Skull Island - Limited edition Atari 2600 game in REAL WOOD CARTRIDGE

[yuppicide]

I programmed a puzzle game for the Atari 2600 which features 40 levels ranging from Beginner to Expert.

While most 2600 games come in a standard plastic cartridge, I thought I'd get some made out of REAL WOOD to complement the original Atari's "faux woodgrain".

Here's some pics of the game screen shots:

http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/activishawn.png http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/skullisland2.png

Here's some pictures of the prototype wood cartridge:

http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart1.jpg
http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart2.jpg
http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart3.jpg
http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart4.jpg
http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart5.jpg
http://www.peppermint-bay.com/2600/woodcart6.jpg

The tooling that was required to make the cartridge took more time to make than the actual cartridge. The tooling is required so each cartridge can be built quickly and to exact spec.

If the NAVA meeting is on this month, I'd like to bring it to show everyone and see if Joe can bring out a few different 2600 models for me to test the fit in.

I have a friend who might come if he's not busy.. he has a bunch of classic game stuff he might trade or sell.

We're about an hours drive away.

[JSoup]

That looks so awesome. XD

[tom]

does it get a wooden box too?

[Steve W]

So... why exactly are there notches in the case? A few carts had those in them back in the day, but are they really necessary? If you don't need them, it'll make reproduction a lot easier.

[yuppicide]

The notches were to cut costs down. Inside the cartridge were notches that insert into the 2600. The notches were cut out of the case to save money.


So... why exactly are there notches in the case? A few carts had those in them back in the day, but are they really necessary? If you don't need them, it'll make reproduction a lot easier.

[yuppicide]

Rather than retype everything, I'll just point here if you want to see new pics:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/168337-skull-island-wood-case/page__view__findpost__p__2123524

[jb143]

No painstakingly wood burned engraving in place of a label? Just kidding, great job.

[yuppicide]

Since my game is a puzzle game, my original thought was that I am going to package this in a wooden box that is also a puzzle to open! It requires a set of 7 or 8 moves in the correct order to open.

All depends on the price of the wooden cartridges in the end as I don't want to make them too costly for people.


does it get a wooden box too?

[jammajup]

Thats quite a neat idea,the wood looks old too lol

[yuppicide]

This is a just a prototype. The final one will have the game name and a skeleton picture burned into it instead of a label.


No painstakingly wood burned engraving in place of a label? Just kidding, great job.

[Compute]

Those notches were only found on Tramiel-era releases (mid-80s to early 90s) and don't serve any real purpose. They're hardly big enough to amount to any real savings in cost. They could have made the overall size of the cart casing half as big if they really wanted to save money :)

I think yuppicide may have been referring to the cost of the WOOD cartridge, not the tramiel ones.

[Gapporin]

"This island doesn't look like a skull at all. It looks like a great, big, enormous duck. It should be called Duck Island!"

[yuppicide]

A duck? Anyway, that's the first level of the game.. there's 40 levels in total.

The wood carver says he can leave out those two holes, so this weekend I'll be shipping him my Atari and the cartridge back.

[rbudrick]

Are the carts screwed together, or are you using hammered wooden pegs? ;)

-Rob

[k8track]

The first thing that popped into my head was, "That is just too cool." Then I thought, "I wonder if there are any issues with sap?"