Email from Vectrex developer Jeff Corsiglia
Jeroen (vectrex.nl)
without the address. I think a lot of people would like to go to Jeff's
attic ...
Jeff Corsiglia schreef:
>> What a fine site. Sure brings back memories. In my attic is a box of
>> my original storyboards for the design of many of the Vectrex games as
>> well as my prototype for the Vextrex 3d imager. There are also lots
>> of designs that were never produced. I can make some corrections to
>> your game credits...
>>
>> Mouse (Richard Moskowsky) was the best and fastest Vectrex programmer.
>> His workstation was a hot rodded Ithica Intersystems. He coded games
>> in as little as four weeks. Mouse generated the interpolation
>> algorithm for the curved vectors in the light pen animation
>> activities. He did no design. Mark Indictor (NOT Indicator), was
>> also an excellent coder and did some design. He coded Pinball to my
>> design, both coded and designed Tour de France and Polar Rescue.
>>
>> I liked caroming play and designed it into my Fortress of Narzod
>> game. I designed Cosmic Chasm with Cinematronics in mind and they
>> manufactured it as a coin-op color vector game. Scott Bowden and I
>> worked together on it. Unfortunately, their color vector system was
>> somewhat unreliable and raster was hitting its stride.
>>
>> For the history books, I designed the Vectrex 3d games as well. John
>> Ross, inventor of the Vectrex, came up with the notion of the spinning
>> disc and I developed the hardware, (with considerable help).
>> Interestingly, some percentage of people can't see the effect.
>>
>> For 3-d Crazy Coaster, I rented the big coaster at Six Flags Magic
>> Mountain and clamped a stereo cine camera to the front car. The
>> resulting film was used for establishing realistic perspective, since
>> we had so few vectors to establish the background. This was an early
>> attempt at motion-capture which worked fairly well, considering the
>> limitations of the Vectrex system.
>>
>> Minestorm 3-d was a requirement because the 2-d version was resident
>> in the system. Tough to pull off.
>>
>> Narrow Escape was the best of the 3-d games...probably the best use
>> of the effect.
>>
>> My role was head designer and producer for Vectrex at Western
>> Technologies. Later, I partnered with Datascan and ran its video game
>> division as a second source of games for GCE/Milton Bradley.
>>
>> I'm pleased new games are being developed for what's still a good game
>> system.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jeff Corsiglia
Richard Hutchinson
to know who designed / programmed what.
BTW I wonder if he realises the historical (and cash) value of the stuff he
has.
Hmm...I bet he has that clear lightpen prototype
Richard H.
Jeroen (vectrex.nl)
many people like to read about it. He has answered that he would send
more info when possible. But this email is very nice, and I would say a
compliment to the whole Vectrex community.
Jeroen
dgo
Now the only decent thing to do, from a collector's point of view,
is to convince the guy to sell some of his stuff (or better, donate)
to us.This has to be preserved well for history's sake, and we Vectrex
collectors are VERY good preserving things amongst ourselves keeping it
in the most pristine condition. Tell him! :D
(photo's and info will be nice as well)
Alex H
What a cool email to receive - thanks for sharing!
Prototype 3D Imager?... Sod Mail Plane, I'll take that. LOL! (Imagine of
that ever hit eBay!)
Alex
Peter W.
thanks for sharing this very interesting letter with us!
I have feeing that Jeff probably never imagined that his "baby" would
still be actively
used in the 21st century. Even in this day and age where game machines
have computing power
greater than early supercomputers, and rendering capabilities better
than many
flight simulators (of just decades ago) the Vectrex is still considered
a playable
gaming machine!
Peteski
Nubian
I also got an email from Jeff Corsiglia. I though that it was really
great getting an email like this. Only my letter was just about the
Cleen Sweep review and very short. It's blown me away that Jeroen has
actually shared that letter with everybody.
Regards,
Daniel.
Wayne
<dontu...@antispam.nl> wrote:
..
> I have asked if he could provide some photo's or other info, because
> many people like to read about it. He has answered that he would send
> more info when possible. But this email is very nice, and I would say a
> compliment to the whole Vectrex community.
>
> Jeroen
You could arrange for proper scans of the designs and schematics as well,
to share around the archives, as they will go to a lot further than the
originals would as a collectors item.
Wayne85