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Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™


jaybird3rd

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Collector's Edition #117 arrived today!  Well... it arrived a couple days ago but I didn't get to the post office until today to pick it up.  

 

Opened it up and found my Thank you patch in the box and the other goodies.  Man am I stoked to go play this.  Dinner is almost ready so I'll have to wait a bit longer but I'm excited!

 

Next on my to-do list is place an order on Atari Age store for some new games there!

 

So the game shipped on the 22nd of March and it arrived on the 6th (well the pick up card did) of April.  Over all 2 weeks and a day to get to Canada.  Not too shabby at all!  

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Many thanks for that.  Can't say the explanation, on its face, is substantively different from saying "we're a small outfit, just be patient".  Nothing says "not homebrew" like volunteers making your cartridges.  Take that, dead horse.

 

But every copy is "tailored to you" with the serial number embedded in the ROM or whatever.  I'm not sure what this means for the amount of time it takes.  I assume you can't blow a big batch of ROMS all at once doing it that way?  Maybe someone out there with more technical knowledge could shed some light on how this might be different from doing a run of a game that doesn't do such things.

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3 hours ago, MrTrust said:

Many thanks for that.  Can't say the explanation, on its face, is substantively different from saying "we're a small outfit, just be patient".  Nothing says "not homebrew" like volunteers making your cartridges.  Take that, dead horse.

 

But every copy is "tailored to you" with the serial number embedded in the ROM or whatever.  I'm not sure what this means for the amount of time it takes.  I assume you can't blow a big batch of ROMS all at once doing it that way?  Maybe someone out there with more technical knowledge could shed some light on how this might be different from doing a run of a game that doesn't do such things.

If you're a weirdo like me and Google street view the return "Shipping Department" address on the box it comes in, it's just a regular house in a suburb. (I was curious if it was coming from an actual commercial property or not).

 

I'm guessing for each cart/digital download, they have to update the source with the serial number of the game and the recompile it and flash it to a fresh cart instead of just flashing the same "bin" on every cart. I'd guess they would have the whole box and manual stuff ready to go but they also shrink wrap each box so that's another assembly step in the process. There's probably only a few people (or may just them) doing it so it's taking time.

 

I've had mine for a few days now but it would be nice if they would send out a blanket "Thank you for your patience, your order is on it's way" to all the people still waiting for over two weeks.

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Just a thought on the "Homebrew/Not Homebrew" subject...

Mebbe consider musicians, for one, and there are plenty of other analogies, I'm sure.

I guess I think "if you have ever managed to actually pay bills with your work", you are a professional, and even coming back to a less profitable venture is still simply a "comeback", it's a known entity.

But those of us that just piddle in our living rooms, or even those of us that go out and play in the bars and stuff, even if we make a few bucks, for all intents and purposes it's just a solid extension of our "hobby", and NOT a bad thing at all.

 

I guess also, I was under the impression that most Homebrewers preferred the term, for whatever reason, but (kinda conflicting my first statement here) , I really don't understand why the output here at AA, through the store, couldn't/wouldn't be considered "professional work", as this IS 2021, plenty of people do "real things", right from the comfort of their living room, crafts, etc.

 

It's all good to me, I think people should usually be perceived the way they want to be perceived anyway-I personally gave a rat's fart about Homebrew before I started playing in the HSC's here a couple years ago(ignorance/obliviousness), and now I proudly have several great Friends in the community, and am even associated with a game or two, love it!

 

Circus Convoy-

I have Collectors #245, BTW, I don't think I've mentioned.

Unfortunately, I've had it well over a week-I should have opened it the first day, I've got this "collector demon" that's gonna be ticked if I open it up, but I dunno. Torn. Was hoping for a V.I.P., had a glimmer of hope even after they were sold out but didn't come to fruition I guess.

Might grab a regular copy to play, I still don't know really-wouldn't mind to hone the game to Perfect/no Savestates before even PLAYING the real hardware, but that's gonna take a few days, surely.

 

 

I like the game a lot, I think I have a bit of an odd opinion tho-it's almost "too easy", and "too hard", at the same time, which sounds like a good balance, but it's unusual, to me.

