2600 RPG - codename, "CiE"

[Cybergoth]

Maybe I can teamup with Al to overhaul at least the 2600 section of this page later this month. It sure is a good three years out of date. 2/3 of the projects are dead (or completed, like Colony 7), while really important things like Juno First are missing.

As long as you move them to their own place (abandoned, finished) instead of just deleting them, I am fine.

 

Well, Al will have to do that, I'm just offering to research things and provide him information, descriptions and screenshots. Finished projects will certainly get entries in the main database, but what happens to abandoned ones is up to Al. I'd actually prefer discarding them. Why tease people with games that will never happen anyway?

 

While we're at it, any news regarding the full version of Robot City?

[MayDay]

A few things-

 

First and foremost, can an admin lock this thread please? Trust me when I say that I'm sure I'm far more disappointed than anyone in the outcome of this, and as of right now I'm pretty sure this will never see the light of day. To continually bump the thread doesn't help matters.

 

As for who's fault it is, it doesn't really matter. At the start, everything seemed to be going smoothly. There were many hours put into the project by both Bruce and myself. At a certain point, I became unhappy with the design I was told was in place (I've never seen any code either, for the record). There was also the discussion on whether it should be released as GPL which made me somewhat hesitant. The intent for this project was to actually be a series of games that would cover not just the Atari, but several gaming platforms. The sheer amount of time he had to spend looking at the information I sent him really makes me think that at least originally he was working on this. I think he also expected better design elements than what I had provided him, as he openly questioned a lot of my ideas (and rightly so, in retrospect).

 

Finally, I was laid off in the middle of working on this project and subsequently took a new position where I had virtually no free time for the first year or so. I did talk in my blog about this to some degree at the time. I quit sending Bruce updates at some point around that time, and we've never really worked together since. I tried contacting him about a year later without much luck.

 

I found the 1.0 release a little fishy like everyone else. I really hate to say that I don't think it happened since I spent so long working with him before. I really don't think it was someone just goading me, Bruce seemed like a great guy. However, if someone ever does decide to help me with the coding of this again (yeah, right) I don't think it will be him. I don't know if maybe he quit using his account and somebody just hacked it or what. What I do know is that I still haven't seen the code. If he really is working on his own game with the engine, I wish him the best of luck. And, if anyone is interested in helping me code this game, please feel free to PM me... we'll take Chris's advice and not announce anything until it's done and ready to release.

 

-Jason

[Shawn]

I'd like to see this stay open, If there is a 1.0 and there was a "release party" unless BP was dancing with himself someone has to know something more. I suppose that would be leaning towards it not being a total crock of shit, but thats just me being a 2600 RPG fanboy I think.

[Ben_Larson]

What I do know is that I still haven't seen the code.

 

But there was one binary posted in this thread, so someone must have written *something*.

 

I think the most likely explanation is that he just got burnt out and gave up...something that happens very easily with atari 2600 development I've found. The system is just so unforgiving and hard to debug. It's verrrry easy to lose motivation. When it stops being fun and starts being tedious, frustrating work, then there's very little personal incentive to continue.

 

The other issue is that a lot of people (including myself) get ideas and then want to start working on them without sitting down and really figuring out an honest level-of-effort estimate and an honest estimate of how many hours per week we'll be able to spend working on it. When you crunch the numbers and then you see yourself looking at a multi-year commitment, it's often a pretty effective deterrent to starting off on a new programming crusade...

 

Ben

Edited April 8, 2008 by Ben_Larson

[yuppicide]

Good advice.

 

I can't believe I believed in this project. What a crock of shit.

 

Developing a game for the 2600 is a huge undertaking and entirely voluntary, so it shouldn't be too surprising that many projects fail to make it.

 

That said, I think the following steps should be followed when developing a new Atari homebrew:

1. Don't announce anything until you actually have something to show, ideally an executable. Otherwise there is a danger that the project will get mired in speculation or be technically infeasible (like this one).
2. Give regular updates on progress, so that you can benefit from the experience of others and avoid potential pitfalls. The feedback that you receive will also encourage you to keep going.

 

Chris

[yuppicide]

You're right about very easy to lose motivation. I have the time. I have the ideas. I get stuck on one small problem and it halts my progress and I lose motivation.

 

What I do know is that I still haven't seen the code.

 

But there was one binary posted in this thread, so someone must have written *something*.

 

I think the most likely explanation is that he just got burnt out and gave up...something that happens very easily with atari 2600 development I've found. The system is just so unforgiving and hard to debug. It's verrrry easy to lose motivation. When it stops being fun and starts being tedious, frustrating work, then there's very little personal incentive to continue.

 

The other issue is that a lot of people (including myself) get ideas and then want to start working on them without sitting down and really figuring out an honest level-of-effort estimate and an honest estimate of how many hours per week we'll be able to spend working on it. When you crunch the numbers and then you see yourself looking at a multi-year commitment, it's often a pretty effective deterrent to starting off on a new programming crusade...

 

Ben