Q&A for World Premiere of Circus Convoy + Interview with David Crane, Garry Kitchen & Dan Kitchen

[Greenfuzz]

What does the schedule for new releases look like? His many games can we expect in 2021?

 

How many games are completed or are in development?

[+fdr4prez]

Any plans to expand to retro Intellivision and Colecovision? 

[Centurion]

In your press release you mention:

 

"Every game connects to the internet through your connected mobile device for registering high scores".

 

Would you describe how this works please?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[AAA177]

I'd like to know if this is a first pitch to Activision Blizzard or Atgames for perhaps a partnership, or if perhaps it might be a pitch for companies like Disney or WarnerMedia to promote upcoming content via IP adapted to the 2600 platform (cartridges based on something like Stranger Things or Pixar/Marvel cartoons would be great promotional items, and suppliers of incremental revenue for the media conglomerates)...also, are there investors backing this venture? 

 

In terms of programming, did the Kitchens and Mr. Crane literally do it like in the past...just pure assembly? Were there other assistants involved in the making of the titles?

 

And some of the images from the trailer look to be similar to Activision games of old...was permission needed to do it in this style? And a request: please consider partnering with Activision Blizzard for Pitfall 3. 

 

Is there a way for Garry to write a title similar to GameMaker for a new release? 

 

For what it's worth, I honestly believe this is the start of a big enterprise, especially if titles were made vis a vis the first paragraph. I also potentially see these types of games being used in educational settings to teach programming.  

 

Thank you for taking my questions. (I will not be able to watch on Twitch, but I hope this makes it to YouTube as a replay; thanks again...)

 

 

[Rom Hunter]

Do you still own any unfinished Activision Atari 2600 games from the early 80s?

If so, will you finish and release these under the Audicity Games label?

BTW: do you recall who programmed this never released Activision game (called Hard-Head) for the Atari 2600 back then?

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Rom Hunter

[Lord Innit]

Will PAL and  PAL60 be supported by Audacity Games? 

[+Atari_Warlord]

Who did the box art work for this game?  Do you remember any of the artists names that did the boxes back in the 80's?

[Lillapojkenpåön]

If audacity games plan on making more 2600 games but run out of ideas, HSW has for years been talking about a game idea he has with original gameplay that he has never seen anywhere else, 

I can allmost guarantee that he will never do it himself since there's so much emotions connected to his time at atari, and he's a very sensitive guy like myself,

 

but if it's a good idea, maybe audacity can make it and the box can say that it's a game idea by Howard, it would ensure his game gets made and becomes as good as possible,

and what Atari enthusiast wouldn't want a game with those four og names on it, win win.

 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

THE DAY HAS COME

Friday March 12th @ 4PM PT | 7PM ET | 12AM GMT
https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

 

 

Thank you for all your amazing questions and I'll get to as many as I can!

 

Make sure you join in the chat today to watch the

legends of the Atari 2600 talk about their new game!

[Supergun]

11 hours ago, Rom Hunter said:

Do you still own any unfinished Activision Atari 2600 games from the early 80s?

If so, will you finish and release these under the Audicity Games label?

BTW: do you recall who programmed this never released Activision game (called Hard-Head) for the Atari 2600 back then?

 

I asked all 3 of them about the 4 “mystery” Activision games at a show in November 2019. I even plugged in the 4 proto carts into a console for them to play and see.

[Swami]

Do I need a twitch account to access this podcast or twitch streaming or whatever it will be? Never been on Twitch before. 

[+splendidnut]

7 minutes ago, Swami said:

Do I need a twitch account to access this podcast or twitch streaming or whatever it will be? Never been on Twitch before. 

Nope... no account necessary.  You just need to go to https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew

 

[+SpiceWare]

6 minutes ago, Swami said:

Do I need a twitch account to access this podcast or twitch streaming or whatever it will be? Never been on Twitch before. 

 

Just click the link, only need an account if you wish to participate in the chat.

 

[Swami]

1 minute ago, SpiceWare said:

 

Just click the link, only need an account if you wish to participate in the chat.

 

Okay. I was looking into it today on my phone and it seemed okay in the browser but seemed to need me to sign up to use the phone app. 

[+SpiceWare]

4 minutes ago, Swami said:

Okay. I was looking into it today on my phone and it seemed okay in the browser but seemed to need me to sign up to use the phone app. 

 

Not familiar with the app, I usually watch it via the Mac mini that drives my TV.  I do log in so I can chat.

 

[Zoyous]

Will the video be available to re-watch later? I'm not sure if I can watch it all live.

