Post your homebrew Vectrex game reviews here!

[Jess Ragan]

I dunno, I'm more of a Bosconian man, myself.

 

"BLAST OFF!!!"

 

Seriously, though, a Sinistar port would be pretty cool as well. It'd be wild to see the demonic space station drawn in vectors!

 

JR

[Alex H]

That's a giveaway Alex I'll bet you it's Sinistar!!

Heh, you knows it!

 

I'm really eager to do this, but it's an ambitious project and there are some hurdles to overcome. The sound is going to be tricky - the voice samples will need a lot of ROM space and there are technical issues with playing them and drawing stuff at the same time.

 

Also, there can be a lot of objects on screen. The problem is not so much in displaying them but the collision detection between them all - that can chomp away at the available CPU time big time. There are ways to streamline this but that needs more RAM. So it all depends on how it goes with the cart design. (Looks good on paper.)

 

It will also take a lot of time to program. Besides, I must finish Man Goes Down first and the VecLink game before I really get stuck into it, so don't expect it any time soon. I've had other *big ideas* before and had to scrap them for one reason or another.

 

Robotron: too much sprites for the Vectrex' liking

Aaargh! You shouldn't set me challenges like that!

 

plus the control issue

Yes that is a problem. Someone is working on Robotron though. Haven't heard anything in a while though so don't know what's happening with that.

 

Nothing is unlocked based on score so perhaps you've found them already?

Right... it's been a while since I unlocked them.. Actually I thought it was related to the levels now that I think of it... I just shot down all the UFO's anyway...

But other than the 7 extra modes, there's nothing to be unlocked, right?

No, apart from being able to start at the higher levels, there's nothing more to unlock.

 

I think YASI eventually deserves a Special Edition by the way.  Maybe one or a few extra game game modes (like powerups/bonus levels?), two person coop mode

Hmm, interesting idea.

 

highscore entries per game mode

That wasn't possible because the Protector high score table takes up most of the EEPROM space.

 

and off course, a multi color layered overlay, just like the foil on the original arcade machine!!

That would be nice. But even the simple Protector overlay was damned expensive to produce.

 

(I like to use the Pole position overlay for it; it's almost perfect!)

I don't have one. The Scramble overlay works ok, but I have a Berzerk overlay on the screen most of the time when playing games that don't have overlays. I just love the way the screen looks in blue.

[Alex H]

Getting back on topic... There's a bunch of Vectrex reviews here. Apparently there will be more shortly.

 

Personally, I think he underrates Scramble - how it can score lower than Starhawk I don't know. But hey, he rates my games pretty high so I shouldn't complain.

 

BTW, Jeroen (owner of that site) sells some nice Vectrex T-shirts. Only the larger sizes left, but that should be ok for you fat bloaters!

Edited July 2, 2005 by Alex H

[uosipa llamxew]

I love the last bit in the Protector review:

 

Beg, borrow or steal a copy.

 

BTW, are there any pictures or videos of Spike Goes Down in action?

[Jeroen-Vectrex]

Getting back on topic...  There's a bunch of Vectrex reviews here.  Apparently there will be more shortly.

 

Personally, I think he underrates Scramble - how it can score lower than Starhawk I don't know.  But hey, he rates my games pretty high so I shouldn't complain.

 

BTW, Jeroen (owner of that site) sells some nice Vectrex T-shirts.  Only the larger sizes left, but that should be ok for you fat bloaters! 

884714[/snapback]

Hi,

 

On the reviews: I am working on a rating system so people can add their rating. I am not a script wizard, so i have to find something usefull on the web. I have added a rating system on the first 3 reviews, but it''s not what i had in mind. (you can't see the result, only after you have voted, you can vote as much as you want, etc.). So tbc on this subject.

 

On Scramble: I agree, this was one of my favourites (and still is). The other reviews come close to my own 'ranking'.

 

Jeroen

[Richard H.]

I think YASI eventually deserves a Special Edition by the way

 

Have you heard it with speech ?

 

It's really funny, it mocks you while your playing

[Mayhem]

The bad news: not everything I wrote for RetroGamer will make it into the final print of the magazine.

