QR Code and the VCS
By Scott Stilphen and Greg
Bendokus
(2021)
The emergence of Audacity Games has taken the use of QR codes on the VCS to the next level. Their first release in 2021, Circus Convoy, employs 2 different 21x21 QR (Quick Response) codes - a static one that generates a URL to log onto their website to register the game, and a dynamic one for high score submissions. Every cartridge has a unique serial number, so the QR code is specific to every cartridge as well. Audacity Games' next release, John Van Ryzin's Alien Abduction, will include a similar use of QR codes.
Registration QR screen in Circus Convoy.
However, Audacity Games wasn't the first to use QR code with a VCS, or in a VCS game. The first VCS game to incorporate QR code was Other Ocean Interactive's The Stacks in 2012. The game was based on Ernest Cline's Ready Player One book and designed in conjunction with a contest. The QR code was proof you had completed the game and qualified you for the next part of the contest.
Ending of The Stacks showing the QR screen.
Although it's nice to see people adapting QR codes in VCS games, it's a feature that requires someone to have access to a smartphone in order to take advantage of it - something that costs a LOT more than the price of the game (even the $140 VIP Collector Editions). There's also the underlying problem of the code - or any website links - becoming inactive in the near future. In The Stacks case, the code was only useful in the short time the contest was being run. In the case of Audacity Games, the company founders are already close to or past 'retirement age', so it's easy to see them hanging up their keyboards for good before long. At that point, their computer server will go offline, and any support for their QR high score feature will either have to fall to someone else, or players will simply have to resort to the old-fashion way of taking a picture of their screens. That's just fine for us, especially considering Audacity Games isn't offering any money or prizes for having the high score on their games, which makes us wonder why they even bothered to include the QR high score feature to begin with... hence, the company's name.
In 2018, Seth Robinson created what he calls the PaperCart. This is literally what it means. He converted several 2K and 4K VCS programs to QR code and printed them on cards. By coupling a Raspberry Pi and a Picamera with what appears to be a custom 3D-printed holder, he simply inserts a game 'card' and it's automatically scanned in and run using the Atari VCS emulator with Retropie. If the card is then removed, the game stops running!
Seth Robinson's PaperCart Picamera Data Matrix card reader
setup.
Long before QR code, there was something called Cauzin Softstrip (now known as Datastrip code). Cauzin Softstrip was the first commercial 2D barcode format and was introduced in 1985. It could store up to 1K per square inch and was designed to allow magazines to distribute computer programs by simply printing a pattern on a page. The appeal of this format was the ability to scan in a program instead of typing it in or purchasing a floppy disk copy. Unlike QR codes, which can be 'read' with today's smartphones, a handheld reader or scanner was required to read Softstrips. Migraph, Inc. was one company that offered the Hand Scanner for use with Atari ST computers:
Migraph's Hand Scanner for the Atari ST.
There were a few problems with this format that quickly led to its demise. The scanners used very early capture software which didn't allow for a capture preview, so you had no idea whether you made a good scan of anything until after the fact. Since the scanner was operated by hand, you needed a surgeon's hand to keep it steady long enough to scan something as small as a postage stamp, let alone a barcode listing. It was entirely on the user to somehow scan something at the correct speed; there was nothing to guide you in any way. Since the scanner itself was small, if you wanted to scan an entire page, you had to make several passes and then use the software to join the scanned 'strips' together. You would be presented with 3 very crude file preview images side-by-side, and guaranteed, 1 or more of the images would be skewed in some way. The other issue was with the quality of the image you were trying to scan. With a Softstrip, if the ink was smeared or the print quality was poor, it would be impossible to make an accurate scan of it. On top of that, the readers cost anywhere from $100 on up. Without a large enough user base for the technology, and with no alternatives or solutions for the inherent problems (illustrated by this October 15th, 1985 New York Times article), Softstrip was quickly dropped from the few magazines that offered it.
Example of Softstrip code listing.