Most of the goals/accomplishments almost seem easy to do, but it's also incredibly easy to make a dumb mistake, "unforced error", and screw up the whole game.

I can see where some would say that seems exactly right, and again, I LOVE the game, it's just...an odd challenge.

That's probably how I should look at it, as opposed to any "negativity", I guess, just unusual, I'm sure it was meant to be.

 

Trying to help out with the upload issue some people are having-my phone "whitescreens" at the second QR code(old phone), as does my Wife's(new Apple).

My Son, same type phone as Wife, had no real problems uploading it.

Also, have at least one buddy who had the same problem-it COULD be a phone setting(tho God knows, I've checked...), but regardless it seems to be a common problem.

I have a very small bit of communication with someone involved, sent him a description of my problem before I got it worked out, he responded with questions and stuff, to send along to tech, and I wound up just making a video of the problem with my phone and PC camera, so they could actually SEE the issue in effect, so mebbe that'll help out a bit.

 

I was clear, but I DO want to be Crystal-Pete, Pat, Greg-no chance in heck I'd be "done" with this game w/o you Guys, you know that as well as I do, Thanks!!!

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3 hours ago, neotokeo2001 said:

Did anyone not get a patch with their game? This is a purchase from today:

I ordered the first day and didn't get a patch. That serial number is lower than mine too.

 

1460563868_ScreenShot2021-04-09at1_28.24PMcopy.thumb.png.31ce6f5c1ab7b6b442b031ff94454873.png

 

Honestly, I don't really care about the patch, but there definitely seems to be something screwy going on.

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Was thinking the other day I could have sworn I seen the idea somewhere for gold rush. Bubsy... snes/gen level 7,8,9 where you hop from carriage to carriage on a train in the desert till you get to the engine. There is the giraffes poken their heads out the carriages and all. Only difference is gold bars rather than yarn balls.

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On 4/9/2021 at 8:40 AM, Rogerpoco said:

Well...I did say I'd be able to compete on this.

Took some help from my Friends, lol! (A lot, actually...).

Super fun game, now to figure out how to do it faster...

 

cccomplete.jpg

Ahh ... You must mean this  *** Helpful Friend *** ?

 

 

 

 

Edited by nads
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1 minute ago, nads said:

You must mean this  *** Helpful Friend ***

 

 

 

 

Haha-I just this second finally finished it up "off the top of my head", so the active views may go down a bit, but most definitely!!!

:D

"Figuring it out" was on you Guys, haha, now I wanna go FAST!!!

(By gosh, I'm getting under 21 minutes WITHOUT changing the route, I mean it!!!)

 

ccfast.jpg

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4 minutes ago, Rogerpoco said:

Haha-I just this second finally finished it up "off the top of my head", so the active views may go down a bit, but most definitely!!!

:D

"Figuring it out" was on you Guys, haha, now I wanna go FAST!!!

(By gosh, I'm getting under 21 minutes WITHOUT changing the route, I mean it!!!)

 

ccfast.jpg

Awesome ?!!

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5 hours ago, Gaztee said:

Tried running my copy on my Retron 77, but nothing, any ideas? Worked fine on my mates stock 2600.

The Retron 77 can't read carts that are bigger than 4K. It can only play larger games from an SD card and I’d guess you’d have to update Stella on the Retron to play Circus Convoy.

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5 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

The Retron 77 can't read carts that are bigger than 4K. It can only play larger games from an SD card and I’d guess you’d have to update Stella on the Retron to play Circus Convoy.

Thanks for that I will have to stick the game on the SD card then.

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On 4/8/2021 at 9:31 PM, MrTrust said:

Nothing says "not homebrew" like volunteers making your cartridges.  Take that, dead horse.

For what it's worth, I think many of the AtariAge-published boxed games feel slightly more professional than the Audacity Games-published Collector Edition Circus Convoy. In particular, the shrink-wrap on my Circus Convoy copies are a little off-center, probably because of the manual process, and the sticker on the cartridge of the one I opened is clearly stuck on by hand with some air bubbles.

