ChristopherD

Pitfall Harry - That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. It's a wee bit more complicated than I expected, but not too terribly bad. I wonder why Radio Shack doesn't just sell the converter box. They still sell those old VHF ones, and I haven't owned a television in 10 years that supported that connection. It would be cool if they would make a compositive video converter box as well. Thanks for your help! Christopher http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum

Seeing as how the VCSp has AV jacks out to a television for big screen gaming, and how the TV Boy and Activision Classics TV Game has the same kind of hookup... my question is, "How do I wire up an Atari 2600 to use standard AV plugs, rather than an RF converter?" Bonus follow up question: If it's not too terribly difficult, can most older game systems be converted over as well? Christopher http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum

Hello, I have been researching Atari label fonts for some time now and have figured out the absolute exact matches that are available today. You may have seen my work on the Activision Kabobber label, and the SwordQuest Airworld label. Like the others were saying, SF Atarian is fine for the word "Atari", and there is a really good Illustrator file of the Atari Fuji logo floating around the net. The fonts are, of course, different, depending on which label variation you're using. In the old days, they didn't use the computers for layout, they used phototypesetters to do the fonts. The digital versions we have today are really, really, really similar, but still just a wee bit different. That's just the way it's going to be for now, I guess... until I decide to try my hand at modifying them in Fontographer. The first and second label variations use Bauhaus (Medium, for the most part) for pretty much all of the text. The Silver variants use Eras for the text in the upper left corner, where it says, "VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE ATARI® 2600™ VCS ™". The word Atari is just in SF Atarian (for now) and the number "2600" or "5200" is in Avant Garde. The trick on that is that the zeros are not the number zero, they are the capital letter "O". The copyright text at the bottom is in Eras again. If you don't have Eras, I found that using Frutiger, stretched out kind of wide, maybe around 125%, works as a good subsititue. That is what I used on my early labels, until I finally, FINALLY figured out it was Eras. Also, on some silver variants, the name of the game is just typed in a red band, rather than in some artistically drawn fashion. That font is Eras again. For the red boxes, the game system number is Futura Extra Black Condensed. The part that reads, "VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE" is in regular old Helvetica Bold. The logo is typically hand drawn, or done in some illustrative way, rather than just being typed in. Activision labels pretty much just use variations of Futura (bold or black for the game title). Well, I suppose I shouldn't have given away all of my secrets; but, what the hey! Enjoy and I look forward to seeing what you create. I hope this information helps you out. http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum

It should be pointed out, however, the Mindfield did his artwork before Dutchman put the call out. So, presumably he used the style that he personally liked...

I really don't think I'll need anything higher than this one. Even at this resolution, the screening of the printed piece is obscuring some of the finer detail in the edges of the logo, so anything bigger will probably become more corse, as the scanner peers down into the individual printed dots. Thank you for the scan. Mindfield, I think you did a fine job considering the materials you had to work with. I have identified the typeface for the numbers "2600" and "5200". I don't have access to the file at this particular moment, but I'll post that later for you. The trick, I remember, is that the zeros are not zeros, but are actually the capital letter "O". I believe it was avant garde medium, if memory serves.

Thanks for everyone's help and information. I greatly appreciate it. Mindfield - The Airworld page is not my own. I'm just a graphic artist who's submitting personal designs for the 2600 and 5200 box/cartridge artwork. Dutchman is the one who put the call out, and he told me that he's would like to have a variety of choices for the artwork. So, perhaps you would like to submit your work to him for consideration. Albert - I believe you have already received my e-mail, and I appreciate your assistance in providing me with a good, high resolution scan. Cro§Bow - That scan is really quite good for my needs. Between that one and Albert's scan, I feel certain I'll have exactly what I need. Thank you. Mountain King - I don't think I'm going to need any other scans at this point. However, if you believe that your scan can provide sharper detail than Cro§Bow's version, then I'm open to receiving it. Of course I'm happy to get any and all help on this that I can. As for the concept sketches for Airworld, I would love to see them out of shear curiosity and general art interest, if you're willing to share. However, I believe I will be using the actual artwork produced for Airworld, as owned and maintained by the Atari Museum. I have been given a nice, large, high quality scan to work with... larger and more detailed than anything previously seen on the web... and the tone and colors of it are quite appealing to me. My only concern with it is that there is no sense of danger involved in it. All of the other Swordquest paintings have some element to them that at least implies a level of excitement and danger. The Airworld art is kind of serene. I've been tinkering with the idea of adding a little something to the background, but the game hasn't even been done yet, so I don't know what to add if anything. skatepunk60 - I appreciate your offer to help with the design. I have been doing professional graphic art for about seven years now, and I already have quite a few label designs under my belt. Perhaps, though, you would like to take a stab at this project yourself and submit it to Dutchman? Try using Cro§Bow's Swordquest scan and the labels in AtariAge's archives as a starting point. So to all, I still encourage you to send scans to my e-mail, if you so desire. Any and all visual information will prove useful in some way. I expect to have something posted by Monday. I have preliminary designs thought up, thinking about how I want the visual balance to work. I may put up a few variations and ask people to vote on them? Interested? Christopher http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum

Howdy all. Been a while since I've haunted these hallways, when it was Atari 2600 Nexus. Anywho, like others are doing, I'm working on the Swordquest: Airworld cartridge labels and box art for the homebrew project being worked on currently. What I could really use some help with is if someone could give me a BIG, DETAILED scan of the Swordquest logo, preferably from the Waterworld box, but really from any of the boxes. The artwork here on the AtariAge box scans is not big enough, nor detailed enough. I don't need the entire box, just the Swordquest logo, and it needs to be big... bigger than you would typically use for online posting. Can anyone help me with this? It would be greatly appreciated. Christopher http://homepage.mac.com/christopherdrum