Crownlandish?

[twh/f2]

Getting back to the topic of good platformers on the A8, I also really liked Twilight World and Spelunker. There are two others that are both fantastic, that unless I missed a post, I haven't seen listed, and I don't know why. They are the classic Montenzuma's Revenge, and the neo-classic Draconus (and even it's sequels).

 

No way, my american friend. This thread has been overtaken by something we call "Fussball" .. or like you would call it "Soccer"

 

Germany vs. Spain in the finals!!!

 

\twh

 

p.s.: do not take it too seriously

[+Philsan]

No way, my american friend. This thread has been overtaken by something we call "Fussball" .. or like you would call it "Soccer"

To remain in topic, A8 doesn't have a good soccer game like International Soccer or Emlyn Hughes International Soccer.

We only have old 16K game Thorn Emi's Soccer.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Philsan

[Heaven/TQA]

Or Microprose Soccer...

[carmel_andrews]

The Draconus sequals/prequals etc you refer to were hacks (i.e unofficial, not by zeppelin or authorized by them)

 

same applies to zybex and it's sequal/prequal etc (and i do have a file that's called Zorro II, but it looks exactly the same as zorro)

[deathtrappomegranate]

Or Microprose Soccer...

There are others, too, like Zeppelin's Fantastic Soccer and Tynesoft's European Super Soccer, although whether one calls them "good" soccer games is a matter of opinion.

Edited June 23, 2008 by deathtrappomegranate

[Wrathchild]

Talking soccer, for those of you wanting to test your software-sprite routines, take a look at post #18 on this thread. I'd love to see those little guys animated on the A8.

[Oswald]

@Oswald, there have been discussions about "which is better" here at times yes, it's a free for all forum for people to bring up such topics. But AA is not a c64 vs Atari forum, it's just an Atari forum. It's just pointless posting comments to slate the Atari. You'd be far better putting your programming skills into the mix and joining in the discussions rather than pointless flaming. We all like the A8, that's why we're here. It's not a base camp for a platform war.

 

yes you are right. but after arguing in hundreds of posts with emkay, when the truth finally surfaces in one of his posts its hard not to react., you see its rather personal actually I grew liking the a8 a bit after all these flamings, there are some very neat things in its architecture. (just to say something positive too :_)

[Oswald]

So he came here to impress us (used to 256 colors)

 

that remembers me to a youtube comment on a8 zaxxon.

 

 

"Watching videos like this makes me glad I had a C64. The C64 version wasn't exactly arcade perfect, but it blows this version out of the water on color alone. I've read that the Atari 8-Bit systems had a much wider range of colors than the C64, but almost every game I've seen has had LESS colors on the Atari 8-Bits. "

[Tezz]

That's great to read Oswald because for one I respect your work as a coder, you've done outstanding work on the 64 without a doubt. You'd be an asset here to add comment in regard to coding. there's a lot left untapped in the 8-bit Atari. That's one of my many reasons for my continued interest in working on the A8

 

EDIT** This refers to the previous post not the one above this.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Tezz

[Oswald]

but maybe Oswald is little sad that Hungary does not play EURO 08...

 

lol. hungarian soccer is a joke. we are happy if we can beat iceland or malta

[Oswald]

That's great to read Oswald because for one I respect your work as a coder, you've done outstanding work on the 64 without a doubt. You'd be an asset here to add comment in regard to coding. there's a lot left untapped in the 8-bit Atari. That's one of my many reasons for my continued interest in working on the A8

 

well, going back to topic, heaven's forming sprite engine could be a nice basis for a freedir scrolling platformer and who cares about colours, I think if one would concentrate on playability, with a talented gfxian a great game could be done

[Tezz]

well, going back to topic, heaven's forming sprite engine could be a nice basis for a freedir scrolling platformer and who cares about colours, I think if one would concentrate on playability, with a talented gfxian a great game could be done

I agree yes definately there's a great game that can be developed with the technique discussed previously. You're right that gameplay should always be priority above the technical feats. If as a game designer we concentrate on the structure of a game to ensure the standards are set in good playability, level design etc. we're already in a winning formula. Some of the latest soft sprite / multiplex engines will hopefully deveop into common methods and reduce the colour issue. Really because you can't use the pallete out of the box so to speak with the A8 it's rarely been pushed beyond the vanilla modes, certainly not with commercial programmers of the time anyway who were only interested in getting the games out to market and had no interest in pushing anything. I've been surprised what's been possible so far with TEBE and VEGA this past 18 months. Crownland was the first really to start to do something in the right direction to use the machine properly but it goes to prove the point about gameplay because it's biggest critism was not for visual stuff but for the not being challenging enough. At the end of the day it's the "game" that's most important to gamers.

