Atari 2600 & Vectrex video game release party in Ottawa,

[Christopher Tumber]

Who: You

Where: Invisible Cinema, 319 Lisgar Street, Ottawa

When: 7pm, Tuesday, Nov 5, 2002

Why: Release party for my 4th Vectrex cartridge, UTG and 1st Atari 2600 cartridge, Space Instigators.

 

 

Bring your tradebait!

 

 

Binaries: (Works in progress - Space Instigators is a couple days away from completion, UTG is a couple weeks away...)

 

http://www.capitalSsoftware.com/Instigators.bin

http://www.capitalSsoftware.com/UTG.bin *

 

Screenshots:

 

http://www.capitalSsoftware.com/Instigators.gif

http://www.capitalSsoftware.com/UTG.gif

 

Driving directions: Get off Hwy 417 (Queensway) at Metcalfe Street. Go NORTH on Metcalfe (you can't go South). Stay on Metcalfe as it winds around the museum (If you wind up on Elgin street, go NORTH on Elgin and follow the directions for Metcalfe, you're just one block over). Take Metcalfe NORTH about 8 blocks until you reach Lisgar turn LEFT (WEST) on Lisgar (it's a one-way street). Invisble Cinema is two blocks away, at Bank Street. Look for the BIG BLUE DOOR (North side of the street) between the Bible House and Wallack's Art Supplies. There's parking on Lisgar on both sides of Bank Street, you don't need to put money in the parking meter after 5:30pm.

 

Yahoo Map: http://ca.maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?BFCat=...t%A0Map=Get+Map

 

 

*Note: UTG is designed for use with a VecLink cable and currently won't work without one, there will be a single player mode, just not yet...

[smile_walle]

Ahhhh!! I wish to be there in Ottawa, beacuse I did lived in kanata (west from Ottawa) about two years ago....oh well....

 

I said "maybe" I will be there, if I move there from Vancouver before Nov. 5th?? Im not going for sure??

 

I know Ottawa's location very well!

[Snider-man]

A Battlezone Vectrex clone?!? I am truly impressed - and in Hell 'cause I'll never be able to get to the release party. Nice work on both games!

[DEBRO]

A Battlezone Vectrex clone?!? I am truly impressed - and in Hell 'cause I'll never be able to get to the release party. Nice work on both games!

 

I'm impressed with him getting 9 characters on one scan line on the 2600. WOW!!!

 

Space Invaders had your typical 6, Galaxian had 7 (another impressive maneuver), now 9 characters. And they move too.

 

Very impressive

[Witchfynde]

A Battlezone Vectrex clone?!? I am truly impressed - and in Hell 'cause I'll never be able to get to the release party. Nice work on both games!

 

Yes, excellent! But they did Battlezone for the 2600 (didn't seem that great), so the Vectrex isn't really that much of a surprise.

 

Bummer, though! It'd be amazing to buy something new for my Vectrex, something I haven't done since 1988-'90 or so.

[MegaManFan]

Bummer, though!  It'd be amazing to buy something new for my Vectrex, something I haven't done since 1988-'90 or so.

 

The brilliant thing about Vectrex (and the whole reason I own two) is that it's got a homebrew scene equal to (and perhaps as old or maybe older) than the VCS scene. I picked two new games in the last 90 days alone: one at the CGExpo, and one that was also available at the show but sold out by mail order.

[Rob Mitchell]

The brilliant thing about Vectrex (and the whole reason I own two) is that it's got a homebrew scene equal to (and perhaps as old or maybe older) than the VCS scene.  I picked two new games in the last 90 days alone: one at the CGExpo, and one that was also available at the show but sold out by mail order.

 

Congratulations to Chris Tumber! Amazing achievement!

 

The Vectrex homebrew scene began in 1996 and has really taken off in the last 2 years. When did the 2600 homebrew scene begin?

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

(Vecvoice distributer in North America)

[Witchfynde]

Bummer, though!  It'd be amazing to buy something new for my Vectrex, something I haven't done since 1988-'90 or so.

 

The brilliant thing about Vectrex (and the whole reason I own two) is that it's got a homebrew scene equal to (and perhaps as old or maybe older) than the VCS scene. I picked two new games in the last 90 days alone: one at the CGExpo, and one that was also available at the show but sold out by mail order.

 

Yeah, I've seen the stuff that John Dondzilla (sp?) has done with his games. Looks, sounds, and reviews pretty good to me...

[Rob Mitchell]

Dondzila is the correct spelling ..

 

Chris:

 

Your Space Instigators game screen rolls on the Cuttle Cart ...

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[slapdash]

The brilliant thing about Vectrex (and the whole reason I own two) is that it's got a homebrew scene equal to (and perhaps as old or maybe older) than the VCS scene.

 

The Vectrex homebrew scene began in 1996 and has really taken off in the last 2 years. When did the 2600 homebrew scene begin?

