Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?

[random_dave]

Now you are being sarcastic but the cardboard prototype was likely all of that (plus it was also recycled most likely, for the "green" in all of us) ..... not sure about how much "gaming" per se it was once you exclude the "place random electronics component here and there" kind of a game.

I'm sure you could play tic-tac-toe on it with a sharpie, or your favoured retro marker brand

[Flojomojo]

<insert obligatory trope about sniffing plastic fumes from the Jaguar casing>

[Newsdee]

Yeah, remember all the "built in USA" talk, and working with local (unnamed) suppliers? As if this were fresh fruit and vegetables, and not an attempt at mass-market electronics?

The guys building the ZxUno FPGA board went for that...

they designed an open source hardware board (like the MiST but less powerful and cheaper) and after verifying a few prototypes launched a crowdfunding campaign to do a production run.

The price was reasonable and it wasn't sketchy, but one aspect of it was that they advertised 100% built in Spain (where they're from), and using only local suppliers.

 

The campaign was so successful that it sold out in six hours(!). I managed to snag one

 

Couple of months in after the successful campaign (of 6 month total build time), one of the team members turns rogue and funds his own production run from China. He gets his units done before the crowdfuning run and the community was a bit in a bit of an uproar.

He ended up apologizing and promising that he won't ship until the main run is done. After that, they put up a small request saying "please don't ship before we do" (anybody is free to build a board - it's open source).

 

I found out much later, was more funny than anything. There's a few gems in the thread like

I have 100 ZX-Unos available 4 months before the crowdfunding ones

.

Going local sure is less efficient...

 

Full story at: http://www.zxuno.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=368

Edited August 26, 2016 by Newsdee

[Flojomojo]

Newsdee, do you know the price difference between the made-in-Spain vs the made-in-China version? I'm sure the Chinese-made one will be cheaper, but I'm curious as to by how much.

[Newsdee]

Crowdfunding board was sold at 65 Euros, the new ones were sold at 70 Euros. In China they were manufactured at 40 Euros each.

In a Spanish post, the guy explains that price was about the same as the ones made in Spain (not sure if true).

 

He does say (and the team said before) that manufacturing in China is a risk and the reason they build it in Spain was to be able to keep an eye on it.

These guys are not getting rich on these boards anyway, and I'm no hater; just thought it's a slightly funny and interesting insight in building hardware these days.

 

To add some more numbers, the crowdfunding sold 250 units and this guy built on the side 140 extra units.

There are other people building their own boards on the side too, so this board might get pretty popular if it gets ongoing developer support.

 

It was designed to fit in an RPi case drilling one extra hole for the EAR plug of the Spectrum:

Edited August 26, 2016 by Newsdee

[Shawn]

Crowdfunding board was sold at 65 Euros, the new ones were sold at 70 Euros. In China they were manufactured at 40 Euros each.

In a Spanish post, the guy explains that price was about the same as the ones made in Spain (not sure if true).

 

He does say (and the team said before) that manufacturing in China is a risk and the reason they build it in Spain was to be able to keep an eye on it.

These guys are not getting rich on these boards anyway, and I'm no hater; just thought it's a slightly funny and interesting insight in building hardware these days.

 

 

Ya the big risk is getting your design stolen and having them print your work and selling it on their own for 3rd of the price

[Newsdee]

Ya the big risk is getting your design stolen and having them print your work and selling it on their own for 3rd of the price

Actually these guys have an open source design. There is nothing to steal, they're giving it away. They could only hope it gets mass produced and made available for cheap.

 

The problem is this guy spent his own money and gets suddenly worried he might not be able to sell the boards if he waits too long. He apologizes and kind of admits it was a bad decision (at least felt that way to me). Now they just settled in shipping them after the crowdfunding run.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Newsdee

[Agamemnon2]

It was designed to fit in an RPi case drilling one extra hole for the EAR plug of the Spectrum:

zxunov41_quest_11.jpg

 

Oh, clever, that's a potential boon for users.

[toiletunes]

...but does it fit in a Jaguar?

