Favorite Apple // Games?

[Shannon]

Cool lists.. I've been kinda messin with Apple II emulation. Some pretty cool stuff for that machine. Amazing how much stuff was ported over to the atari800.

[potatohead]

Don't forget the Apple version of Robotron. It's excellent.

[Tempest]

Amazing how much stuff was ported over to the atari800.

A good chunk of the earlier stuff (pre-1985), but much after that. After 85 it was mostly Apple II, C-64, PC with the occasional Amiga and ST port.

 

Tempest

[Hatta]

Don't forget the Apple version of Robotron. It's excellent.

 

Really? It would be hard to make a good version of Robotron without two joysticks.

[potatohead]

What they did was use the two buttons on the Apple joystick in a pretty cool way, and they also let people use the keyboard.

 

I liked the keyboard option, but the joystick option was kind of great too.

 

If you pressed the button, firing would occur in the direction of movement. If you held that down, firing would continue, and you got a lot of shots! Tapping, the other button, would rotate the direction of fire around the clock, and holding it rotated while firing.

 

What ended up happening was the keyboard made great sense for the full on move and shoot independently method, and the joystick changed the game some, making for fun strategy.

 

The game featured good color too. Apple hi-res has color cells, allowing it to put 6 colors up, with only minor clash. Looks pretty good, IMHO.

Edited April 9, 2010 by potatohead

[Keatah]

 

The game featured good color too. Apple hi-res has color cells, allowing it to put 6 colors up, with only minor clash. Looks pretty good, IMHO.

 

 

Pretty slick especially considering the Apple ][+ and Apple //e had no such thing as a graphics card, or even a GRAPHICS CHIP! We're talking discrete logic with very very low density integrated circuits. Stuff from the 555 timer series and 74lsXXX thingzies. Basically one step above separate transistors and diodes.

 

It was a blast programming this stuff, you had to be careful that your program didn't get so big as to overstep into the graphics memory. If you want to call it graphics memory.

[+thegoldenband]

I don't recall a game titled "give napoleon to napoleon", that would seem to be an action you take in another adventure/role playing type games of a sorts?

 

http://ask.metafilter.com/61019/Which-game-has-a-museum-an-elevator-and-Napoleon

Exactly! If you check my link, you'll find a thread I started on identifying computer games from one's childhood, and -- like the author of the MeFi thread -- I'm still trying to figure out what that one was called. Maybe someone who's systematically exploring a system's library will bump into it.

[potatohead]

Yeah, the Apple is a great computer. Good example of what can be done with simple components. I've always liked them. Don't have one right now though.

 

Funny too. The only "color" graphics the Apple has are artifact based ones. The Hi-Res would just use even and odd pixels for two colors, then a little phase shift for two more, leaving a 7 pixel screen byte. (which was funky)

 

The low-res, used a similar scheme, but with more color choices, but using the same overall technique.

 

"double hi-res" ended up just doubling the pixel clock, increasing the number of colors possible, due to the signal limits of the TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The game featured good color too. Apple hi-res has color cells, allowing it to put 6 colors up, with only minor clash. Looks pretty good, IMHO.

 

 

Pretty slick especially considering the Apple ][+ and Apple //e had no such thing as a graphics card, or even a GRAPHICS CHIP! We're talking discrete logic with very very low density integrated circuits. Stuff from the 555 timer series and 74lsXXX thingzies. Basically one step above separate transistors and diodes.

 

It was a blast programming this stuff, you had to be careful that your program didn't get so big as to overstep into the graphics memory. If you want to call it graphics memory.

[BydoEmpire]

Conan (something something Volta - I forget the full title, but it was awesome)

Might & Magic

Load Runner

 

Transylvania

I played through the iPhone port of this last Thanksgiving and had an absolute blast. I never played it back in the day, but i remember ads for it. Edited April 9, 2010 by BydoEmpire

[johnon]

I actually really liked the older Ultima games much more than more recent ones. Also +1 for Akalabeth.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Wasteland is throwing I/O Issues at the moment so I'm thinking the transfer didn't work right. Will re-up.

