Denial

The printed ZEPTOPOLIS manuals have arrived! I don't think everybody will want a printed manual, so I'll sell them separately, rather than increase the cost of the cartridge.

But it turned out really nice.

Nice! Next step, box heh...

[SEMI-IRONIC RANT]It should have come with box and manual by default at that final price [/SEMI-IRONIC RANT]
(BTW, mine is still somewhere in Switzerland, will write back when I'll realize whether it's charged with customs fees or not)

I've made a printable booklet of the free version of the manual, should anyone be interested: download, print double side, and fold in the middle.

orion70 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:37 am [SEMI-IRONIC RANT]It should have come with box and manual by default at that final price [/SEMI-IRONIC RANT]

The price barrier is mostly due to volume. I do get the highest-possible discount from TFW8B on the cartridge PCBs and cases, because I buy a lot of them at once. But even then, it's expensive to make VIC-20 cartridges in 2021! I include a printed manual with wAx, because there's less price-sensitivity for development tools than there is for games. I order the best options for everything in printed manuals, so it has a pretty significant impact on the selling price.

There's another vendor I want to try for manuals, which might help a lot, if they're good.

And boxes, I have no idea how to do that. But I can't imagine it being worth the design time and the cost. I guess I'm typical in that my cartridges are stacked, boxless, on a shelf. Very few boxes have been kept, historically.

I've made a printable booklet of the free version of the manual, should anyone be interested: download, print double side, and fold in the middle.

That looks nice! The PDF version of the manual on the website (http://www.beigemaze.com/viclab/docs/ZE ... Manual.pdf) is exactly the same as the printed one, so you're missing nothing.

How did you do that, by the way?

chysn wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:33 amBut even then, it's expensive to make VIC-20 cartridges in 2021!

Don't worry, I understand perfectly: I'd never have bought it if I thought it was overpriced.

chysn wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:33 amHow did you do that, by the way?

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfbooklet/

Arrived a couple of days ago at the post office, could retrieve it only today, at no additional cost

I'll try the game tonight!

The ZEPTOPOLIS repository is now public and open-source.

https://github.com/Chysn/VIC20-ZEPTOPOLIS