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The History of the Vectrex

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-bit-like-eight-bit dept.

Matt Barton writes "Gamasutra is featuring an illustrated history of the Vectrex. The article goes in-depth on the development, specs, and impact of the unusual but innovative vector-based platform. We also discuss the modern Vectrex homebrew scene and collectors' market."

43 comments

  1. How does vertex programming work? by MBCook · · Score: 1

    I read this earlier. It was pretty interesting. But this and an article a little while ago (which may not have been on /.) about using a MAME driver and an oscilloscope to play vector games has brought a question up in my mind I'm hoping someone can answer. The articles I was able to find on Wikipedia mention that (at least the arcades) had little vector controllers so you didn't have to do that by hand in assembly. I'm guessing that this console is similar.

    My question is how do you program it? The article on Wikipedia said that it had a little bit of command RAM so I'm guessing that you just send it special commands and parameters (MOVE TO X,Y... DRAW TO Q,Z... MOVE TO...), is that right? Do you have to optimize it yourself, or does it do some kind of simple optimization it's self?

    Did they have things like sprites or Open GL's display lists (where you could predefine a little set of commands, to draw a little ship for example) thus making things faster, or did you always have to draw at the line level?

    Can someone shed some light on this for me? I don't think I've ever even seen a vector display in real life other than my oscilloscope (which uses vectors to draw little snippets of text).

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:How does vertex programming work? by triffid_98 · · Score: 1
      Well I can tell you that the 9" screen they used is a regular tv tube, they just added some circuitry to let them control it with X-Y vector commands instead of by sending continuous scan lines (raster). It was actually pretty primitive, IIRC there was no brightness control, if you wanted something brighter you had to redrew the image more frequently.

      Can someone shed some light on this for me? I don't think I've ever even seen a vector display in real life other than my oscilloscope (which uses vectors to draw little snippets of text).
    2. Re:How does vertex programming work? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Informative

      The difference between a raster monitor and a vector one is that the field coils on the raster are used to sweep the electron guns across the screen (to raster!) whereas in a vector scan monitor they are used to move the guns on paths between coordinates. In theory you could make any CRT into a vector display. I'm sure there's other differences in practice but I think that many of us at least have seen old-school televisions lose either their horizontal or vertical scan driver transistor, the result being a very bright vertical or horizontal line respectively.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:How does vertex programming work? by Paul+Slocum · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's been a little while since I've programmed one, but you program it in assembly. The machine has quite a few built-in functions in ROM to handle the most common vector operations (a lot more than most vintage consoles). You can essentially say moveto(x,y). It also has routines to draw text, center/re-orient the beam, play sound, etc. More info here.

    4. Re:How does vertex programming work? by kabz · · Score: 1

      Take a look at this Tektronix 4014 ... I do love wikipedia for finding crazy stuff.

      I did my uni graphics programming on one of these. Hilbert curves and stuff I think.

      --
      -- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
    5. Re:How does vertex programming work? by prockcore · · Score: 1

      I don't think I've ever even seen a vector display in real life other than my oscilloscope (which uses vectors to draw little snippets of text).


      Think of it as a black&white TV with the gun electromagnets software controlled. So instead of scan lines, the scan is wherever you want it to go. I suppose you could probably make your own if you knew what you were doing. Just bypass the sync hardware.
    6. Re:How does vertex programming work? by dannycim · · Score: 1

      In the Vectrex's memory map, there's a few addresses (ports) that control the Beam intensity, X and Y deflection, using Digital-to-analog converters. There's a couple of constant-current thingies that help move the beam in a linear fashion. Hardware-wise, that's basically it.

      In order to display something interesting (and repeatable) the Vectrex maintains a software table of points and lines. A programmable timer interrupts the cpu, reads that table and feeds the deflectors values at specific intervals.

      There's a bunch of standard (and well documented) ROM routines that handle all that stuff for you, even including text and zooming.

    7. Re:How does vertex programming work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I suppose you could probably make your own if you knew what you were doing. Just bypass the sync hardware.

      And if you don't know what you're doing, there's potentially a Darwin Award in it for you.

    8. Re:How does vertex programming work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      umm, the black n white vector monitors don't have those little "shapes" you see on a color tv set up close. So when you draw a diagonal line with the gun... it's a STRAIGHT clear line. The gun doesn't shoot through an aperture grill or other method.

  2. remarkable machine by NiceGeek · · Score: 1

    The pride of my vintage collection. I just wish there was an easy way to make the color overlays.

    1. Re:remarkable machine by DrNASA · · Score: 1

      Transparent GIF via GIMP + print to transparency?

      --
      ReaLemon is yummy
    2. Re:remarkable machine by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Informative

      color inkjet + color inkjet transparencies for overhead projection = new color overlay easily made.

      I prefer color laser printers and compatable transparencies, but most cant afford a $350.00 printer.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. I love Vectrex by Fricka · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My family got one of these right before they pulled production (or maybe during a clearance sale). At any rate we not only got MineStorm that came with it but then got a number of other games that went on sale later.