 

The good news: hopefully everything that doesn't will be made available on the cover CD (which is a change from the usual practice of it disappearing into the nether realms)

 

Alex... seeing as Martyn is keen on Vectrex cover mountage, would there be a problem if I suggest to him to put the video footage you have of Protector from your site on the CD?

 

He's also asked about possibly having Vectrex ROMs on the CD... now given Jay Smith released them for non-profit use, what are peoples' opinions on whether this is technically still obeying that principle or not?

 

(by virtue of the fact that Live won't be making any money from them as they will be part of the magazine itself and the cover price remains always at 6 GBP regardless of what is on the CD)

[dgo]

I think YASI eventually deserves a Special Edition by the way

 

Have you heard it with speech ?

 

It's really funny, it mocks you while your playing

885791[/snapback]

 

 

Sure I did! Nice showcase on the Vec I would say. I think I'll even show it on the next dutch retro day (http://www.retrocomputerdag.nl/ for those interested)

 

(I know you didn't forget me buying one of your Vecvox carts, now did you? )

[Richard H.]

(I know you didn't forget me buying one of your Vecvox carts, now did you?)

 

I remember now

[Alex H]

The bad news: not everything I wrote for RetroGamer will make it into the final print of the magazine.

 

The good news: hopefully everything that doesn't will be made available on the cover CD (which is a change from the usual practice of it disappearing into the nether realms)

 

Alex... seeing as Martyn is keen on Vectrex cover mountage, would there be a problem if I suggest to him to put the video footage you have of Protector from your site on the CD?

No problem!

 

He's also asked about possibly having Vectrex ROMs on the CD... now given Jay Smith released them for non-profit use, what are peoples' opinions on whether this is technically still obeying that principle or not?

 

(by virtue of the fact that Live won't be making any money from them as they will be part of the magazine itself and the cover price remains always at 6 GBP regardless of what is on the CD)

Hmm... The mag is sold for profit presumably, and it's the content (print and CD) which is where the value is and what people pay for. No print/CD, no sales. So, technically I would say it's a no no. The copyrights are still in effect - they're not PD. Also, some of the games were licenced from Cinematronics, Konami, Namco, etc., and there may be limits on how/where those titles can be published. So it's possible that Jay himself wouldn't be able to give permission.

 

Having said that, Sean Kelly sells his multi-carts and some of the websites that have the ROMs for download carry advertising. But if I were in Martyn's shoes, I'd really want to speak to Jay Smith.

 

Some of the homebrewers might be happy to have their ROM images on the CD? My stuff doesn't work in the current emulators so there's not much point.

 

 

BTW, Jeroen received an email from Jeff Corsiglia and posted it to rec.games.vectrex. Here's a copy: (Hope that's ok Jeroen?)

 

What a fine site.  Sure brings back memories.  In my attic is a box of my original storyboards for the design of many of the Vectrex games as well as my prototype for the Vextrex 3d imager.  There are also lots of designs that were never produced.  I can make some corrections to your game credits...

 

Mouse (Richard Moskowsky) was the best and fastest Vectrex programmer. His workstation was a hot rodded Ithica Intersystems.  He coded games in as little as four weeks.  Mouse generated the interpolation algorithm for the curved vectors in the light pen animation activities.  He did no design.  Mark Indictor (NOT Indicator), was also an excellent coder and did some design.  He coded Pinball to my design, both coded and designed Tour de France and Polar Rescue.

 

I liked caroming play and designed it into my Fortress of Narzod game.  I designed Cosmic Chasm with Cinematronics in mind and they manufactured it as a coin-op color vector game.  Scott Bowden and I worked together on it.  Unfortunately, their color vector system was somewhat unreliable and raster was hitting its stride.

 

For the history books, I designed the Vectrex 3d games as well.  John Ross, inventor of the Vectrex, came up with the notion of the spinning disc and I developed the hardware, (with considerable help). Interestingly, some percentage of people can't see the effect.

 

For 3-d Crazy Coaster, I rented the big coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain and clamped a stereo cine camera to the front car.  The resulting film was used for establishing realistic perspective, since we had so few vectors to establish the background.  This was an early attempt at motion-capture which worked fairly well, considering the limitations of the Vectrex system.

 

Minestorm 3-d was a requirement because the 2-d version was resident in the system.  Tough to pull off.

 

Narrow Escape was the best of the 3-d  games...probably the best use of the effect.

