Atari XE Battlezone is a port of the VIC-20 Version?!?!

[Mclaneinc]

 

Yes, it's something that today's gamer isn't really understanding of, but back then it was new territory and things like film tie-ins were totally new and added more stress to the programmer(s), they would want to do a good job, but marketing wanted a game to coincide with a release schedule. It's a shame, it broke a lot of games and meant they didn't get the multi-platform love they deserved, but then again, multi-platform was pretty new as well

[Lostdragon]

9 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

Yes, it's something that today's gamer isn't really understanding of, but back then it was new territory and things like film tie-ins were totally new and added more stress to the programmer(s), they would want to do a good job, but marketing wanted a game to coincide with a release schedule. It's a shame, it broke a lot of games and meant they didn't get the multi-platform love they deserved, but then again, multi-platform was pretty new as well

I'm rather curious as to why you feel  it's something today's gamer isn't really understanding of?  

 

We have never had the luxury of so much insight into how Coin-Op conversions, film licensing, ports to other systems and general game development worked. 

 

Magazines like Edge, Retrogamer, Gamestm ran very detailed articles on the big name titles, the coders, artists have been interviewed at length and can be found detailing the development process at length there, on dedicated sites like Codetappers etc. 

 

There are books dedicated to publishers like Ocean, US Gold, Gremlin etc

 

 

We get personal insights from coders, artists, musicians, playtesters, P. R people, managing directors, project managers etc. 

 

 

The story is usually the same, the lions share of the money went on acquiring the licenses, then the big, double-page magazine adverts, leaving little left over for the actual game advertising. 

 

If it was a cross-platform title, the game could be assigned to any number of internal and external teams, projects given to the most experienced and the most in experienced and the most experienced often having to rescue projects after earlier teams/individuals got in way over their heads. 

 

GTW is littered with examples of games originally put in the hands of others and then rescue teams given mere weeks to salvage something in time for a crucial deadline. 

 

Film tie-ins had been around since the 2600 Era, hardware far too primitive to replicate key events from the film, so we got things like Alien being turned into Pac-Man or a single film event being used for the game, Snow Speeder battle on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. 

 

 

The few Atarisoft coders i was luckily enough to chat with, are most reluctant to discuss working with the company, conditions were that bad. 

 

Little wonder so many titles under the banner went unreleased. 

[Lostdragon]

42 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

I thought I was pretty fair on Peter, I'm not saying he deliberately neglected a better port, it's purely he was contracted to do it asap. A flip screen non scroll in a game at that time was just wrong, but I knew he wanted to do a better job. I remember asking the Ocean rep at the show if it was going to be a proper Amiga game, and he gushed "oh yes, we will use every part we can", my first thought was "BS".

 

But the whole point is if we should use pre-written code and the answer is Yes, as long as it's proven well written code. The fact that many coders had pre-written code modules that they plug in (as it were) says it's a normal practice. Why reinvent an input system when you have a perfectly good one which is pre-coded..

Sorry, but it didn't come across thst way. 

 

Had you talked of the UK industry in general, that would of been different, but Peter was singled out. 

 

The post didn't come across as you being familiar with the Robocop story on the 16-bit formats or any interview where Peter detailed why the Amiga version turned out that way and his regrets. 

 

 

You didn't say in the original post Ocean Reps (who were simply towing the company line) had been promising a proper Amiga title. 

 

If anyone deserved criticism, it was Gary Bracey and senior Ocean staff. 

 

 

Anywho, this is going way off topic. 

 

 

Back to Atari Battlezone being based on the Vic-20 code... 

[Mclaneinc]

 

If it came across that way then perhaps I'm wrong or you have taken it wrongly, either way does not matter.

 

Peters name came to mind as I was familiar with what happened around that title, were there others who were forced into the same corner, yes, Steve Bak comes to mind, and he bemoaned the policy by the higher ups, based upon regular chats with him.

 

And yes, way ot, which is why I tried to swing it back to pre written code in my last post.

[Mclaneinc]

13 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

I'm rather curious as to why you feel  it's something today's gamer isn't really understanding of?  

 

Yes, you rightly say that many mags etc do give lots of insight but I've found that perhaps it's info overflow or some gamers are just not interested in anything but "when is it out".

 

Have I done a UK survey of what is the real case, no and I'm not going to..

 

Back to Vic 20 PLEASE...

[Lostdragon]

1 minute ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

If it came across that way then perhaps I'm wrong or you have taken it wrongly, either way does not matter.

 

Peters name came to mind as I was familiar with what happened around that title, were there others who were forced into the same corner, yes, Steve Bak comes to mind, and he bemoaned the policy by the higher ups, based upon regular chats with him.

 

And yes, way ot, which is why I tried to swing it back to pre written code in my last post.

These days, it's a job in itself to get people to talk openly about the days spent working on Game X for Platform Y, as they are so often blamed for events they had absolutely no control over. 

 

 

Even when they do detail how a game was rushed out, what they had wanted to do or in hindsight what they could of done differently, they see the same blame being laid at their feet, YT comments section in particular is a nightmare. 

 

Then they stop talking. 

 

Very familiar with Steve Bsk press interviews, wish he'd been asked to do more before his passing, but he was yet another the mainstream press ignored as he wasn't a big enough name for them. 

 

Sad state of affairs. 

[Lostdragon]

5 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

Yes, you rightly say that many mags etc do give lots of insight but I've found that perhaps it's info overflow or some gamers are just not interested in anything but "when is it out".

 

Have I done a UK survey of what is the real case, no and I'm not going to..

 

Back to Vic 20 PLEASE...

Then 'Today's Gamers' only have themselves to blame. 

 

If they aren't willing to invest time into reading well written articles, that are available for free, just by a simple Goggle search, more fool them.