Lost Dragon
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Posts posted by Lost Dragon
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On 10/21/2020 at 4:43 PM, elmer said:I'm not quite sure how you can say that the CPC was "never used to ithe full potential" in the UK, and then list five games that "showed what it was capable of" that were all developed in the UK!
The Amstrad was a lovely machine to program for ... the problem with getting too many Spectrum ports (especially early on, 1984-1986) was because the game publishers often contracted small teams, or even single programmers, to develop both Spectrum and Amstrad versions of a game, and gave them neither the budget nor the development time to take advantage of the Amstrad's capabilities.
That was less of a problem later on (1987+) when the Amstrad market was large enough for the big publishers to justify enough time/budget to create Amstrad-specific versions of games.
The CPC's biggest problems from a game development standpoint were the lack of pixel, or at-least byte, horizontal scrolling, and the overall lack of memory (because games were targeted at the base 64KB machine, since that was approx 2/3 or the overall sales).
Because I could only name 5 games off the top of me head where i had seen the machine deliver something as a C64 owner at the time, that made me envious of the platform, is probably the best answer i can give.
5 titles for a platform with the commercial lifespan the CPC had, for myself speaks volumes and of those 5?
The C64 conversion of Chase HQ was simply bloody awful.
Titles like Turbocharge, Chase HQ II, Powerdrift, Turbo Outrun etc showcases what could of been done.
Battle Command with it's solid 3D showed how Starglider code of worked, if put out on cartridge.
If the C64 versions of games i praised on the CPC, Barb aside, had been handled better, I would of been scratching to come up with real standout CPC titles that made me look at it in a new light.
Since then thanks to the Homebrew community, we've seen how CPC R-Type could of been.
The machine had the potential to be so much more, yet was treated as a ZX SPECTRUM port platform far too often and ended up with a reputation I now feel it didn't deserve.
But any platform is only as good as the software developed for it.
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On 9/19/2020 at 10:04 PM, Bill Loguidice said:I think we can both agree, however, that a lazy Spectrum port to the C-64 is hardly the best indicator of the C-64's relative audio-visual capabilities versus the CPC464, right? We can do the same in the reverse:
C-64 Life Force/Salamander:
CPC464 Life Force/Salamander:
We can certainly agree to disagree, but the point I was trying to make was that there really wasn't much room for in-between systems between the 8-bits and 16-/32-bits. The Amstrad CPC has some serious limitations and would have never sold in the US had it been introduced there. Something like the Enterprise 64/128 is probably a better example of a genuine step up, with fewer limitations in color and resolution and actual stereo sound, but that landed with a thud because it arrived later than it should have (among other reasons). There really was a small window, roughly up to mid-1984 (around when the CPC464 was released, I might add, not 1985+) for something to gain a foothold, particularly in the prime US market. Again, after the C-64's introduction and first big price drop, time was running out at a furious rate on anything not truly next gen. And as I pointed out earlier with the example selling prices, I just don't see the math working out.
If you had to spend $200 more than the well-established low end 8-bit computer or $200 less than the considerably more powerful 16-bit computer, it would be hard to make the argument for the mid-range solution. That was my main point.The Amstrad CPC seemed to fare better in France than here in the UK, where it was treated to far too many ZX Spectrum Ports and the hardware was never used to the full potential.
CPC: Barbarian, Gryzor, Starglider, Dan Dare, Chase HQ and a few others showed what it was capable of, If coded for wisely, but so few people seemed to use the hardware wisely.
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1 hour ago, CatPix said:What was the "core reason for it's creation" not existing outside of Japan?
Also, it's easy to dismiss it as a fad, but remember that back in the day (1996?) digital cameras were military tech, satellite tech, or professionnal tech costing a grand.
Here was a low grade tech but cheap, allowing peopel to take, heh. selfies...
And print them!
Not many devices back then offered such a novelty.
RARE had initially planned to use it as a bonus feature on N64 Goldeneye - you'd be able to face map your friends etc faces onto characters in the games M. P mode (going off memory), but it was deemed too risky, so the concept was soon abandoned.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/perfect-dark-game-boy-camera_n_5682c576e4b06fa688813a63
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On 10/14/2020 at 5:29 AM, Agent X said:I wasn't previously familiar with those graphical demos until now, so thanks for posting them!
Even if this technique could not be applied easily (or at all) during the gameplay in a fast-action game, it could still be very useful for a title screen or a cinematic sequence.
I recall reading that RoadBlasters and Awesome Golf exceeded the normal 16-color "limit".
Awesome Golf does on the title screen, not so sure on the actual in-game.
That's been my understanding.
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Purely by accident and with eternal gratitude to the source who's making this happen, looks like there could be one or more potential leads yet from Imagitec Design to follow up.
