Mikebloke

It delayed so much that I can probably afford to buy it. Yes, we'll probably get it day 1, I only buy a a couple of games brand new, and I negged on the pc release of death stranding because I basically watched it on twitch (OHN brotherrrrrssss)

It was discussed in the original thread awhile back, but 3rd party development is largely reliant on two things: 1) being supported (you expect design docs, a developer device, someone at hand to answer questions) - Jani seems to have had that but he is the first person we know of that has 2) a player base that is going to buy your game, possibly simply by random and because its available in an accessible way. If you are generous and expect a 1% take up rate as a 3rd party developer, then on the VCS we're talking at most a couple of hundred. Assuming your game is relatively retro, easy to make, priced accordingly, you might make 8 or 9 $ profit on each sale. Aiming for $1,000 turnover is not a viable business plan.

I actually went to the trouble in the last couple of years to get boxes for consoles I never had when I bought them, including the 2600. They aren't the originals and in some cases not even the same model - but they serve a really important purpose: They store my machines and protect them when they aren't being used (which is probably the best place for them given even half the ones that are out just act as dust collectors!). In boxes consoles is mobile, secured, displayable, deliverable (if ever sold or given away) but most importantly, stackable. I just don't have the space for 40+ boxes to not be on top of each other, I can't do that with loose consoles and plain cardboard boxes is horrible brown colour. With this in mind, repairing (or preserving in crossbow's plastic case suggestion) is the only solution as it fits all the functional uses a box does. I think every option has been discussed now. Most of us would repair from the inside - reinforcing is also a good idea - others have contributed alternatives to tape - but if it was too much work, and looking at the damage I don't think even taping with clear tape on the outside would be completely terrible situation (yes, it ruins the picture on the box and can never be removed without taking the ink off.. but it would remain functional). Crossbow's idea is also an alternative: the plus side is you don't have to change the box in anyway, the negative side being that the plastic cases tends to be quite pricey for what they are (especially a full size console box) - but preserves the condition of the box as you have it now. The worst condition one I ever got was just the front panel of a 1292 machine - they did warn me and offered to throw it away but I said I'd keep it anyway! I used it as padding for the box when I sold it on. Good luck with whatever strategy you decide.

250 was auto denied, so don't feel bad! I think its safe to say under those numbers (bare in mind it started at $2,100), anything lower than 50% will be set to auto-reject. Realistically, while we are all frustrated by the strange hyperinflation of Fairchild Channel F stuff, knowing checker games with no box was going for 4 figures, it would be hard for seller to want to accept less than that, even if there wasn't interest. Hopefully now the next one passes under the $1,000 mark, as less and less people are prepared to pay this much. My main reasoning for this is that despite the curiosity of Channel F and the story of Jerry Lawson (who was an engineering hero and should be celebrated for his achievements, just not at the expense of us getting reasonably priced checker carts), it does not attract the same level of curiosity as 2600 or NES carts where there is a collector/investor mentality. Those of us that collect Channel F don't do it to encase it in a plastic shell and never use it again, but to stick it in a real device and play the darn thing - this may well be the only protective factor that ensures these prices go down one day.

I did wonder if it was possible to increase the chance of hitting a crab by making it "realistic" with a couple of extra legs, but I think it would look ugly. Aiming for the feet is not a terrible problem, now I realised it its easy enough to aim. Regarding the gap, increasing it by a tile on each side would open the possibility of a 'power' block in the middle that could knock enemies on the screen over when hit - however I imagine you don't have the bytes left for that without increasing back up to 4k. Edit: rubbish attempt to give crab extra legs

Ah that's a shame regarding the gap, Its manageable and playable, just a shame it can't be slightly bigger. Regarding collision detection this makes a lot more sense, its registering when hitting to the feet specifically, where as I was probably aiming for the centre where the player doesn't make contact with the feet at all. I just tested this out and it appears to be the case. I think I was originally thinking from from the original aspect of "hitting the floor" which causes the ripple to knock enemies over - but I imagine using the built in collision saves a lot of bytes. Only tried on emulator so far, my device is on its way from spain, so hopefully will receive in the next week or so. I only have a European standard G7000 which should play exactly the same as the US odyssey2 - so I don't get the 7400 abilities for background etc.

