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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

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

Homebreviews - part 5

Well, since Qb has been temporarily added back to the AtariAge store, I'd better get a review written for it before it goes away again.   Qb 5/5   Qb is what I'd describe as an "action/puzzle game". The goal is to slide puzzle pieces around and duplicate a pattern shown on screen. Sounds simple enough, but you're racing against time to finish each puzzle, and you also have to deal with enemies that can pop up and ruin all of your hard work (and you). The gameplay is completely addictive, an
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

0

A big, flickery mess?

So... back to one of the things on my "To-do" list - namely, "Stupid Game Ideas". (Pretend that was said in a loud, booming voice with lots of echo.)   ...ideas... ...ideas... ...ideas...   These are the games I would make for the Atari 2600, if I had any clue about programming.   And trust me... I don't. I've read through a bunch of the 2600 "how-to" stuff, and even though I kind-of get some of the limitations of the 2600, and have a vague sense of what the hardware is doing, I have no
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

28

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

It's like eating potato chips

When you start getting homebrew games, you just can't stop at one.   So that's what sparked the idea behind my new avatar. My 2600 just can't get enough new games - it seems to be sitting there saying, "Feed me! Feed me!" As soon as I finish playing one game, it wants another one right away. (Of course, if you've gone without food for almost 20 years, you'd probably be a little grumpy, too.)   Besides all of the homebrews it's recently been fed, it's now able to absolutely gorge itself, than
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

19

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

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

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

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.
Guest

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5

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

Guest

5

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

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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Guest

8

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

And the loser is... XBox 360!

So, it's time to tackle the latest console wars.Get comfortable... this is going to take awhile. Sony vs. MicrosoftThe XBox 360 is going to sell a lot of units, and eventually make money for Microsoft. But they're going to be second place to Sony, even before the PlayStation 3 is launched.The reasons for this have to do in part with the technical specs of the systems, the games available at or after launch, and brand loyalty. And while those are all going to be contributing factors, none of thos
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Guest

20

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

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

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

You're buggin' me, man!

Well, it turns out that one is a praying mantis - not a cricket. But I was right - it is giving me trouble.   The hardest thing about making these sprites (so far) is that if I were just making vertical versions (as the sprite rips shown in my previous post below are), then I could make pretty decent-looking conversions. There's enough vertical resolution (14 pixels) in the sprites to be able to make neat looking legs, spots, stripes and other stuff.   And there is a lot of that kind of st
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0

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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8

Wait a minute... I was right?

Well, I wasn't exactly "right" about Disney buying Pixar, since I thought that it was an outside long shot at best: But essentially, that's what happened today. I think someone's gonna owe me a steak. (Hi Frank!) As I mentioned in my previous blog entry about this, I figured the only way Pixar would make this deal is if they took over creative control of Disney Feature Animation, and much to my surprise, Disney agreed to pretty much that.According to the press release: Now exactly what
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3
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