Big Player
-
Posts
3,743 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Store
Blog Comments posted by Big Player
-
-
Great pictures. I'm jealous since I have to wait until June 30th to see Rush again.
Did they have the same South Park intro for Tom Sawyer? It also looks like they play 2112 this time around.
Were there any signs at the venue about not taking in cameras? Now with cell phone cameras, it seems impossible to check everyone. Though when I saw Rush in September, my friend left his phone in the car just to be safe. Neither of us had been to a concert in years and so we didn't know how vigilant security would be in enforcing the rule. Of course they didn't seem to care as long as you were discrete about taking pictures, which is good because it's not likely that you could sell them anyway.
-
A quick glance through the AtariAge store shows several boxed prototype reproductions for sale, and a price of $35. Albert was selling a couple of others recently at about the same price (Rubik's Cube 3D and Saboteur). Saboteur was written by Howard Scott Warshaw (who is at least as well-known as Rob), and was released with his participation. To me, that game should have been the point of comparison. I don't know what the original price for Saboteur was when it was still in the store, but it would have been easy enough to find out before Rob ever started any of this. But he just couldn't get past someone selling Cubicolor for $1000.I did think of bring this up in the original thread but decided against it. Saboteur was the same situation. An unreleased prototype from a high profile former Atari game designer. It was even updated from the original prototype.
At the Phillyclassic 5, Saboteur was selling for $45 with box and manual. I took a pass on it but it was a close call. I played the game and the price was just a little too high for me, considering all the other games that I bought at the show. Of course I didn't think that I wouldn't be able to buy it later thanks to Inforgrammes.
Bob Polaro also sold Stunt Cycle reproductions at the Phillyclassic 4 show. I don't think he updated it; it was a complete game. I believe it sold for $45 as well.
-
I do tip my cap to him for updating the game. He could have just slapped the prototype on a cart and sold it, with little loss of sales to collectors.
I agree - it does show a desire to put out something beyond a mere historical curiosity. But I think it backfired a bit because it made it less of an item just for collectors, and something more desirable to gamers in general, and he repeatedly stated that wasn't his target market.
Rob was very reluctant to admit that it was updated. If I hadn't mentioned it, I'm sure he wouldn't have brought it up.
I don't understand why he didn't see this as a selling point.
-
Great post Nathan. I agree it's Rob's approach and attitude that got most AA members riled up, not the price. The ones who can't or won't pay said so and that was it. (Okay, we had a 14 year old member tell him he made a stupid decision back then. Sigh.)
I understand that he doesn't care about the classic gaming community and he is only in it for the money. Some members of this community either forget or don't want to think that many of the programmers back then were in it for money, not to make kids happy.
But I don't understand how he expects that he must be paid for the time he spent on speculation in 1984. Those hours have been unpaid up till now and I don't see any other way that he can make money off that time.
I do tip my cap to him for updating the game. He could have just slapped the prototype on a cart and sold it, with little loss of sales to collectors.
This often happens to best selling novelists, who at the end of their careers or after death will publish manuscripts that didn't make it to publication when they were written. Sometimes these trunk novels do get updated. Stephen King's novel Blaze was a trunk novel that he revised and published under the Richard Bachman pen name last year. It was pretty good but nowhere near his best work.
-
On that note, I don't really see the difference between homebrewers and the people who wrote games back in the day - it certainly hasn't got any easier, but perhaps I'm just looking at it from a programming perspective ...
To my mind, there is no difference between writing a homebrew now, and someone back-in-the-day writing a game on their own (he wasn't employed by anyone at the time). If he'd been under contract to write the game, then it would fall under the category of a commercial product, and he would have been paid for it at the time. But if you're writing something entirely on your own, with no guarantee of ever selling it, it's a homebrew. Regardless of the motivation.
I agree. Just because he worked for Atari and Imagic at one time doesn't make his game any different to me. Like you, I am a player, not a collector.
The only way he could have made some real money off it was to finish it and sell to Atari in the late 1980's like Doug Neubauer did with Solaris.
I'm still going to base my decision whether to buy it on the merits of the game. I'd like to see a detailed review from Tempest or someone else first.
It is good to hear that John Payson did some work to update the game. Notice Rob never asked what amount John should be paid?
-
I thought Rob was kind of full of himself ever since the 2002 thread when he first introduced Actionauts. I never realized how wrong I was.
-
These last three comics have been great.
I wonder how many sales were lost because of that thread?
-
Medieval Mayhem got my vote in the poll.
I still need to play it with some other people and figure out the easter eggs.
