Skull Island - limited edition in real hand carved wood case!

[yuppicide]

 

 

This game will come in two editions: limited edition made with real hand carved wood case (hand numbered, labels, manual, and box). Limited to 21 copies (20 for sale). The wood will be protected with a clear coat. I thought this would compliment the faux wood grain of an Atari 2600 nicely and it's not something I've ever seen before.

 

Also, the regular edition (hand numbered, labels, manual). Limited to 40 copies. There's also 3 prototypes for sale.. I also told Albert he could bring one to CGE and display it at his table if he wants and gave my Dad and two friends a copy, so there's only 6 of these floating around.

 

When this game sells out, I have no plans to make any more. I will have a different game, which I'll be giving Albert to sell without any royalties to me.

 

Story:

You've found an old map in the attic. It shows the location to a buried treasure on Skull Island. The only problem is you only have part of the map. You can make out the general area where Skull Island is, but which island is it? There's so many little islands.

 

Levels:

Skull Island features 40 levels of puzzles ranging from Beginner (levels 1 - 10) to Intermediate (levels 11 - 20) to Advanced (levels 21 - 30) and Expert (levels 31 - 40). The puzzles are lateral thinking, meaning they build upon the previous puzzles and get harder as you go along.

Level Selection:

When you start the game you will be greeted by the title screen. Pressing the select switch will navigate through the four different levels you can start at listed above. You can only start at level 1, level 11, level 21, or level 31. Pressing the joystick button or reset switch will start the game on your desired level. As you press the select switch the screen will indicate which level by words and a picture of an island. As you get closer to Skull Island it becomes more clear.

 

Game Elements:

When you start a game you'll see a 5 x 5 grid of squares on the screen. The blue squares are water, the brown square in the center is the island you need to land on in order to advance to the next level, the red square is your raft, and the other colors are your friends' rafts.

 

Movement:

The game is controlled by using the joystick. You start off with a cursor in the middle of the grid. You can move this around. Move over a raft in which you want to move and press the joystick button. The cursor will flash indicating you have picked up this raft. At that point you can either move the raft using the joystick or put back down the raft using the button.

 

If you move the raft it will float until it gets stopped by another raft. If it does not collide with another raft it will float out to sea. The level will reset itself for you to try again.

 

If you put down the raft the cursor will stop flashing and you are free to move the cursor around again. Rafts may only move up and down, left and right. No diagonal movements.

 

You do not need to hold the joystick to keep moving the raft. It will float on it's own until it collides with another raft.

 

Bad movements:

You cannot move off the screen (the cursor does not wrap around), pick up the island, or the water. A buzzer will sound if you make any of these wrong movements.

 

Objective:

Land your red raft on the island in the center. It must land directly on the island, so you'll need another color raft to block it from floating out to sea. Once you do this, a level animation will show, it will say LEVEL DONE, and you will see the number of the next level coming up.

 

I'm Stuck:

If you're stuck on a level with no moves to make, the reset switch will reset things for you.

 

Winning:

The game is over if you beat level 40.

 

You can see a video of the game in action and pledge / get a copy here:

 

http://www.kickstart...-the-atari-2600

 

I will update the project as it makes progress. I'd like to include a label picture in the future, manual picture, and pictures of the prototypes cartridges as they're being made.

Edited July 12, 2010 by yuppicide

[Cebus Capucinis]

Gotta find $100 or more for one of those hand-carved carts! I will be donating to the project for sure!

[yuppicide]

I had Albert send the wood carving guy a cartridge with PCB inside awhile ago. I just never had the funding to start the project. He's waiting. The guy who I found to carve these says he thinks it's totally doable.

 

When I found out about the website, I saw it was in beta. I told them about my project, showed them some pictures, mentioned that I've been a member here for many years. The girl who replied to me said it sounds like a really cool idea and they accepted me. I also have an idea for a book, which I might submit my idea to them as well.

 

I am not sure how thick a LENTICULAR printed label would be, but that would be really cool also.. you can see an example here:

 

 

Obviously I wouldn't have a butt, but something related to my game.

 

The website has a clause that if for some reason the project does gets canceled everyone will get a refund... and if the funding is not reached within the days set on the website, then it's refunded also.

 

By the way, there's an old test version up in the Homebrew forum:

 

http://www.atariage....ost__p__1769482

 

Many thanks (in no particular order) to SeaGt, Jwierer, bAtari, RevEng, Random Terrain, and Albert. Their names are hidden in the game.

 

If Albert takes the copy I gave him to CGE, I told him he can do whatever he wants with it when he's done. I embedded a special AA/CGE message in that one.

Edited July 12, 2010 by yuppicide

[accousticguitar]

Nice! I hope I can scrape up $28.

[shadowdoggie]

I'm in for a piece of wood. Hope you're able to get enough funding. It's a great idea and a really, really fun game.

[TrekMD]

Just added my pledge...

[yuppicide]

Thanks so much. I'll keep progress updates as it happens. If this code can be expanded into a 7 x 7 grid, I have another 40 levels waiting that are even harder.

