Songbird Lassos Loopz for Lynx

[+davidcalgary29]

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this. Although I don't own a Lynx, I know quite a bit about Loopz after getting the go-ahead from Audiogenic for Atari 8-bit versions of Loopz and Helter Skelter back around 1995.

 

I handed the work for Loopz to someone else since I didn't have time to work on it myself. Sadly that was a mistake since the programmer could only write in Turbo Basic and ran out of memory when he was developing it! So the project was shelved.

 

Out of interest, and finally with a bit of spare time on my hands, I decided to have a go at writing it myself in 1998. In 2 weeks I managed to get most of the basic gameplay working (the only bit that wasn't working was the special block that appears from time to time to allow you to remove an incomplete loop). Oh yes, I was also given permission to sell their only Atari 8-bit product, Swift Spreadsheet.

 

I personally found their MD Peter Calver to be very helpful (he provided an ST disk with the Helter Skelter graphics) so it is a little surprising to read that Songbird seemingly spent quite some time in negotiation with Audiogenic.

 

Details on the limited development of the 8-bit Loopz and other projects can be found here:

 

http://www.myatari.net/issues/nov2002/business.htm

 

Your screenshots look fantastic! I love Loopz and would love to have a copy of it for my 130XE. Any chance of finishing that 'one issue' and giving it a commercial (perhaps in the Atari Age store) release?

[Tickled_Pink]

You never know :wink:

 

It would probably need to go back to Audiogenic for their approval, though. Although the agreement with Audiogenic didn't have a time limit to it, it would be a bit rude of me not to at least ask them once more.

 

The version I was working on was being written in a little known language called PL65 (which is disk based but one of the best programming platforms on the 8-bit) and produces compound files, which are difficult to put on ROM. If Atari Age were interested, and Albert felt it would be a good addition, then I'd consider rewriting it using my MAC/65 cart and writing it in such a way that it could be put on cartridge.

 

But at the moment I can't see when I'm going to have the time - have to write a 2000 word resit paper for my Property Law module by the end of next month, and figure out ASP.NET for a web site I'm developing (I'm getting paid for that, so hobbies have to wait).

 

But like I said ... you never know And like you, I love Loopz. It will certainly suit the Lynx perfectly so let's hope Songbird come up with the goods - might persuade me to get a Lynx.