I'm told one person from that era sadly passed away some years ago (RIP), others have left industry or not been heard from in years and those who might be able to help won't be able to discuss aspects from a legal point of view...
But if any of them can shed light on annouced Sega Genesis, Sega CD, C64 GS, Atari Falcon, Jaguar CD and of course, supposed Panther development, it's time well spent looking into.
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I was gifted a copy of issue #200.
Not touched the magazine in years.
I see the standard of research and writing hasn't improved.
Sony's Game Changer feature on the Playstation by David Crookes.
The conversion of Ridge Rager to the Playstation was described as being Arcade Perfect... 🙄
It runs at a lower resolution, with a lower framerate (30 frames per second for NTSC, 25 for PAL) and the graphical detail has been cut down.
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2 hours ago, turboxray said:Judging by the palette of colors used, the Atari ST was the source for all these ports. The 512 color palette maps too suspiciously clean to the Amiga version, which is a definitely tell tale sign that the original was ST. More surprising here, is that the MD/MCD versions use the same 512 RGB palette as the ST version, can show more colors than the ST, and yet it's missing some colors. What's up with that???
" I felt that I had something very personal to communicate and in order to bring my true vision to others, I had to develop the title on my own. But the transition from 8-bit to 16-bit had been difficult for me; programming became more and more complex and I’d get lost trying to manage it all. Luckily, many excellent books and tools were released that enabled easy development on the Amiga. Thanks to these, I felt confident I could go back to programming, and was sure I could handle the project on my own. I didn’t decide to go it alone for the challenge, but because I felt it was necessary to create my game without any commercial pressure.” So after finishing work on Future Wars, Eric was given a choice: either contribute to Delphine’s next game or forge ahead with his own project. He opted for the latter and work on Another World began."
https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/the-making-of-another-world/
In 1988, the Amiga 500 changed the landscape of computer gaming by allowing games to have colorful graphics. My interest in illustration pushed me to become a graphic artist, leaving programming by the wayside. For a year I worked for a small game company creating backgrounds and animations on Amiga.
In 1989, Paul Cuisset at Delphine was searching a freelance graphic artist for his new project Future Wars. My portfolio didn't please him at first, since my past creation on amiga was based on retouched scanned images. For the next 3 weeks, I worked like a crazy man to improve my portfolio. Finally, Paul was conviced to work with me. After wrapping up Future Wars, I started to study programming again and began to create Out of this World.
E-BOREDOM: What led you to create the graphics for Out of This World with polygons instead of sprites?
ERIC CHAHI: The polygon idea came from playing the Dragon's Lair port for the Amiga, which was showing incredible big animation on the screen, thanks to Randy Linden. That game's graphics weren't polygons, but were compressed bitmaps directly read from the disk. This was revolutionary for the time.
I thought it could be done with polygons since the animation was flat. I wrote a vectorial code and programmed some speed tests. The idea was to use polygons not only for movie like animation but also for gameplay sequences. Think of the sprites as an assemblage of vector shapes. This proved to be a major advantage because you had big sprites that were scalable which took up less disk space than traditional sprites.
Inspired by the animation techniques used in mid '80s titles like Impossible Mission and Karateka, Chahi developed his own unique polygonal visual style that allowed him to cram a stunningly rich environment into the meagre confines of the Commodore Amiga.
Kicking off with a monumentally impressive (for its time) animated intro sequence, the style and atmosphere instantly sucked players into a strange, beautiful and dangerous platform adventure that required players to use their intuition to survive.
Following the game's release, Chahi helped port the game to practically every 16-bit platform around at the time. All told, the game sold around a million copies, helping to establish a lasting legacy for one of the most visionary and memorable games of its timeEurogamer: Which version did you use as the basis for the Anniversary Edition? The Amiga original or the expanded PC version?
Eric Chahi: The closest version is the PC version. But indeed the game evolved through time and each version, it is not exactly this one
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/another-world-15th-anniversary-edition-interview
That's why i am a little surprised Retro Core thought the PC version was the original.
Eric has talked about his Amiga work numerous times.
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7 hours ago, Yakumo1975 said:One of the pioneering games of it's time is covered on this week's Battle of the Ports.
A little taken aback by this one.
Your videos are usually pretty spot on when it comes to research, but this one seems very rushed.
I appreciate just how hard it would be to redo the video, but your narrative keeps making reference to the PC original, not the Amiga original...
And when you said the Atari 800 version was considered, my heart sank, it was an unofficial attempt at a conversion.
I think your getting a lot of heat in the comments section, as people are getting fed up with the sheer amount of disinformation being presented on YT videos these days.
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Dan Dare is a different (and wonderful) game on the C64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC:
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On 9/23/2020 at 12:05 AM, JagChris said:The frame rate was never really my bitch with Rebellion. But tell us all again about the stuff you make up.
