A Question for the Programmers

[Sir Jay]

Air Strike is an old prototype? of a game based on the biplanes from Triple Action. Biplanes is one of my favorite games.  With all the amazing home brews coming out for the Inty, I am wondering why no one actual makes or finishes this game.  I’m sure it would sell a million copies 😁.

 

Is it too hard to program, lack of interest, or something else? I’m just curious. I know it’s been talked about here before as a potential project.

[+DZ-Jay]

17 hours ago, Sir Jay said:

Air Strike is an old prototype? of a game based on the biplanes from Triple Action. Biplanes is one of my favorite games.  With all the amazing home brews coming out for the Inty, I am wondering why no one actual makes or finishes this game.  I’m sure it would sell a million copies 😁.

 

Is it too hard to program, lack of interest, or something else? I’m just curious. I know it’s been talked about here before as a potential project.

You know, most -- if not all -- programmers around here came to be so by the fact that they are fans of the Intellivision and wanted to see a game done -- just like you -- and went ahead and made the game themselves.

 

So I'll throw the question back at you:  why aren't you finishing Air Strike yourself?

 

And if your immediate thought is "because I do not know how program," consider that most programmers here didn't either before they started.

I'm not trying to be cheeky.  Consider this a sincere invitation to our world.  I'm sure there are plenty of people here willing to help and offer guidance.

 

    dZ.

[carlsson]

It appears the request for a finished (or completely reworked) version of Air Strike has been brought up on this forum more than 30 times in the past 10 years! So if there is someone interested in making it happen, there hasn't been a lack of interest in the project. As for side scrolling shooters of the Scramble/Super Cobra type, surely there are some already, but perhaps not with the same steering as this one promises.

[+cmadruga]

I’m not a real programmer 😝… but I will chime in anyway.

Fully agree with @DZ-Jay about seeing it as an opportunity to learn and make things happen.

This game in particular does not excite me that much, but it’s a matter of personal taste of course.

[carlsson]

I'm sure it can be fleshed out, but in which direction? From the prototype we see the airplane moves from left to right, bombing various items on the ground. After a while I understand an annoying helicopter arrives for you to eliminate, but then what? Different landscapes and caves like the Scramble type games, other formations of aircraft, land missiles etc?

 

Personally, I'd be slightly more interested in a port of Skyhawk/Falcon Patrol and Falcon Patrol 2. The original game came out for VIC-20, C64, C16/Plus4, BBC Micro, Electron, MSX and FP2 for C64 and ZX Spectrum. Closer to Defender/Choplifter than Scramble/Super Cobra.

[+Lathe26]

Not sure I see the appeal of Air Strike but ok.

 

 

[intvdave]

airstrk.zip

[+Gunoz]

Thanks!

[Walter Ives]

On 1/9/2023 at 4:40 PM, Sir Jay said:

Air Strike is an old prototype? of a game based on the biplanes from Triple Action. Biplanes is one of my favorite games.  With all the amazing home brews coming out for the Inty, I am wondering why no one actual makes or finishes this game.  I’m sure it would sell a million copies

There's the not-so-small question of how much someone completing and releasing an unfinished copyrighted game is willing to risk litigation. A quitclaim from Amico on pre-1984 Intellivision work-product would go a long way to advancing the legacy of Intellivision's small piece of world culture. Talk to BSRSteve.

 

WJI

[Walter Ives]

On 1/10/2023 at 10:29 AM, DZ-Jay said:

So I'll throw the question back at you:  why aren't you finishing Air Strike yourself?

Lucky for you, O'Connell has moved on to Fox Video Games and Biplanes proved to be unexpectedly popular with buyers at Toy Fair, so Pirner resurrected Air Strike and you've been approved for 6K. Your code release date is March 17.

 

WJI

[+DZ-Jay]

15 minutes ago, Walter Ives said:

Lucky for you, O'Connell has moved on to Fox Video Games and Biplanes proved to be unexpectedly popular with buyers at Toy Fair, so Pirner resurrected Air Strike and you've been approved for 6K. Your code release date is March 17.

 

WJI

 

Ouch! LOL!  Luckily we live in an era where programming for the Intellivision has neither deadlines nor marketing pressures.

 

There's no budget either, which is a drag, but you take the good with the bad.

 

   -dZ.

[Walter Ives]

On 2/12/2023 at 8:22 AM, Walter Ives said:

Your code release date is March 17.

May 25, 1983

 

Don:

 

Sir Jay missed his deadline. Again. Can you light a fire under him to ensure he at least has something to show at CES in two weeks? Tell him that we're in a battle for survival and that this game is make-or-break for the Intellivision, and that the whole company is depending on him and won't survive the upcoming Christmas season if he doesn't deliver.

 

Cheers,

 

Gabriel

[Walter Ives]

PS: Our stock options are on the line. Wait a minute—programmers and their managers don't rate any. Never mind.

[+cmadruga]

Someone should make a game about making a game for the Intellivision.

[carlsson]

One of my favourite elements in Software Star (Addictive, C64) was the screen where you could choose between hype or honesty for your advertising. My software company usually only lasted for one year before it was out of money and had to fold. Probably that was very realistic.