29 replies to this topic

[BladeJunker]

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market.

I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

[neotokeo2001]

BladeJunker, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:25 AM, said:

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market.

I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

The reason I don't release the final BIN files on my newer releases is I got sick of seeing people selling cheap unauthorized cartridges on EBAY. I would rather keep the BIN file private and make the legitimate copies mean more to the owners then let people profiteer by selling crappy rip offs.

[BladeJunker]

neotokeo2001, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:22 PM, said:

BladeJunker, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:25 AM, said:

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market.

I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

The reason I don't release the final BIN files on my newer releases is I got sick of seeing people selling cheap unauthorized cartridges on EBAY. I would rather keep the BIN file private and make the legitimate copies mean more to the owners then let people profiteer by selling crappy rip offs.

Really? I thought cartridges were hard to acquire or build as that's the main thing that prevents most people with homebrew is the cost. Still I have seen actual knockoff DS games but I still wonder about the profit margin of these close replications.

I respect your desire to maintain the integrity and quality of your products. This idea was born out of the similar nature of 2600 games to mobile games as they both offer fast instant fun but struggle with long stretches of playtime thus the cheap download price I've seen for iPhone/iPad games. So sorry I wan't trying to undercut your business, its just hard to figure out where funding can come from to aid in more 2600 homebrew.

[Keatah]

atarilovesyou, on Wed Jan 4, 2012 2:07 PM, said:

After being on this site for a while, I've been really excited about some of the new homebrews. While I realize they are a labour of love and not an actual money-making endeavour, I often wonder why a group of dedicated, intelligent programmers haven't formed to cater to our group of Atarifolks. Is the membership of AA really that small?

I ask because I'm a fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd, and he's developing a movie. Recently, he asked for his membership to donate what they could toward the production costs...and much to his surprise, he raised over $100,000!

My question is: is it the lack of funding? The lack of programming expertise? The lack of time to devote to such products? What is the reason that a bunch of folks haven't put together an Atari retro publishing house? My opinion, it's simply comes down to money: it's not worth the effort because it doesn't pay to do so. Is it that simple?

It's really a matter of skill and creativity (and other things) rolled into one package. Today we have wanna-be's doing "programming" that shouldn't even be near a keyboard. BITD, one guy did the entire work of a multi-billion-dollar development team, albeit on different scale.

Propane13, on Wed Jan 4, 2012 7:17 PM, said:

Well, homebrewing is an art-- the more time you put into it, the better you get.
And, while the "Nintendo generation" is kind of taking off, the Atari generation is really starting to die out.

For the 2600 programmer, our path is different. We can start by making a crappy game for the 2600, then make a better game for the 2600, and then um... well, there's nowhere to go. Maybe we can do some low-level chip validation code for Intel as a career-altering move, but this stuff isn't applicable to most software fields anymore. Is that globally cool? Not really. So, I guess that's why it's mostly the people that love this stuff and don't want it to die that are here.

-John

I totally agree. The Atari generation is indeed being replaced, not necessarily by the Nintendo generation or XBOX/PS3.. But by the iPad ecosphere. We have spoiled kids "apprently" doing "marvelous" things with these devices. But take away the infrastructure which lets them do whatever they are doing and you'll see a bunch of sorry losers with no ability. Shit, anyone can pick up an iPad and run an app.. shit..

BladeJunker, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:25 AM, said:

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market.

I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

Today's generation wouldn't know a command line if it bit them in the ass.

neotokeo2001, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:22 PM, said:

BladeJunker, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:25 AM, said:

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market.

I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

The reason I don't release the final BIN files on my newer releases is I got sick of seeing people selling cheap unauthorized cartridges on EBAY. I would rather keep the BIN file private and make the legitimate copies mean more to the owners then let people profiteer by selling crappy rip offs.

Agreed. Ebay is now full of stupidity now that the masses are "involved".

An interesting way around releasing binaries could be to encode them in AES256, then release them. And they would be playable on emulators, and only emulators, provided you can input the correct cypher. The emulator would decode it on the fly. This would require support from the emulator authors.

[BladeJunker]

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It's really a matter of skill and creativity (and other things) rolled into one package. Today we have wanna-be's doing "programming" that shouldn't even be near a keyboard. BITD, one guy did the entire work of a multi-billion-dollar development team, albeit on different scale.

Oh my god dude you're on that again lol. I have a friend who thinks in these terms, I just smile and nod my head while he explains why corporations should get tax cuts while poor people are too stupid to get bailouts from credit card debt. Don't get me wrong modern programming is a joke compared to what we have now but I still think everyone can go near a keyboard. Remember for the masses, not the classes.

Quote

I totally agree. The Atari generation is indeed being replaced, not necessarily by the Nintendo generation or XBOX/PS3.. But by the iPad ecosphere. We have spoiled kids "apprently" doing "marvelous" things with these devices. But take away the infrastructure which lets them do whatever they are doing and you'll see a bunch of sorry losers with no ability. Shit, anyone can pick up an iPad and run an app.. shit..

Can we really separate retro generations anymore since if you're not Current Gen Console, PC, or iPad you're on roughly the same island? Take the Retro Gamer magazine, it doesn't segment it just includes all retro into a single forum.
I know in these modern times game designs aren't so much created as cut & pasted from pre-existing modules. I can't disagree with the no ability statement since it's true, most of them don't have a grasp of fundamentals so that won't bold well for the future of programming.

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Today's generation wouldn't know a command line if it bit them in the ass.

Never said they were "worthy" of quality 2600 homebrew, I just inferred that they had money to burn on what they would regard as kitschy novelties, just business for funding necessities.

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Agreed. Ebay is now full of stupidity now that the masses are "involved".

An interesting way around releasing binaries could be to encode them in AES256, then release them. And they would be playable on emulators, and only emulators, provided you can input the correct cypher. The emulator would decode it on the fly. This would require support from the emulator authors.

Again stop fearing the masses, if they're really that stupid you have nothing about oh great leader of men. There isn't much point of one or few people seeing great works. Sure the 2600 is old but you could say the same thing about books or libraries being under appreciated but I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying to write the next great novel, and this is coming from someone who doesn't enjoy reading much. I'm not trying for flame war but you push my buttons sir.

Still I like your copy protection to emulator cypher idea since unauthorized replication of carts should be stopped or fought at least.