Paperboy

[thursday83]

^^^^^^^^^Well, that, would be something^^^^^^^^^

[gambler172]

 

 

Yes, I have one of those.

Mitch

me too

[Tempest]

Wow, How did I miss this thread? Fingers crossed.

[Crazy Climber]

I love when stuff like this happens Cool!

[MrFish]

Wow, How did I miss this thread? Fingers crossed.

 

I wouldn't really say you missed it. Andy6384's first post was just yesterday: I am 'this man'. Before his post, the thread had been inactive since Dec 2012.

Edited September 23, 2014 by MrFish

[Lynxpro]

My fingers are crossed hard for this. One of the reasons why I was so gung-ho about the 7800 when it was (re) released in 1986 is because I assumed Atari Corp had finally acquired Atari Games and all of their great hits like Paperboy were going to end up on the console and crush the NES. Xevious also helped!

 

Oh man...I'm feeling 12 again over this [potentially].

[+DrVenkman]

My fingers are crossed hard for this. One of the reasons why I was so gung-ho about the 7800 when it was (re) released in 1986 is because I assumed Atari Corp had finally acquired Atari Games and all of their great hits like Paperboy were going to end up on the console and crush the NES. Xevious also helped!

 

 

I've got a new-in-box 7800 Xevious en route to me as I write.

 

Paperboy could be pretty incredible if it ever comes to light.

[CRV]

only just picked up this post.

Referring to 'sqoons' response. I am 'this man' and I did write paperboy on the atari 7800. It was finished and working, looked great and was sent to atari and

never seen again.

 

I'm veering off-topic, but since you're here, what's the deal with Wolfenstein for Mega Drive?

[andy6384]

I'm quite amazed at the paperboy interest! I will dig around this weekend but as I've said I can't promise anything but if I do I'll keep you posted.

 

It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Road riot and steel talon were I think developed by tiertex for US gold to release on other platforms but I don't recall any 7800 version.

 

 

Wolfenstein 3d was the last project I worked on at tiertex. I was provided with the source code for the SNES version. After about a month tearing my hair out I realised their was a bug in the megadrive C compiler. When the supplier fixed it I got the game running in 90% complete prototype form and it was handed over to another programmer when I left the company.

Edited September 24, 2014 by andy6384

[Jinks]

Andy I think we are all waiting for this weekend in hopes you find this game!

 

I find myself checking Atari Age constantly thinking I might miss something!

[darthkur]

This is spectacular news. Thank you so much, Andy, for you efforts.

[Crazy Climber]

Yes! This is exciting!

[CRV]

Wolfenstein 3d was the last project I worked on at tiertex. I was provided with the source code for the SNES version. After about a month tearing my hair out I realised their was a bug in the megadrive C compiler. When the supplier fixed it I got the game running in 90% complete prototype form and it was handed over to another programmer when I left the company.

 

Would it have been censored like the SNES version?

[MrFish]

I'm quite amazed at the paperboy interest!

 

News like this is always BIG in the retro game scene. In fact there would most likely be a considerable number of people interested in buying labelled carts -- depending on how complete the game is.

 

Paperboy was quite the popular game. I'm amped. I hope you can find something.

[Tempest]

How did this never show up on any unreleased 7800 game list? You'd think there would have been some mention of it somewhere.

[Lost Dragon]

I'd very much like to thank Andy for taking time out today to do a little interview with my goodself (which i've sent to a friend to go up on a Sega site as it deals with Andy's Sega work mainly).

 

Andy answered in depth and within hours and i was just floored by his kindness and hope the Sega community enjoys interview.

 

I'll pop a link up on here when interview is up.

[Lost Dragon]

Interview is up:

http://shinobiman.proboards.com/thread/9878/andrew-holdroyd-desert-exclusive-interview

[Lost Dragon]

Sorry Andy, it appears some folks seem to think the email interview you were kind enough to partake in today, you know the one we did in space of 2 hours, just wanted to get your stories shared with community, should have had some proof-reading before being submitted online, so all could enjoy, for free:

http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49661

:-)

Damn, you know what this means, right?

I'm going to have to have ALL those Mag scans professionally resized, trimned, lighting down perfectly darling before i give to be submitted on here.....

It simply will not do my loves....

:-)

[+Mitch]

I'm quite amazed at the paperboy interest! I will dig around this weekend but as I've said I can't promise anything but if I do I'll keep you posted.

 

It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Road riot and steel talon were I think developed by tiertex for US gold to release on other platforms but I don't recall any 7800 version.

 

 

Thanks for the info. The 7800 had so few of games released that any new ones are always welcome!

If you need any help getting stuff compiled or tested there are several of us that can help if needed.