 

EDIT ** I should rephrase the "only interested in getting the games out to market". I should say "only commercially viable to get the games quickly out to market using the known modes available and documented. This refers to the later years of the A8

Edited June 23, 2008 by Tezz

[TMR]

At the end of the day it's the "game" that's most important to gamers.

 

If i were religious, i'd say "amen" at this point... however, i'm not so i won't which makes this post somewhat redundant but that's never stopped me before. What was i saying...?

[Gunstar]

The Draconus sequals/prequals etc you refer to were hacks (i.e unofficial, not by zeppelin or authorized by them)

 

same applies to zybex and it's sequal/prequal etc (and i do have a file that's called Zorro II, but it looks exactly the same as zorro)

 

I know they are hacks, which is why I only mentioned them in parenthesis, but they are the same game engine regardless. The focus is on the original, but unofficial and unauthorized the "hack" sequels exist, and are worth mentioning.

[carmel_andrews]

I notice some similarity between the A8 hack of 5200 soccer (bought to the A8 by 'Ghost Genius' (whoever he was, assuming a he that is) and the thorn emi soccer game ...they are just too close (exept for the background visuals)

[drac030]

that remembers me to a youtube comment on a8 zaxxon.

 

Maybe I put it some other way: since Atari has 256 colors in the palette, the trickery necessary on C-64 to boost the color palette is equally impressive on this forum, as the trickery necessary on C-64 to "open the borders".

[Oswald]

Maybe I put it some other way: since Atari has 256 colors in the palette, the trickery necessary on C-64 to boost the color palette is equally impressive on this forum, as the trickery necessary on C-64 to "open the borders".

 

I havent ever talking in here about palette boost nor border openings. my point was that you can eat your 256 colors, when the end result looks less colorful than c64's 16. read the youtube comment again.

 

also, how do you atarians used to say: "Why do those Commodore Atari guys insist in calling "tricks" the capabilities of the Atari Commodore graphics chips? (post #169 in the defender of the crown topic :_)

[Heaven/TQA]

even lookup table is trick...

[machf]

also, how do you atarians used to say: "Why do those Commodore Atari guys insist in calling "tricks" the capabilities of the Atari Commodore graphics chips? (post #169 in the defender of the crown topic :_)

And as I said later:

 

It's really pretty simple: Atari computers were designed to work in a way different from Commodore ones - you can't just judge them by the same standards.

[+Philsan]

I have just discovered a game called Vicky.

[Oswald]

It's really pretty simple: Atari computers were designed to work in a way different from Commodore ones - you can't just judge them by the same standards.

 

I can. I just did it in my previously post.

[Oswald]

I have just discovered a game called Vicky.

 

looks very nice. scrolling or singlescreen platformer?

[+Philsan]

I have just discovered a game called Vicky.

looks very nice. scrolling or singlescreen platformer?

I am sorry, I have forgotten that the topic starter is searching a side-scrolling platformer.

Vicky is a single screen platformer.

Unfortunately I am not able to understand the long Polish introduction.

[Allas]

[drac030]

I havent ever talking in here about palette boost nor border openings. my point was that you can eat your 256 colors, when the end result looks less colorful than c64's 16.

 

The point is, that they (the pics you present here in some other thread) look colorful to YOU, because you're used to 16 colors. But they don't look colorful to us, because most of them are in just two colors: violet and/or brown. And most of the time these colors don't match the picture's contents.

 

Maybe another example will help you getting my point: plasmas on C-64. They may look attractive to you, because you are used to 16 colors. But if someone is educated on Atari's 256 color palette, C-64 plasmas look crap to him. Go to some multiparty, in the competition wait until a C-64 demo will present the plasma effect, and then pay attention to faces of Atarians.

 

What really makes me wonder, is what you expect here. That we go madly delighted with a pic or tune you paste here? This is Atari forum, we are all Atari owners and this means, that, despite that other 8-bit machines may have stronger points, everyone of us once decided that Atari is, in overall rating, a better computer. You want to turn this decision out with a pic? Kidding or what?

 

SID has good bass? But it has no sopranos, samples or software synthesis sounds crap on it (if they sound at all) and 98% of SID tunes are the same sort of boring modulations (despite that SID can be emulated on Atari in software - using POKEY - and you can't emulate POKEY on C-64). VIC has good sprites? But it only has 16 colors (8 violets and 8 browns). C-64 has many games? So connect the joystick at runtime, you'll have luck, if your computer doesn't produce a bit of smoke and will go for severe repair.

 

Despite, games are waste of time - does C-64 have a macroassembler, that offers 70 KB for the source code in the editor's buffer? No? I am not surprised. The C-64 is slower in overall performance, the C-64 OS is buggy, crap and braindamaged, peripherals are rare and expensive (how many disk drives there are for C-64? Three?) and their firmware is slow and buggy. So, how this machine can impress us, eh?

Edited June 26, 2008 by drac030