New Atari Corporation Website

[Idea Revolutions]

Hey, for those of you who don't know, I am the president of the company Idea Revolutions. Well, now we have a website!!! (pauses as everyone goes 'boo'). Um, yeah, anyway, go visit it at www.geocities.com/idearevolutions. It just got started, and I'll try to make it better as we go. Currently we don't have any game ideas, which is ironic being that that's what we do(kind of). But, by tomorrow(as of when I'm writing this), I'll have all least 4 of our 20 new ideas up. So, if you want to know what we've finally decided to do, go visit the site!!

[Paul Slocum]

Correct link:

 

http://www.geocities.com/idearevolutions

[Idea Revolutions]

Okay, I was ending the sentence. The real site name is it without the period.

[Idea Revolutions]

Okay I just got done talking with the other guys that work here(all 2 of them), and they said that we should ask you guys what genre of games you would be interested in seeing for the Atari 2600, so that we can have more stuff like that. We might get our logo up on the site pretty soon. Well, that's all for now. Post away!

[+cvga]

I think it's good that you guys waited until you saved some money. Most small businesses fail due to a lack of funding.

 

How is this company going to be run differently than the one you proposed in June? If I recall correctly, you gave up after about a week.

 

Also, we're near the end of summer. Will you be able to commit the time needed to run a potentially large corporation once school starts? I'm assuming that you're still in school based on your previous strategies of trying to get more kids involved in Atari.

[Skatepunk60]

finish a 2600 doom

[somePUNK]

don't you have to start 2600 doom to finish it any how any way good idea but i was wondering what happened to you guys now i know have fun and come out with a game befor you ask my opion on it

[+Kaboomer]

Oh god, please help us.....here we go again!

[Thelen]

I think we should give those guys a chance. they are trying to do something good.

 

but i think you guys should start learning to program. you could first try to program a game on an atari 8 bit computer in basic. or make a qbasic game on the pc with atari graphics. that will give you some program feeling...

 

Thelen

[Thomas Jentzsch]

IMO we have more than enough good game ideas. What really is missing are more programmers with much more free time who can make them all come true.

[Snider-man]

What really is missing are more programmers with much more free time who can make them all come true.

 

Yup. There's a ton of great, great ideas floating around out there. And learning ASM is tough, tough, tough, but managable if one is focussed, patient, and driven enough. But finding the time to code, correct, recode, etc. is nigh impossible.

 

I think I may just take two weeks vacation later this year solely for the purpose of sitting at my computer and pounding out code. Trying to do it after an 11-hour workday is impossible. And the weekends are filled with all of the around-the-house chores I've ignored during the weekdays.

 

I have to ask the guys who have completed a game or two. *When* did you do most of your coding? And how did you work this time in with your job, home life, social time, sleep, etc.? Did you work on your games in the morning? Evening? How did you schedule?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I have to ask the guys who have completed a game or two. *When* did you do most of your coding? And how did you work this time in with your job, home life, social time, sleep, etc.?

Sleep?

Actually I was continuing working on Thrust while I was sleeping.

 

Did you work on your games in the morning? Evening?

Yes, and yes, and many nights, weekends, holidays etc. Whenever I had some spare time.

[+Cafeman]

Same here from the 5200 side of the fence.

 

Trying to work on ASM code after work, driving home, dinner, cutting grass & bathing kids etc, and usually not sitting down until 10PM -- it's near impossible. I've worked on 5200 code whenever I can, when I have the ambition. On long car trips I let Mrs Cafeman drive and I sit there with a notebook / graph paper and work things out. I think about solutions to problems in the car to & from work. At lunch at work I try to sit down and get something done. I've spent several Saturday mornings sitting at my PC drinking coffee, getting stuff done on Koffi (or in the early days, just learning stuff).

 

So don't let yourself start hating the game making by allowing a time schedule or expectations to force you to work on it when you don't want to. After all, in a masochistic way this is supposed to be fun.

 

After all this investment of time & energy, it sounds ridiculous for some new company to come in and try to attach itself to the programmers, doesn't it? Kudos for the Atari love and efforts to support the Atari community, but try it in another way.

[Paul Slocum]

I have to ask the guys who have completed a game or two. *When* did you do most of your coding? And how did you work this time in with your job, home life, social time, sleep, etc.? Did you work on your games in the morning? Evening? How did you schedule?

 

It helps if you have a laptop so you can work on it anywhere. I did a lot of work on my multicart menu system on the plane back from Paris. But a big part of it is that I usually don't work full time:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12844

 

-Paul

[Fretwobbler]

IMO we have more than enough good game ideas. What really is missing are more programmers with much more free time who can make them all come true.

 

Thomas,

 

You dont fancy writing a C compiler for the 2600 do ya?

 

Adam

[bloatedmonkey]

but i think you guys should start learning to program

I don't think that's part of their business model. As I understand it, they're an idea factory. They don't make the games, they just think them up. Reminds me of this commercial on the radio right now.

 

Consultant: "We've solved your productivity problem....All you have to do is do the same amount of work you do right now, just do it in less time! Your productivity is bound to go up!"

 

Client: "Are we paying you for this?"

 

So stop telling them they need to learn programming. They've shown no interest in that. It's not part of their road to riches. Personally, I'm glad to see these guys are back. They make me laugh.

