[COLECO] GhostBlaster

[King_Salamon]

Any news on the progress? Maybe more bugs or did you starting building carts?

 

Come to think about it, perhaps Daniel is sleeping after working so much on the project!

[newcoleco]

Ok, you will not believe it but I've not shipped yet your cartridges. I know, I'm slow. Friday, I ship everything I can.

And I didn't ask you all about the money. I know, I'm slow for that too.

 

And for those who may ask why, well it's something personal and doesn't concern you in any way... I hope you will forgive me for this delay, in particular those who was thinking of getting the game this week.

[King_Salamon]

Ok, you will not believe it but I've not shipped yet your cartridges. I know, I'm slow. Friday, I ship everything I can.

And I didn't ask you all about the money. I know, I'm slow for that too.

 

And for those who may ask why, well it's something personal and doesn't concern you in any way... I hope you will forgive me for this delay, in particular those who was thinking of getting the game this week.

 

I'm not worried... as for your personal situation... you take care of that first, these are only games after all. I hope all is ok with you though!

 

I know you'll send the game when it's ready to go. It's gonna be fun!

[the.golden.ax]

I'm interested if you still have room for one more.

 

AX

[King_Salamon]

I'm interested if you still have room for one more.

 

AX

 

Hope you're not too late Ax! It looks pretty cool and the sounds of Ghostbusters playing makes me smile.

[newcoleco]

I'm interested if you still have room for one more.

 

AX

To help me out, and make sure "the.golden.ax" will get a cartridge too, AtariAge will take care of some of the orders by using a bunch of transparent casings and labels I will send by mail this week. AtariAge will uses their own pcbs so that part will be different, but the game will be the same.

 

Meanwhile, I will order a few more transparent labels to make some extra cartridges, because it appears that I will need more after all. And I'm about to re-encode the music to make a specific version for (PAL) CBS ColecoVision systems.

 

And I have a good news for those who can't wait to play the game, I've released the ROM file to the public domain. Go check the first message of this topic, or visit my blog at :

http://newcoleco.dev-fr.org/p4155/2009-06-14-colecovision-ghostblaster.html

 

And to the first one who will eventually complain about the artificial rarety : I did give for free my time and energy, and I did give away the ROM file too, so leave me alone with the rarety and go play something else.

[youki]

Hi Daniel,

 

Why do you re-encode the music for PAL system. I tried your game on my SECAM console (50hz like PAL) it sounds really awesome.

[newcoleco]

Hi Daniel,

 

Why do you re-encode the music for PAL system. I tried your game on my SECAM console (50hz like PAL) it sounds really awesome.

The idea is to try to get the same music speed for both NTSC and PAL systems, that's all. If I can't do it, the actual version will be used for all the cartridges.

 

You should try the final version, you will notice some improvements.

Edited August 24, 2009 by newcoleco

[doubledown]

I've still not received a message in regards to payment for my copy yet. No urgent pressure implied, I just want to make sure I didn't miss a message or e-mail that may have been sent.

[Pixelboy]

I've still not received a message in regards to payment for my copy yet. No urgent pressure implied, I just want to make sure I didn't miss a message or e-mail that may have been sent.

Same goes for me.

[Ikrananka]

I've still not received a message in regards to payment for my copy yet. No urgent pressure implied, I just want to make sure I didn't miss a message or e-mail that may have been sent.

Same goes for me.

ditto

[newcoleco]

I'm sorry in advance for the time I'm taking for the cartridges and for collecting money. I don't want to rush itand forget someone. I'm the slowest guy in the world at the moment... I know, it takes me an hour to write a message like this one.

 

Meanwhile, try the rom file if you can. And if you eventually prefer to not pay for a cartridge version, let me know... I will not be offended.

 

A few more random things :

 

I have titled this game Ghostblaster without a 's' at the end because the guy in my game is alone... like the first movie Alien, without a 's'. Maybe one day there will be a Ghostblasters, refering as a sequal and being part of a group. When it will happends? I don't know, but a two players mode should be could, but it's impossible with this game engine that focus on a single player always at the center of the action. GhostBlaster is my first game with the most unknow consequences, exploring new possibilities like the entire game moving around the player all the time and parralax which I'm very proud of it. It's also the first time I'm using the famous pause button *... there was no real space in ROM for a pause music, but the pause button works well.

 

* FIRST REVIEW *

 

MaximumRD's review about GhostBlaster

 

Edited August 27, 2009 by newcoleco

[King_Salamon]

Nice to see someone game the game a review already! I'll be playing mine tomorrow (I received a notice today!!) so perhaps after I spend some time with the game I will be able to post a mini-review in this thread.

