146 replies to this topic

[Pixelboy]

Hello ColecoVisioneers!  (Term trademarked by phattyboombatty and used without permission!)  

I wasn't expecting to post another Team Pixelboy News Bulletin before Christmas, but I do have a lot of material to show, and stuff to announce and discuss, so here it goes:


THINGS ARE COMING ALONG, BUT...

I attached some pics to this post, to show some of the boxes, manuals, cartridges and also the overlay for Thexder. As you can see, I'm chugging along like the Little Engine That Could, and unless a monkey wrech is thrown into my gearworks, I believe I'll reach my objectives and meet the Christmas deadline. But I still have a lot to do, and very little time to do it.

With this said, I find myself in a very uncertain situation. The SGM will probably be delayed until January, and CollectorVision recently released several games (I received my copies yesterday, by the way, so congrats to the CollectorVision staff for a job well done) and this has probably reduced the Christmas gaming budget of several people. This makes me wonder exactly how many Team Pixelboy games my customers are actually going to purchase on release day. Some may buy all the games immediately, some others may only buy a couple of games, and/or put the SGM games on the bench until the SGM itself is actually released. Each customer will probably have his/her own take under the circumstances.

All this means that I can't purchase shipping boxes in advance, like I did last year, and this will probably slow down order processing, because I'll have to pick up some boxes at Staples after Christmas, according to the actual paid orders.

If you're reading this right now, chances are you will be purchasing at least some Team Pixelboy games next Christmas. If you already have a precise idea of which Team Pixelboy games you're going to purchase immediately on Christmas Day (and which ones you're going to purchase later) feel free to send me a PM, or to contact me by e-mail to voice your intentions. I may then purchase some shipping boxes in advance, and this will help to speed up order processing. If you don't mind waiting several days before your order is shipped, then it's all good. You people know me well enough to know that I process all orders as quickly as possible. It may take a little longer this time around, that's all.

I still can't provide the exact pricetag of my upcoming games, because several manuals haven't been printed yet, and as I write this, the electronics for Thexder haven't even been soldered together. I need to receive invoices from a couple of people before I can determine the final prices of my games, and I will likely receive those invoices at the very last minute before Christmas. Still, from the looks of things, I can say that prices will probably fall somewhere between 40$ and 50$ for all the games. Dragon's Lair and Zaxxon Super Game will be a little more expensive than the others, because the conversion process from ADAM software to CV cartridge ROM wasn't cheap (but it was well worth the price!).


SUPER ACTION OVERLAYS

If you monitor eBay regularly, you probably noticed the Super Action Soccer Collector Mini-Cart which I put under auction last week:

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 251192439934

That auction will end within the next 24 hours, and I will be putting up the other four mini-carts on eBay over the following weeks, one mini-cart per week. Good luck to all bidders!

Anyway, I included some professionally-crafted Super Action overlays with Super Action Soccer, and I'm wondering what the demand would be for such overlays for other games in the ColecoVision library, like perhaps Mouse Trap or Gateway to Apshai. I know the Super Action Controllers don't get a lot of love among CV fans, but still, I think homebrew Super Action overlays would make nice collectibles. What do you guys think? Would you buy some? Comments are welcome.


This concludes this Team Pixelboy News Bulletin. We now return you to your regular forum activities.  

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[goldenegg]

Definitely like what I'm seeing so far.

For the manuals you're making for Dragon's Lair and Zaxxon Super Game, did you pull content from the original manuals or are they completely new content?

[retroillucid]

Luc,

I'm in for all of them, .... But I guess you already knew that  

Looks like we will have to meet up between xmast and new year  
I will bring you some gold cartridge shells at same time  

Congrats to you for all those releases and thumbs up!  

[evg2000]

I'm in for all of them, I also sent you a PM

[retroillucid]

Princess Quest box is sick!    
Awesome piece of artwork!


EDIT:   Also a HUGE THANKS to Mystery Man who converted Super Zaxxon and Dragon's Lair  

Edited by retroillucid, Wed Dec 5, 2012 11:38 PM.

[RelliK111]

I'm in for all of them but unfortunately there will be a little bit of a delay. I plan to try and get the 4 SGM games at the same time I get my SGM in Jan and then the other 4 games toward the end of Feb as soon as I get my tax return(I plan to file the second I can). I was really hoping to get these for Christmas but this year has been super tight with so many games(the most in colecovision history I think). I know you did away with the layaway program but I would love to see it come back as I liked it a lot as it made me feel better that I wasn't going to miss out even though you had plenty of stock way past the layaway date. It was just a really cool piece of mind that made me feel good. Also I remember on one of your post, I think your making less copies of the games this year (on 10/18/12 you said it would just be 75 total each) correct me if I'm wrong, so I am scared that they could be sold out by Feb as all these games look amazing. Also with 225 SGM's sold I would think everyone would be looking for games to play (as it does look cool but I got mine to play SGM games) again I would think they could have a chance of selling out very fast. I just think the layaway program would be really really great this year and I know make me and I hope other people feel better about not missing this amazing group of games.

[jblenkle]

I am curious about Dragon's Lair and Super Zaxxon. Have these games been tweaked to continue playing after you make it all the way through the game - building on your existing score? Or do they end like the ADAM versions do and you have to start a new game?

