Albert Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Chad Lare's new Atari 2600 homebrew game Backfire is now available for purchase in the AtariAge Store. The Backfire cartridge feature's Earl Green's winning entry in the Backfire Label Contest, and a twelve page, full-color manual created by Dale Crum and Chad Lare, with additional artwork from Earl Green. In addition, Chad Lare has released the final version of the binary, which features some tweaks to the version released previously. You can learn more about Backfire (and download the binary) here and purchase it in cartridge form here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 This game is REALLY fun and REALLY hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I just want to thank Earl for creating such great artwork and Dale for putting the manual together. I haven't seen the finished manual yet, but from what I have heard it is really well done. Also, thank you to Albert and everyone else at Atari Age. I also want to point out that Backfire is much more "user friendly" on an actual Atari with a joystick. I did most of my testing using my Cuttle Cart and I admit that it is very difficult to play using a computer keyboard. I wonder who will be the first one to find the Easter Egg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsuinnc Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 The only question I have is, Should I order it now or is there going to be a '+' edition in the near future that ads more features, levels, controller options etc.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 hahaaa yea no doubt i still think i need to buy skeleton again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'm definately not planning on releasing another version of Backfire. I don't have a lot of time to spend on programming right now, but any time I do have will probably be spent writing a new game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spirantho Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 My order's already placed so I hope there`s no + version! Or if there is, an upgrade version too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'm not going to do a plus version. I could do a minus version where I take away features. That would be easier to program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCroniger Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Is it possible to get a signed copy (cart or manual)? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'm not going to do a plus version. I could do a minus version where I take away features. That would be easier to program. If you do, can you use this label? Not because it's a great label, but because it's got a Destroid on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I didn't realize that I'm such a celebrity now, but if you would like my autograph I guess we could arrange that. Albert is sending me a label to autograph for Earl (the winner of the label contest). If there are enough other people who are interested in having a signed copy, I guess I could get some more copies of the labels and sign them. (Personally I think it would be a shame to put my ugly signature on that beautiful label.) For the record... I was just kidding about doing a Backfire Minus addition. This will be the only version of Backfire. I promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Personally I think it would be a shame to put my ugly signature on that beautiful label. Use a silver or gold pen and sign the back of the cart instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCroniger Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 If I had a choice, I'd like to get the manual signed. I usually look at this once then put it away, but the label is probably the easiest this to do. You can mail a label for the cost of a regular letter. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phosphor Dot Fossils Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Thanks for cooking up such a cool game, Chad. I'm looking forward to trying it with a real live Atari joystick - it seems like it's gotta be more instinctive that way than with the emulator. And I think you're gonna dig the manual! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 It seems like the kids weren't pleased with the 50 different Thrust releases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Phosphor Dot Fossils - Thank you for the compliment and thank you for the amazing artwork. I can barely play it in an emulator. The emulators do a pretty good job at running it, but it just doesn't feel right to use the keyboard. It's still pretty hard on the actual system, but it does play a lot better. At one point I gave some serious thought to making the game easier, but I can get more than half way to rolling the counter, so I decided to keep it how it is. It is hard, but the difficulty progresses slowly. I never liked games that get difficult really fast and then stay at the same difficulty level. I wanted a more gradual progression. I also thought about using the difficulty switches on the back, but I decided against it so that there would be only one version of the game. That way, if we ever do a high score contest we can be sure that everyone is playing the same game. I agree that a signed manual might be better. I'll check with Albert and see if he can send me some to sign and I'll send them back. I hope to make it to a gaming show at some point so that I can meet some of you in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gateway Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Hey Chad. Who is: Jack Turney? P.S. Your game is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 It seems like the kids weren't pleased with the 50 different Thrust releases. 51! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Congratulations Gateway. I wondered if anyone would figure that out. Jack Turney is a former boss of mine who was a real jerk, so I decided to use his name for the evil clan of invaders. I got the idea from Yars Revenge. Yar = Ray. Razak Galaxy = Kazar. (Ray Kazar was the CEO of Atari at the time.) I had to put the ' in K'caj because it looked strange without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Ray Kazar was the CEO of Atari at the time.) KASSAR; not Kazar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsuinnc Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Has anybody played this game on a 7800? Does it work completely? I have ordered it regardless but I usually use my 7800 not my 2600 and I was dissappointed to find that neither Funky Fish nor Pleiades works correctly on the (my) 7800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 You're right, it is Kassar not Kazar. In the comic book they spell the name of the galaxy Razak. They must have changed the spelling to make it less obvious. I've only tested it on my 2600 with my Cuttle Cart. I haven't tried it on the 7800. Backfire doesn't really use any strange programming tricks. It's all pretty standard stuff, so my guess is that it would work. Then again I don't really know that much about the 7800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phosphor Dot Fossils Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 I'll let everyone know about 7800 compatibility when I get mine; my 2600 died a while back, so all I've got is a 7800 to play this on. (Hey, it's better than nothing!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadivision Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 I just got my copy in the mail! The cart and manual look great. PDF, I'll sign the label and the manaul and get them in the mail right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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