 

My role was head designer and producer for Vectrex at Western Technologies.  Later, I partnered with Datascan and ran its video game division as a second source of games for GCE/Milton Bradley.

 

I'm pleased new games are being developed for what's still a good game system.

 

 

Jeff Corsiglia

Perhaps Jeroen could put you in touch and he might be up for an interview for the mag?

Edited July 5, 2005 by Alex H

[Mayhem]

Probably too late for the mag now sadly... article has been submitted and they're already running too much (hence the cull). RG lost 16 pages recently (trying to find out why) which if they still had them, might have meant everything stayed in.

 

I believe your interview is still getting printed Alex

 

(I think some of the others are not though and going on the CD)

 

As for the ROMs, it's pretty much the same from other people I've spoken to. I've been told Sean has stopped making his multicarts now, but I could have sworn I saw a batch on eBay this year. Ah well... could be my memory.

 

If you've got a contact address for Jay Smith, then I can certainly ask him what he thinks directly

[Alex H]

Probably too late for the mag now sadly... article has been submitted and they're already running too much (hence the cull). RG lost 16 pages recently (trying to find out why) which if they still had them, might have meant everything stayed in.

 

I believe your interview is still getting printed Alex

 

(I think some of the others are not though and going on the CD)

Better on the CD than not at all.

 

As for the ROMs, it's pretty much the same from other people I've spoken to. I've been told Sean has stopped making his multicarts now, but I could have sworn I saw a batch on eBay this year. Ah well... could be my memory.

He's still making them, but as and when he has time. He only sells them on eBay when he has a batch made.

 

If you've got a contact address for Jay Smith, then I can certainly ask him what he thinks directly

No, sorry I don't. I'll ask around.

[Jeroen-Vectrex]

On the reviews: I am working on a rating system so people can add their rating. I am not a script wizard, so i have to find something usefull on the web. I have added a rating system on the first 3 reviews, but it''s not what i had in mind. (you can't see the result, only after you have voted, you can vote as much as you want, etc.). So tbc on this subject.

 

New voting system on all reviews!

 

http://www.vectrex.nl/reviews.html

 

Star Hawk is not looking good, Scramble is going up.

[Rob Mitchell]

Jay Smith's comments about the original ROMs is that the Vectrex community can do whatever we want to them as long as they are not sold at profit. In other words you cannot make reproduction carts and sell them on eBay for $$$.

 

So Mark Shaker sells repro Vectrex carts for $10 or less. People hack the original ROMs without any concern for retribution from Mr. Smith.

 

Now if someone wants to manufacture a new Vectrex console .. or a handheld Vectrex .. Mr. Smith wants you to talk with him.

 

If RetroGamer Mag wanted to throw the original games on a CD-ROM with a bunch of other stuff .. well I think that Mr. Smith could care less. All the original games are available on the internet anyway so who cares.

 

The homebrew games should not be distributed without the permission of the programmers .. especially Chris Tumber's games. He has gone to great measures to keep his ROMs from being sold on eBay for example.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Mayhem]

The thought in my mind was simply that RG will still be sold for 6 GBP regardless of whether the ROMs are there or not, so directly they are not making any money from them. Really depends if they sold more copies of the mag with them on than without, but we'd not really ever find that out without doing it!

 

Anyhow, apparently Jay has been asked about it, just waiting for a reply.

[FURY]

Anyhow, apparently Jay has been asked about it, just waiting for a reply.

890230[/snapback]

 

 

What homebrew ROMs (if any) are they planning to include on the CD?

 

 

George

[Mayhem]

I don't think that's been discussed yet actually. Are you okay for yours to be used George? Anything generally available to download from people's sites I figured would be okay (seeing as they are freely available) although some don't work with emulators (such as Protector) but could be used with VecFlash for example.

 

To be honest, I don't know when the deadline for submitting to the cover CD is. I can go ask...

[FURY]

I don't think that's been discussed yet actually. Are you okay for yours to be used George? Anything generally available to download from people's sites I figured would be okay (seeing as they are freely available) although some don't work with emulators (such as Protector) but could be used with VecFlash for example.

 

To be honest, I don't know when the deadline for submitting to the cover CD is. I can go ask...

