nesdev.com

I've made a draft of a precautions section.

http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Action_53_manual

RC2 shall not be produced as is. While finding a game to use as an example in a screenshot of the menu in the manual, I discovered that the control description of Love Story has a copy-and-paste error. "Move cursor" needs to be changed to "Move". This can be fixed in a hex editor by replacing the word "cursor" in that game's description with spaces ($20). But be careful not to change descriptions of other games such as MilioNESy, for which "cursor" is appropriate.

The following hex patch to the (iNES headered) ROM will fix it:


But to see whether I need to issue a full RC3, I'd like people to look over all the game descriptions to see if there are any other problems or things that should be clarified.

Has anyone else had a chance to test? I've had some single player emulator time, but I haven't had time to use the powerpak.

Any news from INL?

Okay time to get back on this horse...

I've got the first batch of boards assembled and on hand now, there are 150ish total IIRC. I flashed one up with RC2 and played all the games and everything looks good to me. I'm really impressed with the line up you guys came up with this year, a few surprises showing up from the 'distant' past was certainly nice to see.

I've been talking with 43110 about the boxes, so we have some decisions to make there assuming he can come up with some artwork to fill it. My suggestion is to blow up the label for the front cover, and maybe a few screen shots on the back with some verbiage taken from the manual. But assuming we're opting to provide a box at all, we can choose from a traditional cardboard box, or a bitbox from stoneagegamer. Bitboxes are a little easier to manage for small volume releases as they can be purchased in small volumes of 100 or less for around $3ea including printed insert. I have a local print shop that I've been using for traditional boxes that does good work with a nice glossy protective finish. The price varies based on qty, ($5ea @100, $2.56ea @250, $1.70ea @ 500). If we choose to invest the funds upfront for traditional boxes I'd recommend the 250 qty for $641 total. Then we can decide how much to mark it up for the CIB option, perhaps around $8..?

The manual preview I saw looks good. I kinda like the black and white effect. That also gives us some lower cost options. Full color manual prices vary based on page count and quantity, I can quote those if that's something we'd like. But the simplicity and low cost of the black and white manual sounds fitting to me. The only question is if we want to include the manual with loose carts, or just CIB's?

We do also have to settle on a design for the label on the back of the cart. I swapped the "CAUTION" label size on my cases for a standard avery size 1 x 2-5/8" which is size #8160. I've made up a generic one we can use, or we can come up with whatever we'd like. CAUTION label template

Yesterday I picked up a big batch of clear cases to cover the LE's for compo prizes. So I'll put those and some RE grey's together so they're only awaiting the final rom and stickers.

I'd like to get the labels printed off at the same time we do the boxes if possible assuming we are doing a box. And if we opt for a long term release of volume 1 in conjunction with the vol2 release, then we can get ourselves a better group discount on labels. I might have another separate title I can squeeze in at the same time to get us all a better deal on printed materials.

One other minor thing, I have new black plastic dust sleeves now too from videogameboxprotectors. I expect between sleeves, labels, and cases all being sourced myself this year we'll at least get the sleeves for free compare to last year's cost of ~$15ea for grey. But I'll have to run the exact numbers once we iron things out.

If we can get these last items sorted out before the end of the year, then I think we're in good shape to release in January. If we've got a good idea how we're handling the next compo perhaps we can make one big giant update and release of the compo all together.

_________________
If you're gonna play the Game Boy, you gotta learn to play it right. -Kenny Rogers

OK I'm back from the holidays. Let's see if we can pull together to get this released.

The manual is done, and I'm designing the box so that the base template can work for all 4 volumes. So whatever is decided about the further production of volume 1, hopefully box can be easily made for that as well.

As I'm filling out the back of the box now, is there any words or logos I should include? Maybe the logos of nesdev and nintendoage?

Hey guys, sorry it took so long but I'm done with the box. Since a google search can find the page I put it at, I'm posting the link to all the printed materials here.

https://jroatch.nfshost.com/2014/nes/action-53-vol-2/

Questions? comments? errors or typos? let me know.

Are we waiting for anything else? Does there need to be any more testing etc before we work out production etc?

I might end up having to make one last change to RHDE before shipping, as I was unable to locate a contributor.

RC3 has two changes:

• Love Story: Removed "cursor" from description
• RHDE: replaced build theme with an arrangement of an Ivan Larionov piece

I'll test this out tonight.

To be honest, I was certain that RC#2 with the description patch was the final ROM except if further bugs were found.

Could I suggest the old song remain for this compilation, and use the new song for further versions of RHDE?

There was a bug: a potential legal issue. The old "build" theme in RHDE was essentially a cover version of the bass line from "Tetris New Melody" (OCRemoved). If you can put me in touch with "AM.FM.GM", the recording artist who made it, I might consider restoring the old one.

Do you not have rights to your own rendition of a tune?

The old build theme wasn't my rendition as much as a straight cover version, and cover versions are derivative works subject to a copyright owner's exclusive right. Unlike with sound recordings, the law provides no compulsory license for inclusion of a musical work in an audiovisual work (such as a video game), meaning that use without a license is infringement of copyright. And if there is no way to contact the composer, no license is available.

The new build theme ("Kalinka for RHDE") is my rendition of another composer's work ("Kalinka" by Ivan Larionov), but because the work was published more than 95 years ago and the composer died more than 70 years ago, the copyright has expired.