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Writing a book about the 7800


TwoShedsWilson

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I posted in another thread about this, but the title of the thread isn't very descriptive to what it turned into, so here's a new one.

 

I'm writing a book mostly to serve as a browsable catalog of every commercially released Atari 7800 game. It will include box art, screen shots and cartridge pictures. The intent is to serve as a "what do I want to play next" resource.

 

I wanted to include a little biography of the 7800 maybe a page or so, but it quickly began to spiral. I started digging for sales figures and all kinds of data that is not readily available. I wrote a couple rough drafts and hated them both. After pulling about six years of articles from the NY & LA Posts and a few from the Wall Street Journal I've put together the version of the story I like the most. I avoided hard sales numbers and as in the case of the PAL model (which I'm almost 100% certain was in 1989) release dates when they were unclear.

 

I wanted to create a picture of the landscape that created the 7800, it's life, and legacy. I still want to add to the latter two parts, but here is the latest draft of my version of the 7800's life.

 

I have no doubt there are typos, proofreading is not my strength, so please point them out. Also let me know if any part of it is wrong. I tried to pull data from the best sources I could (and I coped all of them to a word document) so I'm not really expecting factual errors, but it would be silly to ignore the possibility.

 

Draft 2.pdf

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Regarding the paragraph about GCC,   according to the talk linked below by one of the GCC guys,  they were only contracted to create 7 VCS cartridges because Atari was desparate for developers after theirs kept fleeing to start new companies.  He says GCC came up with the idea of the 3600/7800 on their own and presented it to Atari

 

 

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Marty Goldberg and the late Curt Vendel poured a huge amount of time and research into all things Atari.  Their book contains a plethora of details surrounding the company and numerous first hand interviews with many individuals. 

 

Significant and informative postings to these forums exists from them, including the landscape, situations, and circumstances surrounding the 7800.  The below thread from Marty (A.K.A. Retro Rogue/Wgungfu) in particular, of which Curt also contributed, you may find very beneficial:

 

 

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I'll need to reach out to the publisher to see if I can get a copy.

 

I'm reaching a point where I feel I need to explain my approach to this whole thing as where I am now is a very different place than I had originally planned. All I wanted at the beginning was a convenient guide to the game library and nothing more. I figured a little technical and historical data would be nice too... then I started to find discrepancies. Dates that didn’t line up, weird sales numbers, and just enough vagueness that I wasn’t happy. I then turned to this community because nowhere is there a greater collection of Atari knowledge.

 

You guys started throwing very cool stuff at me and I realized there was a fairly interesting story here and I want to try to do it justice. I am not a researcher and beyond looking stuff up for school papers I’ve never really had the need. So new ground for me. This is also a side project and my time for it is very limited as I never expect any sort of real return, the kids still want food and the lawn needs mowing.

 

I wish I could turn this into the book I think it should have, but that’s not in the cards. I do think I can tell the story without trying to guess motivations or creating villains and I can do it in a format that fits my schedule and needs for this book. I don’t expect to teach this community anything it doesn’t already know, but maybe I can make an interesting enough narrative to get some new eyes on the 7800. The PDF of this book will be made available for free, but I do reserve the right to hold back some “bonus” content for the print version (if one happens).

 

The audiobook will, of course, be read by Kevin Smith while stoned out of his mind.

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I plan to have some homebrew covered, but I'm not really looking for more challenging. I want a single compilation of every officially released game, a brief history of the console, and then a section for homebrew. Going too crazy with homebrew would be difficult as I don't own any as of right now.

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I'm happy with this. Barring correcting typos or some word choices, this is what I want to go with for the first part. Each game will get a short writeup and I do plan to add a section for homebrew. I'd even like to add a couple interviews with some people creating for the 7800, but that will be a little later. Next steps for me are getting some reader feedback and figure out how I want to get my screenshots.

7800.pdf

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I needed to take a few days off from this. During that time decisions were made. I had been trying very hard to obtain permission to use everything I've used and have kept track of every source used I've reached a conclusion: screw it. I never really had plans to publish this in any way, but I wanted to keep the door at least a little bit open. Door closed. I'm still trying my hardest to be accurate and have read dozens and dozens of newpaper articles, press releases, and internal documentaiton. I'll make this readily available with links to whatever POD service I find.