[newcoleco]

Nice to see someone game the game a review already! I'll be playing mine tomorrow (I received a notice today!!) so perhaps after I spend some time with the game I will be able to post a mini-review in this thread.

Wow! the shipping was faster than expected. I was thinking you may got it tomorrow or friday. Well, that's gerat news!

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

MY 50th VIDEO! I am proud to present as my 50th video upload a look at the great new homebrew game for COLECOVISION lovingly created by master programmer Daniel Bienvenu aka newcoleco. Find out more by visiting his channel or blog (links below) and thanks for another great title we can enjoy on our beloved Colecovision's!

 

[newcoleco]

MY 50th VIDEO! I am proud to present as my 50th video upload a look at the great new homebrew game for COLECOVISION lovingly created by master programmer Daniel Bienvenu aka newcoleco. Find out more by visiting his channel or blog (links below) and thanks for another great title we can enjoy on our beloved Colecovision's!

 

I was about to write you a message asking you if you don't mind if I add your review in my GhostBlaster playlist.

[King_Salamon]

I started playing about an hour ago and it's awesome! The first stage is pretty easy and the levels get interesting! I like level 3 a lot! I'm still really impressed with the music! That theme song sounds sooo good on the Colecovision! I'll probably be humming that tune all day at work tomorrow!

 

I notice that there are practice levels but I didn't try those yet. I think I will play the full game first.

 

So far it's awesome Daniel! Great job and congrats on a job well done. As for the scrolling of the background... I'm not a programmer but it looks amazing. I don't recall seeing that done on the Colecovision before! Bravo!

[newcoleco]

Thanks for these nice words! It's really appreciated!

 

I'm proud to annonce that someone you know well did a good job to give us the extra this game deserve, a manual. A zip file is now available, free as a "print it yourself" version, but there is a possibility to ask for a paper copy of it, but not from me, from the author of this manual. I think I should let him present his good work and the details about how to get a paper version.

 

Print it yourself - GhostBlaster Instructions Manual : GHOSTBLASTER Manual PDFs.zip

[doubledown]

For those of you who wish to print out a manual to accompany your game cartrdige here are some simple instructions for you:

 

This file contains the full GHOSTBLASTER instruction manual. The files contained within are named:

 

Ghostblaster 1 Front

Ghostblaster 1 Rear

Ghostblaster 2 Front

Ghostblaster 2 Rear

Ghostblaster 3 Front

Ghostblaster 3 Rear

Ghostblaster 4 Front

Ghostblaster 4 Rear

 

To print out these files and create an assembled game manual, follow these instructions.

 

Open and print the file Ghostblaster 1 Front (paper and resolution settings are of your choice/preference/capabilities). Once the ink/toner has dried, re-insert this printed page back into your printer, in the proper manner in which you will be now printing on the reverse (blank) side of the paper. (See your printer's instruction manual for proper orientation.) Now open and print the file Ghostblaster 1 Rear. You will now have 1 complete page of this booklet printed. Repeat this process for 2 Front & Rear, 3 Front & Rear, and 4 Front & Rear. Once all four booklet pages are printed and dried, stack them in their proper numerical page order making sure to carefully align all edges. Install 2 staples through the front cover (1 Front) at the locations on what will become the spine, where the two small vertical black lines are. Using a paper cutter, straight-edge and knife, or a pair of scissors, cut along the top and bottm edges of the manual outline on the cover (1 Front). Now fold the manual in half, making sure to line up all of the edges as you do so. Once the manual is folded, using a paper cutter, straight-edge and knife, or a pair of scissors, cut along the black line that will be come the booklet's opening edge on the front cover (1 Front). There you have it...one completely assembled instruction manaul to pair with your GHOSTBLASTER video game cartridge.

 

If anyone wants a professionally printed/assembled copy of this manual, it will be $2.50, which covers my cost for the materials and first class shipping within the U.S. Send me a PM if you are interested.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Your awesome! Thanks for the manual!

 

 

For those of you who wish to print out a manual to accompany your game cartrdige here are some simple instructions for you:

 

This file contains the full GHOSTBLASTER instruction manual. The files contained within are named:

 

Ghostblaster 1 Front

Ghostblaster 1 Rear

Ghostblaster 2 Front

Ghostblaster 2 Rear

Ghostblaster 3 Front

Ghostblaster 3 Rear

Ghostblaster 4 Front

Ghostblaster 4 Rear

 

To print out these files and create an assembled game manual, follow these instructions.

