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What's the deal with Star Castle 2600?


godzillajoe

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CD-W's version uses extra ram.

 

CD-W's version is superior in every way. Why waste your money on an inferior product?.

 

I see a lot of continuing thinly-veiled animosity toward the author behind the game. Maybe it's not entirely unjustified, but really, if you don't like his actions, say so, and don't hide passive agressive jibes like this one. Where was all of this "inferior product" hogwash when DEBRO was making a new 4K version of Pac-Man? Why weren't we yelling at Nukey Shay for "limiting" himself when he decided to put his version of Ms. Pac-Man on hold when he thought it would require extra RAM? Some programmers like to challenge themselves to see what they can do within certain limits, and up until now we've respected that.

Edited by FujiSkunk
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Id bet my life that in the years to come most ORIGINAL 2600's will still be in running condition while FB2's will start to die as alot of todays electronics are

more like disposable items just the way it is yes I have FB2's and like them but I do not expect them to last 30 years+ like the originals.

 

I will be blunt quit the bitiching about games that do not work on the FB2 cart mod and just get an original 2600 console

 

just do not see a market for games to be made with the consideration of the FB2 mod

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quit the bitiching about games that do not work on the FB2 cart mod

 

Thanks for the advice, just to clarify I am no longer complaining about my FB2 not playing homebrews, I am replying to the earlier question about why I might want one version of Star Castle and not the other, that's all. I figured showing screenshots would be useful to my argument.

 

Trust me, I'm dropping the "why can't you make homebrew games work on a modded FB2s" topic. This is Star Castle-specific. I figured since some people were saying that some comments above were trolling criticism of one version over the other I figured it would be worthwhile replying that some of us have a valid reason to get only one version.

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CD-W's version is superior in every way. Why waste your money on an inferior product?.

 

Two possible reasons:

  1. Big bucks on eBay from selling a rare cartridge.
    __
  2. Hoarding is a powerful drug.

 

There's a third reason I'm mulling over - to review the game.

 

But at this point, I'm just mulling.

 

Fourth reason: Flashing cartridge lights :lust:

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CD-W's version is superior in every way. Why waste your money on an inferior product?.

 

Two possible reasons:

  1. Big bucks on eBay from selling a rare cartridge.
    __
  2. Hoarding is a powerful drug.

 

There's a third reason I'm mulling over - to review the game.

 

But at this point, I'm just mulling.

 

Fourth reason: Flashing cartridge lights :lust:

 

Fifth reason: Clear Cartridge (so you can see the light!)

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Just posted up a new blog entry on my version, in case anyone is wondering what has happened to it.

 

Chris

 

Very cool.

 

I know what you mean about running up against what you can do in the meager VBL time on the 2600, I didn't reduce the screen size, though thought about it. I can't wait to see the new job system. I found it so hard to do stuff like that effectively on the 2600 because the overhead outweighed the gain. Even most of my JSR's had to go - I needed the cycles and bytes. For example: initially, the code to draw the cannon in the center of the screen only used 1/4 of the rotation frames and was able to flip x and y to rotate it - it turned out that the code to handle the flipping was larger than the cannon frames themselves. It was faster and smaller just to brute force it lol.

 

If anyone can get the job system to work effectively it's you and Thomas.

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Side question here. Being that we are relatively short on cases (especially for the 7800), 1) Would you be willing to make just the clear cases in any kind of capacity, and 2) if so, what would be your price for them?

 

I'm working on the CAD file for the new case right now :)

 

These cases will be cast acrylic. The molds will most likely be silicone.

 

It's a good question but I can't really even think about stuff like that until I've shipped my last Star Castle 2600 cartridge in July.

 

In the meantime, I know there are other people out there who are working on replacement cases, and I think that some will be open source so others could fab and cast them.

 

Check with me at or after the Video Game Summit in Lombard.

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Per the marketing on the kickstarter site, I talked to Howard Scott Warshaw and he had the following to say:

 

"It is interesting that they keep quoting me as saying it couldn't be done, but I never said that. I said it would suck."

 

...yet Warshaw came out with Yars Revenge. IMO, about as plain a game as it gets. I'd much rather play this version of Star Castle than Yars, but hey, that's just me. Can't take anything away from Yars at it was such a good seller, but I just didn't like it.

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Per the marketing on the kickstarter site, I talked to Howard Scott Warshaw and he had the following to say:

 

"It is interesting that they keep quoting me as saying it couldn't be done, but I never said that. I said it would suck."

 

I hope he and everyone else has noticed that I used his real quotes with links to his interviews on Kickstarter story page and in interviews I've given. I've also made a point of mentioning that Yars Revenge is 4K while Star Castle 2600 is 8K like Asteroids which came out around the same time.

 

A minor point: Kickstarter is not a marketing site, in this case it's basically being used as a pre-order system - the vast majority of marketing is done elsewhere ultimately driving people to the Kickstarter site.

Edited by solidcorp
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Per the marketing on the kickstarter site, I talked to Howard Scott Warshaw and he had the following to say:

 

"It is interesting that they keep quoting me as saying it couldn't be done, but I never said that. I said it would suck."

