Call it Repton 5/Repton 5 (The lost realms)?

Superior Interactive might want to do their own "Repton 5" one day, for the PC ... so I think we need to avoid assigning a numerical suffix to "our" release.

Dave - I think it might be worth asking Superior about that!

Or maybe you're saying that they've already indicated that a novel Repton PC version is actually on the cards?

No, I'm not aware of there being anything concrete in the works.

It's something they MAY want to look at in the future, so therefore it is prudent for them to reserve the Repton 4/5/6 titles for their own use, just in case ...

So you're saying Repton TLR isn't their's and therefore has to be renamed, I see.

Hi guys,

Can I join in?

Wrt the name - it wouldn't make sense to call it Repton 5. It wouldn't be the fifth game - there's already been a Repton 4 as part of Repton Infinity, there was another one on the Arc (Ego: Repton 4) and there's even Repton Spectacular on the PC (tho arguably not a complete sequel). Even if you ignore the non-BBC versions and claim it's the fifth BBC micro game in the series, calling it Repton 5 might imply it's a new game which has been developed recently and intended to follow Repton Infinity, which isn't the case. The title needs to emphasise that the game is what it is - a recently unearthed, unpublished sequel to Repton 3. The best analogy I can make is Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. These levels were what were published as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan, but are completely different to the US Super Mario Bros. 2 (which was a hastily re-branded port of a completely different game, because the US Nintendo folk at the time thought the Japanese SMB 2 would be too hard for US gamers). When Nintendo decided to release those levels in the US (as part of the SNES Super Mario All-stars compilation), they couldn't very well call them Super Mario 5, as they were obviously intended to fit between 1 & 3. Hence, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. In conclusion, Repton 5 wouldn't make sense.

Sam.

Paras - were you aware of Repton Infinity? I've just remembered that it had "Repton 4 - a new beginning?" as part of the package. Yet Superior called Arc Repton 4 Repton 5!

Infinity didn't exist when I started work on my R4, but the coding took longer than planned and probably got submitted to Superior around the same time as Infinity.

Yes I am aware that Infinity has a Repton 4 game as part of it... I bought it when it was released because the prospect of the programming language, etc. was all quite exciting! I was disappointed with it though... I thought that in adding all that flexibility it had lost the charm of the original games, and may have been better off as a standalone game creator engine rather than using the Repton brand, in much the same way that Ego Repton 4 was done as well.

Andrew,

I refer, m'lud, to the last post I made on the subject which not only details the Repton 4 that shipped as part of Repton Infinity, but also explains pretty well, I reckon, why this new game does not fit with the number sequence of Repton games. Dave's gonna go nuts if you continue to refer to it as 4, 5, 6 (or 7, 8, 9 or any other number for that matter!) - he's already working hard to keep everyone involved happy with the legalities / branding. Please stop calling it by a number either here on STH - Dave's been itching to try out his the new banning tools in the forum, and I'd rather he didn't have an excuse to start with you ...

And, for the record, the Arc Repton game, Ego, was subtitled Repton 4, as well.

Sam.

I agree with what Paras said about Repton Infinity. Whilst it was enormous fun and incredibly clever, it played a poor game of Repton. It didn't cope with curved barrier sections at all well, it got very slow with more than a few rocks on the screen and I didn't like the way you could go out from a rock and then go back underneath it again. The sound handling was poor too - I didn't understand why you could have sound effects OR tune but not both.

It should have been released as "Robbo", as that was a fun game far better suited to the game engine - I really enjoyed playing that, and thought it stood up as a game in its own right. I also love the Brickie game on the Electron disc - that is enormous fun.

However, I liked the larger maps in Repton Infinity - I thought Repton 3 had pokey little maps which meant that the aesthetics of a level design were always sacrificed to packing the puzzles in. And since now you can speed it up in an emulator to 1.5 speed, Repton Infinity even plays a very acceptable game of Repton.

The closest that Superior have come so far to my ideal Repton game is PC Repton 2 from Superior Interactive.

That's what I meant sorry, Repton 4. Superior called two games by the same name.

I like Repton 3 revisited and that slow rock thing i thought gave the player a much-needed second chance.

Just pointing out the inconsistencies. It's entirely up to the interested parties what they call it, I don't have a say in it.

What are the limitations and options? I take it the game has to be a Repton-style map but apart from that the size of the map and graphics are limited only by memory? Is there Master/B+ memory support? Can you edit music/sound? It's got some interesting possibilities for new games (somebody suggested that a couple of years ago IIRC).

Why don't you grab a copy of the manual and have a look?!

It IS a games programming system - you write code in 'Reptol' language (a little bit BASIC-like), define the screens and sprites, and link the whole lot together into a game file. You can't do anything with the sound/music, and your screen levels are a standard (very small) size [as an aside, in R:TLR I tried to make the screen as big as possible without having to scroll the maps when displayed]

You can do a lot of stuff with it potentially... and a great concept but held back by the limitations of the platform. I don't think you can write games that are only for higher-end beebs that take advantage of the RAM - just the game engine and editors can all run from memory if you do have SWR. And the games are not standalone - i.e. you load them into RI to play them.

Very good, then. If we absolutely must have discussions on the the name, let's keep them contained in the Recently unearthed Repton game's new name thread.

Now, if we can just cure your tendency to quote the whole of previous posts in your messages (see above), we may be able to consider your forum training finished ...


Oooh, Repton 3 revisited? What's that, then? Is that one of the fan-made levels that you've uncovered?

Sam.

I'm going to call it Vernon on weekdays.

And either Angela or Malcolm on every other Wednesday.

I think he means Repton 3 "Take Two" which came with RI, IIRC.

AndrewW I got the impression from your posts you didn't know what RI was about... Shan't let it worry me...

lol ... Angela: The Lost Realms.

That's the title of a best-selling graphic novel if ever I heard one.

Sam.

Just to get a bit of clarity around this: is it an Angela or a Malcolm week, is Vernon still acceptable on Wednesdays, and is it a free for all apart from Repton followed by a number at the weekend?

TIA.

Andrew,

Please use quotes sparingly. If you must quote, then only include a couple of lines MAX (just to give your reply a bit of context).

Most of the time I think you should just avoid using the quote button at all, it's usually not necessary.

We'll work on getting some brief forum guidelines like this uploaded soon, but if you (or anyone else) would like clarification on any such conventions or any questions on how to make best use the forum software, please PM me (or Samwise).

Cheers.