-
The lower shields look better to me. It also gets you more away from the look of the original 2600 Warlords, which is also a good thing.
-
I do love how those of us with no programming experience can contribute to homewbrew development. I'm not even an artist like you and I was able to design the sprites for the Seawolf mines. Also, being able to playtest homebrews and provide suggestions to the authors is great, especially when put you suggestion into the game.
I can't wait for you to finish editing Stella at 20. While I've owned volume I for years, I can't wait to finally see volume II.
-
I've played Power Off. Nice looking but not fun at all. It is incredibly difficult. The best I've done is get to the third platform--on the first screen.IMO Power Off is too easy. Once you unterstand how to play, it almost becomes a piece of cake, especially because there is not timer running against you.
I have only played Power Off at the Atari Age Booth at the Phillyclassic. So the trick to the game is just to wait and figure out the pattern that the robots move and make your move? Or can you wait on some of the upper platforms as well?
Either way, I think we both agree it isn't a good game.
My vote would be for Star Fire over Crazy Ballon. But not by much and Seawolf over both of them, if you can only choose one of Manuel's games.
-
I've played Power Off. Nice looking but not fun at all. It is incredibly difficult. The best I've done is get to the third platform--on the first screen.
And I believe it could have been good. It just needed some playtesting and subsequent adjustment to the game play.
Not recommended by me. I'm a huge supporter of 2600 homebrews.
This is what happens when you develop games in a vacum.
Buy Hunchy II instead.
-
Yes, the players and the whole title screen look great. I am the expert on players, by the way.
The catch mode wouldn't have that problem in multi-ball play though, unless three people decided to just hoard the balls and pick on the fourth guy. You could make it so only one or two balls could be caught simultaneously. And/or you could have a catch mode where if you're hanging onto one ball, the others pass right through your shield.
The ideal solution is in the arcade version. You can hold a fireball but it will eat away at your castle walls if you for more than 5 seconds or so. I should check the time on Castle Crisis, since it is pretty much the arcade game.
I do like the idea of having a lot of variations though.
-
Hehe, you can always send Marble Craze to StanJr and get your money back
I had forgotten about that pledge. Hold Stan to it. Which reminds me that I need to have a Marble Craze rematch with him at the upcoming Cinciclassic.
I think part of the problem is how you hold the paddles. In a word--don't. The way to do it is lie both paddles flat on a table or floor, whichever you prefer.
Since I can't attach photos in a blog, here is a link.
Though you do want to make sure to not have the paddles turned to their sides. Try it with a bigger table than the AA booth.
-
Would it be OK if you had to switch paddles to play a different corner?It might not be too bad, though flexibility could have some advantages, especially if someone is only using a single pair of paddles.
I think switching paddles would work. I think it would be used most in one player games and it's not that big of a hassle to unplug the controllers if you only had one set of paddles.
After adding the subpixel positioned fireballs this weekend, I think I need to address RAM usage before I can commit to the user selectable corners.
I understand you have to make compromises. On my wish list for Medieval Mayhem, user selectable corners is low and would be one of the first features to go if it can't fit in. Multiple fireballs on the screen at once is at the top of the list.
-
Is the the problem the position itself, or that each computer player always played the same? I'm considering selectable AI levels for each computer controlled player.
The position itself. It gets boring always playing in the same corner and then I feel out of place when I play in another corner in a mulitplayer game. I'm not sure if you can select which corner to play in the arcade game or not.
Selectable AI is another great feature though.
-
One option I would love to see is being able to select which corner you can play in one player games. It's one thing that limits the fun on the original 2600 Warlords. I got so tired of always being the upper left castle that I now only play Warlords as a multiplayer game.
Castle Crisis uses the keypad to select the castles before the game starts.
I realize this request may make the design more complicated.
-
So I wonder if I'll get the fixed version of Raindeer Rescue whenever Adventure II is finished?
-
I have seen this bug before. Most notably at the Philly Classic 5 Warlords Tournament. The player in the top left had the fireball and hadn't lost one brick. When he released the fireball, he killed his warlord. It was harsh because the rules were one and done. He protested but we didn't restart the game.
I can't wait to see more developments on this hack. I'm assuming you're going to fix this bug along with the other improvements.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Rush
in SpiceWare's Blog
A blog by SpiceWare in General
Posted
I would still be happy if they didn't change a thing from the 2007 leg of the tour.
It seemed like everyone around me at the show was taking pictures. Of course, once the sun had set. But I didn't see anyone being searched as they came in.