Atari 2600 Boulder Dash (R) Announced!

[Miss 2600]

I'm surprised the SynthCart is #1. I guess a lot of people like making music. I've played 4 of the games so far that are in the top ten: I have Lady Bug on my Harmony and I have cartridges of Medieval Mayhem, Seawolf and Skeleton+. They are all awesome and I was blown away by the graphics in Lady Bug and Medieval Mayhem. I can see why they are high up in the top 10.

[bomberpunk]

i own the entire top 10 (minus the unshipped). what prize do i win?

[+Nathan Strum]

I own the pretty-much the entire store. What prize do I win?

[Miss 2600]

You win countless hours of top-notch entertainment!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

#8

[Emehr]

#8

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nugzDQjL1Y

[Andrew Davie]

Here's a quick status update for everyone paitiently waiting.

 

The boxes are about to be printed. Design is complete and it's a real beauty. Al will post an update soon showing that artwork.

Cartridge hardware is in-hand and ready for burning of the binaries onto them. However, Thomas and I are leaving delivery of the binary to Al to the *very last possible minute*.

That is, we'll wait until the boxes are actually printed.

 

A couple of reasons for this.

 

1) Thomas and I are still bickering like an old married couple about colours, pixels, artwork, you name it.

2) Occasionally those fights leave us with an improvement.

3) Some of those improvements are really significant.

 

Here's an example; Thomas and I have a quite different view of colour. So we have some 20 screens to "agree" on. Not en easy task with two perfectionists, one being a German!!!

Anyway, most of the screens we're in agreement on, but about hallf a dozen have proven difficult. One of those is/was cave N. Now Thomas's colours just didn't work for me -- and so I've been modifying the colours and sending the results to Thomas who invariablly said that my colour sense was... interesting. No doubt Thomas has been quite annoyed with my changes to what he sees as "perfect". But it has to be *double perfect* for us both to accept, and we have a sort of gentlemens' agreement going where we don't unilaterally do anything.

 

Anyway, I was getting quite exasperated with cave N colouring, especially as I'd done dozens of variants and they were all rejected.

 

So, Thomas took an alternate approach. The problem, as I stated, was that the colours on cave N made the butterflies look the same colour as the diamond (for example). I wanted a clear difference. But Thomas wanted a pure white when the colours mixed (for brickwork, etc). But the brick colour was the prime colour of the butterfly... so the butterflies were mainly white. Kind of mutually exclusive requirements... especially difficult as there wasn't really "whiite", but because that colour was a consequence of the three available colours. So they had to be complimentary. It gets tricky.

 

Thomas decided to redraw the butterfly SHAPE so it used different colour numbers. And that opened the door to... multicolour butterflies.

He's also done the same with the diamonds -- putting a highlight colour (fairly subtle) on the top. Thomas thought I wouldn't much like this change, but I know quality when I see it.

 

Anyway, the attached screenshots are your first preview of the new multicolour butterflies (and fireflies) (and diamonds)! I think they're fabulous -- and of course they look much better animating. Hard to believe, really, that these images are all composed of scanlines with only one colour on each line *and* that there are only three different colours used for the lines.

 

Nathan, Thomas, Albert, Fred and myself are working very hard to bring you the best product we can possibly deliver. And, although we've missed our Christmas delivery we're very close now to putting everything together. I hope that these improvements that have happened while we're all waiting are in some small way compensating for the delay.

 

1. multicolour butterflies.

Click for bigger view.

 

2. Diamonds with highlights.

Click for bigger view.

 

3. One frame of the multicolour firefly. Also shows the subtle diamond shading.

Click for bigger view.

 

 

Cheers

A

 

 

PS: I'm asking Al to put the price up now that most copies are sold. Expect exponential price increases as we approach #250

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Not en easy task with two perfectionists, one being a German...

...and one Tasmanian stubborn

[VectorGamer]

When will this be shipping?

[+Random Terrain]

When will this be shipping?

 

When the fight is over.

[Cebus Capucinis]

When will this be shipping?

 

When the fight is over.

 

"Two versions of code enter, ONE VERSION OF CODE LEAVES!"

 

[bomberpunk]

EXCITE +1

[Fr0st]

Absolutely amazing.

[Godzilla]

and i thought this couldn't possibly be any better looking! deeeamn!

[Goldfish]

If I had any money at this time I'd buy a copy. It looks so good.

 

It's probably been answered in the last 18 pages (can't be bothered to go through them), but, will there be a later, cheaper, cart only release?

[Dino]

If I had any money at this time I'd buy a copy. It looks so good.

 

It's probably been answered in the last 18 pages (can't be bothered to go through them), but, will there be a later, cheaper, cart only release?

 

I believe that the agreement with FSS was for 250 CIB only. I doubt there will be any further releases....

[[d2f]Iggy*SJB]

Question for Al, I may be able to order a second copy, I've already paid for the first copy. If I am able to afford the second, will there be a "combined" shipping cost, or will it be an additional $6? I'm just curious, and thought I'd post the question in this thread, since there may be others doing the same.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Iggy*SJB' timestamp='1328228709' post='2457845']... will there be a "combined" shipping cost, or will it be an additional $6?

How I know Al, I am pretty sure you have to pay the shipping only once.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I doubt there will be any further releases....

That's right.

 

But there are still BD 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

[Andrew Davie]

I believe that the agreement with FSS was for 250 CIB only. I doubt there will be any further releases....

 

You are correct about the quantity. But there are a small number of additional units required for FSS archives, and for various people involved. The total production run is 275, of which 250 are for sale.

I have absolutely no interest in, or plans for, any further production. Ever. That would require a new agreement between all parties, and I'm not going to go through that again. It's not going to happen.

Additionally, the binary will likely never be available, either, due to a) copyright requirements and b) cartridge protection. If you want to play Boulder Dash®, you'll have to own a cartridge.

 

One other thing; the box not only looks fantastic; it has a couple of top secret extras inside.

[+Nathan Strum]

One other thing; the box not only looks fantastic; it has a couple of top secret extras inside.

 

A scoop of dirt and a dead butterfly?

[Andrew Davie]

One other thing; the box not only looks fantastic; it has a couple of top secret extras inside.

 

A scoop of dirt and a dead butterfly?

 

No, a cartridge and a manual. Nobody will expect that.

[SoulBlazer]

EDIT: My original comment here was in regards to the difficult negoations that Andrew went through in being able to get the game produced, and a reference and compairson to the very difficult talks that Hitler and Franco had during WW 2. Although intended as a joke and tongue-in-cheek, Leonard's comment made me realize that perhaps one can know TOO much history (hey, I have a degree in it!) so I have yanked the original post to make sure no one takes it the wrong way.

Edited February 3, 2012 by SoulBlazer

[rolenta]

I'm sure Andrew was happy to be compared to Hitler.

[mtshark7]

Damn! Maybe I should of picked up two copies rather than one?