Today's post leaking the third revision board with the attached price list took me by surprise and slammed the final nail on the coffin for my continued involvement. I spent an inordinate amount of personal time, at a high opportunity cost, to learn 6502 assembly. This wasn't an easy task. It involved trips to the library, research on usenet, conversations on irc chat, copious youtube vids. I was hoping to make a contribution toward the software catalog, but with a kanban showing eighty percent completion of all my design goals, I can't convince myself to do the rest. It's a shame, but it is ultimately my call. It begs the question of what led to this.
I'm skeptical the product will release within a year from this date. Fundraising was slated for later this year but we're already mid-July. They'll need to collect the funds, order the manufacturing, obtain components, box material, printed material, and construct the systems. That's a ton of soldering, testing, folding, wrapping, boxing, shipping. This assumes success in fundraising. We have a fast approaching Christmas season.
Not sure if they're planning on doing a beta with a test group or not - I haven't seen any solicitations for testers. How long would that phase take? Then, software and hardware revisions would follow, surely.
Lack of communication from the development team. David realized he bit off more than he could chew, so he recruited some great minds for help. Last year, Kevin (TexElec) admitted that he took a multi-month break from the project. David created an entirely new game, ported it, designed art, printed boxes, documentation, and promoted the product. Between shipping his games, constructing a new studio and overseeing a house remodel, he has admitted to veritably zero involvement with the CX16. Though, Kevin just published a quick YT showing petscii robots running on the rev 3 board, this was to give David assurance that the game he's selling works. Meanwhile, Perifractic has repeatedly asked the community to quit asking for updates. The devs are all busy with other projects, I get it - I appreciate how life happens. Most pet projects don't draw a dedicated community eager to consume the project and write software for it. They're asked to sit down and shut up. It feels like the development team lacks motivation to complete the mission. It's been nearly three years since the initial announcement.
I falsely assumed this website and forum was erected to serve as a project HQ but I've read that the real action happens on facebook. So this site is an afterthought. Being here is tantamount to getting rickrolled.
Like most projects, the CX16 fell victim of scope creep. I doubt the finished product will fall within my budget. I'd bet someone lunch that the final price will be closer to a thousand dollars. Last year, Perifractic polled the community to ask what drew them to this project vs the Max 65. Surely, the price point will be similar to that other project.
I may be off-base but this is honestly how I feel about the CX16. Anyway, I'm asking that the mods delete my account. I won't be returning.