Retrocade Future

[Senshi]

I think it would be great to release what can be contained on a card. I think this would generate some serious buzz and would just be plain cool. Most things are on CD's these days. I think the novelty of the card would be so much better. Then maybe later there can be a re-release of those games on the card along with the rest.

yea maybe its not the most "efficient way to do it" but I'd rather these homebrew ideas like a new card or cartridge come to life if the creators heart is in it and not just go the CD route. Hell if people are willing to pay the crazy amounts of money that pier solar has gone for in recent history there is no reason why a new HuCard can't make a little money. If pier solar is on a CD i doubt it sells for the same amount since there probably wouldn't have been a shortage.

[Arkhan]

My only worry is that people wont like the games in their simplicity.  The goal was to create short, tiny arcade games to bring something to the PCE that it lacks:  Precrash games.

I also had a very epic realization.  A "duhrrr" moment.

http://pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Space_Invaders.htm

not to mention the 1995 CD release that isn't very elaborate either.

Who here thought that the Space Invaders hucard sucked, wasn't worth it, and doesn't have much appeal? 

[Arjak]

I voted to wait for the full CD; I don't have much money to spend and have a problem with buying the exact same product twice.

[sunteam_paul]

Who here thought that the Space Invaders hucard sucked, wasn't worth it, and doesn't have much appeal? 

Space Invaders gets boring after screen 1.

[Black Tiger]

I like Space Invaders, Galaga, Astrosmash, Pac Man, Lock n Chase and other games that I played back in the day. But it's not just nostalgia, the gameplay of many "pre-crash" games is timeless to me and much better than the average current gen game.

[Arkhan]

The question here is, would people want to buy HuCards of each game separately?  Each game on their own offers things you'd expect out of an enhanced version of the game:  Graphics, music, better sfx, some bells/whistles...

but, would people go for it?

At the time when we started Retrocade, HuCards weren't a possibility.  This is a new venture.

[Gogan]

Me me loves the golden age games. 

[Black Tiger]

If you're concerned about collectors, I think that they'll buy anything, but especially new HuCards.

If you're concerned about players who might stick their noses up at these kinds of "simple" games, I don't think it will matter if it's a single game on HuCard or several on a CD, they will not be impressed either way.

There are still many of us who appreciate both the games and the fact that they're for TG-16/PCE.

[Necromancer]

The question here is, would people want to buy HuCards of each game separately?

I'd buy 'em, though eight fancied up Atari 2600 games at $50 each for $400 total.... f*ck me running.

[lord_cack]

How about a combo pack Pyamid Plunder CD packed with Atlantean Card.... I would absolutely buy that for $35-$50....

[spenoza]

Why can't you package a couple games on a single card? Are you running into memory limits on your retooling of the music and graphics? I think if Atlantean adds enough to the Defender model I might be willing to nab a card of it, and possibly of Joust, but there will need to be enough stuff to mix up the gameplay so I don't feel like I'm just playing Defender or Joust. Look at Galaga '88. It added bosses, warps, and mixed things up quite a bit. If that is your goal, then I say at least a couple of your titles would do just find on card.

[Arkhan]

How about a combo pack Pyamid Plunder CD packed with Atlantean Card.... I would absolutely buy that for $35-$50....

That is already something I thought of.  Or the AetherPack!:  Insanity, PP, and Atlantean, for some f*ckin nice price, for the people who didn't get Insanity yet.

I'd buy 'em, though eight fancied up Atari 2600 games at $50 each for $400 total.... f*ck me running.

There would not be 8 of them, and I sure hope the price can be fanagled down to less than 50.   HuCard releases would be:

Atlantean
Joustaroo
Jungle Hunt

I don't think SkateboardRamp9000 is worth a HuCard release on it's own.  It'd almost just be some kinda tack-on, at the very end, to go with the 3 Protocard games.

Once this is all figured out, I intend to make a more formal announcement, and update Aetherbyte.com to reflect the changes.

It's looking something like:

Atlantean, Joustaroo and Jungle Cunt on Hueys
Pyramid Plunder either as a free demo or pressed CD (if the demand warrants it)
Once erythangs done: The Full Retrocade with ^^^^ All those ^^^^ , tweaked up Protocard games, Skateboard9000, and something else I never mentioned and won't mention.

As for not doing multiple releases of these big games on one card:  The current Protocards aren't even out yet, so I don't want to bank on shit that is too much effort. AKA: I don't want to say yeah I'll slap Joust and Atlantean on one card when it turns out to be a f*cking pain. 

Also, this is just my own opinion, but I don't want my games or anyone else's games to ever be compared to commercial games with regards to reasons why they aren't worth buying... seems a bit unfair.  There's alot of that in the Amiga scene:  "Why buy some stupid looking game when I can play *this* or *that*".

It's missing the point.

I brought up Galaga 88 to kind of say: Look how that turned out.  Atlantean is shooting for something similar as far as bringing more to the table.  It may not achieve the same level, but hey, I'm not Namco, and I don't have 8+ hours a day to devote to it. 

[Necromancer]

Also, this is just my own opinion, but I don't want my games or anyone else's games to ever be compared to commercial games with regards to reasons why they aren't worth buying... seems a bit unfair.

Fair or not, commercial games are the competition.  Homebrew doesn't necessarily have to equal the best commercial games, but it better equal 'em in the fun factor and playability department if you want a wide audience.

[spenoza]

If you want me to pay money, you have to offer up something I want, and you have to offer it in such a way that it makes me want to spend my $$. That does, in a sense, put you in competition with the existing library of commercial games. There's no way to get around that, really. It is a gamble you make when you put down money for a run of pressed CDs or parts for cards. This isn't a charity, and it would be unfair to everyone involved to cast it that way.

[Arkhan]

Fair or not, commercial games are the competition.  Homebrew doesn't necessarily have to equal the best commercial games, but it better equal 'em in the fun factor and playability department if you want a wide audience.

You are 100% right!  I agree completely as far as that goes.   What I meant was, as far as "features/content" is concerned, it would be unfair IMHO to say something like "Well, why doesn't Pyramid Plunder have animated cutscenes?!" or "Man, where's the orchestrated musical score for Atlantean!?".  Basically, I don't want Atlantean to end up getting compared to Psychosis or L-Dis or something.

I don't intend to make Atlantean just a graphical enhancement with the same Defender gameplay.  I do plan to add to it as Space Invaders and Galaga 88 did.  It's already got parallax, chiptunes, and sweet artwork. =3

I don't want anyone to forget though, there was a time (before I was a twinkle in my dads eye!) when playing games like this was nothing more than seeing if you could beat your previous high score, and honing your reflexes.   I want to keep that while adding more.   I want people to feel compelled to pop another quarter in their Turbo when they die in these games!