 

...yet Warshaw came out with Yars Revenge. IMO, about as plain a game as it gets. I'd much rather play this version of Star Castle than Yars, but hey, that's just me. Can't take anything away from Yars at it was such a good seller, but I just didn't like it.

 

I disagree, I see Yars Revenge as a pivotal product that within 4K offered a new level of originality, gameplay, and game quality. It offered 4 variations of 1 and 2 player gameplay and he still managed to squeeze his initials into the game as one of the first easter eggs. It really raised the bar showing what was capable on the 2600, and I really enjoyed playing it because it had a real arcade feel. I didn't discover the connection to Star Castle until 2008, and I'm sure that Star Castle 2600 would not have been nearly as successful if it were developed instead of Yars Revenge. That's just my personal opinion.

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Per the marketing on the kickstarter site, I talked to Howard Scott Warshaw and he had the following to say:

 

"It is interesting that they keep quoting me as saying it couldn't be done, but I never said that. I said it would suck."

 

...yet Warshaw came out with Yars Revenge. IMO, about as plain a game as it gets. I'd much rather play this version of Star Castle than Yars, but hey, that's just me. Can't take anything away from Yars at it was such a good seller, but I just didn't like it.

 

I disagree, I see Yars Revenge as a pivotal product that within 4K offered a new level of originality, gameplay, and game quality. It offered 4 variations of 1 and 2 player gameplay and he still managed to squeeze his initials into the game as one of the first easter eggs. It really raised the bar showing what was capable on the 2600, and I really enjoyed playing it because it had a real arcade feel. I didn't discover the connection to Star Castle until 2008, and I'm sure that Star Castle 2600 would not have been nearly as successful if it were developed instead of Yars Revenge. That's just my personal opinion.

I just find it funny he (member atarilovesyou) says he would "much rather" play your Star Castle than Yars Revenge, no offense, I'm sure your Star Castle is great and all but for someone to have never even played it and say they would "much rather" play it over Yars means they really have to hate Yars, lol. I mean unless he has played yours already?

 

Either way it's kind of a moot point since they are two entirely different games :)

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That does raise a very good question, given about 30 years of hindsight:

 

Could Star Castle have been made anywhere near as good as these two homebrew versions of it are, or would a effort made circa 1982 have 'sucked' according to HSW?

 

I think so, well at least mine, it's a standard F8 ROM cartridge without any additional hardware (ignoring the blinking lights).

 

The display and sound kernels are pretty straight forward as many will soon see when they get the full source code on CD.

 

Don't get me wrong, it was hard as hell, but it didn't require supercomputers or anything.

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I have been out of the AA loop for some time and actually heard about solidcorp's KS project via the Major Nelson (XBox Live Spokesperson) podcast this morning, luckily just in time to put down my $50 order for the cart. I have also just stayed 45 minutes after work to catch up on this entire thread. What a read! As a HUGE Star Castle fan, I want to say thank you to BOTH of the programmers who worked on SC projects. Guess I need to start logging into AA more often so that I don't miss more incredible games (and stories) like this one.

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I hope he and everyone else has noticed that I used his real quotes with links to his interviews on Kickstarter story page and in interviews I've given.

 

It was the youtube video about your game that he was responding to:

 

 

A minor point: Kickstarter is not a marketing site, in this case it's basically being used as a pre-order system - the vast majority of marketing is done elsewhere ultimately driving people to the Kickstarter site.

 

Never said it was a marketing site. That main page of every Kickstarter project however is a marketing page. It's where you're marketing what you're trying to raise funds for by explaining the project and why people should give money. We used Kickstarter for the book, I'm well aware of how it's used.

 

Didn't see a response to my previous question btw - why would you think Atari had the rights to the game?

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I don't get the negativity for the Star Castle game.

It's a less kiddie version of Yars' Revenge with a space ship ( not a fly ). And Yars' Revenge is arguably one of the top 2600 titles!

In Star Castle you get chased around so you must keep moving, and when you finally get a shot path to the enemy ship, it fires giant statbursts at you! The fewer the barrier sections, the higher the background pitch -- which increases the gamplay tension.

I'll glady buy and add any / all versions that I can to add to my collection.

What's the deal with Star Castle 2600?

Seaweed Assault is a bit like your description of Star Castle. It can be purchased from RT for an affordable amount, and is quite fun and a little like Yars Revenge and Star Castle underwater.

And by the way, if any of you love Star Castle, which I do, and still keep a DOS machine around, there is a shareware version called Xolo which is quite good. The authors ask you to pay for it if you keep it on your computer more than one year. Very good game too. Can be found at DOSgames website.

Edited by littleman jack
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for me a big reason to get this version of star castle (and eventually get cdws because I'm a collection whore,) is the custom graphic screen which will allow me to do a KDK initial monogram as an homage to the unfound apollo monogram carts :-)

 

as far as the custom title screen goes, does it replace the existing screen? If so, when the project is funded, can I have that screen to augment it? It would be neat if the star castle title could be kept in addition to the custom screen, but I understand if it can't. on an un-related (ish,) note, I love 2600 gradients, can the title screen be done in a moving green gradient on the custom cart? :) (I know, give em an inch....)

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