I couldn't wait so I emulated it, but I do want to try it on console too when my cart comes. I think my main comments right now would be two things: 1) I think the gap on the bottom level could do with being a pixel or two more on each side. 2) I did wonder if the hit box for knocking over enemies be slightly bigger, I don't know if its different for turtles and crabs - and I know crabs take two hits but it felt I hit them a few times and they wouldn't always go down. I believe the sound is an indication of a hit, but I thought many times "I must have hit it that time!" Other than that, it kept me busy for 10 minutes which for the G7000 is a good amount of time I can't remember general limitations of G7000 well, is the 2k limit just a personal challenge / closer to original cart releases similar to the 2600 or is it a physical device limitation? (I assume they can handle more as the later games get quite complex).

still overpriced, but still going down. I'll pay 200 when someone is ready to sell.

I think there is overrated at the time (a poor release which should not have got aclaim) and then there is nostalgia overrated. I think there is a middle ground though, the 'it used to be the pinnacle of gaming, but now its just old and tired'. I want to bring in two other games for this example, both around the same time as OoT, in the same generation. Final fantasy 7 was once believed to be the best rpg ever made. Some argued it was the best game of any genre ever made. It easily made top ten in most charts, it's iconic, vast, emotionally compelling story kept it in hearts and minds of console gamers for a long time. Play the original now. We excused the n64 style characters then, even though the battle graphics were countless times better. Yes first part of remake is out, so it Is 'replaced' in a sense, but it dropped down in top 100 charts before remake was announced. My other example is panzer dragoon saga. Long held as one of the roughest diamonds out, this was also considered for some time to be one of the best games ever made, for similar reasons as ff7. PDS featured voice overs in an era where this wasn't very common still, certainly not for rpgs, the character models had more detail than ff7 block people, and animated to convey body language. It didn't get to upgrade to dreamcast like shenmue did, and as a result it is stuck on the Saturn possibly for all time. All three games share the same fate. They look ugly on todays standards. Snes and mega drive games can still look good on flatscreen tvs. These rpgs are ruined by speed run glitches, every trick has been discovered, each corner of these games explored a million times. The magic of these games has gone. Rpgs suffer in the sense that discovery is half the pleasure, arcade style games is about skill and skill comes and goes with age of the player not age of the game. Rpgs repeat the same story again and again, they hold no new content, and become predictable. Was OoT a killer game to own at the time? Yes. Is OoT a "game you must play before you die?" not anymore. I think Breath of the Wild holds that mantle now, and I think in years to come it will lose it too.

Perhaps Microsoft could help Sega legally to remember what they actually own and don't own. My problem is my vision of the golden age of sega is over. At best I will get cheap remakes / remasters (not to knock those that did panzer dragoon remake at all). What I want is 90s sega games done as if they still came from the 90s but with modern slickness.

Homebrew rpgs on any console is impressive. It's certainly uses more technical aspects and if limited on space careful use of bytes. This is why quite a few rpgs have exploitable bugs - there is card and encounter manipulation on final fantasy 8 (originally ps1) based on walking and running steps. It's amusing to watch on speed runs. Others aren't so great, a tile based tactical rpg also on ps1 only ever randomised the hit ratio once a turn, meaning if a unit with 95% hit chance missed, every other unit with 95% or less would also miss! Hacking of these games is getting better, a number of ps1 games have fixes, hard modes and hidden content reunlocked, but that is still working off the back of a premade game originally with a team of developers. For a one person project to make a competent fatal labyrinth clone, that's some doing. Ps: surprised by phantasy star 2 being allegedly licensed.... Quite a core sega brand at the time. Though by 1995 the mega drive release had been and gone, pretty sure 4 was out by then as well. I could see it I guess though being on jaguar. I wonder if they would have "improved" it in anyway.

