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Post by 50tbrd on Jan 17, 2014 20:40:11 GMT -5
Nice! You fixed almost everything I'd noticed except for the front logo. With the correct paper and printed color, you'd never know it was a replica (if it weren't for the notation). You've made a serious quality product.
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 18, 2014 17:10:35 GMT -5
Nice! You fixed almost everything I'd noticed except for the front logo. With the correct paper and printed color, you'd never know it was a replica (if it weren't for the notation). You've made a serious quality product. Thanks for your feedback, 50brd. I've tried to get as close to the original as possible and I think the result is pretty close, now. Current known differences in the Star Castle manual² are: - Apostrophes: The apostrophe character differs from the original. - There seems to be an issue with the star inside the circle on the front page Apart from the above issues I think the Star Castle manual² is finished, now. All linebreaks and the layout is supposed to be very close to the original. Could people please check whether they can spot other differences between their Star Castle paper manual and the Star Castle manual²? Anys suggestion for improvement are welcome. |
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 20, 2014 5:31:18 GMT -5
50tbrd experienced problems with the star inside the circle on the front of the StarCastle manual. On one computer I could reproduce the problem and found out that most probably the FireFox PDF Viewer is the culprit: When viewing in Adobe Reader or printing the front page all looks nice. When viewing the front page in FireFox's built-in PDF viewer, the problem occurs and the star inside the circle is missing. From what I can read in the internet, FireFox PDF Viewer still has various problems: Please see Mozilla support: FF 19 and PDF viewer issueMozilla: How to disable the built-in PDF viewer50tbrd: Could you please check and confirm that this is the problem? Simplest check is to save the Star Castle manual and open it with Adobe Reader. |
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Post by 50tbrd on Jan 20, 2014 14:09:56 GMT -5
Yes. I tried it with Explorer and it was perfect. Mozilla still had the problem.
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 20, 2014 15:46:02 GMT -5
Yes. I tried it with Explorer and it was perfect. Mozilla still had the problem. Thank you for checking, 50tbrd. The result is as expected - a problem of FireFox's built-in PDF viewer. For now I declare the Star Castle manual² (PDF, 190kByte) as completed and finished. Private usage of this PDF document is free. Any type of distribution or commercial usage of the document (i.e. you get money for the electronic or printed manual directly or indirectly) is only allowed with my explicit agreement and permission. (c) 2014.  Next project: Dark Tower manual². Also I'd be very interested in a production of a paper manual of Mail Plane, but I'm good in reproducing things, not so much in designing and author new things. At a later stage I'd like to create many more (all?) GCE Vectrex manuals². But please be patient, completion of the next manual will take a while due to other non-Vectrex related tasks. |
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 22, 2014 5:42:19 GMT -5
Here's a first version of the Dark Tower manual². Thanks to the experience gathered and 50tbrd's provided logo it didn't take too long. It still needs various fine tuning. For the fine tuning a quality scan would be very helpful, but I wonder who owns an original Dark Tower manual at all... |
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Post by 50tbrd on Jan 22, 2014 9:30:05 GMT -5
Looks like you need a Dark Tower overlay....
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Post by 50tbrd on Jan 22, 2014 11:23:48 GMT -5
 The only manual I've ever seen. |
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 22, 2014 11:39:05 GMT -5
^ Your image shows the German translation of the Dark Tower manual and a repro cartridge, 50tbrd. There must be an original - otherwise the Dark Tower PDF available at DigitalPress wouldn't exist. Already, I've contacted a member of DigitalPress and hope to get an answer. |
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Post by 50tbrd on Jan 22, 2014 12:00:42 GMT -5
Looking at Spike's Vectrex page, if Sean Kelly had/has the original overlay than he probably had/has the original manual as well. I thought that the overlay I'd seen was homemade. Its not very indicative of the quality that GCE/MB had made for any other game. Of course it could have been a prototype that was more of a concept. www.atarihq.com/vectrex/dark_twr_print.jpg |
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Post by Mayhem on Jan 22, 2014 13:37:30 GMT -5
Huh... my repro of Dark Tower looks exactly the same. I wonder how many were actually made, as I've never seen another one like it since...
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 22, 2014 15:51:57 GMT -5
50tbrd: Right, Sean is a hot candidate to know about the Dark Tower overlay. The second person at DigitPress is Mat. The quality of the overlay graphic is an interesting aspect. Perhaps there was just a logo and the rest was created afterwards? Huh... my repro of Dark Tower looks exactly the same. I wonder how many were actually made, as I've never seen another one like it since... Thanks for your reply, Mayhem. So it must have been Sean. Sean is the person at DigitPress that I had contacted. |
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 22, 2014 16:22:57 GMT -5
Sean replied and agreed to post his answers here: ...I really don’t remember where that manual came from. It may have come from me, but even if it did, it’s likely that I only borrowed it because I definitely no longer have it. I’m almost certain that the Dark Tower overlay originated from me but I don’t remember where I got it from…that was a long time ago. Actually, is it possible that I MADE that Dark Tower manual?? I believe I sold the game at a CGE soon after I got the prototype cartridge. ... ...I definitely had a prototype cartridge and overlay at one point. I just don’t recall if I ever had a manual. I did look at the PDF online and you’re right…it does look professionally done. I’m really not sure what the story is behind it. ... The PDF manual located at DigitPress is created from TIF files that have been scanned in and provided publicibly a long time ago. The TIF files are hosted on Vectrexer's server for example.Looks like you need a Dark Tower overlay.... Fixed, 50tbrd. ;-) The Dark Tower manual² has made some progress, all text and graphics are included, now. I wished the scan was in a better quality (e.g. one cannot see any of the fine text that is supposed to be on the front and back page). |
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Post by hcmffm on Jan 26, 2014 10:47:28 GMT -5
A first version Dark Tower manual² is completed.  If you should find any typo or design glitch, let me know. Again, thanks to 50tbrd for the Dark Tower logo. |
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Post by Mayhem on Jan 26, 2014 11:04:21 GMT -5
The copyright on the front? (I don't think it's a Cinematronics title!)
I'll have a more detailed look than the cursory read through when I have more time later...
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