Starflight (1986, PC) development started on the Atari 800 originally

[Xebec]

I'm reading a compilation of short stories compiled in the "Starflight" universe - "Starflight - Tales from the Starport Lounge", and one of the opening paragraphs of the book says:

 

We started building Starflight for the Atari 800, and then switched to the Tandy Computer when our publisher decided it should be played on the PC. In those days no one thought people would want games on the PC, and Starflight ended up being the very first game on the PC to sell 100,000 units and prove there was a market.

 

..

 

The game work originally began in 1982, and of course eventually released in 1986 on the PC.

 

I imagine it would have been a much different game given the 48KB ram available on a fully loaded Atari 800, though I'm sure it would have had better music than the DOS version ;-).

 

Anyway if you're a Starflight fan (I saw a few posts in here about Starflight) I thought you might appreciate this.  

 

[_The Doctor__]

It also indicates it would be more possible to make this even better for the Atari today, might be interesting!

[youxia]

Later port managed to cram it into 64kb on the Commie, so I guess it'd be possible. Probably would be quite an effort though, not sure if worth it.

[Beeblebrox]

Just checked out the 1986 original. One thing's for sure - the A8 can definitely improve on the music and sound FX!

 

 

 

[TGB1718]

23 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Just checked out the 1986 original. One thing's for sure - the A8 can definitely improve on the music and sound FX!

What music and sound FX ?

[Lord Thag]

Amazing game, would totally play this on the Atari if it ever gets ported. It's frustrating to play nowadays though due to the utterly draconic copy protection scheme that ruins the game's core files (which also contain the save) if you get it wrong. Even the cracked versions do this sometimes. I've lost every game I've started on it due to it.  

[youxia]

1 hour ago, Lord Thag said:

It's frustrating to play nowadays though due to the utterly draconic copy protection scheme that ruins the game's core files (which also contain the save) if you get it wrong. Even the cracked versions do this sometimes. I've lost every game I've started on it due to it.  

What, even on PC & Megadrive?  I know Amiga's WHDLoad version is borked (says cracked, but not really) but I suppose other versions are ok. I played the Megadrive one quite far in without any problems, and I think on PC also at some point.

[Gunstar]

It certainly reminds me of Omnitrend's Universe, but in a 100 times for user-friendly format and menu screen manipulation for equipping and hiring a crew, ship type selection,etc.

 

I am of course going by only what I saw on the video posted above. I didn't see any 3D vector graphics like Elite, and I didn't see the cool galactic map and navigation maps from universe, otherwise it resembles Universe to me from what I've seen and maybe there is more to it not in the video. My experience with Elite is only videos too. Universe is the only one I've played.

[Tillek]

Well, at least it made it to the ST.

 

[Sinjinhawke]

Have not thought of that game in years.  I had it for my old Mac Plus.  I think it had one of those annoying; find a word on this page, this paragraph of the manual copy protection schemes.  Probably still have that manual in a box which is good since I still have that Mac Plus up and running.

[Gunstar]

The good thing about those copy protection schemes these days is the game can be downloaded as well as the manual in most cases, so no hacker cracking is required.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Gunstar

[Lord Thag]

On 3/17/2022 at 11:14 AM, youxia said:

What, even on PC & Megadrive?  I know Amiga's WHDLoad version is borked (says cracked, but not really) but I suppose other versions are ok. I played the Megadrive one quite far in without any problems, and I think on PC also at some point.

I'm referring to the PC version. Megadrive version is my goto for that reason.

[leech]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:01 AM, Lord Thag said:

I'm referring to the PC version. Megadrive version is my goto for that reason.

The Megadrive version is quite different as well as being much better!  I actually bought a sega genesis and the game to finally sit down and play it... but still haven't gotten around to it.

[+SoulBuster]

I bought this brand new back in the day. I could not locate it without a ton of digging, but I did find this quickly.

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

On 3/17/2022 at 11:26 AM, Beeblebrox said:

Just checked out the 1986 original. One thing's for sure - the A8 can definitely improve on the music and sound FX!

 

 

for certain