Been talking with JamesW re: how we should eventually go about releasing his Scramble/Rocket Raid clone ...

We both feel that a clone of an early-80s arcade game might not stand up on its own as a "commercial" release (i.e. something we package on tape/disc and sell via the website) so James, Samwise and I have pretty much made up our minds that it'll be released as a free download on the website.

However, James mentioned that he has also been writing a scrolling shoot-em-up (that has a working title of Arcadians 2) and that got me thinking ...

If we could find two more arcade games for which we could produce Acornsoft-inspired sequels to ... we could probably justify releasing a 4-game compilation on original media ... an "Acornsoft Hits 3" if you will

e.g.
: Rocket Raid Reloaded
: Arcadians 2
: ???
: ???

(We'll still release RRR as a freebie download, regardless).

Anyway - I'm interested to hear if anybody has any suggestions for existing Acornsoft games that could be upgraded in an interesting or novel way (I appreciate there would be licensing/naming issues, but for the purpose of this thread, let's forget about those for now!!). Oh yeah - nobody is allowed to say Elite 2!!

My nomination would be Ms Snapper: a conversion of Arcade Classic "Ms Pacman" that used Acornsoft's revised "Snapper" graphics (though we'd need to slap a lil' makeup on the main sprite, of course!).

Planetoids 2 : Stargate!

Bit of a coding mission that one though.

Other ideas :

Monsters 2 with level editor - might be a bit close to Loderunner though
JCB Judder without the judder
Super Meteors with features from later Asteroids clones eg Spheres of Chaos

Maybe someone could finish Crazy Balloon...

One that should probably be avoided is Starship Command - Peter Irving has been a bit protective of that in the past.

Also Electron/Archimedes ports!

Also like the idea of Ms Snapper, especially if it involves more than one maze. Might be worth having a peek at the later Pacman games for ideas, eg Super Pacman and Pac n Pal.

Thanks for the suggestions, Tom

Defender II is bound to be a winner if we can find someone willing and able to code it!

I did think about Meteors, but there are already a few 'upgraded' versions for the Beeb e.g. Cosmic Camouflage, Asteroids Deluxe

JCB Judder (that doesn't judder). Hmmm ... I find that idea quite interesting 'cause I work for one of JCB's competitors. But somehow "CAT 450E Backhoe Loader" wouldn't have quite the same ring to it!

Never really got into Monsters/Panic, though it had its admirers.

Starship Command 2 was going to be my other nomination, but I was aware of Peter Irvin's stance re: ArcCommand so chose not to mention it!

If you could get some nice graphics done, that could look really nice and quirky with Rich's scrolling routines...

Carousel could also be a nice easy one to do, I'd have a bash at that myself if I wasn't busy on my own thing, and life wasn't so hectic at the moment :/

My nominations are Arcadians, Maze, Magic Mushrooms and Monsters.

Kind regards,

Francis

How about a sequel to the superb Labyrinth!

Labyrinth and Magic Mushrooms were my favourite Acronsfot games.

If you are thinking about making the release stand up commercially, Ian Bell was never happy with the commercial release of Freefall. If you ask him how he would have changed it I reckon you could hook in some Elite fans if you included "Freefall, the Ian Bell cut"...

Anything linked to Elite is a good angle for PR for BBC-related stuff, though it may be tricky to pull off.

I'd vote for something Snappery - Ms.Snapper is a great idea.

Yes it'd be nice to see that.

I think it's a good idea to stick to the simpler titles, since a lot of us just don't have the time to devote to a big game, and it would also be a good opportunity for someone to have a crack at their first 8 bit game.

Aha ... but what I'm looking for are specific/creative ideas on /how/ each game could be upgraded!


Great idea Dave ... if we're ever in a situation where we have an abundance of ready and able coding volunteers* I might give Ian Bell a bell ...

* = yeah right - as if that's ever gonna happen!!

Anyway, based on what's been suggested so far, I think this would have to be my star line up:

- Rocket Raid Reloaded
- Super Arcadians
- Ms Snapper
- Planetoid 2: Stargate

It's very coin-op oriented, but we could do upgraded versions of the 'original' Acornsoft games (e.g. JCB Digger, Freefall, Maze, Magic Mushies etc) for Acornsoft Hits 4!

That's always the hard bit isn't it?

I always thought that Maze would have been great as a two player trying to dodge the robots and see who could get to the exit first. Each player would have the ability to incapacitate their opponent and steal any items that they were carrying (e.g. bullets or the exit key).

Kind regards,

Francis

Now THAT'S more like it!

How would you envisage the 2-player mode functioning? Split screen? Or linking two Beebs via RS423 ports (a la Double Phantom)?

Anyway, consider 'Double Maze' as the first official entrant on the [entirely ficticious!] Acornsoft Hits 4!

Now what about Magic Mushrooms: what we can we do with that? (aside from new level designs)

Hmmm ... maybe it could be transformed into a multi-screened affair, where each level might span across several screens (both horizontally and vertically, like Frak).

My original thought was for a split screen affair, but thinking about it more it would be more fun if two Beebs were linked together as you would be able to sneak up on your opponent without them knowing about it.

Failing that you could just use the old cardboard-down-the-middle-of-the-screen trick so each player can't see what the other is doing.

Kind regards,

Francis

Econet support (ooh - couple that with STH's Winston's idea to turn it into ethernet!) - and we've got a prequel to network Doom!

Quick - someone volunteer to help him write a 6502 IP stack...!

Is this project still happening ? sounds a good idea.

My personal Acornsoft favourites include Hopper, Boxer & Arcadians which came with my Electron and got played to death !!

On the BBC Labyrinth was good fun, and I quite liked Carousel and Volcano too in addition to the ones already mentioned.

cheers
Matthew

I think "Starship Command" could be a good one to have a play with. Different ships maybe.. colours, different weapons.

Revs - maybe current versions of the tracks already present.

I agree with the multi-scrolling idea for Magic Mushrooms. Another alternative (as a possible sequel) could make it into a Sonic-type game.

Ghouls - make it so you don't require pixel-perfect moves! Lol.

A 'Ms Snapper' might be nice, or a Junior Snapper.

My favourite would be an update of Starships command in Mode 1 (in colour) with extra ships and weapons.
You may find that dropping Peter Irvin a line for permission first might help with that one, otherwise it's a non starter.

Monsters with new monsters and extra weapons (and an easier game) might be good.

Does the BBC have a decent version of Dig Dug?
I can only think of 'The Mine' which is not very faithfull to the original

How about modding Rocket Raid to do a version of Super Cobra?