge games in my collection, like Commando, Tower Toppler and Xenophobe betas with XE cartridges and boxes, manuals, labels, (can't call them reprints as they were never officially released) why not fix a few of my cart-only with bad labels with the same treatment? Edited June 13, 2018 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zennmaster Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 with the help of a abbuc german member I could Identify the Fonts used for the 1st atari 400/800 Labels Title (STAR RAIDERS II) Font: Salzburg-Bold Computer Games: Font: Salzburg-Regular USE WITH JOYSTICK CONTROLLERS: Font: Salzburg-Bold Atari CXL4029: Font: HammerFat Have Fun This is really, amazingly, incredibly helpful to my late night wild hair project! THANK YOU!!! I'm trying to work up some Universal Game Case inserts, so I'm trying to track down fonts for the box art if possible. I think this will be most of it! Example: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Hi guys, I checked this video to have some ideas on how to create a good quality label for my UnoCart (which I put inside a classic brown Pacman cart). Do you have some experiences regarding this? How to produce a nearly identical label a 800 cartridge? Which glue? which paper? print with laser or ink? send the image to print like photo (walgreens for example). Or using auto-adhesive (labels) paper? Etc.. What are you experiences regarding this? Thanks. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I used hp photo paper and then CAREFULLY stuck clear packing tape on it. Make sure NO air bubbles, or you have to print another and start over. I then used a glue stick to attach the photo to the cart shell. The tape protects it and gives it a shine. I used flash so you can see it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) with the help of a abbuc german member I could Identify the Fonts used for the 1st atari 400/800 Labels Title (STAR RAIDERS II) Font: Salzburg-Bold Computer Games: Font: Salzburg-Regular USE WITH JOYSTICK CONTROLLERS: Font: Salzburg-Bold Atari CXL4029: Font: HammerFat Have Fun You got the fonts wrong. Salzburg and Hammer fat are both modern, and free fonts. They are not what Atari used. They are similar but they differ in some of the key glyphs, they lack the proper hinting and, as Nezgar noticed, they suffer from inconsistent design The real fonts are Optima (https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/optima/) from 1958 and Harry (Heres a link to the updated Harry Pro based on the original https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/redrooster/harry-pro/) from 1966 Here's the Star Raiders II label again, and the same thing with the right fonts. The difference is subtle but clear. I didn't spend a lot of time on this so there wasn't a lot of attention paid to the kerning and line spacing. Edited July 21, 2018 by Mr Robot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) GREAT. But with a look more in detail it seems to differ too. Look the line at original cart is more straight in the red marked area here. Your choosen fonts have more "curves". Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks Edited July 21, 2018 by commander 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Back in the 1980's there was no desktop publishing, no font files. Instead what we had were sheets of letters or transfers of various different sizes and faces that we applied to a board to lay out the design manually. When DTP became a thing, the type houses converted most of their faces to postscript, then later to truetype. Both technologies have limitations when describing a face that the designers had to work around, as a result some of the more subtle aspects of a fonts design were either exaggerated or ignored. One of those limitations is implemented in newer versions of postscript as 'variable hinting' which basically increases things like (in Optima) the slight bending of the straight lines which hints at a serif even though the face is sans. In the original face each size was drawn by a human (in this case Hermann Zapf), in the modern incarnation the computer tries to derive the correct shape using math. There are differences. Zapf would not have increased the bendiness of the line when he drew the larger sizes as much as the type engine does when it renders the font, different font engines will render the same font slightly differently across platforms, it will look slightly different on a mac to a pc (this is one of the reasons designers traditionally all preferred macs). In old fashioned page layout, if the designer didn't like the way something looked, they would change it by hand on the design, faces regularly had small changes made to a particular letter to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the designer or client. Some changes were simple (like the way they use O for 0 on the labels in the CXL4011) but others were more subtle, the Atari logo is not just straight 'Harry' font, its very slightly condensed and squashed for example. The ™ on my label is wrong, I used a subscript Optima font, the original used a stock ™ transfer, it looks like Helvetica. I've attached a pic of the label rendered at the same size as a picture of the original and you can see that curves are less curvy than in the zoomed version. The analogue printing method and subsequent rescanning of the original has fudged the edges a little too. The font weights I used last night were too heavy, I wasn't drawing a design based on the original, I was just putting my fonts over your label design. The colours used are slightly wrong too, the saturation and contrast are too high. The serial number colour is completely off. