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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Funding The Drainpipe

Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 11:37
steve_ancell
ZX Vega to get even more portable: Linkage #/
Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 11:37
Hotshot
Look nice and people will used it few times then forgot it about it
Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 11:52
rockford
I too like how it looks, but would never spend money on it.
Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 12:13
Jayenkai
I've heard more than my fair share of bad stories about this company, but even without that, you just have to ask yourself..
What sort of company does SO BAD with their accounting that they need a kickstarter for their third electronic device?

I can understand the need to kickstart initially. It's to help give you a foot up.
They Kickstarted the Bluetooth keyboard which had already pretty much existed for about 3 years. But let's ignore that fact, along with many other facts, and consider that they then did ANOTHER campaign to do the original Vega.
And now, somehow, miraculously, they're so completely underfunded that they need to do it AGAIN for a third device?

There's something very very very wrong with their company, if they have to do that.
VERY wrong.
Hell, MY accountancy is better than that, and I make fucking freeware games.

*shakes head*
Beware....


Additional : I know that Pebble did a "second Kickstarter", but they were EXTREMELY upfront about the fact that they could already afford the production, and that the reason they used Kickstarter was that the Kickstarter server could handle it better than their own! That, IMO, is a GOOD way to do it.

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Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 14:36
rockford
The bluetooth keyboard Speccy was created by a different company to the Vega. Elite screwed over loads of devs in the process.

The Vega (and this Vega+) were created by Retro Computers.

But yeah, I'd never even consider backing anything either company does. But I can't help liking the aesthetics.
Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 14:40
Jayenkai
They're different?
They sure don't act differently.
It's all a big pile of retro-tastic balls, IMO.

Anyway, at the end of the day, You CANNOT do a decent Speccy emulator without having ALL the buttons... Just doesn't work.

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Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 16:30
cyangames
Also, £100....Nope, noooope.

I don't reckon many would pay more than £30 for this personally.

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Mon, 15 Feb 2016, 21:54
Dabz
Where's an Amstrad keyboard kickstarter?

Dabz

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Intel Core i5 6400 2.7GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB), 8Gig DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, Windows 10 64bit
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 02:14
rockford
I can't believe there's not even an Amstrad book - they're are plenty for C64 and Speccy.

Maybe, with all the Amstraddicts here, we should collaborate on a CPC book and do a KickStarter or Unbound...
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 02:24
Jayenkai
The enjoyment we got from our CPCs has stayed with us. We don't need reminded by silly picture books and half-assed MicroConsoles.

Nostalgia be damned!

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Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 02:37
cyangames
Half-assed Micro Consoles without cartridge slots, gahhh!

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 03:03
steve_ancell
rychan I don't reckon many would pay more than £30 for this personally

The same thought entered my head when I saw the original Vega. At £100 they won't sell enough, drop the price to around £25-£30 then they would sell fucktons.
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 04:18
cyangames
Yup, I mean, they're competing with lower prices similar machines out there emulating the colecovision, vcs, etc, etc. All of which are much less than £100.

Case in point --> www.funstockretro.co.uk/sega-arcade-master-system-portable just bung an SD card in to load ROMs, they did a similar one for the megadrive at the same price.

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 05:11
steve_ancell
I just sent the following message to Retro Computers.

Hi, do you have any plans to make a similar product that's based on the Amstrad CPC, or do you only pay homage to Sinclair products.

P.S. Good luck with the ZX Vega+



|edit| Awaiting to be pelted with rotten fruit and veg! |edit|
Tue, 16 Feb 2016, 05:15
Jayenkai
Could do with something like that Armiga that can let me get to my CPC disks, without all the faffing about I have to do with mine.

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Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 09:06
Hotshot
Just wondering what if speccy new hardware of today if they had full size keyboard....

Would the spec would be like

1 Ghz
512MB Ram
Own Graphics chip(god know what)

I don't know how many colours can handle on today game...
Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 09:24
rockford
Would the spec would be like

1 Ghz
512MB Ram
Own Graphics chip(god know what)

I don't know how many colours can handle on today game..


But with specs like those it wouldn't be a Speccy.

A speccy is a Speccy because of its limitations and the possibilities at the time versus cost of production and retail worth.

It's only a passing fascination with these retro machines for most people that buy into them - rekindling their youth temporarily or buying with rose tinted glasses. Within 6months of buying these 99% will be stuck in the loft or gathering dust on a shelf somewhere (or on eBay).

Most enthusiasts use emulation to replay the old Spectrum games - and that's exactly what these new machines are; emulators. None of them are actual old Speccys with dead flesh keys, so users are still not getting the same experiences they had back in the 80s - eg faffing with a tv (and tape-recorder), spending 15 minutes loading a game (or hoping to) and then pressing the mushy rubber buttons.

Nowadays it's instant loading (or GTFO) via a menu, on a hi-def tv with a perfectly formed solid piece of tech. Not really a recreation of days of yore...

If people want the proper Spectrum experience they can get a real one off of eBay for £20 and get a much more accurate version of events from 30+ years ago.

I wouldn't even buy a CPC version if they did one, despite my love for the Amstrad, as you can never reclaim the experiences of the past - and the games will never look, sound or play be as well as you remember them!
Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 10:57
Dabz
I'd buy one for the Amstrad "look", I like Amstrad keyboards so, for me, the appeal is that for something like this!

But yeah, with an actual physical system sitting there with nothing more then the z80 throbbing at it's heart, thats more special to use.

Dabz

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Intel Core i5 6400 2.7GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB), 8Gig DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, Windows 10 64bit
Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 11:25
Jayenkai
What would be nice, would be a full-sized proper "Petit Computer"
Petit Computer is an app available on the original DS and 3DS via the eShop, which basically acts exactly like a good old fashioned BASIC computer, but with all the advantages that using DS technology gives you. Tilemaps, hardware sprites, things like that.
It's a FANTASTIC product, and if something like that were available as a commercial keyboard+mouse product.. I honestly think that a Bedroom-Coder thing might be reborn.

Instead we get this stupid looking "Console-Like" ZX which is completely pissing well useless as a coding device.
*tsk*

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Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 11:51
steve_ancell
Jayenkai Instead we get this stupid looking "Console-Like" ZX which is completely pissing well useless as a coding device

Although it's usless as a coding device you can still make games for it and play them via SD card. Remember that Matthew Smith coded on a TRS-80 and the "squirted" the code across to the Spectrum rather than actually coding it on the Spectrum itself, maybe a box of tricks could be made for doing the same thing between a PC and a Vega instead of swapping the card between the two.
Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 12:07
Jayenkai
You and I could, sure.
But give a kid a device and try to get them to do it.

Things you'd need include a ZX Emulator to code in running on a desktop, (thus negating the entire point of the little console) and also a bloody keyboard overlay so they know for example that "J = Load"

It's a lot tougher than when I was a kid and I had a keyboard and a flashing cursor.

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