I'm referring to the 30-60 fps debate. 30fps! Oh it's reprehensible! Harumph harumph! Pretentious.
Though it would have been nice to have it and makes no sense why they didn't.
Having looked into the accounts the Kingsley Bros have made over the years..
One claims credit for working on the A8 version of Star Raiders in an interview, yet he would of been how old at the time it was coded? If even born?
Then we have them claiming they came up with the 3 separate campaign and first person view point and it was they who convinced Atari... talk for Jaguar AVP, where as Purple Hampton gives a very strong, very well reasoned and very consistent account, that it was him..
I now put Rebellion in with Jane Whittaker when it comes to credibility.
They change versions of events from interview to interview.
And the Dactyl Joust Demo being brought to the fore again as a topic of discussion by other posters is enough to put this thread on ignore also.
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And the original plan was to launch the Panther and Lynx at the same time.
See Bob Gleadow interview which has been posted in Panther thread or listen to Bill Rehbock interview and you'll see that never happened as Atari lacked the resources to launch 2 consoles at same time.
The Atari UK P. R manager talk of there only being a 9-12 month window with Panther before Jaguar would of been ready to launch is also in the same thread.
It's all there and as a poster said a few pages back, we are being played here.
Time to put a few threads etc on ignore.
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17 hours ago, carlsson said:I thought that Lost Dragon debunked that myth about 15 pages ago? (September 4th to be exact) The early footage and screenshots are from the Jaguar. There is no solid proof that even a prototype version of Cybermorph ran/was developed on the Panther. However I realize some urban legends never will die.
I did.
Fred Gill and Brian Pollock of ATD confirmed it was Jaguar only.
Various Atari Corp sources confirmed it to not only myself, but Shinto.
The likes of Shinto, myself, Frank Gasking etc have presented our evidence, named our sources, carried out due diligence into claims of titles like Cybermorph and Daemonsgate, Humans and Raiden from Imagitec Design on Panther.
If people still have doubts then i suggest they carry out their own research and see how they get on.
We are done.
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On 9/28/2020 at 9:48 PM, Leeroy ST said:Do you know of the Panthers 2D capabilities? Or any quotes from developers on them? I know Cybermorph was a 3D port later released for the Jaguar which would have been impressive for the time, but in a hypothetical where the Panther launches in 1991, could it compete with Gen and SNES in 2D games?
All the Panther information I have had, I shared.
If people still want to spread the myth Cybermorph started life on Panther and are happy to ignore multiple sources from both ATD and Atari Corp pointing out it was built from the ground up for the Jaguar, all the hours invested in bringing credible information to the community has been an utter waste of time.
I'm done playing social media experiments.
Now the GTW book is out, the Lynx Panther Strider II interview Frank Gasking carried out is up, that's it.
I'm out.
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27 minutes ago, 4ever2600 said:I'm hoping that DD is something to do with the Dungeon Master clone they were working on as their is already a doubledr file, though its probably just double dragon.
Dirty Larry: The Nude Years.
Just noticed that DD is different from Double Dragon. Another mystery!
DD is named D & D on the disk label. I had high hopes . . . .but it's Gauntlet. Which checks out since Lynx Gauntlet was just a re-name of Epyx's D&D-type by Atari in order to connect it to an existing property.
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1 hour ago, Leeroy ST said:Wasn't Another Other World more popular than Flashback? I wonder why they never ported that to the Jaguar to cash in. Flash back is the only one that had a sequel back then though maybe it did better than I thought.
So the exchange rates wouldn't impact the Jaguar price?
The Falcon price hike was more severe and recieved an official explanation.
The Jaguar's wasn't and didn't.
There were price hikes to the ST line before this and that was due to Ram prices going up.
Atari UK may well of jumped the gun and speculated on prices, when they had yet to be set.
There are a number of possible factors as to why the prices increased.
Tramiel repeatedly put emphasis on wanting the Jaguar to be as low cost as possible and that meant no optical drive.
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What do you think of the first Xbox (2001) now looking back?
in Modern Console Discussion
Posted
Absolutely loved the platform at the time.
It was everything the Playstation II should of been and i say that as a massive fan of the original Playstation.
The Dolby 5.1 sound, ability to run custom soundtracks in games, titles like Ninja Gaiden, O.T.O.G.I, Splinter Cell, Halo in the early days, Far Cry, Half Life II, Doom 3 in it's closing one's.
No need for memory cards...
I never embraced Xbox Live, never felt the need.
I can still remember M. S reassuring us that the Patch for Far Cry was not the start of console games going the way of PC games and patches becoming the norm...
Now day one patches etc on console are the norm 😊