  • Formatting is still not completed. I want to add one more icon to the game page and I would like to replace the joystick icon with a pro-line icon.
  • I want to start making screen captures this weekend. I will do the absolute best I can for accurate color.
  • Starting to look at homebrew that I would like to include, unfortunately this means I'll need to buy it and that may take some time.
  • Still looking for typos or unclear wording. Otherwise I will not change the "story" text any more. I have to say that or I'll never stop messing with it.

I would also welcome any quotes about the system or individual games and I will add them.

7800.pdf

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18 minutes ago, TwoShedsWilson said:

I needed to take a few days off from this. During that time decisions were made. I had been trying very hard to obtain permission to use everything I've used and have kept track of every source used I've reached a conclusion: screw it. I never really had plans to publish this in any way, but I wanted to keep the door at least a little bit open. Door closed. I'm still trying my hardest to be accurate and have read dozens and dozens of newpaper articles, press releases, and internal documentaiton. I'll make this readily available with links to whatever POD service I find.

  • Formatting is still not completed. I want to add one more icon to the game page and I would like to replace the joystick icon with a pro-line icon.
  • I want to start making screen captures this weekend. I will do the absolute best I can for accurate color.
  • Starting to look at homebrew that I would like to include, unfortunately this means I'll need to buy it and that may take some time.
  • Still looking for typos or unclear wording. Otherwise I will not change the "story" text any more. I have to say that or I'll never stop messing with it.

I would also welcome any quotes about the system or individual games and I will add them.

7800.pdf 12.97 MB · 1 download

A little bit of proofreading:

  page 1:  "A guide to the Atari 7800 ProSystem and it’s games."   should be "its" with no apostrophe in that instance.

  page 6: The paragraph about marketing budget and TIA sound should probably be two separate paragraphs since those two topics aren't directly linked.

  page 7:  "In recent years the “classic 3” Atari systems" - maybe define what you mean by "classic 3",  Atari had a lot of systems on first pass I'd assume 2600/5200/7800, but the previous paragraph seems to indicate 8-bit computer line was included in that.

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On 7/28/2021 at 9:38 AM, TwoShedsWilson said:

I'll need to reach out to the publisher to see if I can get a copy.

 

I'm reaching a point where I feel I need to explain my approach to this whole thing as where I am now is a very different place than I had originally planned. All I wanted at the beginning was a convenient guide to the game library and nothing more. I figured a little technical and historical data would be nice too... then I started to find discrepancies. Dates that didn’t line up, weird sales numbers, and just enough vagueness that I wasn’t happy. I then turned to this community because nowhere is there a greater collection of Atari knowledge.

 

You guys started throwing very cool stuff at me and I realized there was a fairly interesting story here and I want to try to do it justice. I am not a researcher and beyond looking stuff up for school papers I’ve never really had the need. So new ground for me. This is also a side project and my time for it is very limited as I never expect any sort of real return, the kids still want food and the lawn needs mowing.

 

I wish I could turn this into the book I think it should have, but that’s not in the cards. I do think I can tell the story without trying to guess motivations or creating villains and I can do it in a format that fits my schedule and needs for this book. I don’t expect to teach this community anything it doesn’t already know, but maybe I can make an interesting enough narrative to get some new eyes on the 7800. The PDF of this book will be made available for free, but I do reserve the right to hold back some “bonus” content for the print version (if one happens).

 

The audiobook will, of course, be read by Kevin Smith while stoned out of his mind.

I support your dream. Would be nice reading it when do you think it'll release as a physical mag?

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I doubt it will ever "release" physically. Getting permission to use various photos is either way too complicated or costly for what is just a hobby project. It can be a pain to find out who owns the rights to an almost 50 year old photo. 

 

I will post the files and the information for a POD service that will print a copy. Based on what I've been aiming for it should cost about $24 to get a copy printed.

 

Now I need to stop finding interesting information and changing things around. Last night when I was attempting to go to sleep I started reformatting the whole thing in a way that should make more sense and make everything flow better. I also found some interesting information about the laserdisc addon that is just too fun not to add.