[Agamemnon2]

Almost certainly. Just superglue some standoffs onto the bottom of the case if necessary. :-P

[PlaysWithWolves]

The OTON is back! Get 'em while they're hot, folks:

 

https://youtu.be/GNiU0bP69W4

 

I vaguely remember our thread on the OTON, a crowdfunded console which created new games on the fly using hopes and dreams. It netted about $1100 in flexible funding.

 

It's really weird to look at their indiegogo campaign, because I now realize that we knew *WAY* more about what they wanted an OTON to be made of than we know about the rvgs/chameleon.

 

the fauxtotype(?) looks considerably better too. And hell, 'have it make you all the new games you want' is actually a lot better selling point than 'collect all of our limited edition, vga-graded carts (*sold separately).'

 

 

 

 

 

[toiletunes]

Feh! The Oton people are lazy, lazy, lazy! They didn't put in any hard work at all! Seriously, look at the shape of the console shell! I bet it's not even available in multiple colors! </drunken commentary>

Edited August 29, 2016 by toiletunes

[Newsdee]

So a console based completely on procedurally generated content. It's not a pie in the sky really; more of a curiosity about how they could pull it off and make it fun.

Semi-procedural is OK (I think Skyrim used it, as did the original Elite) but you still need a human hand to make it interesting and add some kind of story.

 

I think it will crash badly if they can't even produce one small PC game as a proof of concept, though.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Newsdee

[Flojomojo]

When OTON says this,

 

Procedural content generation, refined – early testing shows that the OTON X can create 30 playable game levels per minute, more than ever before. Hours of re-playability – with procedurally-generated content, you’re never playing the same game twice.

 

I think of this.

 

 

I always wondered how they fit so many games into a little cartridge. 112 video games!!

 

Now, OTON? I may be old, and not very smart, but what exactly is this bringing to the table? A random number generator?

 

Also, where the heck did they get the $4000 in pledges already? It can't be themselves, as they will need to pay Kickstarter fees.

[phoenixdownita]

In that Space Invaders box, what's "invisible invaders"?

[PlaysWithWolves]

 

Now, OTON? I may be old, and not very smart, but what exactly is this bringing to the table? A random number generator?

 

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Wow, can't believe this thread is still alive...

The AVS looks like a nice machine! RetroUSB also had some fun at Mike's expense with their "prototype" AVS shell filled with a pile of PC cards, which makes me want one even more.

 

Yeah awesome that Brian of RetroUSB deicded to lampoon the whole Chameleon thing. Unlike Mike Kennedy, however, Brian PArker actually delivered on his promise. Supposedly there is a boat about to dock on the shore at any moment with a huge gaylord pallet of AVS units, and one of them will be the one I preordered.

 

I gotta give props for Analogue with their NT Mini, partnering with Kevtris to produce a competing FPGA NES product. If I could offer one advice for them, it would be to lose the milled aluminum and shave $200 off the retail price. At $185 for the AVS or $450 for the NT Mini, that is a tough sell...

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

@0:49 - Make... Your... Own... Game...

 

Easier said than done...

[godslabrat]

But will those games be bug-free?

[toiletunes]

only if they remember to instruct OTON.

Simple as that!

[Flojomojo]

In that Space Invaders box, what's "invisible invaders"?

 

Variations 105 thru 112, in which you cannot see the invaders except when you shoot or hit one.

[phoenixdownita]

Variations 105 thru 112, in which you cannot see the invaders except when you shoot or hit one.

Do you even see their "droppings" or it's all blind?

[those levels do look like the CC, you cannot see it until you throw money at it and even then ....]

[carlsson]

In that analogy, does Mike correspond to the mothership you get bonus points for shooting?

[Flojomojo]

Do you even see their "droppings" or it's all blind?

[those levels do look like the CC, you cannot see it until you throw money at it and even then ....]

 

Never played Space Invaders? We might need to revoke your Atari Age membership.

[StopDrop&Retro]

The OTON can make a quintillion different games but the chances of one being good is almost zero.

 

I'm considering ditching the MyGamerArchive video since I don't think the guy is going to retry the campaign and instead make a video about OTON. I've done my own research and there's some stuff about the OTON creator that seriously makes me question his sanity. Not joking there.