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The History of the Vectrex
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."
When skills are recognized by slashdot
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.
The pride of my vintage collection. I just wish there was an easy way to make the color overlays.
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
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.
What killed the Vectrex? It's curious how a system with such good technical specs died.
However, looking more closely, the answer becomes obvious. Jews. As an innovative, American made piece of technical excellence, the Vectrex could have resulted in a renewed pride in American engineering and knowhow, so it had to die to make way for Japanese imports that could corrupt our youth and upset our trade balance.
Just as our banking system was sold out by greedy politicians, so was our technology industry.
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
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
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.
...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! :-)
... exploit ... them. :-)
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
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.
I remember saving up to buy a secondhand Vectrex. And apart from a broken controller and a hefty electric shock, loved the system.
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.
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.
....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.
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
OH NO! MOLLY! *chunkchunkchunkchunkchunkchunk*
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!
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.
:) 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).
Hehe. Good old days
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.