[Coco] Re: Nick's Survey results

[Mo]

Mr. Gault has a very valid point. I still enjoy the Coco more as a Time
filler than a primary workhorse. I mainly hang on to mine because of their
gothic apperance with all the bells and whistles plugged in. I also do a lot
of technical mumbo jumbo with mine. I never really got into games on these
machines 'cause I just hated that sick green color that all of the games
used liberally. I don't have a coco3 but I like the colors I've seen those
do a lot better. I think if you want to create a real masterpiece, I would
design either a port of some powerful programming language like LISP or APL
or maybe create your own, new language that you could sell and market. That
to me might be worth spending a few bucks on. These machines are so often
undersold because of their cartridge port, they have powerful processors and
plenty of RAM- it's nice to see them use it once in a while.
Just Rambling,
Mo

BTW, I seem to remember seeing an ad in a magazine somewhere for software
written by Gaultware? Is my memory fuzzy or am I on target?



"Robert Gault" <robert.gault at worldnet.att.net> wrote
in message news:3FC527E1.2010705 at worldnet.att.net...
> As one of those "mature adults" who still support the Coco, I have to
> say the power of modern computers have so greatly exceeded that of the
> Coco, I do all of my word processing, spreadsheet, internet activity,
> and games non-Coco with few exceptions. I use the Coco for tinkering and
> support of the Coco community and not much else.
>
> Frankly the Coco has always been for me, a chance to prove Tandy wrong
> in some fashion, by making the Coco do something Tandy thought
> impossible. I still buy many adventure games but for the PC. While there
> were some games sold by Tandy that still hold their own against the
> current crop, nostalgia probably plays a large part.
>
> We have got to be realistic folks. Much as we like the Coco, and it is
> the perfect tool for hardware tinkering and programming, it is not going
> to take the world by storm no matter what we do with it. There just is
> not much of a Coco market left.
>
> What this means to anyone who wants to create software for the Coco
> community is don't create end products like games and expect to sell
> much. Create tools so users can produce their own projects. That is why
> the emulators, Portal9, and the like or hardware sold by Cloud-9 have at
> least a limited market. These items enable user creativity.
>
> Nickolas Marentes wrote:
>
> > The survey so far isn't a raging success with only 6 responses so far. I
> > guess it's still early to call but I am getting some data about the
current
> > CoCo market and community.
> >
> > The results so far are of no surprise. Here is my summary, adding in
some of
> > my own personal observations from the list.
> >
> > My purpose for the survey is to ascertain the viability of me spending
the
> > next 6-12 months of my precious little spare time to develop another
CoCo3
> > game. I like developing games for the CoCo but the enjoyment falls a bit
> > flat if there are few people to appreciate the effort.
> >
> > I see the CoCo community as a mature group of adults who are past the
games
> > stage and primarily interested in communicating with one another and are
> > fond of OS9.
> >
> > While there are over 100 users on this list, the number of "active
users"
> > appears far less, probably 20-25 with the majority taking a "back seat
> > observers post". Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
> >
> > As for active developers of saleable/commercial level products, this
number
> > falls even further with people such as Mark Marlett and Curtis Boyle as
the
> > main ones that I can see at this point. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have a few questions to ask.
> >
> >
> >
> > 1) Has anyone developed a new (and better!) gui for OS-9?
> >
> > It's probably a bit late to suggest this but I feel OS-9 really needs an
> > injection of user friendliness that may attract other less OS-9 centric
> > people to OS-9. I know I've tried 3 times in my lifetime and each time I
> > threw it across the room in discust with it's unfriendliness, slowness
and
> > bugginess. This was in the early days of CoCo OS-9 when there were bug
lists
> > for OS-9 spanning several pages. I understand the Nitros9 is far better
but
> > has anything been developed to utilize this added power of Nitros9?
> >
> > 2) It seems to me that what the CoCo needs a central website that all
CoCo
> > users can look at to keep up with what's going on in the CoCo world.
Back in
> > the "good-old-days" we had the CoCo magazines as a way of keeping up to
> > date. Later, there was ???? (forgot his name) website that was kept
> > up-to-date with CoCo developments. Now it seems all that is lost. Apart
from
> > this CoCoList (thanks Dennis!) We need a site were we can look and see
what
> > products are in development by others, read up on the latest CoCo news
and
> > going on's (Fests etc).
> >
> > 3) Anyone interested in a good pinball game for the CoCo? What about an
> > arcade perfect version of Defender? A new CoCo3 update of Zaxxon, like
Z'89
> > only faster and extended gameplay?
> >
> > 4) And lastly, has anyone been able to find out more info about this
> > mystical 256 color mode of the GIME? Does it or does it not exist? I'm
still
> > looking for the author of the book, "Super Extended Color Basic
Unravelled".
> > Does anyone know where I can contact someone from Spectral Associates?
These
> > guys worked closely with Radio Shack during those CoCo3 development days
and
> > may have some answers.
> >
> >
> >
> > Ok, off my soap box now before the tomatoes start to fly!
> >
> > Nickolas Marentes
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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