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jbanes

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  1. Hi all! I know it's weird to bump this thread, but I have some news on this project. First, some background. Back in 2007 when I was working on this game two major shifts in my life occurred: I bought my first home and moved my family out to the suburbs My position at the company I worked for was eliminated after a merger created two redundant departments In the chaos of these two events happening on top of each other (not to mention starting a really cool new job!) I thought I'd lost all the work on Deimos Lander. I couldn't find the code in my development folder and it seemed that any backups I had were far behind the current state of the project. I was able to create a Flash / Wii version based on the 4K version of the game since the source code for that was backed up in this thread. (Contrary to other posts on the matter, the 8-level Flash version was exactly the same as the final 4K version of the game.) Recently I started messing about with RetroPie. RetroPie, for those who don't know, is a combined emulation platform on Raspberry Pi. It's a great way to relive old consoles. And when I loaded my ROM stash up into the RetroPie I was shocked to find that the copy of Deimos Lander was the 32K version! I don't think it has all the levels I had completed when the project was shelved, but it was close. Searching my backups based on the ROM date I was able to find the source code backed up in a place I wouldn't have thought it would be. And so, after ten years I can finally give everyone a Christmas present. The 32K version of Deimos Lander! Now before you get too excited, the game still isn't complete. But it's pretty far along and is highly playable. It works on Stella, RetroPie, and even the AtGames Handheld! Which is pretty cool. Especially for software I never thought I'd see again. I'm also attaching a ZIP of my toolchain directory. This has the source and everything I used to build it. Note that it's a bit of a mess due to a combination of the Alpha state of BatariBasic and a ton of customizations and specialized tools being created. Since I don't know what tools are active you'll find a bunch of stuff that may not be needed. But everything you need should be there if anyone wants to develop the code further. Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you enjoy! deimos.bas.bin Deimos32K WIP.zip
  2. @Dragur - A lot of good ideas here! I'll have to nick a few of these... I see you and I think alike! That's sort of the same thing I was thinking of when I created the main guns on the Dreadnaught. You may notice that they flicker a warning beam before rapidly expanding and blasting you into oblivion!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Expanding into planet killing? Maaaaayyyybbbeeeee.... I just got the Gamestick Mark II prototype in the mail, so you can see the Create Jam version of the game being played in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dX_cfTs77Q Edit: As I said, you and I think alike....
  3. Thanks for the feedback BHG! I went back and forth on whether to scroll vertically or horizontally. Both were accurate reproductions considering that the original Intellivision version scrolled sideways. Ultimately it was the 16:9 display that swayed my opinion. Going vertical with 16:9 would prevent the player from seeing very far ahead while giving him a far less useful view of the breadth of the battlecruiser. As you pointed out, I put a lot of work into the mechanics to make them feel good. So I think you'll like it in practice. If you don't, you know who to chase down and hold at gunpoint until it gets fixed... P.S. Don't forget to ! I won't get very far in the contest without more likes...
  4. Thanks 0078265317! Someone pointed out in chat that the art isn't as good as it could be. I should probably mention that the contest I created the prototype for required me to finish in 10 days. What you see in the video is where I ran out of time.
  5. "I'd certainly nominate [The Dreadnaught Factor] for remake status. With some visual upgrades, it would make a great XBLA download." -IGN Review "A cheapo remake [of The Dreadnaught Factor] on XBOX Live Arcade would be a blast..." -flojomojo "Would also like to see a remake of an old Intellivision game called 'The Dreadnought Factor' (also on the atari 5200)" -Andifferous This needed doing. So I did it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85j1Agw6Zgw The current version is just a prototype for the CREATE Jam contest. The prototype runs on generic Android hardware with an attached game controller. (e.g. Ouya dev hardware, an MK808 stick, or a Nexus 7 tablet) The game is ultimately going to be developed for the Ouya and GameStick game consoles. If anyone is interested in trying the prototype, let me know and I'll post the APK file. Note that I need your support to progress in the CREATE Jam contest. Please support me in the contest by liking the video below! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpLWWQ85VuE Hope you like it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
  6. Good grief, Charlie Brown. All y'all are far too details oriented to be proper analysts. There's seeing the tree, then there's seeing the forest. You guys are stuck staring at the tree. (Hey, that's some nice looking bark you got there! ) Riddle me this: If the keyboard was truly "shipped" why was the FTC fining Mattel $10,000 a day? If the keyboard was truly "shipped" why was the ECS released? If the ColecoVision was such a solid home computer by itself, why did the Adam expansion only use the video out? Were the Coleco* and Intellivision engineers stupid or otherwise simply incompetent? And a few just for the kewl cat: If these multifunction systems like the GX4000 were superior jacks of all trades, why did they fail to displace the IBM PC? Does a microprocessor or single graphics chip make an entire machine? What are the fundamental differences between a given PC and a game console? (e.g. PS3 vs. PC) How many people do you know who use a PS3 for their desktop computer? If the XBox was basically a PC computer (which I'm well aware of, thank you) why didn't Microsoft repeat that design with the XBox 360? The answers to these questions and more tie back to conclusions that are difficult to escape. Baseless arguing of semantics rather than looking at the big picture only does a disservice to yourselves and prevents a proper analysis. (Oh, and stop saying that the Adam failed because it was an expansion. I never said that and I don't appreciate the words being inserted into my mouth.) * I suppose I could be convinced about the Coleco engineers.
  7. Clearly, YOU DON'T KNOW JACK! :lol: :lol:
  8. What's the difference between 80's computer & game console? Display hardware and I/O ports.