[+SpiceWare]

22 minutes ago, Zoyous said:

Will the video be available to re-watch later? I'm not sure if I can watch it all live.

yes, it'll be on twitch for a while, and also posted to YouTube. 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

On 3/11/2021 at 2:34 PM, SpiceWare said:

They're using Superbank:

 

 

though I don't know if that's @batari's bankswitch scheme or something else

/**
  Cartridge class used for SB "SUPERbanking" 128k-256k bankswitched games.
  There are either 32 or 64 4K banks, accessible at hotspots $800 - $81F
  (32 banks) and $800 - $83F (64 banks).  All mirrors up to $FFF are
  also used ($900, $A00, ...).
  @author  Fred X. Quimby, Thomas Jentzsch
*/

 

Do we know better now? In last night's ZPH show, the Audacity guys mentioned that their new games will work in Javatari, Stella and RetroN77, which would indicate that they are using an existing bankswitching, already supported by Stella.

 

@batari As the designer of SuperBank, did you collaborate with Audacity?

[Dionoid]

3 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Do we know better now? In last night's ZPH show, the Audacity guys mentioned that their new games will work in Javatari, Stella and RetroN77, which would indicate that they are using an existing bankswitching, already supported by Stella.

During last night's ZPH show, I remember Gary Kitchen saying that Circus Convoy doesn't work on a Harmony cartridge. So maybe SuperBank is not supported on the Harmony, or maybe Gary was referring to the basic Harmony (not the Harmony Encore), which only supports up to 32K, while Circus Convoy is 128K.

 

@batari Do you know if SuperBank is supported on Harmony?

Edited March 13, 2021 by Dionoid

[Zoyous]

The way the game generates QR codes to give players access to further information, as well as upload scores and times, is simply brilliant. I can imagine future games using this technique that are partially on the 2600 and partially web-based.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yes, AFAIK after "The Stacks" this is only the 2nd Atari 2600 game which uses QR codes.

[+Nathan Strum]

21 hours ago, SpiceWare said:

Not familiar with the app, I usually watch it via the Mac mini that drives my TV.  I do log in so I can chat.

I use the Apple TV app too, but how do you type in the chat? I've had no end of trouble trying to get a bluetooth keyboard to work with it.

[+batari]

11 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Do we know better now? In last night's ZPH show, the Audacity guys mentioned that their new games will work in Javatari, Stella and RetroN77, which would indicate that they are using an existing bankswitching, already supported by Stella.

 

@batari As the designer of SuperBank, did you collaborate with Audacity?

No, but when I posted about the Superbanking concept in around 2006-7, it was posted in the spirit of sharing, with the idea that anyone is welcome to use the concept in their own projects. I created a prototype for Superbanking on a breadboard for a game I was working on back then, that sadly got shelved, but I should take another look at it someday. It's nice to hear someone actually using it.

 

When I first posted the concept of Superbanking, I posted PLD source code, a PLD fusemap, and some sort of schematic (may have been an ASCII schematic, or a text description of the schematic?) I also mentioned how up to a 512k version of Superbanking could be done with just two TTL chips - no PLDs needed.

 

They could have used either method for the cart, or they could have simply examined the specification for Superbanking and created their own hardware for it.

8 hours ago, Dionoid said:

During last night's ZPH show, I remember Gary Kitchen saying that Circus Convoy doesn't work on a Harmony cartridge. So maybe SuperBank is not supported on the Harmony, or maybe Gary was referring to the basic Harmony (not the Harmony Encore), which only supports up to 32K, while Circus Convoy is 128K.

 

@batari Do you know if SuperBank is supported on Harmony?

Superbanking would require a Harmony Encore due to the size. This scheme isn't currently implemented in the firmware, but it could be pretty easily. Harmony Encore does support a similar scheme, DF, so in theory a game could be developed with DF and converted to Superbanking for release without too much trouble.

[+DrVenkman]

10 minutes ago, batari said:

Superbanking would require a Harmony Encore due to the size.

Hmm ... I may eventually need to upgrade from my base model to the Encore.  

(***making myself a note to remember this in the future!***)

[+SpiceWare]

53 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

I use the Apple TV app too, but how do you type in the chat?

 

I don't own an Apple TV - my Mac mini drives my TV, I run Safari to access twitch.

 

I use an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad placed into a Clique by Henge Docks so they can be moved around as a single unit.  Works well when the batteries are fresh, but both devices go through them quickly and the pointer control gets glitchy when the Trackpad's battery level gets too low.  They're circa 2009, suspect newer devices would be more frugal on the batteries, but have only seen them with Windows keys on them 🤮