    I can still hum the Minestorm "theme song" and say Spike's lines. When I first played "Spike", I remember thinking, "Wow, the video game talks!" and pointing it out to my Atari owning cousins.

    Hmm, maybe I should rescue it from my parents' garage. As recently as five years ago it was still working and we still had the overlays for our games.

    --
    ~Fricka
    OffLineTshirts.com
  4. Re:I love Vectrex by EvilRyry · · Score: 1

    Eeek! Help! Spike!
    Oh, no! Molly!

    Mine still works as of last month when my brother and I developed an urge to play, but its developed a dot in the middle of the screen. My personal favorite growing up was clean sweep followed by mine sweeper.

    Note to all: Take a look parajve. Sound is a little screwy under Linux but works well otherwise.

  5. Re:I love Vectrex by Fricka · · Score: 1

    LOL. Yep, those were the lines!

    But add the little shuffle sounds of Molly being dragged off after the last one ;)

    I think the most stressful game for me was Berserk. When the bouncing evil face guy would show up I at first would get frantic. Then I found a hack that you could actually cut some corners without getting electrocuted, hehe.

    I'll check out parajve, thanks!

    --
    ~Fricka
    OffLineTshirts.com
  6. Re:What killed the Vectrex? by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    It was too expensive. the Atari 2600 was less than 1/2 the price and had a crapload more games.

    Same as why the PS3 is failing and the Wii is tromping it hard. it all comes down to price.

    I really wanted one, heck they even made a programming module for it and other cool goodies but it was way more expensive.

    Besides atari had adventure and Yars revenge!

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. Re:What killed the Vectrex? by Fricka · · Score: 1

    Guess it's all in the timing. The whole reason we got one of these was because it was cheaper than an Atari and we had been bugging my parents for the Atari. They saw this on sale and got it instead.

    --
    ~Fricka
    OffLineTshirts.com
  8. Cool. by EkriirkE · · Score: 1

    I still have this sitting on my dresser. The only games i have for it though are the build in Starfield and a Scramble cart. I have the color masks, too. I once saw some more carts at a goodwill, but when I came back with money they were gone :(

    --
    from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
  9. wow, brings back memories by deft · · Score: 1

    I have one of these somewhere.... many many hours of some game with a tank and a jeep.... NO idea what the name was... but a helicopter i think would kick my butt often too.

    --

    There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
    1. Re:wow, brings back memories by SClitheroe · · Score: 1

      That was Armor Attack. There was a bug in it, where you could drive your jeep into one of the corners so that the chopper couldn't hit you...you could just sit there watching it spiral around you. Awesome game!

    2. Re:wow, brings back memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      > I have one of these somewhere.... many many hours of some game with a tank and a jeep.... NO idea what the name was... but a helicopter i think would kick my butt often too.

      "Armor Attack", the arcade original was a vector game by Cinematronics, and it was a great port to the Vectrex.

    3. Re:wow, brings back memories by deft · · Score: 1

      ah yes, so many many hours playing that.... armor attack indeed! loved that game.

      thanks for the name again.... now i gotta find out where the vectrex is at my parents house.

      i wonder if that is worth anything these days.

      --

      There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
  10. Re:One more time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jesus christ you troll, at least link to a site which exists.

  11. Re:What killed the Vectrex? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It was too expensive.

    Try again. The Vectrex was a reasonably popular machine. It was simply unlucky enough to come into existence a mere year before the Great Video Game Crash of '83. In a Post-Crash World (apologies to John Katz), not a single *home-console* system did anything more than limp along. Everyone was buying computers like the Commodore 64, instead. It wasn't until Nintendo released the NES that home-console systems took off again.
    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  12. I'm an original GCE Vectrex owner... by Richard+Steiner · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...and my unit still works. Those things are built like TANKS, and the buzzing sound while playing is music to my ears. They're *supposed* to sound like that. No, really! :-)

    The original Vectrex Armor Attack has a bug that can be exploited for an almost infinite score, and the original Star Castle for the Vectrex is easy for an experienced player of the real arcade version to master (the Vectrex version gives you FOUR concurrent shots instead of three, making things too easy), but both games are still fun for the typical user, I suspect. Heck, I still enjoy them. I just don't ... exploit ... them. :-)

    The original version of Minestorm started going crazy after level 13, skipping one or more levels before letting you play again, or showing strange shapes or even single dots instead of the traditional mines, but even the level that hits you with invisible mines is solvable -- teleport, then do sweeping shots, then teleport again, and repeat. With a little luck, you can get past. Once you hit the level up around 89 or so that has a single slow fireball on it, though, you're stuck. Once it leaves the screen, it's game over (we've never found a way past it).

    I love my Veccie. I had it in college between 1981 and 1987, and at that time a video game was a rarity in the dorms, so it got a lot of use. From time to time it still does. It's one of the best pieces of electronics I've ever owned!