I have to admit that I'm probably privileged in that all my tvs here in the UK had fine tuning in the sense of scanning (though manual tuning seems to not be a thing anymore), regardless of whether they are B&W, windup, goldfish bowl or flatscreen! This is probably due to regional TV and the struggle to get signals in many parts of our tiny country depending on elevation. I've always lived on frequencies and modifyable channels. The number of times I've had to Google what frequency "channel 3" is you'd think I'd know it by heart by now... I used to have a cracking good TV for coaxial with a rotary dial more like a microwave and I think it had something like 5 possible channels and an off position. I weirdly miss that TV. I've never used a TV for connections like the original odyssey though where you screw in wires - I got a coax cable for mine!

While you joke, there may be a day when this is actually true if systems like the nuon or and 64GS is any example of what happens with a failed system 😛

During the first lockdown in the UK, the sorting office near me shut to customers at 7am! There was never many people there, done intentionally for less interaction.

Lol! Funny poll. I'm surprised actually by the results. Although Sony was arguably the main competition in the Saturn/PS1 and Dreamcast/PS2 era, I think most of us Sega fans lean towards Sony going forward, it has "harder" games, more exclusives. I find "sega" games on Nintendo weird (Panzer Dragoon remake... hmm) but also Microsoft X box is largely pointless if you have a PC. Fifa and CoD is just one of those things you have to ignore, yes its for casuals, but the Sony library has a larger amount of variety. I'm surprised that people label Sony and not Nintendo as casual games (that's not to say that Nintendo players are casual players - quite the opposite they tend to be quite obsessed).

I can just about transliterate the Arabic text on the headers! Also, noticed there is AES boxes on the top. It'd be curious to know what the market share was in the middle East in the 90s, I'd be surprised if Neo geo didn't perform really well due to lack of interest generally with gaming at the time, meaning more dedicated players going for the good stuff.

Ooooh inventory and spell screens, magic, level up stats! Looking good. It's starting to really feel beyond fatal Labyrinth now, thanks for all the hard work you are putting in! Will enemies be using spells too?

Thank you! I'm sure we all really appreciate the hard work put into this. Although I'm sure we are all very eager please take your time. They'll all get a lot of love I'm sure.

I've been checking every day and I was up all night and didn't even think to check when I couldn't sleep. 😢 missed out. Edit: sorry don't mind me just self pity for lack of sleep lol. I'll get one of them when they are available 😛

I completely agree that they would have the capital to push for production priority, even if sheer numbers wasn't going to guarantee it anyway. What COVID has shown is that we've relied heavily on an open supply chain. However, its very easy for one link in the chain to break and things change dramatically. I think also the point of development was a big thing too. Say Covid happened a year or two before / generation was still in its mid-cycle, all the companies would have delayed, possibly took advantage to improve hardware and cheapen costs. However, everything was planned to release in 2020, it was built up right from the start of the last generation - we expect new tech and they develop for the next generation as soon as a new one is out. It was too late for significant delays orders would have been signed off, hardware locked in place. I think there will be lessons learnt from this experience though - I'd be highly suprised if companies were not more cautious going forward. We might even start seeing the trend towards download only increasing too, both from a consumer point of view and that of developers.

I doubt it'll effect the retro market much.

I'd be interested too!

I would probably keep what you got working and try and fix the other one first! Unfortunately I'm not technical enough at this point, I'm a gamer not an engineer but hopefully one of the others can help! Also, checkers has gone down in price (must be a black Friday thing?) now it's 1,900 dollars. I upped my offer to 201 but got no luck.

Can't wait for the Saudi Cosplayers. I wish I could say more, but forum rules.