 

Open and print the file Ghostblaster 1 Front (paper and resolution settings are of your choice/preference/capabilities). Once the ink/toner has dried, re-insert this printed page back into your printer, in the proper manner in which you will be now printing on the reverse (blank) side of the paper. (See your printer's instruction manual for proper orientation.) Now open and print the file Ghostblaster 1 Rear. You will now have 1 complete page of this booklet printed. Repeat this process for 2 Front & Rear, 3 Front & Rear, and 4 Front & Rear. Once all four booklet pages are printed and dried, stack them in their proper numerical page order making sure to carefully align all edges. Install 2 staples through the front cover (1 Front) at the locations on what will become the spine, where the two small vertical black lines are. Using a paper cutter, straight-edge and knife, or a pair of scissors, cut along the top and bottm edges of the manual outline on the cover (1 Front). Now fold the manual in half, making sure to line up all of the edges as you do so. Once the manual is folded, using a paper cutter, straight-edge and knife, or a pair of scissors, cut along the black line that will be come the booklet's opening edge on the front cover (1 Front). There you have it...one completely assembled instruction manaul to pair with your GHOSTBLASTER video game cartridge.

 

If anyone wants a professionally printed/assembled copy of this manual, it will be $2.50, which covers my cost for the materials and first class shipping within the U.S. Send me a PM if you are interested.

[King_Salamon]

Can you send one to me in Canada? I'd like a manual for this game please.

[doubledown]

Can you send one to me in Canada? I'd like a manual for this game please.

 

For shipping to Canada it would be $2.80 (2.00 for manual 0.80 for shipping) for a non-cardboard protected manual shipped first class mail in a regular envelope. If you'd want it shipped with some protection, give me a couple days to get one packaged up and weighed to see how much extra the cardboard and "rigidity" will add to the shipping price.

[King_Salamon]

Can you send one to me in Canada? I'd like a manual for this game please.

 

For shipping to Canada it would be $2.80 (2.00 for manual 0.80 for shipping) for a non-cardboard protected manual shipped first class mail in a regular envelope. If you'd want it shipped with some protection, give me a couple days to get one packaged up and weighed to see how much extra the cardboard and "rigidity" will add to the shipping price.

 

Ok keep me posted... I want one for sure! Love that music in the game... need to play some more when I get a bit of time. Ahh such is life... lol

[newcoleco]

* NEWS *

 

Another batch of 10 carts will be done this week, so I will contact about 10 more people as soon as monday to know if you want to pay with paypal, or do a trade.

 

This weekend I was working on a video by making footage and I've decided to take a break instead. But, I did something important about this project and it's releasing the source code. So, you can download teh rom, the source code, the manual... plus the videos about the project, plus later a web page. I think I can't do more than that to let people know about the game and play with it.

 

And to all the guys who did port ColEm to many systems, please consider to take a look at Marat web site for the next release of ColEm. Marat did promise me to add support of the screen mode I'm using in my projects and consider to fix the incorrect periodic noise rendering, so the new ColEm version will allow the gamers to use ColEm to play this game properly. If you know the guys who did port ColEm for the Wiz or DS or PSP or whatever, told them to check for the new release of ColEm source code sooner or later.

 

 

TODO :

 

I have to order more labels because I didn't order enough. After days, I do think I can manage for a PAL version which will consist only on music change to run at the same speed as the NTSC version... but the rest of the game will stay exactly the same... but named REV.B instead of REV.A ...and teh PAL version will not be available in he next days, it will takes more than that I'm afraid because I have to return into the music coding I've done long time ago now.

[doubledown]

Just a little update in regards to the Ghostblaster Manuals. Everyone who has contacted me about a printed manual is concerned with a "protected" shipping option to help prevent the post office from damaging their manual (I completely understand). So in addition to standard first class shipping, I'm also offering a "protected" shipping method. Both methods will be via First Class mail in a standard envelope, but the "protected" version will be within a protective cardboard sleeve. So the updated manual pricing is as follows:

 

Manual - $2.00

 

U.S. First Class - $0.50

Protected U.S. First Class - $1.00

 

Canadian First Class - $0.80

Protected Canadian First Class - $1.25

 

 

I believe I sent a PM with the "protected" option to all those who have already contacted me via PM. If I missed you, or we haven't been in contact yet about the manual but you are interested in one, send me a PM for PayPal and money order payment details.