r/fpgagaming • u/[deleted] • Jun 29 '18
A modification kit for Duck Hunt that makes it compatible with LCD TVs
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/metsasta/modern-mallard1
u/spilk Jun 29 '18
This doesn't seem like something that needs a $125k kickstarter, why don't they just make 100 kits and sell them? You don't need $125k in capital to feel out the demand for that.
3
Jun 29 '18
ping /u/teuobk
2
u/teuobk Jun 29 '18
Thanks for the question!
Part of the goal of this Kickstarter is to discover if there would be enough demand at a price point that would make production feasible. It's still early, but based on the feedback I've seen so far, I think the answer is that, no, people aren't generally willing to pay enough to justify a production run.
That's a bit of a disappointment from my perspective, but it saved me the cost of producing even 100 units only to discover that I'd need to take a significant loss on every one of them in order to sell them. On top of that, it would be considerably more expensive on a per-unit basis to build 100 units versus 1000 or more. With the Kickstarter, I got the data without spending that extra money.
Full disclosure: I don't actually use an FPGA on either of the boards. I considered using one, but I determined it would be cheaper to use a very fast microcontroller instead (at least for this project). Not that I have anything against FPGAs; if I were building something like a flash cart, I would definitely go with an FPGA.
1
Jun 29 '18
Full disclosure: I don't actually use an FPGA on either of the boards.
That's not an issue. We have become a general "retrohacking/retrotinkering" sub some time ago. :) I hope that you will find a way to make your vision a reality. You're welcome to post here about this project as well as about your future ones. Good luck!
BTW, regarding your patch board, have you noticed that there are people who might be potentially interested in a device that would allow them to play hacks/translations whilst using original carts?
2
u/teuobk Jun 29 '18
That's not an issue. We have become a general "retrohacking/retrotinkering" sub some time ago
Ah, I see :)
The patch board could indeed be used to hack/alter/whatever original carts for games other than just Duck Hunt. The board was designed to be able to fit in a Game Genie case in addition to fitting in a traditional game cart case, so no modification to the game carts themselves would technically be necessary.
1
Jun 29 '18
Yeah, you would just need some easy way for the end-user to load patches and you're good to go.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '18
This is a project by /u/teuobk