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31 minutes ago, Cousin Vinnie said:

There's alot of old info from around the year 2000 on my site if any of that helps in your quests.

www.atari7800forever.com 

 

  Thanks! I'll look it over tonight.

57 minutes ago, gambler172 said:

You should also add the released Homebrews

And Hacks

  It's in progress. I'm working on getting some extra insight on some of the games. It'll focus on homebrew and not hacks and it'll be far smaller than it probably should be, need to keep with certain limits for pages.

57 minutes ago, gambler172 said:

Hi Wilson

looks good,but there is a little mistake.The 32in1

for the 7800 was only added to packages from Australia.....for sure it is Pal.

Correct me,if i should be wrong.Mitch should know this also

greetings Walter

 

I actually knew this, but hadn't fixed it yet. I'm glad you pointed it out because I might have missed it.

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All reported mistakes fixed. Reformatted the narrative part as purely chronological order for everything wasn't working right for me. The new format allowed me to move a few lines around to where they would better fit and add a couple things back i that I had dropped because they just didn't fit before. I've added my latest interesting finds regarding the laserdisc and signature series. Homebrew section added at the end, it is not at all final. I've also added some prototypes and such just for fun.

I know there is a weird image on page 14, but it wasn't worth re-exporting to fix.

To do:

  • Continue to fix typos and weird wording
  • Redo the cover
  • Begin to flesh out game section
  • Make a ProLine icon to replace the current joystick
  • Obtain secret mystery X content
  • Order homebrew for playtesting
    • Try not to get beaten by wife for spending more money on this

7800 8-6-21.pdf

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On 7/27/2021 at 8:15 PM, TwoShedsWilson said:

I posted in another thread about this, but the title of the thread isn't very descriptive to what it turned into, so here's a new one.

 

I'm writing a book mostly to serve as a browsable catalog of every commercially released Atari 7800 game. It will include box art, screen shots and cartridge pictures. The intent is to serve as a "what do I want to play next" resource.

 

I wanted to include a little biography of the 7800 maybe a page or so, but it quickly began to spiral. I started digging for sales figures and all kinds of data that is not readily available. I wrote a couple rough drafts and hated them both. After pulling about six years of articles from the NY & LA Posts and a few from the Wall Street Journal I've put together the version of the story I like the most. I avoided hard sales numbers and as in the case of the PAL model (which I'm almost 100% certain was in 1989) release dates when they were unclear.

 

I wanted to create a picture of the landscape that created the 7800, it's life, and legacy. I still want to add to the latter two parts, but here is the latest draft of my version of the 7800's life.

 

I have no doubt there are typos, proofreading is not my strength, so please point them out. Also let me know if any part of it is wrong. I tried to pull data from the best sources I could (and I coped all of them to a word document) so I'm not really expecting factual errors, but it would be silly to ignore the possibility.

 

Draft 2.pdf 89.03 kB · 27 downloads

I admire your passion for looking to create something like this and the manner in which you've approached it, putting it out to the community to proof read and fact check, you won't find a better resource than the greater Atari Age community. 

 

 

The UK side of the 7800, i have had a hatchet job of attempting to detail somewhat on here and elsewhere  over the years, as likes of Retrogamer Magazine failed to point out Atari originally annouced the 5200 to replace the aging 2600,then US Crash hit, 7800 was annouced, shown at London event, then Atari UK MD Bob Gleadow convinces his US bosses the XEGS system better suited to UK side, 7800 finally limps out leaving Atari UK with the 2600,7800 and XEGS all competing for the same limited UK console market share. 

 

Assited where i could with it's lost games.. 

 

Chronicles Of Cute, made public the Atari Corp files Scott Stilphen gave me relating to Toki, Pitfighter etc. 

 

 

Darryl Still Atari UK P. R manager has given soundbites on it and how it sold well enough via Home Shopping firms, where parents could pay it off in monthly installments, but other than collected press clippings from Bob Gleadow, there's not an awful lot of talk from Atari UK. 

 

C+VG Magazines Son Of VCS feature highlights the limp response it had, you can find a handful of software reviews for it in Raze magazine and some Lynx/Jaguar UK fanzines. 

 

 

Full kudos for you for making it available as a free guide as well. 

 

 

I wish you the very best of luck with it. 

 

 

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