 

I am now moving on to BARD'S TALE! HELL YES! When I was a kid I remember getting these for my dad for Christmas and watching him play. I never had the patience for them at all but always wanted to play them, now that I'm old enough to know what's going on -- BARD'S TALE TIME BABY!

[tyranthraxus]

How do the various Sierra Quest adventure games play and look on the Apple II?

Edited April 10, 2010 by tyranthraxus

[Keatah]

How do the various Sierra Quest adventure games play and look on the Apple II?

 

 

Well for the time they played pretty good and looked decent, IIRC they had dhr versions too for more colors.

The games are generally true to form though. And were pioneered on the Apple II to begin with.

 

What a thrilling thread this is!

[potatohead]

Yeah, the double high res really worked for the Sierra titles.

 

And I saw BOLO mentioned. That game rocks!

 

Dang, I might have to setup some emulation...

[Tempest]

The Sierra games look just like their IBM counterparts (for the most part) because they use the same engine, just less music.

 

Tempest

[desiv]

For some reason, I remember I played a lot of CanonBall Blitz... :-)

 

http://www.virtualapple.org/cannonballblitzdisk.html

 

Mostly liked the Ultima and Bard's Tale games tho...

 

desiv

[tyranthraxus]

The Sierra games look just like their IBM counterparts (for the most part) because they use the same engine, just less music.

 

So they were optimized for the IIGS then?

 

I rarely encountered a GS back then so I don't know much of what was available for it.

My Apple II experience is all green and black

[Keatah]

Of all the gigs of .dsk and .bin Apple images I *hoarded* (I am currently liking Star Maze by Sir-Tech and ASCII EXPRESS modem terminal program thing..)

 

I know that will change in a few weeks, to perhaps something like PRO-TERM and Star Raiders or SeaFox or Star Blazer..

There are simply too many good titles.

 

The thing that made me wanna get an Apple ][ in the first place was that fact that there was so little available when it first came out. And that adventure was just beginning, new games flowed into my bedroom on a weekly basis. Especially on bad weather days. Every trip to the computer store was like a fat man walking into a buffet. I'd swell up and command a presence like no other. Eventually we'd leave with 2 or 3 new games or hardware boards or something. My room literally filled with videogames and apple stuff to the point where dcfs was investigating!! Stewpit parents..!

 

 

 

 

from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

Digital hoarding

 

Digital hoarding involves collecting files on one's computer beyond the point of usefulness. Often, files can be acquired through the Internet at no monetary cost, leading to extraordinarily large collections. Examples are music collections, often beyond what one enjoys or can listen to and television shows, movies and computer games. Hoarders, or "digital pack rats",[12] often resort to buying optical media or new hard drives[13] to store their collections, rather than deleting what they may never use.

 

Digital hoarders find it just as difficult to press delete as traditional hoarders find throwing items in the trash can. They have the same feeling of clutter and chaos, and feel that they might find the item useful "someday," and similarly spend large amounts of time acquiring and organizing their collections.[14] However, unlike physical clutter, automated systems exist to organize digital clutter. Scientific American remarked that humanity's propensity[15] for data collection is growing at a rate faster than their ability to store it.[16]

 

Digital hoarding is not a currently recognized subtype of compulsive hoarding by the DSM.

[Keatah]

The Sierra games look just like their IBM counterparts (for the most part) because they use the same engine, just less music.

 

So they were optimized for the IIGS then?

 

I rarely encountered a GS back then so I don't know much of what was available for it.

My Apple II experience is all green and black

 

Yeh right on dude! The //e was the best, the //GS ushered in the downfall of the // series. And you will so carefully note that when you see homebrew projects today, you will see them developed and showcased in a //e. Though the //gs was jsut as capable..

