Circus Convoy

[john_q_atari]

1 hour ago, thanatos said:

I also have one of the collector editions.   I remember sitting at the wait on the computer the morning for the game to go on sale to score one...

 

They were supposed to be working on Casey's Gold, then they announced this game, and 2 years later still no word on Casey's Gold.

 

I would hazard to guess that they sold a lot less product than they were expecting and the wind has gone out of their sails.

[Silver Back]

7 hours ago, john_q_atari said:

I would hazard to guess that they sold a lot less product than they were expecting and the wind has gone out of their sails.

Unfortunately I think this is probably the truth.  I would love to hear something from Audacity and it's team so we could know for sure.

[Crazy Climber]

7 hours ago, john_q_atari said:

I would hazard to guess that they sold a lot less product than they were expecting and the wind has gone out of their sails.

 

10 minutes ago, Silver Back said:

Unfortunately I think this is probably the truth.  I would love to hear something from Audacity and it's team so we could know for sure.

 

I thought this too...but then I had a different thought.

 

Circus Convoy was a very well made game...it was also a very LARGE game. I heard Dan mention more than once that Casey's Gold "won't be as big as Circus Convoy"

 

Since Casey's Gold was supposed to be first there was nothing to compare it to...but then Convoy basically came out of nowhere...maybe Dan started having second thoughts about Casey's Gold the way it was and basically started re-writing it from the ground up/etc..

 

It's possible he wanted to make it a bigger and better game after the good feedback on CC...

 

If thats the case, doing something twice can be very time consuming, and it can also "take the wind out of your sales" pretty quick. This is just an absolute guess though...

 

[JagChris]

Even though they say they have no interest in the 7800 i would imagine the 8 bit guy was likewise. Perhaps something similar could happen with Audacity.

Edited March 2, 2023 by JagChris

[AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol]

On 2/27/2023 at 1:38 PM, livingonwheels said:

Has anyone got this game to work with the Concerto with the latest firmware?

Interesting, just tried it with 0.96 firmware.  Doesn't work.  Been playing it on the emulator, haven't opened the box yet to try the actual cart.

I don't have a Harmony cart handy, I'll try it next.

[madmax_2069]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:26 PM, AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol said:

Interesting, just tried it with 0.96 firmware.  Doesn't work.  Been playing it on the emulator, haven't opened the box yet to try the actual cart.

I don't have a Harmony cart handy, I'll try it next.

Have you tried the 0.96 that was released a few days ago (there's multiple 0.96 firmware builds). 

[RevEng]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:01 PM, JagChris said:

Even though they say they have no interest in the 7800 i would imagine the 8 bit guy was likewise. Perhaps something similar could happen with Audacity.

David Murray owns a 7800 and has demonstrated it on his channel before, and mentioned the 7800 as a possible platform for Petscii Robots prior to mksmith and I starting the 7800 port. I don't think it's anywhere near his favourite console, but he genuinely does have a connection to it.

 

Activision served as publisher for a couple 7800 games, but did no coding in-house. I doubt that the Audacity guys want to learn another retro platform they have no personal history with. I also doubt they'd partner with established 7800 homebrew coders like David Murray did. At the risk of stoking a long dead controversy... from interviews, it was pretty clear to me that the Audacity guys did not want to be associated with the homebrew scene at all.

[+batari]

15 hours ago, madmax_2069 said:

Have you tried the 0.96 that was released a few days ago (there's multiple 0.96 firmware builds). 

This game has not yet been supported in Concerto (There is a Harmony Encore firmware that supports it though, which you can flash to Concerto), but I will look into native Concerto support.

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, RevEng said:

At the risk of stoking a long dead controversy... from interviews, it was pretty clear to me that the Audacity guys did not want to be associated with the homebrew scene at all.

Yep - that was definitely a di** move on their part.  Quite condescending.

[JagChris]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:25 PM, RevEng said:

At the risk of stoking a long dead controversy... from interviews, it was pretty clear to me that the Audacity guys did not want to be associated with the homebrew scene at all.

 

I remember them saying they didn't consider themselves homebrew but don't remember such emphasis as everyone else does.

 

Anyway I wonder if they would consider someone like Ken Rose for satellite development. He did Desert Falcon for the 7800. He's still around. 

[Albert]

4 minutes ago, JagChris said:

I remember them saying they didn't consider themselves homebrew but don't remember such emphasis as everyone else does.

Then you weren't paying much attention...

 

 ..Al

[JagChris]

11 minutes ago, Albert said:

Then you weren't paying much attention...

 

 ..Al

Maybe.  But it's David Crane and Garry Kitchen.. If they want to put on airs... well hell it's David Crane and Garry Kitchen. 

[Albert]

1 minute ago, JagChris said:

Maybe.  But it's David Crane and Garry Kitchen.. If they want to put on airs... well hell it's David Crane and Garry Kitchen. 

Well, alright, I guess it's okay then!

 

 ..Al

[JagChris]

9 minutes ago, Albert said:

Well, alright, I guess it's okay then!

 

 ..Al

I meant to put a laughing emoji in there.

 

Is it alright? Of course not. But we've both met and seen them numerous times and they're very personable. I guess if they want to be a little snooty in this instance I guess I can personally let it slide all things considered. People have been far snootier for far less.

