Team Pixelboy news bulletin - May 27th 2010

[Pixelboy]

Hello retro-people.

 

Just wanted to keep y'all up to date on everyone's favorite vaporware ColecoVision publisher, namely Team Pixelboy. For those of you who were wondering why my first few games haven't been released yet, this latest news bulletin is for you.

 

The Gulkave, Girl's Garden and Peek-a-boo cartridges are all ready, and so are the manuals. The big problem I've been having is with the boxes. I had the boxes printed by the printer company that CollectorVision usually does business with. Not only did they take three full months to deliver the goods, but I spent the next two months afterwards trying to find a proper way to cut out the extra cardboard, because the printer didn't offer the cutting/creasing service.

 

Last week-end, I tried cutting the boxes with an X-acto knife, with the help of a custom metal guide. The results were disastrous. And I didn't fare much better with cissors either. This made me realize how low quality the cardboard really was, and the color print quality was equally bad, with certain colors (like the pink on the Girl's Garden boxes) prone to smudging. I dare not imagine what would happen if water came in contact with those boxes!

 

So there I was, with 300+ boxes to cut and crease, along with the certainty that the results were going to be bad. I just said "No way, Osé", and I have decided to push back the release of my first three games to next October. This will give me time to get the boxes re-printed, using offset-printing like Opcode Games uses for their boxes. I learned my lesson here, and I want to do this right.

 

But that's not all: The continued patience of my customers will be rewarded with the addition of a fourth title available for purchase, which will probably be ready by next October, namely Pitfall II Arcade!

 

Very sorry for the extended wait, but it will be worth it, I assure you.

[DickNixonArisen]

Will they be sold through AA, and at what price level?

[retroillucid]

Yeah, Printing Services I usually go with, goes pretty BAD in the last orders

That's why Luc & I decide to find another source for Printing stuff

 

Offset is simply the way to go to get professional printing services

[+evg2000]

I'd rather wait and have a better product, and I'm looking forward to the four game also. I guess I better start saving as October is going to be expensive! And when you say next October, do you mean October 2010 (5 months from now) or October 2011 (17 months from now)?

 

 

charles

[retroillucid]

I'd rather wait and have a better product, and I'm looking forward to the four game also. I guess I better start saving as October is going to be expensive! And when you say next October, do you mean October 2010 (5 months from now) or October 2011 (17 months from now)?

 

 

charles

 

I guess is next October

[Pixelboy]

Will they be sold through AA, and at what price level?

I haven't decided if they're going to be sold through AA yet, but if Albert wants some copies to sell on the AA store, perhaps we can come to an agreement. We'll see. It's a sure thing that Good Deal Games will have some copies to sell, by the way.

 

Anyhow, the price point will be in the 35-40$ range. Pitfall II Arcade may be a tad more expensive, because I'm having the box art done by a professional artist, and that ain't cheap.

 

Yeah, Printing Services I usually go with, goes pretty BAD in the last orders

That's why Luc & I decide to find another source for Printing stuff

 

Offset is simply the way to go to get professional printing services

Well, your "old" printer company did a pretty good job with the cartridge stickers. If your "new" printer company can print cart stickers also, be sure to let me know.

 

I'd rather wait and have a better product, and I'm looking forward to the four game also. I guess I better start saving as October is going to be expensive! And when you say next October, do you mean October 2010 (5 months from now) or October 2011 (17 months from now)?

As the ColecoVision vaporware expert, I would say 2012... No, seriously, we're talking October 2010. Like I said, the carts and manuals for the first three games are all ready, but there's still some work to do:

 

1) I have to rework all my box templates into pure Adobe Illustrator files (they were simple PNG images before, printed as-is). Most of it is already Illustrator material, so it's no big deal. I just need a basic box cutout template to work with, and that will hopefully be resolved soon.

 

2) In order to get a lower per-box price for the printed boxes, I need to place a large order. So I have decided to have the boxes for Track & Field and Space Shuttle printed in advance, as part of the same print order. I haven't even begun to design the box templates for those two games, and Track & Field in particular will take quite a while to vectorize under Illustrator. I'll be doing that this summer, along with the Pitfall II Arcade box template (as soon as the artist I hired is done with the main box artwork).

[retroillucid]

Well, your "old" printer company did a pretty good job with the cartridge stickers. If your "new" printer company can print cart stickers also, be sure to let me know.

 

I'll only use their services for the labels, since I always been satisfied with them

 

As for the boxes, I'll now use professional offset services... I've seen what they look like, and I can tell you that is WAY BETTER than anything I ever seen in homebrew games

Very amazing actually!

The only downside? ... I've to order a minimum of 250 boxes per game, but this no big deal since some store will now carry my games (wich will help for a fastest shipping )

[+cmart604]

Sounds good Luc, I don't mind waiting and am happy to add a fourth game to the "things I'm sending Luc money for list"!

[purenergy]

Everything sounds great. Hope the new boxes come out well.

[Pixelboy]

Sounds good Luc, I don't mind waiting and am happy to add a fourth game to the "things I'm sending Luc money for list"!

One more reason why I'm glad I didn't ask anyone to pay for their copies in advance.

[rpgcollector]

I am on the list for your first 3 games and will also buy Pitfall II. I don't mind the wait for a quality product. I love boxed games

[JEFF31]

I am on the list for your first 3 games and will also buy Pitfall II. I don't mind the wait for a quality product. I love boxed games

 

 

So am I. I agree also. So do I.

 

But even better would be to buy the new carts and manuals NOW (So I could play then ) then have the boxes shipped when I ordered Pitfall II... (would shipping be that much different?)

 

I suppose there are some headaches for you in this idea but just a thought...