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Star Castle 2600 2011 at Video Game Summit


solidcorp

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Yes. Exactly that. I make Atari 2600 lamps. I am the creator of the "kitsch" you singled out. Perhaps it would be better if I just took pictures of the things I make and tell everyone they can't have one?

 

DOH!

 

I had no idea I was speaking directly to you.

 

I'm not going to take back my honest feelings about repurchasing Atari consoles and carts that way, but I will say that I am sorry for referring to it as kitsch, and my last post about the glue etc... You have a right to do what you want with them.

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Ceb, all you have to do is sell one lamp for $32,768 and you should be able to afford to commission a set of injection molds to make new cartridge shells for the homebrews. Tada! Instant Atari Karma!!!! As far as reurposing the consoles goes, I refer to the words of a very wise man, who once said...

Holy $#!T!!! Reality check, bro......there are not enough riot / stella / TIA chips left to make all the broken Atari's in the world whol again anyway, so why not do something awesome to bring more attention to the hobby. Ceb thanks for being willing to make me the most awesome thing ever; a Sears Atari lamp!!

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In all honesty I feel a little sad with all of this. You've obviously put a lot of effort into making a quality conversion, but it's quite obvious no one will ever be able to enjoy it.

 

Yeah, I feel a little bit like the orphan boy watching the rich people through the window eat their Christmas dinner. Kinda wondering why things are the way they are, and all hungry inside.

 

 

I'd gladly pay $25-$30 for a homebrew such as this, but $32,000+ is just plain absurd.

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In all honesty I feel a little sad with all of this. You've obviously put a lot of effort into making a quality conversion, but it's quite obvious no one will ever be able to enjoy it.

 

Yeah, I feel a little bit like the orphan boy watching the rich people through the window eat their Christmas dinner. Kinda wondering why things are the way they are, and all hungry inside.

 

 

I'd gladly pay $25-$30 for a homebrew such as this, but $32,000+ is just plain absurd.

 

I'm sad about this entire conversation.

 

Thank you for your compliment.

 

A lot of whats been said has been absurd.

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That's just 50 cents a byte for the whole cart, or $4 a byte for the 8K Star Castle runs out of.
If somebody can't afford the whole shebang, can he pick which bytes are bought? ;) :D

 

 

I made Star Castle on the 2600 because Howard Scott Warshaw made Yars Revenge instead of a port of Star Castle and repeatedly said that a "decent version couldn't be done" or "it would suck" in subsequent interviews. I did it to prove it could be done.
To be fair, it's proof only if you stuck to known programming techniques. Even besides that, however, the modern cross-programmer has tons of resources and utilites that didn't exist in Atari's heyday...so there is no way to be on equal footing with the pioneers.

 

So what he said is true.

 

...from a certian point-of-view.
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A lot of whats been said has been absurd.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

:rolling:

 

What's truly sad is that we (Atari Age) comprise THE single largest 2600 community in the world. Largest group of people in one fell swoop that would care about such a release. And this is how it's going down. I've been guilty of contributing my two cents, but am a little surprised this thread continues. Solidcorp has made his feelings known. Well known by now. I say we just let this whole thread go into obscurity, which is right where his game is probably going to end up :)

 

:deadhorse: :skull: :pirate: :dunce: :sad:

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A lot of whats been said has been absurd.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

:rolling:

 

What's truly sad is that we (Atari Age) comprise THE single largest 2600 community in the world. Largest group of people in one fell swoop that would care about such a release. And this is how it's going down. I've been guilty of contributing my two cents, but am a little surprised this thread continues. Solidcorp has made his feelings known. Well known by now. I say we just let this whole thread go into obscurity, which is right where his game is probably going to end up :)

 

I would tend to agree, I believe most everyone that cares has said their peace already. We have certainly generated a lot of hoopla. Let's all sit back now and wait for future developments. If some come to pass, great! If none come to pass, ohh well..

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That's just 50 cents a byte for the whole cart, or $4 a byte for the 8K Star Castle runs out of.
If somebody can't afford the whole shebang, can he pick which bytes are bought? ;) :D

:)

To be fair, it's proof only if you stuck to known programming techniques. Even besides that, however, the modern cross-programmer has tons of resources and utilites that didn't exist in Atari's heyday...so there is no way to be on equal footing with the pioneers.

 

So what he said is true.

 

...from a certian point-of-view.

I agree completely. I tried to be historically accurate & I stuck to known programming techniques. I pulled out my 6502 book, documentation, and perforated printouts from when I worked at Atari. I did use Stella and Harmony, wonderful tools that no doubt made a difference. Someone else also pointed out how much time I spent on the project which is a good point too.

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Once again I am defending myself.

 

No need. It's your game and your decision... no matter what anyone tries to tell you, you don't have an obligation to distribute it online. I think you've got the right idea about selling the cartridge on eBay and uploading the ROM at a later date... that way everybody wins, eventually. Don't let the chiselers convince you that your work is worth nothing, and that you MUST give it to them NOW.

