The Atari VCS Info Thread

[Andromeda Stardust]

This seems like a really easy problem to solve, and it boils down to the following:

 

Don't be a dick. Corollary to that: thicken your skin and respond rationally.

 

 

I think Shrek said it best when explaining to Donkey, Ogres have layers, like an onion. There are many, many layers to peel back yet on this campaign. Will it succeed? Who knows.

 

Place your bets on the horse you think will win, but don't criticize those who bet on the other horses. I think the pot currently sits ariund 3 million. That's a lot of people betting on the Atari horse. Of course, unlike a real horse race, there's only one horse, a very, very long racetrack, and the finish line is not yet defined.

 

Those who bet against the horse, lose nothing either way whether it finishes or not. Only those who bet for the horse to finish have something to lose. So try to have compassion for those with actual real life stakes in the race.

[youxia]

Dun 'goofed. Wrong thread

Edited July 11, 2018 by youxia

[digdugnate]

they posted the first Q&A with Rob Wyatt- https://medium.com/@atarivcs/atari-vcs-product-q-a-1-b2017894c15d

[+Mockduck]

I've added the link and a couple of quotes from the medium.com article to the OP.

[Andromeda Stardust]

they posted the first Q&A with Rob Wyatt- https://medium.com/@atarivcs/atari-vcs-product-q-a-1-b2017894c15d

 

We won’t have dedicated development hardware. You won’t need it. Any Atari VCS device can be a development kit. All you will have to do is sign up to our developer program, download the SDK and start creating. If you don’t want to develop in native code then common game engine platforms will be available for the VCS.

Sounds a lot like the Ouya when it bragged about it's 11,000 developers, whom most of which were just console owners.

[Flojomojo]

Sounds a lot like the Ouya when it bragged about it's 11,000 developers, whom most of which were just console owners.

"So much more than an Ouya."

 

Well, they just went over the $3M mark for money collected.

 

(Back in 2012, Ouya got $8.5M in 30 days, for their $99 product)

[Andromeda Stardust]

"So much more than an Ouya."

 

Well, they just went over the $3M mark for money collected.

 

(Back in 2012, Ouya got $8.5M in 30 days, for their $99 product)

Right. Exactly. The Ataribox should also have been a $99, product, well maybe $150 at most counting tech inflation rates. At $300, the device is overpriced. I absolutely would have backed the full console if it were $99, even if the controllers were extra. Possibly at $150. As it stands right now, it is an overpriced Ouya. The fact it uses Linux instead of Android opens a few more avenues, but non-Atari branded Linux mini-PCs for people to play with are available at lower cost, considering what is actually offered. There is no guarantee that the marketplace will be sustainable long after release either.

 

Ouya fumbled on for several years basically on life support, funded by venture capitalists who added an additional $10 million to the project in addition to the kickstarter campaign. They all lost their monies, and Ouya 2.0 ie Razor Forge was an equally sinking shipwreck, being quietly discontinued in 2016.

[Flojomojo]

Ouya fumbled on for several years basically on life support, funded by venture capitalists who added an additional $10 million to the project in addition to the kickstarter campaign. They all lost their monies, and now Ouya 2.0 ie Razor Forge is an equally sinking shipwreck, and may pull the parent company down with it if it hasn't already.

Kosmic, aren't you the guy who "invested" (sorry) a bunch of money for the Ouya versions of Pinball Arcade? If anyone is sympathetic to the flawed charms of Ouya, it's you (though I liked it too).

Then there's racerx, who literally has an Atari tattoo on his body and a room full of vintage coin-op machines from the company.

And finally me, whale of crowdfunding boondoggles, the type of person who buys anything mildly amusing enough to forget the humdrum tedium of life.

This thing really should appeal more to idiots like us.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Kosmic, aren't you the guy who "invested" (sorry) a bunch of money for the Ouya versions of Pinball Arcade? If anyone is sympathetic to the flawed charms of Ouya, it's you (though I liked it too).

Then there's racerx, who literally has an Atari tattoo on his body and a room full of vintage coin-op machines from the company.

And finally me, whale of crowdfunding boondoggles, the type of person who buys anything mildly amusing enough to forget the humdrum tedium of life.

This thing really should appeal more to idiots like us.

I never said I didn't like the Ouya. I did get enjoyment out of it. I am just saying that at best, the Atari VCS II will be a repeat of the Ouya. I have faith it will launch (and I get my BT joystick that I probably won't use much because I loathe emulation ), but how well it fares afterwords is anyone's guess.

[RugglesTx]

That black version is Uber sexy. My original 2600 was the wood grain so thats has a place in the heart but man that black version is just light ours sexy.