[Idea Revolutions]

Thank you bloatedmonkey!! In case you haven't noticed, programming is not our thing! I tried programming, and look at how far it got me!! By the way, I was just thinking of something funny. Whenever we're around, you criticize us. Then, when we say we're leaving, you try to talk us into coming back. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!!!! Anyway, we have a new worker. By the way, I'm not really interested in programming right now. I'm a teenager. My life is much too hectic with this business alone. When I'm older, most of you will be too old to care about any of this. That's why I want the younger generation to get into Atari. Well I'm talking way too much and for no reason, so I'll stop.

[The Night Phantom]

By the way, I'm not really interested in programming right now.  I'm a teenager.

Oh, yeah, oil and water.

[+cvga]

I was just looking through the new Digital Press game guide and some new game ideas popped into my mind that you guys might want to use. How about these?

 

3D Tic Tac Toe II

Adventure II - I think someone might be doing this one already though

Adventures of Tron II

Air Raid II

Air Raiders II

Airlock II

Air-Sea Battle II

Alien II

Alpha Beam with Ernie II

Amidar II

 

stay tuned. Maybe I'll have some more ideas later (after I've turned the first page).

[+Cafeman]

When I'm older, most of you will be too old to care about any of this.  

 

[Room 34]

I'm just a little curious... what makes Idea Revolutions a "company"? How are any people actually "working" there? If all you do is post game ideas on your site and wait for someone with programming skills to come along and say, "That's a good idea, I'll make a game out of that," where exactly does the "company" aspect -- the making of profit (or at least revenue) -- come in?

 

I'm not trying to be cynical or make fun of you... I'm just trying to help you define what it really is you're trying to accomplish...

[Stella'sGhost]

I don't think being a teenager should have anything to do with whether you are not into programming, some of the best innovative programmers in the last 25 years started out as teenagers.

 

It's a good idea, what you are trying to do, however you don't really know what you are talking about. Do some research first before you attempt to start a company...

 

What I do is come up with a game idea, then I program a demo of it using Macromedia Director because it is a fairly easy language to learn and it has very powerfull multi-media capabilaties perfectly suited for on-line and CD rom games. That is a demo, to be developed further either by me or by a more experienced programmer in a more roubst language. But at least its a working demo that works with sound and graphics.

 

If you can't write a simple game in Lingo, or its cousin Basic you certainly will not be able to write in assembly any time soon or be able to communicate your intentions and understand the limitations of the hardware.

 

As for ideas, well I don't need any help in that department. I seriously doubt you will find a single programmer who will work for free, especially for such an arcane and difficult out-dated system such as the Atari, which even for a non-beginner like me would take a considerable amount of time to get a working game running on a 2600, I know my limits, at present I could not do it and I don't know that I ever will.

 

Anyways.....like I always say...what-ever, but I do hope somehow that you succeed.

[Paul Slocum]

The ideas I see posted on your site appear to just be scenarios, which are not very useful. A really good game idea that might have a chance of being made would probably have to have some mock screenshots and descriptions of game mechanics (and be very good and innovative.) Good Atari games are about good gameplay, not good scenarios. Any one who's played any Mythicon games can attest to that.

 

A way that you might actually turn your site into something cool and userful is to create sort of a forum of 2600 game ideas. Meaning that anybody can submit an idea, and you'll work up a page for each idea. Each page would have a mock up game screen and detailed description of the gameplay (but a minimal amount of scenario description). And you'd also have to let programmers critique your ideas since often, ideas from non-programmers turn out to not be feasible on the 2600.

 

Even if none of the games get made, it would probably be a fun site. And I can attest to what many people have said: that I have far more good ideas for games/programs than I have time to program. But I have had some people send me some really good ideas that aren't quite suited to me, but might be perfect for another one of the homebrewers...

 

(And if you do decide to spend some time putting together a cool site, please find some space or shell out a little cash for a webserver without ads.)

 

-paul

[moycon]

Hey... Anyone wanna program all those moc games I came up with???

 

Deli-roids

STANpede

Bologna Cooker

 

Anyone???

 

I won't criticize Idea Revolutions too much.... As Bloated Monkey said... The guys are funny as hell to listen too.

 

Mmmmm I'm not sure they're meaning to be funny.... Reading this thread is kinda like going into a movie that is SOOO bad it's entertaining.

 

Still if there are MOC screen shots on the way... more power to them.

 

I do have a few questions about the company....

 

Just out of curiosity how exactly does this business generate revenue?

I do see some ideas on the web site and an offer to pass out finished carts in case the guy who produced them gets too tired after programing and building the carts and needs someone else to pass them out but that doesn't seem to be near enough to keep a company afloat!

 

Do you and you're co-workers have a 401k plan yet? If not you guys really need to look into this. Its never too early to plan for the future.

 

What are your hours of operation and do you have an 800 # in case I get an idea at like 3am and want to call you guys to see if it's viable.

 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond. Good luck fellas.

[Atari Master]

Umm, may I propose that you lern HTML instead of using Geocities. If your going to run a buisness run it like an expert. Go to www.htmlgoodies.com to lern HTML. Then you will be able to write a good webpage for Idea Revoltuions. This is just a suggestion. If you need, and if I have the time. I could possibly build you a new layout. But in order for you to manage it you would need to know HTML. If you need a template fast just go to www.freelayouts.com . And if you want to edit without the use of HTML get a program called FrontPage Express. But if you can afford it buy FrontPage 2000.