Saturday, April 18, 2015

THE KEYBOARD SHOULD BE THE KEY! (click here english version)





O Odyssey tinha um diferencial: um incrível teclado alfanumérico. Entendo que quando se cria um produto com um diferencial é preciso dar-lhe alguma função. O teclado foi, de fato, útil em poucos jogos. Suas funções eram: selecionar níveis de dificuldade, escrever o nome na tela e construir labirintos. Interessante notar que grande parte dos jogos do Odyssey continham apenas um ou dois níveis de dificuldade, penso que para esta função um teclado seria mais útil ao Atari cujo alguns jogos continham mais de 100 níveis de escolha. Escrever nomes na tela não é um má idéia, o problema é que eles desaparecem quando o console é desligado. Construir labirintos era legal, embora houvesse meio mais prático de fazê-los, como prova o excelente Grid Edit, programado pelo grande Manopac, construir labirintos era divertido, quem nunca tentou prender os Drats e os Monstros nos jogos do Come-Come? Em Busca Dos Anéis Perdidos trouxe o que considero a melhor idéia para o teclado: o overlay. Sempre gostei da idéia dos overlays no Intellivision, eles não eram exatamente necessários, mas tinham um aspecto lúdico, lembro que meus (2) amigos que tinham o console adoravam trocá-los a cada jogo como um verdadeiro ritual. No Odyssey a idéia não foi além do "Em Busca", uma pena. Jogos como "A Conquista do Mundo" poderia ter um overlay próprio, para que o jogador selecionasse seus tanques, aviões e submarinos. Seria legal ver um overlay para o "Wall Street" com as logomarcas da empresas envolvidas no jogo. O overlay acima, desenvolvi para um projeto que iniciei chamado "Circus Chico", pretendia postar um pequeno vídeo do jogo, mas minha fonte queimou. Ultimamente tenho tido bastantes problemas com meus equipamentos, acho que é hora de chamar um padre. Mas, coisas boas também acontecem. Há mais de quatro meses, havia encomendado um cartucho da Holanda, o  C7051 (saiba mais: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUe_C_bwI-Q ). Claro, que após tanto tempo e vários e-mails enviados aos Correios, Ministério da Fazenda etc, já considerava o produto perdido. Ontem, na hora do meu almoço ao abrir a caixa do correio, lá estava um envelope datado de 15/12/2014. Oba! Nem tudo está perdido 8^). 


ENGLISH:


The Odyssey had a differenial: an incredible alphanumeric keyboard. I understand that when you create a product with a difference you need to give it some function. The keyboard was, in fact, useful in a few games. Its functions were: select difficulty levels, write the name on the screen and build mazes. Interestingly, much of the Odyssey sets contained only one or two levels of difficulty, I think that for this function a keyboard would be more useful to the Atari which some games contained more than 100 levels of choice. Write names on the screen is not a bad idea, the problem is that they disappear when the console is turned off. Build mazes was cool, although there were more practical means of making them, as evidenced by the excellent Grid Edit, programmed by great Manopac, build mazes was fun, who never tried to arrest the Drats and Munchers in the KC games? The Quest For The Rings brought what I consider the best idea for the keyboard: the overlay. I always liked the idea of ​​overlays in the Intellivision, they were not exactly necessary, but had a playful aspect, I remember that my (2) friends owners of the console swap them every game as a true ritual. In the Odyssey the idea did not go beyond "The Quest", a shame. Games like "The  Conquest Of The World" could have its own overlay, so the player could select their tanks, aircraft and submarines. It would be nice to see an overlay to the "The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt" with the logos of the companies involved in the game. The overlay above, I developed for a project that started called "Circus Chico", I was intended to post a short video of the game, but my AC adaptor burned. Lately I've had enough problems with my equipment, I think it's time to call a priest. But good things also happen. There are more than four months, had ordered a cartridge of the Netherlands, the C7051 (learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUe_C_bwI-Q). Of course, after so long and several e-mails sent to the Post Office, Ministry of Finance etc., already considered the product lost. Yesterday, at the time of my lunch to open the mailbox, there was an envelope dated 15.12.2014. Yay! All is not lost 8^).

4 comments:

TomBeck said...

I love the keyboard. It was always a highlight for me, to type my name and saw it on the screen. And thanks god, that my name has only 6 letters. So the six "??????" were mine. :)

Also yours, Rafael, is a good name for Odyssey games.

And yes. I arrested the Drats and Munchers. And this was always fun. I also create mazes to be very quick in Come-Come! Too bad that my Videopac could not save them. I would also loved to see to create a new level in Didi na Mina Encantada.

Rafael Cardoso said...

Since you mentioned do you know a program called Pick Axe Pete Level editor? I founded this program years ago on internet (I just need to find where I saved it) With this program you can create your own mine on PAP and play it on emulator or thanks carts like C7051 you also can it on real machine. Anyway, yes keyboard was fun, I really spent a lot of time building mazes. I would also love to build some tracks on Spin-out, I played it a lot with friends. But I really liked to see more usage on keyboard.

TomBeck said...

No. I did not know that there is a PAP Level editor. Sounds cool.

Too bad, that something like this was not possible to include in the original program.

I am glad, that you get your C7051 after 4 months. Who knows, which wonderful places this cart saw over the months. ;)

Rafael Cardoso said...

I think PAP level editor is on my old PC, when I assemble it I send to you. It´s easy to use you just click on bar to delete/insert. Ireally happy with my C7051 I already uploaded almost 50 things 8^)