 

But I can only imagine having to keep the dust out of this slots! :0

[digdugnate]

That black version is Uber sexy. My original 2600 was the wood grain so thats has a place in the heart but man that black version is just light ours sexy.

 

But I can only imagine having to keep the dust out of this slots! :0

*cough*dust cloth*cough*

[PlaysWithWolves]

We may disagree with some of your information and point it out (such as the joystick/paddle thing) but that doesn't automatically mean we're trolling.

 

Narrator: They weren't trolling.

 

 

Can't wait for the "streaming box will have no streaming apps" announcement, because vague language is where these campaigns live.

[Flojomojo]

Can't wait for the "streaming box will have no streaming apps" announcement, because vague language is where these campaigns live.

 

To be fair, they said "game, stream, connect like never before."

 

Never before has a streaming box been sold a year in advance, only to not have streaming capability at launch.

 

No refunds!

[Bill Loguidice]

I never said I didn't like the Ouya. I did get enjoyment out of it. I am just saying that at best, the Atari VCS II will be a repeat of the Ouya. I have faith it will launch (and I get my BT joystick that I probably won't use much because I loathe emulation ), but how well it fares afterwords is anyone's guess.

 

Well, I think the Ouya comparison is apt. Obviously, ever since Sega bowed out of the console business, it's been big money companies or bust. Expectations these days are sky-high and it takes continuous investment to grow an ecosystem. A company like Atari, unfortunately, is in no position for continuous investment. They'll no doubt release some or all of the expected hardware at either the expected feature-levels or, more likely, somewhere in the approximate vicinity, and then, after that, I wouldn't expect much because the sales potential for this box outside of crowdfunding is low (it may struggle to break 100,000 units - who knows?). No doubt the best support we'll see post-release is from the community rolling custom Linux builds and probably setups along the lines of the usual, e.g., what the Dreamcade Replay is currently offering/doing with a front end for various emulators.

[+Mockduck]

I've removed the reference to the paddle possibility altogether until and if anything more concrete happens.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

"Jungles of Natheria"

http://slifkergames.com/JunglesOfNatheria/JunglesOfNatheria.html

 

I have contiplated if I should post this here but I'll give it a go anyways. I hope it's not a mistake.

 

We have been working on a game coming up on 2 years called "Jungles of Natheria". It is a 2D side scroller whereas you go through the jungles looking for lost treasure. The above link has video, pictures, a blog and forums. The game is about 99.9% complete. We probably will go full beta next month with a Christmas release (Steam and then mobile later)

 

The VCSii now how an installed base of 10,000. It should be dual bootable with Atari UI and Linux Sandbox so you can install Steam. This means this will be very little money to be made for any game on the Atari UI. I have exported it out to a laptop with Linux Mint installed and it plays exactly like the Windows does without any modification. Although Atari will have their own SDK to get it to work with them so there will be a little work there.

 

So I was wondering a few things. We have our own stats from people at expos where the game was shown off but wanted to see what you all thought.

1) Is this a game that should be on the Atari UI? Does it fit the mold?

2) If you are getting the VCSii, is this something you'd possible get?

3) If you use Steam, is this something you'd possible get and on which platform (Mac, Windows, Linux)?

4) What price point should it be?

5) If on mobile, do you think it should be premium (pay 1 time for everything) or free with In-App Purchases. If premium, then what price point should it be?

6) Are the characters too cartooney or are they OK?

7) On the website's main page there are several games not complete. If you had to pick the next one to be finished then which one would it be?

Any other thoughts (and please don't troll or attack.)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq3skB3KSSE

[AtariBrian]

Looks like a good game to me .

[Bill Loguidice]

"Jungles of Natheria"

http://slifkergames.com/JunglesOfNatheria/JunglesOfNatheria.html

 

 

 

 

Based off of the video of Beta #2, it looks like it has some potential, but the somewhat out-of-place music and generic sound effects seem like they're pulled from a public domain collection.

 

The animation is odd. It's liked the character is gliding rather than animating. There's also no life to the environment; it just seems like static elements. The graphics definitely need some work to make the look more consistent.

 

There seems to be some slowdown in parts.

 

If I'm continuing to be honest here, I can't see myself paying for this or even trying it in its current state.

[bojay1997]

 

Based off of the video of Beta #2, it looks like it has some potential, but the somewhat out-of-place music and generic sound effects seem like they're pulled from a public domain collection.

 

The animation is odd. It's liked the character is gliding rather than animating. There's also no life to the environment; it just seems like static elements. The graphics definitely need some work to make the look more consistent.