 

At risk of diverting the topic, I was really impressed with how arcade-faithful Roadblasters was. Did you use code from the original game or just obsessively play it during development? I've played a lot of arcade ports in my time and this is one of the most accurate I've seen, released at a time when arcade perfection wasn't exactly job one for developers (see every NES game ever made). There's an Easter Egg in the arcade game that you can find by hitting turbo just as you reach the finish line... the car shoots past it to the horizon while a female voice remarks, "Now THAT'S cruisin'!" IT'S ACTUALLY IN THE LYNX VERSION! Now THAT'S attention to detail!

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I would tend to agree, I believe most everyone that cares has said their peace already. We have certainly generated a lot of hoopla. Let's all sit back now and wait for future developments. If some come to pass, great! If none come to pass, ohh well..

Exactly. Not like we're talking about a primo 2600 version (with speech) of Zektor or anything like that. :rolling: :lol: :grin:

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Cool, that means I can lock this nonsense now?

 

BTW, You make carts right? Did you ever make the carts with the LEDs? ...I remember you being interested.

What's your maximum capacity?

 

I've made many carts with LED's, why? Are you talking about any of my many different PCB's, when you ask about capacity?

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It's your game . . .

:lol:

 

 

 

 

I did use Stella and Harmony, wonderful tools that no doubt made a difference. Someone else also pointed out how much time I spent on the project which is a good point too.

What! What! What?!!! This violation has ruined everything! When the ROM becomes available, we AtariAge members will refuse to play it because it has been tainted by the future! The future!!!

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Once again I am defending myself.

 

No need. It's your game and your decision... no matter what anyone tries to tell you, you don't have an obligation to distribute it online. I think you've got the right idea about selling the cartridge on eBay and uploading the ROM at a later date... that way everybody wins, eventually. Don't let the chiselers convince you that your work is worth nothing, and that you MUST give it to them NOW.

 

At risk of diverting the topic, I was really impressed with how arcade-faithful Roadblasters was. Did you use code from the original game or just obsessively play it during development? I've played a lot of arcade ports in my time and this is one of the most accurate I've seen, released at a time when arcade perfection wasn't exactly job one for developers (see every NES game ever made). There's an Easter Egg in the arcade game that you can find by hitting turbo just as you reach the finish line... the car shoots past it to the horizon while a female voice remarks, "Now THAT'S cruisin'!" IT'S ACTUALLY IN THE LYNX VERSION! Now THAT'S attention to detail!

 

Thanks, I don't consider the people here in the Atari 2600 programming forum chiselers, and I really regret using the word kitsch today (I did say that I had an irrational aversion to reuse of Atari games, but enough about that).

 

Anyway,

 

I got the source code very late in the project, most was having the coin op right next to my desk. There's another Easter egg where you run into a cannon at the end of each level you can get like 10000 points, that we got in. I worked with Steve Ryno, who was a professional game player before producer at Atari and he let me in on a lot of the details. The game is interesting too, fuel consumption gets worse the longer you play - I don't think you can finish the game without feeding quarters, but you don't have to die to reset the counter, just put money in. If I remember correctly there is a comment on the code (that I still have printed out somewhere) that says something to the effect of "this is where we embezzle money from the player". I laughed my butt off when I read that.

 

There are a few more Easter eggs where you can see my face or Matt Scott, the audio engineer's face and warp to almost any level - you can find those on the web. The end music was really cool too.

Edited by solidcorp
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Don't be so hard on yourself.

Some of you guys are just ruthless.

 

I believe that it is physically impossible for RT to ignore a "straight line". He would probably explode like the fat guy in "Meaning of Life". Solidcorp, I do have to say that you have dealt with the whole thing (the difference of opinion, the reponse, and the guys who just want to get a laugh) pretty calmy and respectfully.

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Once again I am defending myself.
No need. It's your game and your decision... no matter what anyone tries to tell you, you don't have an obligation to distribute it online.

 

Well said. It's always a bonus when a programmer chooses to make his work public, but there is never an obligation for them to do so. Most of the time, they choose to so that many people have a chance to enjoy their work (instead of only one). I'd bet cash money that some of them are carrying secrets around in their beans that they never shared with ANYONE (just because they haven't found a way to exploit it effectively yet).

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Cool, that means I can lock this nonsense now?

 

BTW, You make carts right? Did you ever make the carts with the LEDs? ...I remember you being interested.

What's your maximum capacity?

 

I've made many carts with LED's, why? Are you talking about any of my many different PCB's, when you ask about capacity?

 

I was just curious, I haven't seen any with LED's, but I haven't exactly been looking, and didn't know what capacities you had made either. Your PCBs are available, no?

 

Yea, perhaps a better question is do you have a link to your online store, or many different PCB's?

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Hey wait... I just caught this... so you used Harmony in developing this game? I thought your had written a proprietary bank switching scheme for Star Castle. Harmony happened to have support for that built in?

 

And now I understand the price. Deep inside the text of 'terms of use', that hardly anybody bothers to read, the authors and developers of Stella and Harmony, respectively, have a clause that includes them in any proceeds when people sell their wares commercially. So there. D. Scott isn't the only one that stands to make out here. Share the wealth 'yo! :lol:

 

Please realize that no matter what happens or has been said, most of us here have a sense of humor. Might not always align with yours or each other, but a sense of humor nonetheless. :)

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