  9. What's the difference between 80's computer & game console? Display hardware and I/O ports.

  10. We seem to have a failure to communicate here. The Intellivision keyboard promised to consumers and intended for delivery never shipped. In its place a cut-down replacement keyboard DID ship. (Which I referred to as a "non-working facsimile".) That is the facts of the situation which are beyond argument. Now whether or not the ECS was a reasonable replacement for the original keyboard component is up for debate. I say it wasn't and that it didn't meet the intended goals. It ended up being more of a keyboard for the Inty and less of an actual computer expansion. On top of that, I recall there being quality control problems because it was so cheap. Either way, it never had its intended effect of giving consumers a home computer. I'll keep an eye out for it. I've seen the full computer many times, but I can't say I've ever seen the expansion. The Adam wasn't popular because of the manufacturing problems they had, and because you needed the printer connected and on to run the thing. It was never an issue of expansion vs. non-expansion. Again, to clarify: I am talking specifically about the expansion. Regardless of the general problems with the Adam, no one then (or now) was sitting there saying, "This is a good idea. It's too bad about the problems." The general reaction was almost certainly, "This is too expensive for an add-on!" In fact, you probably have access to some data that would help make the point more clearly. Do you know how many expansion units were sold vs. the number of full-up Adam computers sold? I'm willing to bet there was a massive disparity between them.
  11. According to the Blue Sky Rangers they did ship through mail order, it just never hit wide distribution. Your link agrees with me: I call it "non-working" because (to the best of my recollection) the quality was poor. Plus it was cut back so much it did not truly achieve the task of making the Intellivision into a computer. That was expansion module 3, which was the Super Game Module not a computer module. Expansion Module 3 was replaced with the Adam computer expansion. It seems I need to amend my statement. I had not realized that the Computer Expansion had been released for the the Colecovision. The story I always heard was that the Adam was instead of Expansion #3 rather than in addition to. I don't think my fundamental point is compromised. The fact that we're having this discussion kind of points to the fact that the expansion was not popular. The Expansion #3 was announced at $400 (not sure what the final price was) and a full Adam was $600. As I said, far too expensive of an idea to be practical. Cheaper just to buy a ColecoVision and a C64.
  12. And at the end of the day, a console designed to be a console is better as a console and a computer designed as a computer is better as a computer. The market figured it could fight the economic forces by a piecemeal attack of add-on components for consoles. Just one problem: The cost was too high. The Intellivision keyboard never shipped (though a non-working facsimile did), none of the 2600 keyboards ever took off (most never saw the light of day), the Colecovision "computer" expansion was canceled and replaced with the Adam, and the Odyssey^2 was never exploited as a home computer. Once the C64 got cheap enough, consumers got their computer instead of a video game console. They ultimately realized that the computers were good at some things, but consoles were better at others. The reason why no one ever talked about it after the crash is that it turned out to be a stupid idea. Consumers instead purchased computers if they wanted computers and consoles if they wanted consoles. End of story. And they all lived happily ever after.
  13. Here's the short answer: It was already a video game recession. The recession would have continued for some time, market corrections would have happened, and the market would have slowly recovered. The computer price war turned the recession into a complete disaster. Why? Because it smashed the price separation between computers and video game systems. And the thinking of the time (as typified by the Commodore commercials) was, "Why buy just a game system when you can buy a computer?" (Notice that people stopped talking about making game systems into computers after the crash. )
  14. Best Voltron game EVAR: http://itunes.apple.com/app/voltron/id339883173?mt=8 I love how when you unpause, the game announces: "And now... back to Voltron: Defender of the Universe!"
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