March 2023
•March 2023 Edition•
Something quick here, I’m late with this article once again. I had a good excuse for not getting to it last night, my Internet went out. Yay DSL, why haven’t I switched to cable Internet like everyone else yet? I guess because I still like having a land line phone, so it just makes things slightly simpler if I’m not dealing with the cable company at all. It was a weird problem, the local DSL connection was working, it just couldn’t reach any Internet sites. At first I thought it was just a DNS problem, so I was fiddling with DNS servers on the modem last night, but that never did the trick. I called tech support this morning, and was somewhat surprised that after navigating through all the automated Q&A it said they already knew about the problem, and were planning on fixing it by 5:00pm this afternoon. Yay… I guess? I signed up for text message updates. Well, it started working just an hour or so later. Yay! No text message update so far, maybe that will come at 5:00 this afternoon? Any time modern technology reminds of its unreliability I think of how reliable our old Atari computers are by comparison! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting: Friday, March 10, 2023.
Message from Captain Irata: “I’m late for an important date! I nned to go to the arcade to get my Atari fix!” HOO-RAH! TABLE OF CONTENTS
We finally had enough members present for finalizing our November 2022 SPACE elections. Five members, Glen, Tom, Steve, Michael, and myself, were present. So, with a quorum and the current member positions agreed to be held, we finalized the vote. One exception was the fact that our vice-president, Brian, was not present and with no correspondence from him or dues paid for the last couple of years it left a void in our board. With no one wanting the position, I said I would take the title until someone else wants it. This way we will have a presence at our future meetings for the vice-president position. The February meeting reminded me of our regular past meetings. Michael ran the meeting and that made it seem official. The last few meetings were pretty much just going through the monthly DOM, but this meeting had the added touch of having a secretary report and a web report. Tom also brought in a Raspberry Pi which was very interesting to me and then this happened; my two grandsons were staying overnight because their mother was working Saturday at the South Saint Paul Library. The boys along with my wife made and decorated cookies, and they wanted to bring some to the library. While they were looking for some books to check out I noticed the section of books that were written for dummies.
The February 2023 SPACE Meeting commenced at 7:35 PM on Friday, February 10, 2023. We had five members present for the meeting that night. According to the Membership Count, we have seven paid-up members in SPACE. We had seen a greatlooking DOM for February, and I will review it later on in this Newsletter. It has some great demos, invites, games, and other files. Needless to say, it will be a dynamite DOM Review in the March Newsletter! The Auction that was supposed to happen at the Christmas Party in 2022 was put on hiatus. It was talked about, but we hope to have it in the nottoo-distant future. So, stay tuned to the Newsletter and come to the meetings for further details. ONLINE STATUS REPORT: President Michael Current had stated during the Meeting that the SPACE Website is going strong. It is updated every month with new Newsletters that your’s truly produces. Due to the lack of folks going to the page, it was decided to delete the Facebook page. OLD BUSINESS: The SPACE Christmas Party hosted a great BBQ meal and was, again, a great success. People brought potluck food and the Club furthermore paid for food for the delicious meal as well.
Anyway the reason for this report is to let you all know the financial status of the Club. We started the month with a balance of $1,131.45 and added one membership renewal for $15.00 and sold twelve DOMs for $36.00 for a total of $51.00. So we ended the month of February with a bank balance of $1,182.45.
NEW BUSINESS:
Now that I finally gave you the information that this article was for I can say the February meeting was very satisfying and I look forward to the March 10th SPACE meeting which I hope will just as enjoyable! See you there! TRIVIA TIME!
The President’s Corner Treasurer’s Report Secretary’s Report
Originally, the Chuck E. Cheese character was envisioned by the restaurant’s creators to be a coyote. But, a rat costume depicting the character was accidentally sent instead of a coyote costume by mistake.
Atari 8-bit DOM Review
Well, I finally did it! I got to a SPACE Meeting, and I feel overjoyed. Anyway, by saying that, I will start with my Secretary’s Report. So, we will get started with that Here we go with it!
The one that I noticed and caught my eye was the Raspberry Pi for kids. Well I just had to check that book out and I will bring it next month so I can ask Tom some questions!
Page One:
Page Two:
HELLO WORLD!
Atari Legend Nolan Bushnell, who co-founded the now-famous restaurant chain with Dr. Gene N. Landrum, then decided to stick with the rat costume instead. The rest of the story is history.
Tom had some show-and-tell that the Treasurer’s Report stated previously. It was a Raspberry Pi with a 65816 CPU core setup on it with four serial ports. It was very interesting. So, hats off to Tom for displaying such a great setup! ELECTION RECAP: We decided to have the Election in February because of lack of quorum in November. Five members voted for everyone from last year to keep their posts, but Greg will take Brian’s place as VP. Greg decided to act as Vice-President as well until the position can be filled by someone else. Thanks, Greg, for your generosity in fulfilling both roles, and good luck to all Officers in the coming year! The February 2023 SPACE Meeting at 8:10 PM. This concludes the Secretary’s Report for now. In the words of the late, great artist, Stan Lee... EXCELSIOR!
