+Tarzilla Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GYotc1Mo3g Yes, unless the video was recorded at 60 frames per second and the youtube conversion process didn't monkey with it and we could play it back at 60, then we'd see what it really was like. An absolutely Incredible looking game when seen in person on a tube tv. Even the title screen and it's music is something that makes you stop and look, then look to see if the 2600 in front of you is actually hooked up and not some trick. I was playing it and some guy beside me commented on how it is hard for him to just play them, (in this case Star Castle and Space Rocks) as his brain can't help but try to figure out what kernel tricks were used and how he would have done it back in the day. Both Space Rocks and Star Castle got the Tod Frye seal of approval...maybe that should be a real thing, a sticker on the box or something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 It does not video well at all. Yeah, the recordings they made of Space Rocks & Stay Frosty 2 back in 2013 had the same issue with flickering objects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Maybe this would be the one rare time to record from LCD and an emulator? And in the video, show both and explain why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 There was one game video recently I saw, it looked terrible, but if you went to YouTube you could select 720p50 or maybe it was 720p60. I don't know how you would upload your video and have YouTube include the full fame version. Also the option did not appear for people in other countries besides the U.S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Also for stills, there is a 2 frame animated .gif of Space Rocks I thought was really neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 It looks and plays amazing to me, with the score shown in the best simulation of a vector beam. It even has the dot points on the ends of the lines! I just wish the ship could have been single line and more vector-like, but like I always say "Gameplay is most important in a 2600 game because the graphics are limited." Star Castle is one of the rare games with excellent graphics. Chris and Thomas did an amazing job of programming the game. The graphics were a lot of fun to work on, but vector games are always a challenge on the 2600. The vector font is something I came up with for John Champeau's unfinished 2600 port of Rip Off. Star Castle seemed like a good place to make use of it again. The player's ship had to use two-line resolution because of the way the castle graphics are drawn, so we were limited in that regard. Originally I'd done a larger, more detailed player ship, but it made for too big of a target. The proportions relative to the arcade version were all wrong, so we reduced its size. We lost detail, but gained playability. We felt that was more important than making the ship look... un-blobby. Although we lost a little detail there, we were able to keep the original arcade starfield, and Thomas endlessly optimized the game, gaining space to put in the full castle explosion, the little explosions when your shots hit something, and animating the sparks that chase you. The ships each use 32 rotational positions (Asteroids, Gravitar, Combat, etc., only used 16) which makes for much smoother animation, and more precise aiming and maneuvering. The castle ship has 128 frames of animation in total, since each position has four frames of the cannon animating. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) That video is almost hypnotic the way the circles flicker slower than life. I assume the screen has 30Hz flicker elements, and there's enough of a desync between the camera rate and half the CRT refresh rate so that the patterns dance. I've definitely seen worse with capture card footage straight from an Atari, then uploaded directly to youtube in 480i instead of using a proper interlace filter that blends the frames Youtube just trashes every other frame and there is no option at all for 60Hz in 480p or lower resolution. Games like DK VCS that use multicolor sprite kernels look like ass under the youtube filter since half the color data gets deleted. By using a good encoding software like handbrake on captured footage, you can blend the interlaced frames down to progressive 30Hz and get results similar to Stella's phosphor effect with no discarded frames (youtube) or venetian blinds (most LCDs). Unfortunately my Hauppauge USB capture barfs on deinterlaced Atari video (grayscale mess) and completely fails on my Best AV 7800 (invalid signal), likely due to Atari's weird timings. Edited October 21, 2015 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS_Dracon Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GYotc1Mo3g The sound is odd, like the TIA volume registers is not working and this is weird. Note the "ping" sound from the flying mines is just an annoying beep. Perhaps it's related to A/V mod? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Also for stills, there is a 2 frame animated .gif of Space Rocks I thought was really neat. FujiSkunk's site? Those are pretty cool. For Space Rocks you have to look under Asteroids. There's also pages for Stay Frosty and Stay Frosty 2. He hasn't done Medieval Mayhem, though he does have a section for Warlords. There's other homebrews as well, easiest to find them on the Other Companies page. There's also audio clips, though I have to use a browser other than Safari to hear them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 FujiSkunk's site? Those are pretty cool. For Space Rocks you have to look under Asteroids. There's also pages for Stay Frosty and Stay Frosty 2. He hasn't done Medieval Mayhem, though he does have a section for Warlords. Those are very cool! Nice way of doing screenshots. Now Albert just needs to go through and re-do all of the AtariAge ones that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Now available in the AA store! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) First review is already (almost too fast ) there. Thanks Steven! Edited November 23, 2015 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 First review is already (almost too fast there. He's had the game for over a week, I hand-delivered it to him at the Houston Arcade Expo. ..Al 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 BTW :Zippy (#72/102) and SCA (#74) are racing up the charts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyx Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 When will the cart only option become available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 No clue, we never talked about it because of the beautiful packaging. But personally I want my game be played and not only collected. Let me talk to Al... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyx Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 No clue, we never talked about it because of the beautiful packaging. But personally I want my game be played and not only collected. Let me talk to Al... Please do. I can wait. I purchased Space Rocks, cart only last Christmas, and I just purchased Zippy, cart only. The box looks wonderful, but my minimalist living makes storing boxes hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Please do. I can wait. I purchased Space Rocks, cart only last Christmas, and I just purchased Zippy, cart only. The box looks wonderful, but my minimalist living makes storing boxes hard. Agreed. I got Space Rocks and Seaweed Assault CIB because it was the only option. Sometimes I do make an extra special splurge on a CIB if the packaging is really attractive, but generally I just want loose. One exception, I may check and see if Albert can get me a Chietry box. I've had the loose cart + manual since 2013, but I'm waiting until my Christmas stipend comes in to place another order. One of my favorite homebrews and the box art on that is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 First review is already (almost too fast ) there. Thanks Steven! You're welcome. This game is a complete gem. Many thanks to everyone involved! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 He's had the game for over a week, I hand-delivered it to him at the Houston Arcade Expo. ..Al Thanks for hand delivering the cart and for providing another steller classic console setup for all to enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Bumping Nathan's TV calibration tips. Note: The Star Castle Arcade has a built-in greyscale screen (joystick left and fire at start up). Use it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 He's had the game for over a week, I hand-delivered it to him at the Houston Arcade Expo. ..Al Same for me - I bought the Lady Bug CE #72/99 from Al at the Houston ArcadeExpo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Please do. I can wait. I purchased Space Rocks, cart only last Christmas, and I just purchased Zippy, cart only. The box looks wonderful, but my minimalist living makes storing boxes hard. I will likely make the cart/manual version of the game available in the store in January. As I've posted elsewhere in the forum, I have a significant investment in boxes for many of these new games, and I"d like to recoup some of that investment before I make the unboxed versions available. Star Castle Arcade is selling well in boxed form, so I expect most of the boxed copies to be gone by January, at which point I can make the box an option for as long as they last. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyx Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I will likely make the cart/manual version of the game available in the store in January. As I've posted elsewhere in the forum, I have a significant investment in boxes for many of these new games, and I"d like to recoup some of that investment before I make the unboxed versions available. Star Castle Arcade is selling well in boxed form, so I expect most of the boxed copies to be gone by January, at which point I can make the box an option for as long as they last. ..Al Makes sense, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Same for me - I bought the Lady Bug CE #72/99 from Al at the Houston ArcadeExpo. I just had Star Castle Arcade, Lady Bug Collector's Edition #78, Zippy and Astro Fighter delivered in the mail. The attention to EVERY detail in Star Castle and Lady Bug is beyond belief. Only one sentence in the Lady Bug manual gives away that AtariAge made this - it is so complete and awesome. Now I REALLY hope Cosmic Avenger gets the same Collector Edition release. That will fill every vaporware Coleco catalog entry, right? There is Carnival, Smurf, Venture, and also from AtariAge Turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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