 

The AtariAge boxes just look more professional than at least the Collector Edition Circus Convoy box, although I think it's just that @Albert does an amazing job sourcing great professional designs and graphics with touches like the AA-branded stickers to close the boxes. The hologram-numbered box on Circus Convoy is pretty neat though, overall pretty amazing packaging for a 1st release!

 

The Circus Convoy cartridge is familiar (retro Activision-like) and new, it's one of the best parts of the packaging I think. The sticker, maybe because of the air bubbles caught under it, or maybe its unusual feel, feels a little homemade, although with high quality thick material that leads you to think it's not going to fade or wear easily.

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On 4/9/2021 at 10:04 AM, Rogerpoco said:

Just a thought on the "Homebrew/Not Homebrew" subject...

Mebbe consider musicians, for one, and there are plenty of other analogies, I'm sure.

I guess I think "if you have ever managed to actually pay bills with your work", you are a professional, and even coming back to a less profitable venture is still simply a "comeback", it's a known entity.

But those of us that just piddle in our living rooms, or even those of us that go out and play in the bars and stuff, even if we make a few bucks, for all intents and purposes it's just a solid extension of our "hobby", and NOT a bad thing at all.

 

I was in a band once upon a time, and we made a few independently released records, opened for some major label bands (coincidentally, one of them was The Ataris) and did shows that we got paid for.   Not only would I not call that proffessional, I would not call myself a musician, either.

 

But the proffessional bands we played with were generally in the twilight phase of their careers, and they were playing small shows that we little rinky-dink bands and promoters had made possible.  If they came to the show with their noses in the air and an attitude like they were above the whole scene, nobody took it all that politely, because hey, motherfuckers, if you were a big enough draw to sell out MSG tonight, you'd be there and not here.  So, don't act like you're doing us some big favor by being here just because you guys got on MTV a few years back.  This rarely ever happened, though, because whether they felt that way or not, they knew the people buying tickets were supportive of their local bands and it wasn't a good look to walk around giving them the high hat.

 

Mind you, I've never made an Atari game or hack worth showing to anyone else, so I have no dog in this, and I'm not partial to any particular homebrewer or platform for publishing same.  But I am really grateful to everyone who's done so much to keep the Atari thing going all these years, and those comments, which they didn't have to make to drum up excitement for their game, came off like a gratuitous backhand toward those folks, who I'm sure are all to gentlemanly to take offense.

 

Now, they've sold a lot of CC games, and I'm glad for that.  My Atari buying dollar is limited, and I chose to give it to them over other things I wanted because the game looks good. They got a lot of big Youtube channels and websites talking about the game and the company.  We'll see if that holds up for future releases, but either way, a substantial fraction of the audience for their wares are going to be people from the homebrew "scene" that they obviously see themselves as being above in the pecking order, at least to some extent.  So, in the end, the question remains: what real information was supposed to be conveyed by the "we're not homebrew, we're proffessional" statements?  Is there a single person out there laying $70 for a brand new 2600 that isn't aware of David Crane and his background or the Kitchens', or who doesn't know what it means to have former Activision designers working on a new game in this context?

 

I was just reading an article last night out of the blue about a scuttled reuinion of David Lee Roth's original solo band with Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan.  They were going to crash an open mic night and play a few of the old tunes, but their presence outside caused such a ruckus they backed out at the last minute.  If the performance had gone off, you think those guys would have gone out of their way to say "Hey guys, we're not a bar band, or an indie band, we're a professional band".  If they had, it would've been true, and it wouldn't have ruined the show, but it would have been a weird thing to say and kind of a bad look.  If they then tried to kick into "Shy Boy" and their amps weren't plugged in and went "Whoops!  Hey, it's a club gig and these things happen, y'know?".  Well, pride goeth before a fall, right?

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17 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

The Retron 77 can't read carts that are bigger than 4K. It can only play larger games from an SD card and I’d guess you’d have to update Stella on the Retron to play Circus Convoy.

That's not 100% correct. If the bigger carts use Atari bankswitching it can read 8K and 16K games too. CC is 128K and uses a different bankswitching, so it cannot work as cart.

 

But it runs fine on current Stella for R77 when running from SD card.

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