Welcome back to the Atari 8-bit DOM Review for February of 2023. We are going to review the January 2023 DOM. There are quite a few demos and games on here, so let’s get cracking! January 2023 DOM, Side One: The first file on this DOM is a 12-byte demo that shows animated colored lines. It is a simple pattern, and it isn’t much. But, it is creative for 12 bytes of code. I find this pattern interesting.
Graphics: Animation:
7 10
TOTAL SCORE:
17/20 (85%)
The next file is a 128-byte demo, called “Back to Square One.” Created by F#ready, it shows animated spirals on the screen. It does look good, for 128 bytes of code. I love these efforts at tight and limited code. They are interesting. It is innovative and challenging, I am sure, to create something with little code such as this. I applaud the effort. Let me show you what’s going on here. I think you’ll like it.
Anyway, although it isn’t a lot, it’s pretty. It certainly shows what the A8 can do with little code. It’s actually quite ingenious for what it is. Very clever work, if I must say. Take a look for yourselves. You be the judge.
I think that, if you took a series of still photos of this pattern, and each one has a different position, it will look like it’s spinning. That is only if you wanted to create an animation of it in action. It’s truly astounding what the A8 can do. I will score this demo now. SCORE: The pattern looks nice but needs more, in my opinion, but I am not really downing it. I actually like the pattern and the fluid animation. It shows something and it is actually impressive to look at. I will score it now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation:
7 10
TOTAL SCORE:
17/20 (85%)
The next file is a 36-byte demo called “Almost Sierpinski,” by Agenda. It shows patterns made out of stipple dots. They keep moving up on the screen. Again, it has fluid animation and looks interesting. But, again, it is only 36 bytes of code.
Graphics: Animation: Muisc/SFX:
8 10 8
TOTAL SCORE:
26/30 (87%)
The next file is 256 bytes in size this time. It is called “Tripping Tunnel on E7,” by Ivop. The graphics are better in this demo than the other three. It shows animated cubical patterns. They are in black-and-white and in color.
It gets quite colorful after a while, especially when animated. Very nice work for the code used. I will score this demo now.
It looks like you are staring into an animated tunnel. The pattern looks like you are moving forward in the tunnel. Just like the title of the demo, it is trippy. It also has some gradients in it as well. It is brilliant and nice work.
Graphics: Animation: Muisc/SFX:
8 10 8
TOTAL SCORE:
28/30 (93%)
Take a look at these pictures of the demo.
But, it looks pleasing to the eye. It could be more, but for what it is it’s pretty technical. Again, it’s another clever batch of programming. Here’s a look at the demo.
SCORE:
The next file is a demo called “The Hope,” by Marek Pesout. It shows a scientist, a virologist actually, looking at test tubes with germs in them. Judging by the title, I assume the scientist is trying to finding cures for the germs he is studying. There is also an animated text ticker in the demo. It has fluid animation. Also, the music is topnotch and the picture looks spectacular. The picture of the scientist keeps transitioning in colors. It has very nice special effects. It reminds me of what we have been through in the last three years with this pandemic and with other viral diseases we have as a race been dealing with. AIDS, Ebola, Zika, and COVID. They all add up eventually, and it has been a mess.
This demo looks better in action on a computer screen, so this picture really doesn’t do justice. But, I thought it was kind of cool in action. SCORE:
As you can see, the patterns are quite pleasing. There are sound effects in this demo, but they can get repetitive after a while. However, it all works in cohesion quite well. This is one picture. Take a look at the others.
Here is a picture for you to look at to see what’s going on. Take a look and be amazed.
It looks fun to play. The mazes are smaller in Easy-Peasy mode, but I wonder if they get more complex as the difficulty gets harder. Overall, it’s a great homage to the most popular arcade game of all time. Take a look at the screenshots.
Astounding, isn’t it, but it looks better in action. So, fire up your Atari and take a look-see at it. You’ll like it. I will score this demo now.
This is a great game, and I liked the game play. However, I think it could have had better graphics. But, it still shines. Here is my score.
SCORE:
SCORE:
Graphics: Animation: Music/SFX:
10 10 10
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:
TOTAL SCORE:
30/30 (100% perfect score)
TOTAL SCORE:
7 9 7 8 31/40 (78%)
The next file is a game called “Syrena Obajtek Challenge,” by D. Duma. It is a driving game where you drive a car down a four-lane road catching symbols from the sky. It looks challenging, but once you get the hang of it it;s all good.
The next file is a music track called “Let’s Go!” It was created by Alex Semenov. It rocks, too. It sounds foreboding and gritty, and it also has voice in it. Fascinating music in this track. I think it might have been done in POKEY.