Edited July 13, 2010 by yuppicide

[phaxda]

Well, you got me. I think the game is cool and I have always wanted a game in a wooden shell. I think I posted something about doing this on r.g.v.c. in like 1998 -- my idea was just to transplant a Pac-Man or something into a wooden case, but an original game is so much better!

 

There goes my Paypal balance...

[yuppicide]

I have other unique ideas (not as expensive) for future releases.

[the.golden.ax]

Very interesting.

 

AX

[lucifershalo]

any idea about the prices?

[horseboy]

any idea about the prices?

Click the link.

Edited July 13, 2010 by horseboy

[yuppicide]

The guy who is doing the wood cases for me gave me a very high price to start off, but as he continues to make them he'll learn tricks to streamline his operation and produce them faster. He thinks the first one will take a week or less, but after that quicker times.

 

So, the end price averaged is less, but then there's the box, manual, labels, and some sort of clear coat to protect things.

 

I've added another reward if someone just wants to help out.. you can donate $1 or more and have your name with a big thanks in the instructions.

 

I'm heading home from work now.. I'm going to post a new .bin file shortly with my updates. I'll make it playable up to level 10 this time.

[SekOner]

I have other unique ideas (not as expensive) for future releases.

 

What those custom plastic molded carts?

 

I really need to scrape up 100 bucks myself, i've always, always wanted to wooden case. I cant manage to scrape up the monkey maybe i'll (try to atleast) carve one myself ha ha

 

Btw you should post a demo BIN it might help get more pledges if people can check it out. Either way im in

[shadowdoggie]

I have other unique ideas (not as expensive) for future releases.

 

What those custom plastic molded carts?

 

I really need to scrape up 100 bucks myself, i've always, always wanted to wooden case. I cant manage to scrape up the monkey maybe i'll (try to atleast) carve one myself ha ha

 

Btw you should post a demo BIN it might help get more pledges if people can check it out. Either way im in

 

He does have a demo BIN. See the second link in post #3.

 

Question: Will everyone who has pledged get their name in the instructions, or do we need to post another $1?

[yuppicide]

Great idea! I can't edit the rewards once people have bid on them, so I'll make a blog post there regarding that.

 

Yes, see the post above for a playable demo.

 

I am working on a new playable demo for you which I'll allow the first 10 levels to be played. I want to get a sound of some waves in, but it's not working for some reason. I hope to get it soon.

[yuppicide]

I had a few sources for possible plastic molded cartridges. They didn't totally pan out.

 

One of them can do it in 3D, but they use a different material, which might also be fine for our purpose. I'm having a hard time getting a rough price quote since I don't understand cm3 (cubic meters or some crap). I have someone to draw me something in CAD for $30 and then this place would make the stuff. You can order one or one thousand.. they're always the same price.

 

The other place can do ABS, but they only laser cut in 2D and prices are decent. So I was thinking maybe I could build something different to compliment the case. Here's what I was thinking.. since they can laser cut ABS, then why can't I take the cases apart in two and have them laser cut the words SKULL ISLAND in them.. behind that above the PCB stick a small plexiglass like thing and behind that we could put an LED that lights up when powered on.

 

I have other unique ideas (not as expensive) for future releases.

 

What those custom plastic molded carts?

 

I really need to scrape up 100 bucks myself, i've always, always wanted to wooden case. I cant manage to scrape up the monkey maybe i'll (try to atleast) carve one myself ha ha

 

Btw you should post a demo BIN it might help get more pledges if people can check it out. Either way im in

[yuppicide]

By the way, look at this! From the Kick Starter website:

 

 

"Recommended collects projects that we like, and we think you will too. They showcase creativity and passion. We think they're brilliant."

 

http://www.kickstart.../by/recommended

 

Mine is listed on the bottom! Gonna try and get my project listed on some more sights.. Joystiq? Wonder if they'd help me out.

Edited July 14, 2010 by yuppicide

[phaxda]

I shared it on Facebook for all my nerdly friends and sent it to a friend at MAKE magazine. He will likely post it there (if he knows what's good for him).

[yuppicide]

Awesome! Thanks!!

[ntavio]

This is for the 2600 right?

[accousticguitar]

This IS for the 2600 right?

Yes.

[yuppicide]

Small update: I hope to have prototype wood cartridge pictures end of this month or early next to show.

 

Guy lives about 2 hours from me and I might drive him my 2600 to borrow for proper fitting of the cartridge.

[ianoid]

I want the super deluxe expensive one, but I hate signing up to more services and giving out more credit card numbers. So count me in, if that counts. I can pay with paypal.

[shadowdoggie]

Yuppicide,

I've already pledged $100, but since I collect label variations I decided to try and also establish a pledge of $28 for the non-wood version. However, when I login to kickstarter.com it only allows me to adjust my pledge. I could set the amount to $128, but then the page where it shows how many remaining slots for each pledge level would not be accurate. I would also like to make a few $1 pledges to get a few names in the game, but once again I'm not sure how to do that. Should I just pledge the total amount for both games and all the names and then send you a PM explaining everything?

 

Lastly, on kickstarter.com tonight, I received an error 500 three separate times. I just refreshed each time I got the error and it seemed to correct the issue, but that might turn a few people away.

Edited July 24, 2010 by shadowdoggie