What's the deal with Star Castle 2600?

[tremoloman2006]

I like both screens but I think Nathan's would look better and more eye-catching in yellow.

[Joe Musashi]

Hi Joe,

 

Thanks for posting your title screen code. I like the way that you used the ball and missile sprites to draw the red ring.

 

If you had been two weeks earlier I would be happy to use your code, but I have already implemented a title screen that Nathan produced:

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

No problem at all. Since Nathan did some great artwork for your previous games, I kind of expected this. I just thought I should post the kernel just in case.

 

That's actually a cool idea to make the ring that big, so that the line and dot structures are better visible than in the original size.

 

Seems, Star Castle is now the game with the most title screen variations on the VCS

[tep392]

Star Castle is not a dead license after all.

 

I have persueded the licensor to give me permission to find a buyer for my cartridge.

 

After years of searching, emails, and phone calls it feels very good to have the legitamacy I wanted in the first place.

 

Scott

 

Yawn.

[+iesposta]

Going slightly off topic, it IS possible to make some money off of this programming hobby if you wanted to do so.

Take, for instance the REMAKE OF THE 1979 CINEMATRONICS SLEEPER HIT Sundance or Stardance for the Vectrex.

Read the review in the new issue of Retrocade magazine. There are three working machines known.

Never gave it much interest, but I'm about all things Vectrex and I still haven't bought this $30 game.

In January and February the author auctioned three of three "Box Sets" of Sundance in three auctions for a total of $1,196.22 That is a pretty nice return! Also note that the game isn't as beloved as Star Castle.

[Edit] My math was wrong...

[Dino]

Going slightly off topic, it IS possible to make some money off of this programming hobby if you wanted to do so.

Take, for instance the REMAKE OF THE 1979 CINEMATRONICS SLEEPER HIT Sundance or Stardance for the Vectrex.

Read the review in the new issue of Retrocade magazine. There are three working machines known.

Never gave it much interest, but I'm about all things Vectrex and I still haven't bought this $30 game.

In January and February the author auctioned three of three "Box Sets" of Sundance in three auctions for a total of $1,196.22 That is a pretty nice return! Also note that the game isn't as beloved as Star Castle.

[Edit] My math was wrong...

 

Problem is, where's the other $30,803.78 going to come from?

[+iesposta]

Going slightly off topic, it IS possible to make some money off of this programming hobby if you wanted to do so.

Take, for instance the REMAKE OF THE 1979 CINEMATRONICS SLEEPER HIT Sundance or Stardance for the Vectrex.

Read the review in the new issue of Retrocade magazine. There are three working machines known.

Never gave it much interest, but I'm about all things Vectrex and I still haven't bought this $30 game.

In January and February the author auctioned three of three "Box Sets" of Sundance in three auctions for a total of $1,196.22 That is a pretty nice return! Also note that the game isn't as beloved as Star Castle.

[Edit] My math was wrong...

 

Problem is, where's the other $30,803.78 going to come from?

 

I wasn't referring to buying solidcorp's Star Castle, just showing that someone made some profit on a home brew game.

[Dino]

Going slightly off topic, it IS possible to make some money off of this programming hobby if you wanted to do so.

Take, for instance the REMAKE OF THE 1979 CINEMATRONICS SLEEPER HIT Sundance or Stardance for the Vectrex.

Read the review in the new issue of Retrocade magazine. There are three working machines known.

Never gave it much interest, but I'm about all things Vectrex and I still haven't bought this $30 game.

In January and February the author auctioned three of three "Box Sets" of Sundance in three auctions for a total of $1,196.22 That is a pretty nice return! Also note that the game isn't as beloved as Star Castle.

[Edit] My math was wrong...

 

Problem is, where's the other $30,803.78 going to come from?

 

I wasn't referring to buying solidcorp's Star Castle, just showing that someone made some profit on a home brew game.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly that you can make a little money from homebrews. You can realistically sell 250 copies at $35-$50 each, depending on the title's popularity, which means turnover of up to $12.5k. But profit of $32k, as Solidcorp expects is just never going to happen.