[+Cafeman]

I have yet to play it, but I have watched others play it online and seen videos reviewing it. 
 

Frankly, the game appears to be extremely well designed and engineered. There are all kinds of cool ideas, variety, and things to do in the game. Graphically, I can’t think of a more impressive stock hardware 2600 game. Everything from the colors, the animation, the art, to the parallax scrolling, is impressive and eye pleasing.   It is easy to see this was made by a couple of experienced masters. 
 

[JagChris]

4 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

I have yet to play it, but I have watched others play it online and seen videos reviewing it. 
 

Frankly, the game appears to be extremely well designed and engineered. There are all kinds of cool ideas, variety, and things to do in the game. Graphically, I can’t think of a more impressive stock hardware 2600 game. Everything from the colors, the animation, the art, to the parallax scrolling, is impressive and eye pleasing.   It is easy to see this was made by a couple of experienced masters. 
 

Grab it! GRAB IT! 😊

[Zonie]

They look like they plan to support the Homebrew community

[BrianC]

On 3/6/2023 at 3:25 PM, RevEng said:

Activision served as publisher for a couple 7800 games, but did no coding in-house.

Weren't David Crane and Garry Kitchen at Absolute at the time of the 7800? Wasn't Super Skateboardin' done by David Crane?

[RevEng]

5 hours ago, BrianC said:

Weren't David Crane and Garry Kitchen at Absolute at the time of the 7800? Wasn't Super Skateboardin' done by David Crane?

I wasn't aware. I stand corrected!

[JagChris]

Yes, yes he did.

 

 

[+SpiceWare]

On 3/6/2023 at 2:25 PM, RevEng said:

it was pretty clear to me that the Audacity guys did not want to be associated with the homebrew scene at all.

 

I think they don't consider what they're doing homebrew because they are professionals developers for the 2600 from back in the day. Along those lines would a professional athlete take kindly to being called amateur later on in their life? As such, I view it as a perceived slight where none was intended.

 

I've talked with them a few times over the years at various expos, most recently in 2017:

 

On 3/13/2021 at 11:55 AM, SpiceWare said:

At the gaming events I've gone to they've always checked out the AtariAge booth.  At PRGE 2017 John was showing David Crane his ports of Scramble and Super Cobra when David started to ask questions about DPC+, which John handed off to me; so they while they may not follow it as closely as we do, they do follow it.

 

 

So they are aware and interested in what we're doing.

[RevEng]

1 hour ago, SpiceWare said:

I think they don't consider what they're doing homebrew because they are professionals developers for the 2600 from back in the day. Along those lines would a professional athlete take kindly to being called amateur later on in their life? As such, I view it as a perceived slight where none was intended.

I think that's a poorly fitting analogy. But running with it... if the professional athlete is running in an amateur meet, I don't think he should say it was a professional win either.

 

Dropping analogies, they said CC wasn't homebrew not just because they were once professional programmers on the 2600, but rather, because it had a professional fit and finish, they didn't reuse carts, and homebrews are always made at home. (???)

 

I'm sure they didn't intend a slight, and they seem like nice guys. They just think they're better than homebrew. Whatever, no big deal.

[Rogerpoco]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, I know it's a no no to not read back to make sure, lol, but-

Tho it might not necessarily have been their intent, "distancing themselves" from Homebrew, it can be looked at a different way.

To whatever degree, they have "corporate infrastructure", "yessmen", involved in what they are doing, even if only on a micro level, they have the experience in the business, I suppose, for the proper "outsourcing".

So they are(but aren't)saying that their games aren't quite created with the same individually passionate approach as what most Homebrews tend to be.

 

So there.

 

CC IS a great game, and I know of many great homebrews as well, apples to apples, to me, but I can certainly understand why they would kinda even want to be perceived slightly differently.

[+Defender_2600]

Everything has changed and today only small runs are released. Personally, in the era of smart working, with the current development tools and with Al as a publisher, I find it hard to define current productions as simply made at home. For example, current 2600 reproductions made by Atari don't seem to me to have an 'alien' level of quality.

[John Stamos Mullet]

On 3/15/2023 at 12:12 PM, RevEng said:

I think that's a poorly fitting analogy. But running with it... if the professional athlete is running in an amateur meet, I don't think he should say it was a professional win either.

 

Dropping analogies, they said CC wasn't homebrew not just because they were once professional programmers on the 2600, but rather, because it had a professional fit and finish, they didn't reuse carts, and homebrews are always made at home. (???)

 

I'm sure they didn't intend a slight, and they seem like nice guys. They just think they're better than homebrew. Whatever, no big deal.

Well, as much as we all appreciate the time and effort quality homebrews take to get in the hands of users, they aren’t really wrong. They sold people a new product, professionally developed, marketed, and produced, using a fully established business. They paid taxes. They paid employees. They used real factories. 
 

you can argue that they are being judgmental, or snobby - but there is a fairly sizable difference between what they did, and how all homebrews are produced. 
 

as for the game - I liked it. It’s well made. Not my favorite game ever, but worth the $50 I paid for it at least. I can’t always say the same of homebrews I’ve purchased. 
 

homebrews are like rock bands. Some are truly great, some are mildly entertaining. Many of them are… not.