carmel_andrews Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 As it says on the tin....Which classic era A8 programmers work do you respect the most Some to start you off Doug Neubauer (Star Raiders) Chris Crawford (Eastern Front) Fernando Herera (Boulderdash Series), apparently he also did some work on Star Raiders John Williams (Various English software games) Philip Price (Alternate Reality series) though the dungeon coding was completed by Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal Randall D Mastellar (various Microprose, Mastertronic/sculptured software and epyx games) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Phillip Price... he worked in near stoneage conditions at times, having someone's car running to supply the power to the system while he programmed. Chris Crawford... I remember reading his account of how he programmed Eastern Front, spending a great deal of time crunching code so it'd run in 16K. Archer McLean... bucked the trend, stood by the 8-bit at a time when most outfits were dropping it for no good reason. Also created groundbreakers like IK and Dropzone. I also liked his Snooker game on the Amiga. The Ozark outfit... created classics like MULE, 7 Cities etc. Freefall... for the Arkons. Some of the Synapse guys... in the early times, they set the pace. Although a lot of their techniques are considered old-hat today. Jeff Minter... someone would hand him a new system, and he'd be pumping out revolutionary releases a week later. The Lucasfilm crew... that is, until they dropped the Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Archen McLean - DropZone is an absolute classic, as is IK. However, the Crown of 8-Bitness belongs firmy on the head of: Paul Woakes / Novagen - Encounter and Mercenary are in a class of their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookt Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Archen McLean - DropZone is an absolute classic, as is IK. However, the Crown of 8-Bitness belongs firmy on the head of: Paul Woakes / Novagen - Encounter and Mercenary are in a class of their own. Funny I was just about to nominate Paul Woakes. I spent weeks playing Mercenary, mapping it out, finding everything. I eventually completed it in a number of different ways so I went back to it a number of times. In the absence of Elite for the A8 this was the game which really hooked me. I really enjoyed Encounter too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Lord British and the Ultima series I would add. Also the guy who did Necromancer and Bill Budge of PCS fame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Perhaps if AU's had'nt hacked the original versions of Ball Blazer or ROF I think Lucasfilms would have been loved up with the A8...and we probably would have got a shedload more games Steve Robinson deserves a mention (Beam machine and Rainbow walker amonsgt others) Steve Hales (Dimension x and Fort Appocalypse amongst others) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Hmm, maybe also: - Steve Coleman (worked at synapse software, mastertronic, atari and other firms; he did and converted dozens of games for the A8 - isn`t he Sculptured Software or is he just one programmer of Sculptured Software ?!?) - Landon Dyer (Donkey Kong; and for those that love the ST series of computers...) - Peter Finzel (Schreckenstein, Cavelord) - Peter Sabath (lots of demos, but also games and conversions like Shanghai, Omidor, etc.) - Thorsten Karwoth (programs like Macro Assembler, Power Packer, Megablast, Tron, etc.) - Wolfgang Freitag (lots of demos, do not remember a game from him) - Stefan Dorndorf (a dozen of games and utils, also QMEG-OS, Hyper-XF-OS, etc.) - David Crane and team (Pitfall, Pitfall 2, etc.) - Bruce Artwick (Flightsim II, what would sublogic or Microsoft have done without him?) - Rob Hubbard, Adam Gilmore and Mr. Whitaker for their great sounds ! - Bill Williams (Alley Cat, Necromancer) - Jeff Potter (for all his many gfx-viewers like Apacview, Colourview, etc. also Maze of Agdagon) - Bob Puff (besides his hardware, there is also MyDOS, ARC/Unarc, UnLZH and other utilities) - Fandal (lots of own games and also lots of game patches and fixes, file versions, etc.) - the many great polish coders, like Eru, FoX, TeBe, Vega and many other names I do not remember right now and lots of others... the list goes on and on... -Andreas Koch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhyte Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Why do you ask all these personal, useless questions Carmel? Are you planning on doing anything with this information? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteD Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Not wanting to cause a fuss but , it's a public forum, people are replying to the question. Kind of means it's not so useless to at least some people. If you don't want to reply don't but why ask why someone is asking perfectly reasonable questions. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