It isn’t much of a game, but it is pleasing being what it is. The graphics look nice and the music is good, too. It is actually cool-looking and a great little game. take a look for yourselves and see.
But, nevertheless. it still shines with great music and spectacular sound. This is a great tune, and I am sure you will like it yourselves. I will score it now for everybody.
I would have played it more, but I needed to finish this Review. It’s fun and can be challenging. I enjoyed playing it. I will score it now. SCORE:
TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/SFX:
8 9 10 8
The next file is a picture called “Peaceful Bonfire,” by Zdenek Eisenhammer. It shows forest animals around a bonfire. It is a pleasant picture, and I like the cartoony look of it. Could be better, but I enjoy the peaceful setting of it.
TOTAL SCORE:
35/40 (88%)
Here is a screenshot of the picture. Enjoy it.
The last game on Side One is called “Guntus,” by Inufuto. This is a “Galaga” clone. It is challenging enough. but I think it could look better. You know the dril. Blast aliens before they make formation and attack you. It has a challenge to it. You have more movement in this game than in the classic arcade title. I liked it and it is a good game. I just think it should have been more. Here, take a look for yourselves.
I am sure you are pleased with this pic like these animal depicted in it are. I like the effects and the shadows. Very nice. I will score it now. TOTAL SCORE: It also has fluid animation and looks realistic. I like this game, and I think you will as well. I will score this demo now. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/SFX:
10 9 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
39/40 (98%)
The next game is called “The Pac-Men Evolution,” by Atari Team CDW. It is a simple Pac-Man game with power-ups for Pac-Man. You can select the difficulty, but I played the Easy-Peasy setting.
9/10 (90%)
The last file on Side One is called “Kaleidoscope,” by an anonymous programmer. It looks just like a kaleidoscope effect. The pictures looks cool and colorful. It could be better, but it is still good. Here is a picture of it.
It gets better over time, and you would have to see that on a computer screen. It looks really cool. I will score this now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation:
8 10
TOTAL SCORE:
18/20 (90%)
Now, onto Side Two! Side Two: The last file on this DOM is called “Bruce Lee: Retrun of Fury,” a game by RJF, Kelly Day, DMX, Ute, and Fantomas. It is a sequel to the classic game “Bruce Lee.” You basically do the same things as before. You fight Ninjas and Green Yamos, and collect Lanterns. It plays well and it is definitely difficult to play. Interesting fighting game, and it’s fun too. I enjoyed it. I think the graphics could be better, but I like the title screen. Very detailed. I think it has potential. Here are screenshots of the game for you to look at. Enjoy.
It’s definitely enjoyabnle and challenging. I will score this game. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/SFX:
8 10 9 9
TOTAL SCORE:
36/40 (90%)
Well, this concludes the Atari 8-bit DOM Review. I will be back with another DOM Review for the A8 next month. I will see you later. Carpe Diem, fellow SPACE Cadets, and thanks!
Recent Atari News Video 61 & Atari Sales Have Released “FRUITY PETE” and “DIAMONDZ” for the Atari 5200 and 8-bit Computers Hi, everyone! "FRUITY PETE" is now available for the Atari 8-bit computer line and the 5200 game system! We have a new game to announce for the Atari 5200, and the Atari 8-bit computer line. "FRUITY PETE” is a very fun and addicting action game. "FRUITY PETE" is now available. Currently, we are taking orders via e-mail only at, video61@atarisales.com, or video61atarisales@gmail.com. When inquiring about "FRUITY PETE" or any other item from Video 61, please let us know if you live in the USA, or another country due to shipping. At this time, we are only accepting payment via PayPal, checks, or money orders. To mail in a check or money order, please go here for instructions, http://www.atarisales. com/ordering.html. The price will be $39.95. Shipping is free if you live in the USA. "FRUITY PETE" is not listed on our web site yet. We are constantly busy and will get it listed A.S.A.P. Also, ”DIAMONDZ" is now available for the Atari 8-bit computer line! We have a new game to announce for the Atari 8-bit computer line. “DIAMONDZ", is a very fun and addicting action game. "DIAMONDZ" is now available. currently we are taking orders via e-mail only at, video61@atarisales.com, or video61atarisales@gmail.com. When inquiring about "DIAMONDZ" or any other item from Video 61, please let us know if you live in the USA, or another country due to shipping. At this time we are only accepting payment via PayPal, or checks or money orders. To mail in a check or money order, please go here for instructions: http://www.atarisales.com/ordering.html. The price will be $39.95. Shipping is free if you live in the USA. "DIAMONDZ" is not listed on our web site yet. We are constantly busy and will get it listed A.S.A.P. Thanks again, everyone! Without you, we would never be able to bring new stuff to the Atari community.