890851[/snapback]

 

 

 

Actually, I don't allow it. I have it posted on my site:

http://geovector.tripod.com/_sgt/m2m3_1.htm

 

The reason is that once a compilation like that goes out, a small

percentage of the recipients will assume "public domain". I don't

know why this happens, but it happens. I've read numerous times,

for example, on the Digital Press forum that the GCE Vectrex ROMs

are all public domain, which of course is not true. The Vectrex

multi-cart completely infringes on all of the copyrights of the original

games. At $75, I dare say that profits are made on the multi-cart.

If it were distributed "at-cost" there would be no problem. The

VecFlash, on the other hand, is legit. Anyway, once "public domain"

is assumed, it opens the door to all types of problems with pirated

cartridges and the like.

 

Of all the GCE and homebrew ROMs, only V-Frogger is in the public

domain (put there by the author of the game). I would say that you

need to ask for the authors' permission on all of the other ROMs.

If the CD is listed as being "free", you're still not off the hook because

you normally need permission for free redistribution (this is what Jay Smith

has granted, but each homebrew author must decide for their own work).

Plus, it can be argued that the CD, even if free, enticed the consumer

into purchasing the magazine, thus becoming a part of the sale.

 

I'm still looking forward to the article, though it's a shame that it's been

chopped down in size. I know that your original version was complete,

and that the sizing limitations were inevitable.

 

George

[Mayhem]

Oh I perfectly understand the whole "permission gained" part, even though many of the ROMs in question for homebrews are readily downloadable. There isn't, of course, anything stopping anyone hence however from making their own cart version of a game and selling it because the ROM is available to get over the internet, but you've at least covered that angle in your page.

 

Btw still waiting to hear back from Jay here... I hope he does grant permission because it would be nice.

 

I need to ask Martyn when the deadline for the CD is anyhow... I mention to him that for the most part, homebrew ROMs are off limits as well unless I figure out how to ask everyone.

 

As for the CD argument on the front of RG... that's why it there, it's a ploy in general by publishers to entice people to buy. My point is though, would more people buy that issue because Vectrex ROMs are on there compared to if they were not? A question we can probably never find the answer to.

Edited July 14, 2005 by MayhemUK

[FURY]

There isn't, of course, anything stopping anyone hence however from making their own cart version of a game and selling it because the ROM is available to get over the internet, but you've at least covered that angle in your page.

 

As for the CD argument on the front of RG... that's why it there, it's a ploy in general by publishers to entice people to buy. My point is though, would more people buy that issue because Vectrex ROMs are on there compared to if they were not? A question we can probably never find the answer to.

891530[/snapback]

 

 

On the ROM issue... a person really cannot make a cartridge of a game and sell it. If someone decided to start manufacturing Vectrex Star Castle cartridges (as an example) and tried to sell them anywhere public, they would be put out of business very quickly. Same is true for any other copyrighted ROM, assuming that it's noticed by the author or any number of Vectrex fans.

 

The CD... I personally believe that if you offer more features (magazine + CD vs. magazine only) you'll have more customers overall. It certainly won't hurt sales, anyway

 

George

[Mayhem]

On the ROM issue...  a person really cannot make a cartridge of a game and sell it.  If someone decided to start manufacturing Vectrex Star Castle cartridges (as an example) and tried to sell them anywhere public, they would be put out of business very quickly.  Same is true for any other copyrighted ROM, assuming that it's noticed by the author or any number of Vectrex fans.

 

Apart from the guy selling the Minestorm II repros on eBay at the moment...

 

Thing is there, the money he gets is wholly dependent on who bids of course.

[Rob Mitchell]

On the CD you may include the Vectrex binary of my Pythagorean Theorem proof!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Jeroen-Vectrex]

New Vectrex game announced on http://www.vectrexnews.com only 100 copies total.

 

Bitmap/vertical shooter including overlay!!!

 

DEBRIS

 

[krupkaj]

Bitmap game on vector based console? I am curious how is it possible?

[Jess Ragan]

They fake it. Remember Y*A*S*I? Cleverly placed horizontal lines were set on the screen to imitate a bitmapped screen. The effect wasn't entirely flawless- there was some flicker, along with blurring when the last invader sped toward the screen- but it still resulted in the most accurate translation of Space Invaders available on the Vectrex.

 

JR