[Prodos8]

Early Ultima games that supported a Mockingboard, Echo II plus or Phasor sound card installed, those were really good.

 

I also used to play Cavern Creatures (sorta like Caverns of Mars) alot and an early game called DogFight (good two player game) w/my brother.

[Tempest]

The Sierra games look just like their IBM counterparts (for the most part) because they use the same engine, just less music.

So they were optimized for the IIGS then?

Graphically no, they look the same, but they have enhanced sounds and music. The IIgs Sierra games probably have the best music and sounds out of all the early Sierra releases.

 

Tempest

[Hatta]

Yeah, the Apple is a great computer. Good example of what can be done with simple components. I've always liked them. Don't have one right now though.

 

Funny too. The only "color" graphics the Apple has are artifact based ones. The Hi-Res would just use even and odd pixels for two colors, then a little phase shift for two more, leaving a 7 pixel screen byte. (which was funky)

 

The low-res, used a similar scheme, but with more color choices, but using the same overall technique.

 

"double hi-res" ended up just doubling the pixel clock, increasing the number of colors possible, due to the signal limits of the TV.

 

 

So, how dependent is this artifacting on NTSC? Am I losing colors by playing Apple II games on my IIgs RGB monitor?

 

 

Yeh right on dude! The //e was the best, the //GS ushered in the downfall of the // series.

 

The //e might have been most succesful, but as far as I know there's nothing it can do a IIgs can't. So I'd argue that the IIgs is "the best", though the //e is no slouch. In the end it was the Macintosh that caused the downfall of the Apple II.

 

 

BTW, is there anyone selling a mockingboard/phasor clone?

Edited April 10, 2010 by Hatta

[JamesD]

There is only a handful of titles the IIgs can't play if you have the right setup so I see it as the best of the II series. And it had nothing to do with the discontinuation of the II series... talk to Steve Jobs about that.

<edit> And you can play with the 65816 if you are a programmer.

 

There is a clone of the Mockingboard that shows up on ebay regularly.

Edited April 10, 2010 by JamesD

[Keatah]

Yeah, the Apple is a great computer. Good example of what can be done with simple components. I've always liked them. Don't have one right now though.

 

Funny too. The only "color" graphics the Apple has are artifact based ones. The Hi-Res would just use even and odd pixels for two colors, then a little phase shift for two more, leaving a 7 pixel screen byte. (which was funky)

 

The low-res, used a similar scheme, but with more color choices, but using the same overall technique.

 

"double hi-res" ended up just doubling the pixel clock, increasing the number of colors possible, due to the signal limits of the TV.

 

 

So, how dependent is this artifacting on NTSC? Am I losing colors by playing Apple II games on my IIgs RGB monitor?

 

 

Yeh right on dude! The //e was the best, the //GS ushered in the downfall of the // series.

 

The //e might have been most succesful, but as far as I know there's nothing it can do a IIgs can't. So I'd argue that the IIgs is "the best", though the //e is no slouch. In the end it was the Macintosh that caused the downfall of the Apple II.

 

 

BTW, is there anyone selling a mockingboard/phasor clone?

 

Well yes, that is true the //gs can do much of what the //e can do, save for perhaps some very very //e specific hardware boards or a few pieces out of the millions of software titles.

 

IMHO it was the dual nature and personality of the //gs, you had the standard //e mode of operation. Then you had the 16bit //gs mode of op. This just confused programmers, should they write for //e or //gs?? And somehow the //e mode felt 'disconnected' from the heart of the computing experience.

 

Well anyways, I still use my //e to write in my journal. Screw windows and office!

[Keatah]

http://www.downloads.reactivemicro.com/Public/Users/Grant_Stockley/Apple2MoreColorsBYTEJun1979.pdf

 

http://www.applefritter.com/node/23880

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/201423/Understanding-the-Apple-II-by-Jim-Sather-1983Quality-Software

 

 

These should explain everything you need to know about colors on the ][ series