+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 EXCLUSIVE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH ACTIVISION LEGEND JOHN VAN RYZIN (H.E.R.O. & COSMIC COMMUTER) POST YOUR QUESTIONS BELOW! ZeroPage Homebrew will be hosting an extremely rare interview with legendary programmer John Van Ryzin (H.E.R.O. & Cosmic Commuter) LIVE on Twitch this Friday June 14, 2024 to talk about the upcoming physical release of his first Atari 2600 game in 40 years, ALIEN ABDUCTION! You do not want to miss this opportunity to directly ask him your questions about his classic Activision games and the physical release of his new game through Audacity Games! WATCH LIVE: Friday June 14th @ 2PM PT | 5PM ET | 9PM GMT https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ YouTube Archive of Interview: 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeex Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 Can you tell us more about the injury you sustained while working on this game? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+D Train Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 how was it working on the atari again? did he have any issues remembering how to program the 6507? is he glad to be back programming the 2600? does he hold any special affection for the machine? did he avail himself of modern gaming tools? stella, etc how did he playtest? with a group or on his own? how was it working with audacity? why did he not get published by AA (this may be too sensitive) does he have any more 2600 games in the pipeline or is this a one off? 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 I would be interested to know if the social dynamic that John Van Ryzin had with the other members of the early 80's Activision team still carries over to Audacity Games today. In Weird Al's band, the keyboardist joined the band in the Early 90's, when everyone else was together since the early 80's and to this day he's still "The New Guy". 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 (edited) 1) Are you considering to make more 2600 games, and perhaps work together with the others at Audacity Games on a new game? 2) Alien Abduction is said by some to be the unofficial sequel to H.E.R.O. It seems to have more of a futuristic setting.Would you be interested in doing a unofficial prequel, where thing play out in a more medieval fantasy setting? 3) Does the game contain any easter eggs? Edited June 12 by Giles N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) +1 for @D Train's questions. Some other things I'm curious about: What has John been doing after leaving Activision in the '80s? Did he do any game development since? How much work was it to add the extra Audacity platform features to the game, like QR-code registration, highscore, etc.? Will there also be a PAL 50Hz version of Alien Abduction? What was John's experience with having his game as digital download on the AtariVCS-800 platform? IMO Alien Abduction would have been a great game for Atari to release worldwide for their Atari 2600+; I've heard that John even has had discussions with Atari about this. Why didn't it work out for him and Atari? Edited June 13 by Dionoid 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adriana Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Please tell me this will be available as a VOD! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Did he have any unreleased or unfinished games? Long shot here, but does he possibly know the identity of the unknown Activision game? http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/unknown1/unknown1.htm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Was this game built in raw 6502 assembly or batari basic? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 I would be curious to know why Alien Abduction was removed from the new Atari VCS' Store, and whether it will be coming back. Additionally, I would like to know what options there are to redeem the ROMs in the two upper versions of the sales, are they general PC roms or do you/can you redeem them through the Atari VCS storefront? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 H.E.R.O.'s an awesome game, has he seen the recent VIC-20 port of H.E.R.O.? I found it to be quite faithful to the original, especially in light of the VIC's hardware limitations - everything's character based, no hardware sprites. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 8 hours ago, Adriana said: Please tell me this will be available as a VOD! You bet, it'll be available on YouTube shortly after. - James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 (edited) 20 hours ago, Tempest said: Did he have any unreleased or unfinished games? Long shot here, but does he possibly know the identity of the unknown Activision game? http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/unknown1/unknown1.htm This. And does he perhaps know who programmed Hard-Head? https://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/unknown2/unknown2.htm https://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-hard-head_13510.html Edited June 14 by Rom Hunter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jeremiahjt Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Ask him if he fixed the scoring bug I found on the VCS 800 version of Alien Abduction. He said he was going to look into it, but I do not know if he did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 On 6/13/2024 at 7:13 AM, Tempest said: Did he have any unreleased or unfinished games? Long shot here, but does he possibly know the identity of the unknown Activision game? http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/unknown1/unknown1.htm 9 hours ago, Rom Hunter said: This. And does he perhaps know who programmed Hard-Head? https://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/unknown2/unknown2.htm https://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-hard-head_13510.html Ditto on both of these. Don’t want them being overlooked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDfever Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 (edited) I've got some gameplay up here – only short, so far, as I’m getting my butt kicked before too long How do I make the video appear here, rather than just have the URL showing? I thought the site would resolve that normally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ30DyVIcpk Edited June 14 by DVDfever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 I'm guessing the list of questions has already been finalized, but if not, I was wondering if John ever thought about doing a retro game panel - such as at Portland Retro Gaming Expo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 4 hours ago, littaum said: I'm guessing the list of questions has already been finalized, but if not, I was wondering if John ever thought about doing a retro game panel - such as at Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Damn, I was already getting ready for the show. That would have been a good one to ask! Next time. 🙂 - James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 (edited) Ok, - so, cool to hear some background stuff there, even though some of the things he said gave rise to more questions. Not so much about him as about the background story details… Spoiler …more concerning all the delays and on/off publishing questions… Anyway, sad to hear about his permanent arm damage. Guess, there is small chance for more games by him then… Hope at least he gets the pains under control, or get the proper treatment… Edited June 15 by Giles N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jeremiahjt Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Since a video of the bug I found was requested. 20231220_174122.mp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cx2k Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 11 hours ago, jeremiahjt said: Ask him if he fixed the scoring bug I found on the VCS 800 version of Alien Abduction. He said he was going to look into it, but I do not know if he did. The bug has been fixed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amidarman Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Too bad nobody asked Ryzin about the Odyssey 2 version that was made a few years ago - 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 For those of you who missed watching the interview with John Van Ryzin live, here's the YouTube archive. Enjoy! - James YouTube Archive of Interview: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVDfever Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 24 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said: For those of you who missed watching the interview with John Van Ryzin live, here's the YouTube archive. Enjoy! - James YouTube Archive of Interview: Cool! I caught most of it bar the last ten minutes, as my stupid internet cut out. Bah! Great interview, and he really enjoyed being part of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwh Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Too bad I can not seem to buy this game from Audacity. Their shopping cart will not let me select a shipping option before the reservation timer expires.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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