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About this blog

Mostly Atari-related projects, and other ramblings. Home of the Artie the Atari comic strip.

Entries in this blog

Midwest Classic stuff

Man... what a couple of weeks.   Things have calmed down though, and the last couple of days I've been cranking out stuff to try and get it done for the Midwest Gaming Classic.   I can't go to the show, because, well, it's about umpteen-hundred miles "that way" (pointing in a vaguely Easterly direction). It'd be fun, but it just won't happen.   But I'll be "represented" there anyway. I just finished up three labels for the show (Four-Play demo, Conquest of Mars and another one which Albert
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

16

CarZzzz...

Despite the blog title, Cars isn't really a boring film.   Unless you're a little kid. Say, under 5. Maybe 7. Not having kids, it's a little hard for me to judge at what point stuff becomes boring for them (and it's been a lonnng time since I was 7). But based on kids in the audience (one of whom repeatedly kept asking "is it over yet"?), I don't think bringing really little kids to this film is a good idea.   I went to see Cars last week, and I have to admit, it's a much better film than I
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Time Marches On

And so it's March. Where January and February went - I have no idea.   Anyway, I feel somewhat obligated to post a blog entry, just so I don't get pushed off the front page.   Music seems about as good a topic as any. As I'm working on various art projects, I like to listen to music that ties into what I'm working on. For example, if I'm working on sprites for a sci-fi game like Colony 7 or Juno First, I'll listen to sci-fi movie soundtracks. Tron works especially well for this, since it's
Guest

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To Do, To Do, Doo Be Doo Be Doo

Why yes, I am running out of "To Do" titles for my blog entries. Thanks for asking.   Well, I'm gradually chipping away at my "To-Do" list. Although there are two more projects added to it now: Label and manual for Lady Bug - In progress. John has approved a couple of design ideas for me to take to the next step. Manual for Four-Play - The label is already done, so the cover for the manual is basically done, too. Incidentally, I'm still working on new illustrations for RPS. Not su
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1

Once aTron a time...

Well, that was totally cool.   The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Hoozitwhatzit (the "Oscars" guys), held a screening Wednesday evening of a 70mm print of Tron at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, preceded by a panel discussion with director Steven Lisberger, VFX supervisor Richard Taylor, and animator Bill Kroyer.   They went over the laborious process of making the film (including some info I'd never heard before), a few anecdotes about the production, and talked a little ab
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

12

Back to work

Sorry Bob, couldn't resist.   Well, the second wave of the tsunami known as "work" came in, as I had to create and duplicate DVDs of our end-of-year shows the past couple of weeks. Last year, we sent them out for duplication (although I authored the masters), but we discovered that it was actually cheaper to buy a DVD duplicator, and make our own, than send them out.   Plus, ours look way better. I was never really happy with the printing on the discs last year.   So, I haven't done much
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1

The Work Thing

Ahhh... the tsunami of work has finally subsided. Fortunately, I managed to hang onto some debris and survive.   I don't discuss work much in my blog since, well, it's work. I don't really feel the need to discuss work much outside of work. But, I tend to do that anyway, since work pretty-much dominates my life (bad habit to get into - not recommended).   So I work at CalArts as the technician for the Character Animation program. Video production equipment, a couple of Mac labs, file server
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

3

George ! ! !

So, it turns out that George Lucas has decided to release the original versions of the Star Wars Trilogy after all.   Now, this is very cool news, because I'm a fan of the original Star Wars.   "Episode IV - A New Hope"? Phooey! Ever since I first saw that appear in the opening crawl in 1981 it's looked out-of-place to me.   The original "Star Wars" opening crawl synced better with the opening music, and well... it was Star Wars! The movie I grew up with, having seen it a dozen times durin
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1

To do... or not to do...

Well, I'm buried at work for the next few weeks, so I'm not going to be getting anywhere on any projects for awhile.   But before the sky fell in, I did manage to make some progress on a few things: The MGD manual is about 75% done. I just need to do the back page (assuming Alex approves the overall design... that is). I need to revise the label a little bit to better match the manual, too. Started some additional illustrations for the RPS manual. Also lined up someone to help me design b
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

8

Care and feeding of your Atari 2600

I really liked the way the 2600 I drew for my avatar turned out, so I decided to see what else I could do with it.   Here are a couple of illustrations I did for an AtariAge flyer, which Albert is packing in with shipments from the AA store.   They're black and white since, well, they get printed in black and white.       Feel free to make up your own captions.
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

5

I'm so old...

I was talking to someone about malfunctioning computers the other day, and eventually the conversation turned to "2001: A Space Odyssey". This other person (a college student) hadn't seen it yet, so I recommended it to him.   Then it dawned on me... that movie took place five years ago.   Five years ago!   What happened? It used to be the ultimate futuristic movie! I grew up with that film, marveling at its wonders, and would think of how old I would be when 2001 actually rolled around.  
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

10

Six in a row!