 

I don't know about a "scene", but Ed Federmeyer's "Edtris" is copyright 1995, and he did SoundX before that (1994?).

 

Also, the Stella mailing list for 2600 programmers started in Oct 1996, so that's another important milestone I guess.

 

On the other hand, there were people hacking the Vectrex and writing demos further back (at least 1990 or prior), though no complete new games that I know of.

 

And on the other hand's other hand, I've heard rumors -- never proven! -- of some racist/nazi 2600 games available in NYC before the crash. Dunno about that one...

[Vic George 2K3]

The Space Instigators game demo is good, but where are the bombs?

[ubersaurus]

I'm interested in that Tempest clone for vectrex...what game pack is it on?

[Rob Mitchell]

I'm interested in that Tempest clone for vectrex...what game pack is it on?

 

The Tempest clone for the Vectrex is called Tsunami (Chris Tumber:2002). It has VIX (QIX clone) on the same cart.

 

Vectrex Tsunami is the first modern game to use the Atari Driving Controller (Stell-a-sketch really isn't a game).

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[ubersaurus]

All I need is to find a vectrex, and that game is super mine, cuz I got two driving controllers that say "we love tempest".

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The Space Instigators game demo is good, but where are the bombs?

That's why it's called a 'demo'.

[+Cafeman]

Wow. At first I looked at Space Instigators and thought "what is the difference from Space Invaders?". Now I know.

 

UTG looks awesome -- two linked Vectrii head to head?

 

I can't drive to Canada, I will have to wait for the Philly classic 2003 to see these games, I suppose.

 

I have NEVER seen a Vectrex machine actually for sale, incidentally.

[Christopher Tumber]

I'll try to takle this all in one post:

 

- First, thanks to all for your encouragement!

 

- Space Instigators is a WIP, hence no incoming shots yet, you can't die, yet, etc

 

- It does roll on most real machines (Cuttle Cart or Supercharger) though not mine - I'm using a Commodore 1701 and those old Commodore monitors have a rock solid vertical hold (Hence the surprise)! (Wish I had about ten of those things, they rock!) Should be pretty much fixed now, turns out I wasn't drawing nearly as many scanlines as I'd thought. It actually looks quite a bit better now as there's a lot more room between the bottom row of Instigators and your ship at the begining of a wave.

 

- I'll be posting an updated (hopefully completed) version later this week-end.

 

- All my games are available directly from me through my website (Not updated yet to reflect my 2600 work) at www.capitalSsoftware.com. Space Instigators and UTG won't be available until next month, obviously. Instigators and my future 2600 games will almost certainly be available through the Atari Age store as well.

 

- The VecLink cable works really, really well (Wish I could take credit for it, but it took Alex Herbert to implement it). I'm pretty much expecting the same thing to happen as the GBA where most carts include a link-up option. I realise a lot of people don't have a single Vectrex, let alone two but if you do it's pretty cool! And they're not really rare (There's at least a half dozen avaliable on eBay at any time and at least 2 of them sold at PhillyClassic2) just highly sought after.

 

- I am NOT a hardware guy, but, my understanding is that there's no reason the VecLink (or something very similar) couldn't work on the 2600. So should the Vectrex 3D glasses for that matter! (Hmmm....)

[Rob Mitchell]

It does roll on most real machines (Cuttle Cart or Supercharger) ...  Should be pretty much fixed now, turns out I wasn't drawing nearly as many scanlines as I'd thought. - It actually looks quite a bit better now as there's a lot more room between the bottom row of Instigators and your ship at the begining of a wave.   I'll be posting an updated (hopefully completed) version later this week-end.

 

Look forward to the game!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[NE146]

hellz yeah that ROCKS.

[Mayhem]

Look forward to UTG as I know some people with Vectrexs that could link up at parties etc. I presume each Vectrex will need a copy of the game, right?

 

BTW Chris, are you any relation to Andrew Tumber? Some guy also in Canada that I do some buying/trading with from time to time...

[Spector]

What about making a PAL version of the game as well?

It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the colo(u)rs. It's especially important for games like this Space Invaders copy, which looks like emulating the original pretty closely.

[Christopher Tumber]

Look forward to UTG as I know some people with Vectrexs that could link up at parties etc. I presume each Vectrex will need a copy of the game, right?

 

Yeah, there's not really any way around that. (Hey, it worked for Pokemon! Maybe I should do UTG Red, UTG Blue, UTG Yellow )

 

BTW Chris, are you any relation to Andrew Tumber? Some guy also in Canada that I do some buying/trading with from time to time...

 

Yup, he's my brother.

[Christopher Tumber]

What about making a PAL version of the game as well?  

It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the colo(u)rs. It's especially important for games like this Space Invaders copy, which looks like emulating the original pretty closely.

 

Yes, there'll almost certainly be a PAL version. My understanding is that it's pretty straightforeward (just adding scanlines and changing colours) but I haven't really looked into it yet.