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Risc OS gaming
http://www.retrosoftware.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=152		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  AndrewW [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Risc OS gaming
DaveF wrote:
I don't really mind who shows up to be honest, so long as we have some BBCs there. The Archimedes was a nice machine but other than conversions I can't remember much of note on it, and as a result it doesn't hold the same interest for me.

Also the Archimedes is a relatively powerful machine, so the challenge of creating something playable on it isn't as great as it is on the humble BBC.


ArcElite was v.notable. Starfighter, Exodus, TEK were later original games that were v.impressive.
Many conversions were made but tended to be very similar to the 16bit versions and the idea behind the PC conversions is that they are identical as well so I can see their not being as much interest there from a retrogaming point of view.
However, there were many very popular unique games like Darkwood, StuntRacer, Chocks Away.
Author:  DaveM [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Sorry about that, Andrew - I've X'ed my post (wouldn't want to scare off any would-be Arc programming volunteers!).

Anyway, is there even an Arc games scene now? The only activity I'm aware of is the Acorn Gamez site, and the odd post to CSAG.
Author:  DaveF [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Ah yes, "Chocks Away", was an absolute beauty. I forgot about that one. Elite on the Archimedes was also superb, although not really an Archimedes game.

Never played either Exodus or TEK. Got a link of some shots?

I did see Darkwood on Tom's Arc at the show, didn't do it for me!
Author:  AndrewW [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
DaveM wrote:
Sorry about that, Andrew - I've X'ed my post (wouldn't want to scare off any would-be Arc programming volunteers!).

Anyway, is there even an Arc games scene now? The only activity I'm aware of is the Acorn Gamez site, and the odd post to CSAG.


There's a regular column in RiscWorld and the Iconbar games forum occasionally gets some interest. Drobe has the occasional games article. Apart from that not much although it'd be good for more people to get involved with CSAG - it's there for the BBC Micro as well as the rest. Author of Karma still monitors it. The authors of Spellbinder turned up out of knowhere a few months ago!!

If I'm not mistaken one P.Scott is also RISC OS active :)
Author:  AndrewW [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
DaveF wrote:
Ah yes, "Chocks Away", was an absolute beauty. I forgot about that one. Elite on the Archimedes was also superb, although not really an Archimedes game.

Wasn't it? It came out around the time of the A5000 IIRC?

Quote:

Never played either Exodus or TEK. Got a link of some shots?

TEK:
http://www.iconbar.com/articles/Preview ... ex969.html

Exodus:
http://www.iconbar.com/articles/Review_ ... x1049.html

Also, Ankh (recently ported TO the PC!):
http://www.acornarcade.com/forums/viewt ... ewsid=1033


Quote:

I did see Darkwood on Tom's Arc at the show, didn't do it for me!
[/quote][/quote]

It was one of the few original games to really use the RiscPCs graphics capabilities I think.

Also, the Arc version of UIM was possibly one the first 3D home computer games to use filled in polygons.
Author:  DaveF [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
AndrewW wrote:
Wasn't it? It came out around the time of the A5000 IIRC?

Well, possibly - but it was a BBC game wasn't it, so the Archimedes version could just be classed as a conversion (albeit a good one).

Those other things (TEK,Exodus,Ankh) just look like Archimedes games, I dunno, something about them. Maybe they play better than they look ;)

Interdictor was pretty good, and there was another 3D shooter I spent a fair bit of time on, but I can't remember it now. That said though, most of my time on the Arc was spent playing conversions.

3D Pool on the BBC used filled polys too :)
Author:  SteveO [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
AndrewW wrote:
DaveF wrote:
Ah yes, "Chocks Away", was an absolute beauty. I forgot about that one. Elite on the Archimedes was also superb, although not really an Archimedes game.

Wasn't it? It came out around the time of the A5000 IIRC?



Eh ? something amiss if I'm following this correctly, Elite came out on beeb about 84 and A5000 was launched about '91. That's 7 years (ish) difference. unless I've miss-understood the posts :?
Author:  TomW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Actually, in terms of 'first filled polys', I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Zarch yet.
Though all of these games were predated by Starstrike 2 on the Speccy.

Re: other games, I've played Exodus but have absolutely no memories of it at all. Never played TEK, but screenshots make it look like a generic PC RTS circa 1998.
Ankh, on the other hand, I have played and it is _truely_ awful.
Star Fighter 3000 wasn't bad though. Can't get the hang of it mind, but there's definately a reasonable game in there. Stunt Racer 2000 was aces.

Oh, and (I've said this before I feel...) Darkwood makes no use of the RiscPC's graphics capabilities, it's all standard Arc stuff. It's a game that _could_ have been good if Tom Cooper had bothered to finish it.
Author:  RichTW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
I had both a Master and an A3010, and I have to say, I still have a lot of fondness for the Beeb (of course!), but the A3010 has lain in a box untouched for probably something like 10 years.