 

Personally, I'd strike a deal with the IP owner and get it released. If one of the other homebrewers completes their game and releases their version, then he will end up with nothing....

[cd-w]

No problem at all. Since Nathan did some great artwork for your previous games, I kind of expected this. I just thought I should post the kernel just in case.

 

That's actually a cool idea to make the ring that big, so that the line and dot structures are better visible than in the original size.

 

Seems, Star Castle is now the game with the most title screen variations on the VCS

 

Nathan and I figured out a way to make his logo work with a red circle and the result is rather cool:

 

 

Now, can anyone guess how this was done?

 

Chris

 

star_title.bin

Edited March 6, 2012 by cd-w

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Now, can anyone guess how this was done?

I used ALT+ZXCVB keys in Stella.

 

VERY impressive!

[+Nathan Strum]

Now, can anyone guess how this was done?

I used ALT+ZXCVB keys in Stella.

 

Cheater.

[Joe Musashi]

Wow, that's brilliant!

 

I usually can tell how a kernel is done just by looking at the display, but this one beats me.

Actually, it still takes quite a while to figure it out even when using the Stella debugger.

 

So, here's how I think it works

 

• The basic idea here is to use inverted players. I.e., the red and yellow colors we see are actually the color of the playfield and the background. These are masked by the players, which are colored black.
  
• PF1 and PF2 are used to make the areas of the ring red and everything else yellow.
  
• Now, there's one problem: the flicker blinds. Since the players are now inverted, there is the problem of how to mask the background in every other column where no player is displayed. This is where the missiles come in. Since they can be as wide as players they can be used for masking every other column.
  
• And finally, VBLANK is used to mask the background outside the players and missiles.
  

 

 

[cd-w]

Wow, that's brilliant!

So, here's how I think it works ...

 

You are exactly right about how it was done. A couple of wrinkles: there is only time to draw a symmetrical playfield, which is why the logo is offset slightly to the left, and the VBLANKs don't line up perfectly so the logo is only 94 pixels wide instead of 96.

 

Chris

Edited March 6, 2012 by cd-w

[+SpiceWare]

Nice!

[Godzilla]

NICE!

[solidcorp]

 

 

 

 

[+bennybingo]

For $30,000+, I thought the box was going to be made out of something other than cardboard...perhaps you could have constructed it from polished unicorn horns???

[+iesposta]

I see what you did there!

CX2655 is Yars' Revenge

[solidcorp]

I see what you did there!

CX2655 is Yars' Revenge

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/165594-unreleased-games/page__view__findpost__p__2334450

Star Castle Atari CX2655 ALIAS

(released as Yars' Revenge by Atari)

[+Nathan Strum]

So you also got permission to sell the game with Atari's logo on it then?

[solidcorp]

So you also got permission to sell the game with Atari's logo on it then?

 

I haven't sold anything, so you, Chris, and Atari Age got permission from Konami to use Juno First's logo and likeness to sell a commercial product?

 

I am talking to Atari.

 

Here is an alternate package.

[accousticguitar]

It doesn't matter how much permission he gets; if the price is stupid high it won't make any difference at all.

[Keatah]

I thought the quality of the box would be higher.

[jetset]

It doesn't matter how much permission he gets; if the price is stupid high it so won't make any difference at all.

 

Fixed that for ya.

[trent]

I keep thinking this is some kind of marketing stunt which makes me love it all the more :-) Although I agree with most that you are dreaming with that price, it looks like you've done a great job and I wish you the best of luck.

[Matthew]

So you also got permission to sell the game with Atari's logo on it then?

 

I haven't sold anything, so you, Chris, and Atari Age got permission from Konami to use Juno First's logo and likeness to sell a commercial product?

 

I am talking to Atari.

 

Here is an alternate package.

 

 

I noticed that games that are boxed sell sometimes for three times the amount.

 

Just saying, that if the un-boxed version was going for 32k, then the boxed version should be at least 96k.