Modern Apple IIe games/demos

[Mrarkus]

Looking at more recent software, what would one consider to be a showcase for the Apple IIe as far as a game and/or demo? Looking for state-of-the-art, maximum possible. As I am humbly progressing through my 6502 assembly journey on the Apple, the graphic complexity is getting to me, so I would like to see what I can look forward to if I stick with it  

[magnusfalkirk]

Take a look at this game: https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html

They also just recently put out an add on to the game called "Lord of Storms".

[Mrarkus]

16 hours ago, magnusfalkirk said:

Take a look at this game: https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html

They also just recently put out an add on to the game called "Lord of Storms".

 

I did actually purchase it, and it's a great RPG, I've put in some hours into it. Not sure I would call it a graphics/sound powerhouse though

[nick3092]

16 hours ago, Mrarkus said:

 

I did actually purchase it, and it's a great RPG, I've put in some hours into it. Not sure I would call it a graphics/sound powerhouse though

It is an overall powerhouse though if you factor in how much they squeezed out of a stock apple II. There is a lot going on under the hood of a crpg, and they managed to really improve things since similar games from the 80s. The lead of the team published a "making of" book. It's a very interesting read about how he learned assembly and all the issues they ran into and how the team overcame them. Highly recommend it. 

 

The A2 will never really be a "powerhouse" in the sound department. Lack of any sound hardware has pretty much sealed its fate that way. You can pull off a few tricks, but at the cost of cpu cycles. Which is why very few games ever had background music.  The Nox team did pull off getting the title screen to speak "nox archaist". Although simple, short speech has been on stock A2s since the 80s. I thought it was really neat when I got my new copy of Ghostbusters as a kid and it spoke the name in the title screen.

Edited May 24, 2023 by nick3092

[Iamgroot]

If you have the 64k extended memory card, you should be able to display double hi-res graphics, which has 16 colors instead of 6.  Attached is my collection of double hi-res pictures.

 

To get the best sound, you will need a Mockingboard card, which gives midi quality sound.  There are quite a few games with music that support this card.

 

 

dbl.res.grafx.vhq.2mg.zip

[trash_44fr]

Speaking of demos, take a look at the French Touch archive & their Youtube channel. You won't be disapointed !

Edited June 4, 2023 by trash_44fr