José Pereira Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Hello Ivan Mackintosh - all that Red Rat (Crumble Crisis, Space Lobsters,...), Black Lamp (FABULOUS), Tagalon (GREAT), Cavernia (VERY, VERY NICE ONE) CHris Paul Nurray - Mirax Force and Last Guardian (GREAT, GREAT, GREAT - If he use the technic we now see in Ripper Demo, and with more new graphics that two games could be TOTALLY AMAZING) and Henry's House (I will always love this one, THE ONLY AND THE GREATEST COLORFULL PLATFORMS GAME IN A8 HISTORY, with if it only has more levels, ever wonder if in this way of doing things, what it could done in a Monty Mole or Everyone's a Wally A8 conversion (changing Hi-resol. graphics to this beautifull colourfull Henry's House mode)) Some more I like, but I would like to say many, many names. But right now I only rember the bad ones, If this Thread was for this, probably, sadly, I'll put a large list. José Pereira. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Why do you ask all these personal, useless questions Carmel? Are you planning on doing anything with this information? Oops, looks like someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning Unless ofcourse there is some sort of unwritten law that says i can't contribute to atariage in any form Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhyte Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Oops, looks like someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning Since when is the practical side of the bed the wrong side of the bed? Unless ofcourse there is some sort of unwritten law that says i can't contribute to atariage in any form Contribute all the fluff you want... I never said you couldn't... Though I'll let you know when you do contribute something substantial... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteD Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 This (as a week old user on this forum) is the type of unnecessary stuff I've seen since I joined that goes off in every thread. If people who weren't interested in a thread kept their noses out of it everyone would be happy but instead people have to have a quick snipe at something they aren't interested in. The interested people defend themselves, the sniper gets all shirty and off kicks another argument. I'm not saying people can't have an opinion but in some cases it's just better to keep it to yourself Now I shall duck and wait for the flying stuff to go overhead Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhyte Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 (edited) This (as a week old user on this forum) is the type of unnecessary stuff I've seen since I joined that goes off in every thread. If people who weren't interested in a thread kept their noses out of it everyone would be happy but instead people have to have a quick snipe at something they aren't interested in. The interested people defend themselves, the sniper gets all shirty and off kicks another argument. I'm not saying people can't have an opinion but in some cases it's just better to keep it to yourself Now I shall duck and wait for the flying stuff to go overhead Pete Welcome to the forum Mr. Thread Police-man... Oh no wait, so I can have an opinion, but I should keep it to myself? LMAO... Maybe you should read some more of Carmel's topics and posts before jumping to his defense... I'm not the only one that feels this way... Edited July 25, 2009 by dwhyte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteD Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I've got a perfect right to be "Mr Thread Police" as does anyone else on a public forum and so should they when people start spoiling in other peoples threads. It goes on a lot on this forum like some people have nothing better to do. As I said of course you can have an opinion but I never said you MUST keep it to yourself (that's just you taking what I said in the worst possible way so you feel justified in having a go back), I said sometimes it's just better to. I might be of the opinion that you're as ugly as my neighbours dog but I'd have the decency not to pipe up and tell you if I saw you in the street. I don't have a problem with Carmel, if you do then that's your problem. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhyte Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I've got a perfect right to be "Mr Thread Police" as does anyone else on a public forum and so should they when people start spoiling in other peoples threads. It goes on a lot on this forum like some people have nothing better to do. As I said of course you can have an opinion but I never said you MUST keep it to yourself (that's just you taking what I said in the worst possible way so you feel justified in having a go back), I said sometimes it's just better to. I might be of the opinion that you're as ugly as my neighbours dog but I'd have the decency not to pipe up and tell you if I saw you in the street. I don't have a problem with Carmel, if you do then that's your problem. Pete LMAO... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteD Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Stunning retort. Gotta have the last word eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhyte Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Stunning retort. Gotta have the last word eh? You know it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfdbg Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Probably Paul Edelstein, for Capture the Flag. It's not that the game play was revolutionary, but the programming style of this game was definitely most professional. Of course, not much of this is visible to the casual gamer, but the code is probably one of the best of its time, and I rarely learned more from any game than from this one. Not by playing it. By using a disassembler. Paul used a JSR to terminate a DLI. Really. The JSR routine saved the return PC and set the next DLI routine to its return address, thus a simple series of "supposed to be" subroutine calls iterated through the DLI positions. Paul used a machine-generated routine to fill the walls of the maze. The only part of the maze that is actually computed is the upper edge. The walls below is filled by a series of ANDs generated automatically that AND the row of the graphics line on top with the graphics value at the current line. With some thought, one can see that this is a simple but extremely efficient area fill. Paul used display lists to mirror the upper part of the maze to the lower part to avoid drawing this part again. Paul used a pretty clever way to check for the game disk - a single increment of a flag triggers the last DLI call to decrypt a routine that finally calls SIO, and an evenly smart method to detect whether SIO was called - namely by using the disk status byte value as some flag as part of the game logic. After all the years, I still haven't understood how the 3D computation works. (-: It is simple enough to be analyzed, but I haven't had the time yet to figure it out. Yes, 6502 times were remarkable - how much you could do with just some K of memory. And how little one can do nowadays with GBytes. So long, Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjb Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) I wanted to throw in Steve Baker - Defender Douglas Crockford - Galadhad and the Holy Grail (currently a Javascript guru and creator of JSON) Tom Hudson - Analog magazine Boot camp and numerous games published in the magazine Donald R. Lebeau - Gauntlet tjb Edited July 26, 2009 by tjb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 - Steve Coleman (worked at synapse software, mastertronic, atari and other firms; he did and converted dozens of games for the A8 - isn`t he Sculptured Software or is he just one programmer of Sculptured Software ?!?) ...he worked for them (as did I at one point) - they were a pretty big software developer in Utah, finally fell apart in 2001... A8 greats, many already mentioned, but you gotta include: Sid Meier (everything) Scott Spanburg (Pooyan, Goonies) David Maynard (Worms) Dan Bunten (Mule) Jim Rushing (Mule) Anne Westfall (Archon) Paul Freeman (Archon) sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Should also throw in the OSS team... developed Basic before the computer even existed. And, Mac-65, which was probably the best platform-resident package ever made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyBritish Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Phillip Price... he worked in near stoneage conditions at times, having someone's car running to supply the power to the system while he programmed. Chris Crawford... I remember reading his account of how he programmed Eastern Front, spending a great deal of time crunching code so it'd run in 16K. Archer McLean... bucked the trend, stood by the 8-bit at a time when most outfits were dropping it for no good reason. Also created groundbreakers like IK and Dropzone. I also liked his Snooker game on the Amiga. The Ozark outfit... created classics like MULE, 7 Cities etc. Freefall... for the Arkons. Some of the Synapse guys... in the early times, they set the pace. Although a lot of their techniques are considered old-hat today. Jeff Minter... someone would hand him a new system, and he'd be pumping out revolutionary releases a week later. The Lucasfilm crew... that is, until they dropped the Atari. Regarding the Chris Crawford comment, was this in his book called Chris Crawford on Game design or another article? I bought a new sealed copy of eastern front and opend it up to play. Even the manual was well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjb Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I thought it was cool that you could get the source code to Eastern Front from APX. tjb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Regarding the Chris Crawford comment, was this in his book called Chris Crawford on Game design or another article? I bought a new sealed copy of eastern front and opend it up to play. Even the manual was well done. Well, the manual for Eastern Front was done by Steve Englehart: http://www.steveenglehart.com/Games/Easter...ont%201941.html read the"Games" section on his page to find out what other games and/or manuals or other things he did at Atari (and other firms)... -Andreas Koch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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