 

Mitch

[Crazy Climber]

Great interview, I could read stuff like that all day

[Lost Dragon]

TrekMD/Crazy Climber:Cheers guys, glad you liked the interview (raw as it was) it was'nt planned :-).

Yesterday was mental, started off sending Flatpex (RG poster) 3 copies of RG he wanted for nothing, did'nt even charge postage, plus lent him entire back collection of Mean Machine magazines scans on DVD, so they can go up on that SEGA site for community to enjoy.

Chased up 1 interview i'd sent for ST Gamer Vol 2 (that'd be interview no.4 i had lined up for issue 2), wrote and sent interview for Grumpy Old Gamers, then wrote/sent another 2 interviews who's questions/content will be split between ST Gamer Vol 2 and Grumpy old Gamers and was lucky enough to grab that interview with Andy here and got that up in record time...

And someone thinks i should have had it proof read before submitting it for a forum? LOL

Raw it was, but still contained information i'd never read in likes of Retro Gamer Magazine, EDGE, C+VG, Gamestm etc etc so i'd again like to thank Andy for his kindness in sharing info with us.

[+Trebor]

Forget the naysayers complaining about it being "raw". It provides some great insight from a developer and those he worked with and around...Thank you both for it. Particularly, enjoyed these tidbits [bold mine]:

 

"Q)Moving onto Atari hardware of all things, you completed a conversion

of Paperboy for the Atari 7800, which you delivered to Atari, who in

true Atari style, sat on and never released! :-( You must have been

gutted (but hopefully paid!).So, what can you tell us about the

conversion?.How did it (and the 7800 itself) shape up again'st the

Sega Master system? and was the game ported from any other 8 Bit

system or did you code from scratch?.

A)This was my first project for Tiertex (in at the deep end!) I'd only

previously worked on commodore vic20 and 64 and so the Atari display

list system was a steep learning curve but once I'd worked it out it

was a very powerful system. No help at all for a word processor or

spreadsheet but ideal for games. I had some good advice to get started

from Andy Onions who had just finished 7800 tower toppler

The guy writing the master system version at the same time, Gary Vine,

was opposite me and it was interesting to compare the two as we

progressed. The Sega could display more colours but the 7800 could

show more and bigger sprites. What we called the 'venetian blind

effect' the paperboy screen fade, was really simple on the 7800 but a

pig on the Sega, but he managed it. I really like the arcade Paperboy

and it's one game of all I've worked on I wish had been released."

 

That 'steep learning curve yet very power system' statement again emphasizes the huge potential of the 7800. If developer's had more time (and if the system had more developers, period) so much more could have been achieved. Thankful we have a shot at seeing Paperboy; nonetheless, can't help to contemplate the game developers' perspective of Maria's ability to 'show more and bigger sprites' than the SMS; especially, in light of the recently discussed Double Dragon, and just SMH.

 

Seeing that 'Venetian blind effect' when screens change with Paperboy running under the 7800, if something can be found, is going to be sweet.

[Tempest]

There are always people who seem to enjoy nitpicking grammar and formatting. I get a few of those kinds of comments on my website every time I update it.

[Lost Dragon]

Cheers Trebor.The support on here, from RG posters, Sega forum posters, basically the 99.9999% of posters who have enough understanding to grasp the basic fact that, hello...yes it's a RAW email based interview, as have all of my interviews (those online, those in ST Gamer, those awaiting to appear online and in ST Gamer etc etc) been and will be, has been fantastic.

They are done in my spare time, sometimes questions get sent and no replies ever come back :-(

But those that do, have been utterly superb and i thank the sheer kindness of each and every person who's given their valuable time to take part in them.The insights/stories/Lost games/what could of been's etc etc are why i do them.

I've been a subscriber to EDGE, Retro Gamer, Gamestm etc over the years, never seen half the questions i wanted asked to familar faces, never seen a good few coders even interviewed, so i thought i'd have a crack at seeing what i could do to change that.

[Lost Dragon]

And again Cheers to Tempest for his kind words.It really is nitpicking to be polite.Andy was kind enough to give his time yesterday, i'd been helping Flatpex out with site he visits so thought why not offer him the interview? then link on here/RG/RVG etc so everyone gets a chance to read up on some fantastic stories and news of a lost 7800 title.

 

Right or wrong, i've always been of the mindset that information like this should be avaiable for ALL.Not 'locked away' to a specific magazine or website where you have to buy magazine or have X amounts of posts on a forum to view.Put it out there, let the many read and hopefully enjoy it, if it paints a particular format in a brighter light, shows yet again what could of been, gives another viewpoint on how it compared to the more well known formats of the day (i'd rather hear coders stories rather than read some pointless VS Tech Spec box out in a magazine, as that never really realates to actual game performance), then i'll try and get it widespread coverage.