    --
    Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
    The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
    1. Re:I'm an original GCE Vectrex owner... by b1t+r0t · · Score: 1

      Back in the late '80s, I knew someone who had two of them. At one point they were both broken, so I opened 'em up, found out it was the fuse, cursed at having to find pigtail fuses, put them back together (more difficult than it should have been), then they worked again.

      I have three of them myself. One I found at a flea market a few months after having found a controller and half a dozen games at the same stall, another I traded for an Intellivision music keyboard (I found three of them together), a Sean Kelly multicart which was a trade for a near-mint brand new in box Arcadia 2001, and a "stress tester" coin-op of which no other units are known to exist.

      aaa, akogare Kousokusen, naa?

      --

      --
      "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
      "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  13. Re:What killed the Vectrex? by kisrael · · Score: 1

    Theoretically it was cheaper if you didn't have to buy a separate TV...

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  14. grin by CelticLo · · Score: 1

    I remember saving up to buy a secondhand Vectrex. And apart from a broken controller and a hefty electric shock, loved the system.

  15. So just how were those 3d glasses? by Sark666 · · Score: 1

    I never had a vectrex as a kid but my friend had one and got to play it a few times. What I've always wondered was how were those 3d glasses? I mean just look at those suckers
    http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/feature/3117/image011.jpg

    As a kid i was dying to try it.

  16. I WANTED one! by JBMcB · · Score: 1

    I remember seeing one, in all places, at a sales booth at the state fair. They looked like something out of star trek, the games were crazy looking for the time. The price was steep for a videogame console, I ended up getting a VIC-20.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    1. Re:I WANTED one! by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Yes they were rather dear, and I never owned one. I had some luck though; a department store near my high school had set up 12 or so Vectrexes (Vectrices?) in the electronics section, with different games on all of them. A few of us would get on our bikes and go there when we had an hour between classes; the store would be quiet and they'd let us play on the machines. Basically we had a more or less private, free Vectrex arcade. *sigh* Those were the days.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  17. Granted, I'm getting old.... by acvh · · Score: 1

    ....but I was there and I don't remember this at all. Still, I love it when old tech survives - take a peek in my basement window (I always forget to turn off the light).

    I did buy a VIC-20 in a supermarket in Florida while this was in production, I don't recall seeing one on the shelf.

  18. buzzzz by b1t+r0t · · Score: 3, Informative

    I forgot to mention, the buzzing sound can be fixed by rerouting and shielding the speaker wire, but there are some who would consider that heresy.

    --

    --
    "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
    "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  19. EEK! HELP! SPIKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OH NO! MOLLY! *chunkchunkchunkchunkchunkchunk*

  20. Light pen? by Maavin · · Score: 1

    Could someone enlighten me how a lightpen can work on a vector screen? Or is it running in some sort of 'raster mode' for the lightpen applications?

    --


    Crivens! I kicked meself in me own heid!
    1. Re:Light pen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It draws a sort of dart board like cursor that the light pen can drag around (i.e. when the pen crosses one of the cursor's lines the cursor re-centers). Pointing the pen anywhere else on the screen has no effect.

      Works really well actually, and the animation package was amazing fun.

    2. Re:Light pen? by mzs · · Score: 2, Informative
      This post at rec.games.vectrex does a good job of explaining it:

      Christopher L. Tumber

      Jan 30 1999, 2:00 am

      Of course I had to pull mine out and check how it works since theoretically it shouldn't work at all.

      And really, it doesn't, at least not like a normal raster base light pen or gun works but those boys at GCE were clever...

      What happens when you play a light pen "game" is that the game puts a cursor on the screen. You must use the light pen to DRAG this cursor around. If you just point the pen at a random location on the screen, it does not work. Instead, you must point to the cursor and drag it.

      So what it's doing is it draw the cursor which is really a shape similar to a bullseye. As you move the pen, you cross the "rings" of the bullseye. This new position is detected as with any light pen/gun and the center of the cursor is moved to this new position. Repeat as neccessary.

      So, you could do this with a light gun, but again you'd need to drag around a gun sight which probably isn't a great idea...

    3. Re:Light pen? by Maavin · · Score: 1

      wow... I'd never have thought of that. How does the Vectrex know in which connection the lightpen crosses the 'borders'?

      --


      Crivens! I kicked meself in me own heid!
  21. Our local toyshop charged for time :) by splutty · · Score: 1

    Man I spent some serious cash on this thing... Our local toyshop charged IIRC 25 cents for 15 minutes to play on this thing, and there were always some youngsters like me that would be playing it :) The owner had to be rather heavyhanded at times to give someone else a chance to play when someone was simply too good and taking up too much time.

    Hehe. Good old days :) He kept it around after it went out of production and I'm sure made his money back on it without any problems (he even let us 'borrow' other cartridges to play for it).

    --
    Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
  22. Re:One more time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd pay good money to have myminicity.com DDOSed into oblivion just to disappoint dipshit spammers like the GP.