SSI games

[+hloberg]

Anywhere I can find some SSI games to download. looked in whtech and didn't find any.

[Tempest]

I wasn't aware that SSI made any games for the TI-99.

[+save2600]

Me neither! Which ones and why weren't they in the catalogs BITD?

[Tempest]

They did make some games for the TRS-80 oddly enough. If they could support the TRS-80 they could support the TI. I think the big thing holding them back was the lack of disk drives on the TI (people did have them, but they weren't common enough).

[Bill Loguidice]

I'm certain SSI didn't make any TI games. I have most of the SSI boxed games in my collection and they did have a fairly impressive platform reach, though nowhere near the likes of an Adventure International, Avalon Hill, or Infocom, all of whom supported the TI-99/4a and other more "obscure" platforms.

[am1933]

No SSI titles were developed for the TI, SSI are however responsible for one of the biggest pains in the backside I have ever come accross in computer gaming.

 

On the PC-they released a good little game "Panzer General", they then release an absolute masterpiece of a follow up in "Panzer General 2", I eagerly await the release of Panzer General 3-only to find out that everything that was so great about number 2 had been dumped and what was left was infact-one of the crappest, slowest, mind numbing games it has ever been my misfortune to purchase.

 

Some of the SSI turn based strategy games would look great using the F18(that would be a not so subtle hint to any uber developers out there)

[+hloberg]

I thought that B-1 bomber was SSI.

[Bill Loguidice]

I thought that B-1 bomber was SSI.

 

Avalon Hill. SSI and Avalon Hill did have some topical overlap, though. Ultimately, SSI was more prolific and had overall better quality software. A lot of early Avalon Hill stuff was done in BASIC, which is how they were able to support so many platforms, and you often saw up to half a dozen platforms on one cassette tape. To my mind, the early Avalon Hill stuff were more straight up conversions of their board games, while the SSI stuff was more aligned with being designed around a computer's capabilities (though obviously the earliest SSI stuff was relatively primitive in its own right).

 

Speaking of B-1 Nuclear Bomber, for whatever reason, that was one of their more frequently ported games. I count at least nine platforms. In my personal boxed collection, I have one copy for C-64, one copy for Heath/Zenith Z-90 H/Z-100, and two copies each for PET, TRS-80 Level II, Apple II (combined). Mobygames lists even more platforms.

[Omega-TI]

 

Speaking of B-1 Nuclear Bomber, for whatever reason, that was one of their more frequently ported games. I count at least nine platforms. In my personal boxed collection, I have one copy for C-64, one copy for Heath/Zenith Z-90 H/Z-100, and two copies each for PET, TRS-80 Level II, Apple II (combined). Mobygames lists even more platforms.

 

If you want an newly re-done version of the manual for the TI-99/4A in PDF format, go to << THIS MESSAGE >>. It was laid out to be printed in book form. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

[+hloberg]

is B1-bomber the only

 

 

Avalon Hill. SSI and Avalon Hill did have some topical overlap, though. Ultimately, SSI was more prolific and had overall better quality software. A lot of early Avalon Hill stuff was done in BASIC, which is how they were able to support so many platforms, and you often saw up to half a dozen platforms on one cassette tape. To my mind, the early Avalon Hill stuff were more straight up conversions of their board games, while the SSI stuff was more aligned with being designed around a computer's capabilities (though obviously the earliest SSI stuff was relatively primitive in its own right).

 

Speaking of B-1 Nuclear Bomber, for whatever reason, that was one of their more frequently ported games. I count at least nine platforms. In my personal boxed collection, I have one copy for C-64, one copy for Heath/Zenith Z-90 H/Z-100, and two copies each for PET, TRS-80 Level II, Apple II (combined). Mobygames lists even more platforms.

thanks.

[+hloberg]

OK, where there any other Avalon Hill games for the TI-99 other than B1-bomber?

[sometimes99er]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178781-avalon-hill-titles-on-ti99

[+hloberg]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178781-avalon-hill-titles-on-ti99

well, looks like B-1 was it. If Avalon-Hill was mostly BASIC I wonder if some of the other platforms were cracked? if it didn't use too mant peeks and poke might be easy translation

[Bill Loguidice]

well, looks like B-1 was it. If Avalon-Hill was mostly BASIC I wonder if some of the other platforms were cracked? if it didn't use too mant peeks and poke might be easy translation

 

Early Avalon Hill was definitely mostly BASIC and I'm pretty sure most of the source code wasn't protected in any way, i.e., you could do a simple "List." Back then, when commercial games could be BASIC or Machine Language and often stated so on the packaging, contemporary arguments for having a game in BASIC was that you were free to modify the source code to make your own game tweaks. Some magazines back in the day even talked about certain tweaks you could do to improve these games, etc., all of which was made possible by these creations being in BASIC (which again, made multi-platform ports much easier, and was a nice hedge back when you really didn't know what platforms were commercially safest to support; naturally, over time, there was a shake out and the need to support more than a handful of platform diminished).

 

Many of the early Avalon Hill games were indeed text-based, and relied on things like paper maps and counters to enhance the experience (and likely as a hedge against piracy--you really couldn't play many of these games effectively without the physical pieces). I have a mostly complete Avalon Hill collection (as well as the aforementioned SSI), and they're among my favorite games to collect because of the bookshelf boxes, multiple formats, and occasionally nifty in-box inclusions.

[+Ksarul]

HLoberg, if you look carefully at the thread for Avalon Hill games on the TI, you will find an obscrure reference to one title in addition to the B-1 Bomber game: it is Galaxy. I have an original copy of that one (but oddly enough, I never bought a copy of the B-1 Bomber game).