I just realized, that as of yesterday, I've posted to my blog five days in a row! While this is a completely meaningless statistic, I've decided to try and go for a solid week of blog entries, and make it an even bigger completely meaningless statistic!   So, with today and tomorrow left to deal with, I'd better come up with something to post about. Just putting up a mostly empty entry would be cheating.                       Umm... well, I did get a first pass at the Rai
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

2

Homebreviews - part 4

The last ones! (At least until I pick up some more games from the AA store.)   Thrust+ 5/5   Thrust+ is one of the best games ever programmed for the 2600. It's a little more expensive than other homebrews, but it's worth every penny. The graphics are incredible, and the gameplay is absolutely flawless. Thrust+ is certainly a challenging game, but not unfairly so. The gravity and momentum that affects your ship feels just right, and even as the heavy Klystron pods you have to rescue cause yo
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

12

Homebreviews - part 3

Only "three" reviews this time - but that last one is a doozy!   Ultra SCSIcide 4/5   Okay, it's time to dust off the paddles and spray a little contact cleaner in there. Fast-paced doesn't even begin to describe Ultra SCSIcide once it gets going. The game takes place in a hard drive, and it's your job to catch (or "read") colored data bits in the correct order as they go speeding by. Read the wrong ones or wait too long to read the right ones, and the hard drive will crash! It's pretty easy
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

9

To-Do Part Two

Well, just when I get a bunch of stuff checked off my To-Do list, more stuff gets added to it.   So, new to the list are: New ghost sprites for Dennis' PacMan (not Pac-Man) (Some) new sprites for Rainbow Invaders Tiles for Bob (maybe he's redecorating his bathroom or something) Plus I still have to clean up the Four-Play title screen a bit, finish the label art for it, finish the manuals for RPS and MGD, and I may take a crack at the power-ups for SuperBug.   Plus, I need to write
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

24

Homebreviews - part 2

The reviews continue... Crazy Balloon 4/5 Crazy Balloon was an obscure arcade game from the 70's, from a time when videogame genres were still being invented. Game companies hadn't settled into reusing the same formulas over and over again, and unique, quirky games like Crazy Balloon were the result. While essentially a maze game, Crazy Balloon is more than simply finding your way from point A to point B. It's a devious mix of needing to be patient, while beating the clock. The first few level
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

9

Homebreviews - part 1

I always look for reviews before I buy something (especially games), so I can get some idea of what I'm going to plunk down my hard-earned money for. So, after my recent haul of homebrew games from AtariAge, I promised Albert I'd write up some reviews. Be careful what you ask for... The ratings (out of 5) have to do with how much I enjoy playing a game, and how likely it is the cartridge will see a lot of time in my 2600. Technical merit has a little to do with it, but not much. Gameplay and
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

10

If everybody to-did it, would you to-do it too?

So, with other people posting their to-do lists, I thought I'd post mine:   1) Make to-do list   This is going to be harder than I thought...   I'll start over.   1) Finish Colony 7 sprites. - Done! At least I think so. Manuel hasn't told me otherwise. Yet.   2) Finish sprites for LadyBug. The bugs are done, except for some tweaking. They turned out pretty well, I think, plus John really likes them. They capture the feel of the originals, which is what I was after. Up next I have to
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11

Cheeeese!

I finally picked up Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and I have to say, it's a wonderful film!   I missed it in the theaters, but I wanted to get the DVD because I've been a fan of Nick Park's work since his Creature Comforts short. Wallace and Gromit are terrific characters, and it was great to see them in a feature-length film. And even though I don't think the Oscars usually provide any sort of real-world validity, I was glad to see this film win for best animated feature.
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5

Weekend Warrior

Three-day weekend!   Monday is President's Day, where we combine the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, and use it as an excuse to go shopping.   I mean... reflect on our nation's history.   Okay. Shopping. Or, lazily sit on our butts and enjoy the day off.   Which is what I plan to do. More or less.   Actually, this weekend is a good chance to knock some stuff off my "to-do" list: I'm working on the Juno First sprites, and should have the first pass wrapped up today (I posted a sne
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8

A quick digression

Jumping back to the animation industry for a second... the rumor of the day is that Apple will buy Disney. Umm... no. Not gonna happen. Why? Apple has no reason to, or more to the point, Steve Jobs has no reason to. With the Disney buyout of Pixar (or more accurately - the Pixar takeover of Disney), Steve is already in the position he needs to be in, to get whatever he needs from Disney for Apple, and what he's after is content for the iTunes video store, or more to the point - content for t
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2

The Olympics and stuff

I'm still tired from typing out that XBox/PS3 thing, so I'll make this short. ;)Late-night Olympics are much more interesting than the daytime stuff. I've seen enough downhill skiing and figure skating to last a lifetime.The sports they show late at night are usually the ones they figure nobody will watch. Like the biathlon and curling. Both are pretty interesting sports. But I guess neither is "flashy" enough for prime time.Right now I'm watching women's curling.I don't really understand curlin
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11

Back up!

So, I've been playing a lot of Juno First lately, since I'll be making sprites for it.If you haven't checked it out in MAME, you should. It's a really challenging and fun game. Although it looks like a standard vertical shooter, there's more to it than that. By controlling forward/reverse movement of your ship, it adds a completely different dimension to the game. For about the first three waves, it doesn't make much of a difference.But then... they break out the homing missiles.These little bug
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17

WarGames

After years of searching, I finally found the WarGames soundtrack on CD.   While the soundtrack never did have an official, commercial release, a limited production run of promotional CDs was made, and I managed to locate one.   A complete review of it is now up on my website - MacMAME.net - in the Reviews section.   Enjoy!  
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6

Back to Atari!

Well after getting sidetracked with animation for a few entries, it's back to some more on-topic stuff.Animation!...of Atari 2600 game sprites, that is. ;)I just sent off the first batch of exploding sprites to Manuel for Colony 7. I couldn't make huge, elaborate explosions due to the constraints, but I think what I came up with gets across the idea of stuff blowing apart pretty well.I'll also be working on some sprites for Chris' version of Juno First. This was a cool game I discovered while wr
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