I think most of us probably accept that the Beeb wasn't the most technically able machine back in the day (e.g. compared to the C64 with its hardware sprites, scrolling, SID chip and twice as much RAM), but we loved it for what it was, with its lovely version of Basic and its potential to tinker with our own little programming projects and hardware add-ons. Probably for many of us, it was our first foray into computing as a hobby, and the stuff we were doing was relatively new and exciting.

In contrast, whilst the Archimedes was streets ahead of the rest when it was launched, I don't think it really offered anything as radically 'new' as the Beeb did in that "boom of home computing" era, and I think also that it fell behind the competition fairly quickly. From my experience of the Acorn newsgroups, I've often found much of the RISC OS community to be a bit "die-hard" in their ways, continually defending their machine against anyone who doesn't dare appreciate that it was/is the Best Computer EVAR! Meh... I dunno... I can't really be bothered with that.

That said, I quite enjoyed Apocalypse on the Arc. But it's no Chuckie Egg is it? :mrgreen:
Author:  DaveF [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
RichTW wrote:
That said, I quite enjoyed Apocalypse on the Arc. But it's no Chuckie Egg is it? :mrgreen:


That's the one! The shooter I couldn't think of earlier!
Author:  RichTW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
DaveF wrote:
RichTW wrote:
That said, I quite enjoyed Apocalypse on the Arc. But it's no Chuckie Egg is it? :mrgreen:


That's the one! The shooter I couldn't think of earlier!


I remember being in awe of the colourful solid 3D graphics. The beauty of Apocalypse was the impossibly simple premise - destroy everything you see. Very satisfying.

And never forget the legendary Margaret Thatcher impression. "Very Well Done".

I was also in awe of Nevryon when I saw it on the Archimedes... it seemed like such a grand and professional game, with the music, intro scrolltext, and then those amazing graphics and scrolling. Shame it was impossible to play! :)
Author:  DaveF [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Agree with most of your sentiments above about the Arc. God knows what you're on about with Nevryon though, by that time I was playing stuff like Salamander in the arcades.... No competition :)
Author:  RichTW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Yeah that's true... But arcade machines were so different to home computers back then!

Ohhh, I remembered another one - Hamsters. That was a cracker! :)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5s52Zo8yU
Author:  DaveF [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Never even saw or heard of that one - I must've given up by then ;)
Author:  JeffreyL [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Speaking of which, Tom's recently remade Hamsters as 'Killer RoboRabbits from Mars' for PDAs.

http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm? ... ection=PPC
Author:  AndrewW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
TomW wrote:
Actually, in terms of 'first filled polys', I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Zarch yet.
Though all of these games were predated by Starstrike 2 on the Speccy.

Re: other games, I've played Exodus but have absolutely no memories of it at all. Never played TEK, but screenshots make it look like a generic PC RTS circa 1998.
Ankh, on the other hand, I have played and it is _truely_ awful.
Star Fighter 3000 wasn't bad though. Can't get the hang of it mind, but there's definately a reasonable game in there. Stunt Racer 2000 was aces.

Oh, and (I've said this before I feel...) Darkwood makes no use of the RiscPC's graphics capabilities, it's all standard Arc stuff. It's a game that _could_ have been good if Tom Cooper had bothered to finish it.


It uses the extended palette as I recall and in any case attempts graphics that slow anything less down (hence the reduced graphics options).
Author:  AndrewW [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
SteveO wrote:
AndrewW wrote:
DaveF wrote:
Ah yes, "Chocks Away", was an absolute beauty. I forgot about that one. Elite on the Archimedes was also superb, although not really an Archimedes game.

Wasn't it? It came out around the time of the A5000 IIRC?



Eh ? something amiss if I'm following this correctly, Elite came out on beeb about 84 and A5000 was launched about '91. That's 7 years (ish) difference. unless I've miss-understood the posts :?


ArcElite was an authentically unique Acorn 32bit game. It is bigger and more advanced than the BBC version and has features AIUI that even Elite 2 or 3 don't have.
Author:  TomW [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Quote:
It uses the extended palette as I recall


It doesn't. That's why the dithering on the gouraud shading is so bad.

The speed is one of the many things that would have been improved had the game actually been finished.
Author:  DaveF [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Quote:
ArcElite was an authentically unique Acorn 32bit game. It is bigger and more advanced than the BBC version and has features AIUI that even Elite 2 or 3 don't have.


Hehe, I'm starting to see the "intense" RISC OS leanings people are on about ;-)
Author:  SteveO [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Potential Future Meets?
Hang on, I made a post to this thread this morning and now it's gone.... curiouser and curiouser... Can't be arsed to re-write it now...
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