A Pig Quest cartridge (Protovision update)

[sysop]

Isn't this just a complete fluffy outrage or am I just too old to expect something better.

Expect something better?  Like perhaps receiving something you paid for in good faith?  Hardly.  You're much more patient and level headed that I would have been if I spent my hard earned money on that.

[TheHighlander]

Believe me, I'm fuming inside but I'm trying to be as civil as I can. I'm just surprised that I seem to be the only one!

(fluffy...haha, just noticed. I'll be more careful next time)

[TheHighlander]

Since Protovision don't communicate this on Lemon, I will. The following is from a post on Forum64.de, translated from German into English by ChatGPT.

The original post (in German) by "Thunderblade" is here: https://www.forum64.de/index.php?thread/.../&pageNo=2

OMG. So my dear friends, I've been back with Protovision for some time now. I decided to join again some time after my brother's death. He was involved in a lot of communication-related work, among other things. I can never replace him, as I have significantly less time and, unlike him, I also tinker with a few things on the C64 myself. But I will try.

For those who are not familiar with the background, I co-founded Protovision in 1996 with Stefan Gutsch (the graphic artist behind Sam's Journey, Metal Dust). I left in 2004 because the topic of "physical" releases was causing me way too much stress personally. Although many positive things have developed 20 years later, and JTR, who has been doing "everything" for many years now, after Poison and previously Doc of Desire simply couldn't anymore, has achieved a lot. How he managed to do that, despite having a family with 2 young children and a full-time job, is still a mystery to me. Nevertheless, the whole situation remains problematic, and I need to first understand where the current problems are coming from, and then talk to JTR about what, in my opinion, can be done better in the future.

The newly developed module is finished and found to be functional on C64 with KU, 407, 425, 466, 469, as well as C128. However, the hardware is slightly different from what was originally planned. We don't necessarily want to go into detail about all the problems with the prototypes, defective flash chips, unreliable suppliers, sudden price hikes, and the unavailability of xyz. Maybe we should change that; I'll bring it up. Now the games need to be adapted to the new hardware, which is easier for Pig Quest than for Lykia. This is simply due to the internal structure of how the games operate. The game coders have now been asked to make the adjustments since functional cartridge prototypes are finally available. But what if they just don't want to or can't at the moment? Then you have to chase after them again. All we can do is ask them kindly.

I thank everyone for the open and constructive feedback! That's exactly why we set up this section with the operators of Forum64.

[sysop]

My response would be, give me my money back, because now it seems as though they are putting the burden of release on the backs of the game developers. If they don't want to have to adjust their game code, then what? What a racket.

[TheHighlander]

Honestly, I don't think the adaptations were massive. And the work's been done already (for A Pig Quest at least). Naturally if a conflict arose between Protovision and their developers then that would cause a real problem.

And confirmed by Antonio Savona (FB, feb 17 2024):

Hi Wouter, yes: with APQ and Lykia, Protovision is debuting a new 1Mb cart format that they have been developing for quite some time. While the cart is somewhat similar to the EasyFlash (the format APQ originally came in), it's not really identical, so when the specs of the new cart were made available, I had to modify the crt to be compatible with it. I suppose also Lykia's programmers had to do the same.

[sysop]

Maybe you'll have something for Christmas to wrap up for yourself

[TheHighlander]

I expect Jakob to make a personal delivery, wearing a Santa suit, flying a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

[TheHighlander]

An update from Protovision on Lemon:

post by Protovision » Fri Mar 29, 2024 8:42 am

We are just about there! We have commenced duplication of the gold carts for A Pig Quest and we will start to ship these out to customers in 2 to 3 weeks. If you have changed your address since placing your order then this will be the time to let us know by sending us an email via our Contact form on our website

The production of standard editions will commence once we receive our large order of our brand new PCBs.