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) OK I played with this with my morning coffee. I've fixed the font weights and manually kerned. I drew a custom "4" (the real Harry 4 was redrawn, I assume for clarity) and I drew a custom R in ATARI, it was changed so the bottom of the curve doesn't collide with the vertical. The words "COMPUTER GAMES" are a custom weight, slightly heavier then "book", slightly lighter than "bold" which I fudged by overlaying two copies of the text and offsetting one slightly, there is probably a "heavy" version of the font that I don't have which is likely what they originally used. The printing process would soften the sharpness of the edges a little which could be simulated with a small gaussian blur. Edited July 21, 2018 by Mr Robot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Those fonts are commercial and still available for sale so they probably shouldn't be posted in an open forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Here's the final Star Raiders II (and an SVG, zipped so I can attach it here) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 I had a bit of time this evening so I did a few of these. And here are the svg's (zipped so I can upload them here) More to come. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Hi guys, I checked this video to have some ideas on how to create a good quality label for my UnoCart (which I put inside a classic brown Pacman cart). I like 8-bit guys video about relabeling cartridges and the clear plastic tape over the label does make it look glossy while protecting the label. I even had Video 61 try it with one of the games I have on cartridge. So far no one complained about if the label looks glossy or not. You can buy glossy labels from Avery or Sheetlabels.com, however we got complaints about the ink rubbing off by handling the cartridges, so it is better if you use a ink jet or laser where the ink soaks into the paper label and dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 I use this stuff, it's pretty hard wearing and is available in gloss, satin and matt 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 I had a request for XL and XE labels for THE!CART to go with the 800 one I did. Because of some of the detailing on the XE logo I can't export that one to SVG without it being rasterised and looking horrible so I've output that one at 2048 pixels across and zipped it up 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Thanks MrRobot, the labels you made are beautiful! Excellent job. Kind regards, Louis BQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 yes indeed! MANY MANY THANKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 I had a bit of time this evening so I did a few of these. More to come. Thanks for all of these! Work like this IS ALWAYS Much Appreciated! If I'm not mistaken, the thought here originally might have been those 3rd party carts. The ones with lesser quality label paper/plastics. (have you seen a worn out Basic Cart Label, I'm sure not often?) I have many 3rd party carts that have been worn/faded from constant insert/pull thumb action. I would very much like to replace them with like new labels. (is there an Avery label # for out carts? Y/N Y=# ??) Getting quality like new scans would be GREAT for those other carts! If they were touched up to be like new, it would be even better. Then have them in a universally known print format would be even more better. (yes too many adv's) Kind of click and print... Yes this would take time for owners, but isn't what we are basically doing here in one way or anther...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Hi which are the fonts for the Silver Label versions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JAC! Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 I had a request for XL and XE labels for THE!CART to go with the 800 one I did. Because of some of the detailing on the XE logo I can't export that one to SVG without it being rasterised and looking horrible so I've output that one at 2048 pixels across and zipped it up Atari XL Cart - Thecart.pngAtari XE Cart - TheCart.png Atari XL Cart - TheCart.svg.zip Atari XE Cart - TheCart2048.png.zip Thanks Mr. Robot for your efforts. Finally I have managed to integrate them in the office The!Cart site and download. Note: The new batch has arrived and is being tested. It will be available in the ABBUC shop soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Lessons learned from doing the Platoterm label about the origin of the darker stripe at the bottom of the brown cart label (its just not as faded) caused me to redo all of the brown cart labels without the stripe. I've been uploading them to here https://atari8bit.net/repro-cart-labels/ The The!Cart brown label is one of them. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 I added the 30 XEGS cart labels to my site today. Protos next. https://atari8bit.net/repro-cart-labels/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Hi Mr Robot, it is possible to do an Mule cart label for the first cartridges like Star Raiders thanks for all your work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Not at the moment. I'm in a middle fo a few projects and don't hve time to fit in anything else. I'll add it to my list though so it will happen some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.