 

There seems to be some slowdown in parts.

 

If I'm continuing to be honest here, I can't see myself paying for this or even trying it in its current state.

Agree. The standard for indie games on Steam and other platforms is pretty high at this point. I can't see anyone paying for this in its current state.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

 

Based off of the video of Beta #2, it looks like it has some potential, but the somewhat out-of-place music and generic sound effects seem like they're pulled from a public domain collection.

 

The animation is odd. It's liked the character is gliding rather than animating. There's also no life to the environment; it just seems like static elements. The graphics definitely need some work to make the look more consistent.

 

There seems to be some slowdown in parts.

 

If I'm continuing to be honest here, I can't see myself paying for this or even trying it in its current state.

 

If I didn't want honesty I wouldn't have posted this in a hostile environment. So thanks for your input. I have a few follow up questions.

 

- The SFX were from public domain library so maybe we'll mess with that.

- The music is from Unity's store. What type of music would you prefer? Faster? Slower? Type? Someone else said the same thing. Music is always easy to get but what type?

- Slowdown because it was recorded on a old computer at 30 fps with slowdown to 15 fps. At the bottom of the website page I have a list of laptops played at best buy at 60fps. So basically any new laptop over $250 will play it at 60fps at 1366x768. At around $550 or more it will do 60fps at 1920x1080.

- There are areas with motion later. This is the beginning, basically training a player how to play. There are spikes that come out of the floor and such. What motion would you recommend from the parts you see?

[thetick1]

Seems like a fine Indie game but I agree will Bill and bojya1997 it is not polished enough that I would buy it on steam. No disrespect whatsoever but from the videos it's clearly not top tier Indie. I would likely download the free ads version on my phone to try out and likely keep the freebie version on my phone if the ads are not to intrusive.

Edited August 12, 2018 by thetick1

[BiffsGamingVideos]

Agree. The standard for indie games on Steam and other platforms is pretty high at this point. I can't see anyone paying for this in its current state.

 

Thanks you for your input. Could you expand a little please. We have dozens of people at shows that have commented so we wanted to compare that with people on this web site.

- What state would someone pay for it? and at what price point? Steam price? Android price?

- What do not like about the game? The artwork? The music? and why?

- What improvements would you suggest to get it to a level that you think someone would pay for it?

[PlaysWithWolves]

The trouble with using a $16 pixel art pack and a free character sprite pack is that there's bound to be other entrepreneurs with similar ideas. I'm not necessarily against using art packs but they, along with tools like Unity 2D and Gamemmaker Pro, were the reason for a glut of mediocre-to-awful Indie games. I'm not saying your game falls in that range; just that it's a danger. A pit to avoid, so-to-speak.

 

Gameplay is king, but at least your main character(s?) should probably be custom designed by your artist.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

Seems like a fine Indie game but I agree will Bill and bojya1997 it is not polished enough that I would buy it on steam. No disrespect whatsoever but from the videos it's clearly not top tier Indie. I would likely download the free ads version on my phone to try out and likely keep the freebie version on my phone if the ads are not to intrusive.

 

So on Android or iOS, would you prefer:

1) to have ads with the full game or

2) to have no ads at all but a watered down version to play. Then use in-app purchases for more functionabilty. So basically you can play the game but to have longer torch times to see underground you'd have to purchase that.

3) What age group do you think this is best suited for?

 

(The thing about ads is that you don't make any money. The person has to click though for the game to get a penny or 2).

[BiffsGamingVideos]

The trouble with using a $16 pixel art pack and a free character sprite pack is that there's bound to be other entrepreneurs with similar ideas. I'm not necessarily against using art packs but they, along with tools like Unity 2D and Gamemmaker Pro, were the reason for a glut of mediocre-to-awful Indie games. I'm not saying your game falls in that range; just that it's a danger. A pit to avoid, so-to-speak.

 

Gameplay is king, but at least your main character(s?) should probably be custom designed by your artist.

 

You're correct. The 2 main characters are just placeholders for now. I'll be adding 2 more characters at some point for a total of 4. My distributor basically said the same thing as you. They have hundreds of people on their talent pool to choose from. We talked about this a few months ago for the graphics. I was open to hire one of the graphic artists to do new main characters. Most people that played the game like the jungle adventure look of the characters. I do too, but wanted more adult looking characters. So I'll probably hire someone to make 2 new main characters but I do have to pay them as well. (What's funny is that a college student at one of the shows picked up on that as well. I had to tell her that some things are in prototype stages but she didn't understand because she was drunk) Thanks for your input.

Edited August 12, 2018 by BiffsGamingVideos