Also, wasn't it stated earlier that the Hall of Fame and Game Save features are not present in the Cartridge version? I suppose that would have been difficult changing the parts that read and write the high scores and hall of fame to disk and data pack.

I just played the easy level of Super Zaxxon trying to remember what happened at the end...it's been awhile. I'm not going to even try to tackle Dragon's Lair tonight because I haven't tried it in quite some time.

[ColecoDan]

pm sent for all games as usual.

[youki]

For me it will be quest for golden calice for sure  and very  probably Princess Quest.

[Pixelboy]

Hi guys!

I wish I had time to answer all your questions in this thread, and also to reply to the PMs I've received since posting this news bulletin, but I'm in a rush this morning because I have to take an earlier-than-usual bus to work (I have a big meeting with a client today), and I'll be away from any internet-connected computer all day long. Also, this evening, I'll have to go back to the office to assemble 30 Dragon's Lair carts. So it's going to take a long while before I can come back here and reply to all questions and requests.

Sorry about the wait, and thanks for understanding.  

[nanochess]

The completed boxes look even better I'm still astonished by the quality of artwork you provide for your boxes and carts.

[jeffgamer]

Anything you produce, I'll be buying, Luc.  :-)

[Pumantor]

Hello Luc,

PM sent for Super Zaxxon, Dragon's lair and King'sValley.

[scobb]

Looks awesome - buying them all!

Thanks!!!

Scott

[Darrin9999]

I`m in for all!

[NIAD]

I'm in for each and every game that you release... whenever it may be.

As far as the proposed Super Action overlays, I'm in for a set for each and every game that you decide to make them for.

[Pixelboy]

Hello again.

I'm taking a short break from assembling carts, as it's extremely painful on my fingers, believe it or not, because MegaCart PCBs are not a perfect fit for those Coleco casings (especially transparent ones, because polycarbonate is harder than ABS plastic). I need to use a dremel to alter the inside of the casings to make the PCBs fit inside.

Anyway, I just want to mention that saying that you'll "buy all the games I will release" is not enough. What I really need to know is whether you intend to buy them on release day. Keep in mind that I'm only doing this informal survey to see how many boxes I should buy from Staples just before Christmas, thus speeding up order processing afterwards.

Thanks!

[ColecoDan]

sorry that was what I meant by I will take them all.  I meant I can buy all whenever you put something on sale.

[retroillucid]

Luc, I already see how your "boxing day" will look like!    

[NIAD]

Luc... send me an invoice for anything you got and it will be paid in full immediately!

[evg2000]

I'm in for all on christmas day

[Pumantor]

Pumantor, on Thu Dec 6, 2012 11:23 AM, said:

Hello Luc,

PM sent for Super Zaxxon, Dragon's lair and King'sValley.

Of course, I'll buy them as soon as they 'll be available

[Pixelboy]

Still no time to reply to anyone at the moment, but I'll get around to it soon. For now, I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has answered my little survey. This really helps to tell me how many boxes I should buy in advance.  

[Pixelboy]

Okay, so I replied to everyone who sent me PMs. I will reply to those who sent me e-mails tonight when I get home.

I'd like to provide some additional information based on the messages I received so far:

1) The boxes for Mopiranger and Thexder haven't been glued together yet, so that's why they are not present in the pictures I posted. Also FYI, the Zaxxon Super Game cartridge you see in one of the pictures is the only one in existence right now. I'll be assembling the rest of them next week.  

2) About the offer to pre-order some of my old games, keep in mind that these new copies will be manufactured AFTER the pre-order period has expired (i.e. after January 31st 2013). I won't have any new copies of my sold-out games to offer next Christmas.

3) About the Super Action overlays, one thing I didn't clearly mention is that I'm more interested in making overlays for games that never came with such overlays (like Mouse Trap or Gateway to Apshai). Making repros of existing Super Action overlays (Baseball, Spy Hunter, etc.) seems like overkill to me.

4) I know that some of you may want to order the Super Action Soccer overlay that is included in my Collector Mini-Cart auctions, and what I plan to do is have more of those overlays made early next year based on demand (I don't have any spares at the moment) but these new overlays will have "SUPER ACTION FOOTBALL" printed along the bottom edge, instead of "SUPER ACTION SOCCER".

5) As I said in the previous Team Pixelboy News Bulletin, initial quantities of the 8 new releases will be severely limited. On Christmas Day, I will process all e-mail replies in the order I will receive them, so it will be first-come-first-served for everyone. Here are the quantities that will be available on December 25th:

- 40 copies of Wonder Boy (out of a total of 75)
- 40 copies of Mopiranger (out of a total of 75)
- 40 copies of Princess Quest (out of a total of 75)
- 40 copies of Quest For the Golden Chalice (out of a total of 100)
- 80 copies of Dragon's Lair (out of a total of 100)
- 60 copies of Zaxxon Super Game (out of a total of 100)
- 50 copies of King's Valley (out of a total of 100)
- 45 copies of Thexder

It will take me a while to get more copies of Thexder out the door, after the first 45 copies have been sold, because I need to get more transparent dark blue casings manufactured by Moldex. I will prepare the rest of the copies of the other 7 games as quickly as possible in January.

[Bill Loguidice]

I'd like to be put down for:


Princess Quest
Quest for the Golden Chalice
Thexder

on release day. I'll probably do others going forward. Thanks!