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Which new game you would like to play most?


ilmenit

Which new game you would like to play on 8bit Atari?  

100 members have voted

  1. 1. Which new game (not a port) you would like to play the most on 8bit Atari?

    • First person RPG like Eye of Beholder or Dungeon Master
    • First person shooter like Wolfenstein 3D or Doom
    • Racing game like Lotus Turbo Challenge or Jaguar XJ220
    • Soccer/Football game like Sensible Soccer or Kick Off
    • Futuristic sports game like Speedball
    • Pinball game like Pinball Dreams or Slam Tilt
    • Tactical game like Laser Squad or Ufo: Enemy Unknown
    • Point and Click adventure game like The Secret of Monkey Island or Broken Sword
    • Space Trading Simulation game like Elite or Frontier
    • Vertical or Horizontal shooter like Tyrian or Raptor
    • City Building game like Sim City or Caesar
    • Flight Simulation Game like F/A 18 Interceptor or Gunship
    • Real Time Strategy game like Dune or Command and Conquer
    • Top-down Shooter game like Chaos Engine or Alien Breed
    • 2D Platform Arcade game like Super Mario or Super Frog
    • 4X Turn Based Strategy like Civilization or Master of Orion
    • Turn Based Strategy like Heroes of Might and Magic or King's Bounty
    • "God Simulation" like Populous or Black and White
    • 2D Platform Adventure game like Flashback or Blackthorne
    • Top-down RPG like Chrono Trigger or Fallout
    • Fighting game like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter
    • Beat'em Up game like Double Dragon or Golden Axe
    • Tower Defense game like GemCraft or Plants vs Zombies
    • Farming Adventure game like Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon
    • Survival/Crafting game like Terraria or Minecraft

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3 hours ago, 8bitguy1 said:

Agreed a SimCity port may not come out too well, but I think some sort of City Building game could be done (by people more clever and creative than me).

I think a SimCity port could be done well that looks good, it's just that it should not be an attempt to do a direct port. For example, the play field could be made larger and scroll over a larger area than the original so that with the lower resolution graphics the on-screen objects (buildings roads, everything) could be drawn larger to capture the original detail. Also this could allow for some DLI's and other tricks for more game colors (not necessarily trying to get more colors in the immediate viewable area). More screen real estate could also be created by having the icon menus pop-up or just switch to another screen and back.

 

I think there are a lot of ways to do a good Simcity on the Atari if the Atari's strengths are used and the PC and other computer port layouts are ignored, if need be. Though I do think a list of some do's and don't could definitely be made by looking at other ports on computers that have both more advanced and less advanced graphics.

 

 

DOSsimcity.png

MSXsimcity.png

BBCsimcity.png

NESsimcity.jpg

SpectrumSimcity.gif

C64simcity.png

STsimcity.jpg

Edited by Gunstar
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I love all the Speccy ports the Atari is getting, and I would *love* to see any of the Laser Squad style games converted. Basically, they're 8-bit X-COM, and a style of game that there are almost no good examples of on the system. Most of the strategy titles are historical war games or action/strategy hybrids. 

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2 minutes ago, Lord Thag said:

I love all the Speccy ports the Atari is getting, and I would *love* to see any of the Laser Squad style games converted. Basically, they're 8-bit X-COM, and a style of game that there are almost no good examples of on the system. Most of the strategy titles are historical war games or action/strategy hybrids. 

I'm pretty sure there is a thread here on AA with discussion about a port that is being worked on right now. Or maybe it was an 8-bit X-COM?

Edited by Gunstar
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Just now, Gunstar said:

I'm pretty sure there is a thread here on AA with discussion about a port that is being worked on right now.

I vaguely remember something of the sort. Hope it sees the light of day, I will play the hell out of it for sure. 

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I did a search for lazer squad and x-com in the 8-bit forum, but didn't come up with anything, but if they are using a similar but different name or something, I may never find the thread. Who knows what the threads title could have been...

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Hello Gunstar

 

2 hours ago, Gunstar said:

More screen real estate could also be created by having the icon menus pop-up or just switch to another screen and back.

 

All the things in a menu that you do not have to drag and drop (mouse support would be nice BTW) could be displayed via a second screen, connected via a XEP80(-II) if detected/connected.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

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2 hours ago, Mathy said:

Hello Gunstar

 

 

All the things in a menu that you do not have to drag and drop (mouse support would be nice BTW) could be displayed via a second screen, connected via a XEP80(-II) if detected/connected.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

That would be cool. Also the menus with stuff that you do have to drag and drop could still be reduced to single icons where a window pops up when clicked, displaying all icons to drag and drop at that point and then click on a "minimize" icon to return it to the one icon. more screen room could be made if those icons were actually done in more of a drop-down/pop-up menu way just using on text line at the top or bottom of the screen possibly. What would be really cool is if instead of the program providing it's own window/drop-down menu system is if the game was programmed using the Diamond GOS 3 desktop. or have the option for either-or.

Edited by Gunstar
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On 8/12/2021 at 4:12 AM, carlsson said:

Nice poll. Are you sure all those genres can be pulled off with some decency? I'm sure many have barely been seen on 8-bit systems, and sometimes there may be technical reasons for that.

I chose "point and click adventure", although I'd still prefer text. Since we already have Klatwa, it can be done.

 

I'd personally pay someone something to port Phantasie III to the A8. We just didn't get enough turn-based RPGs.

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1 hour ago, davidcalgary29 said:

I chose "point and click adventure", although I'd still prefer text. Since we already have Klatwa, it can be done.

 

I'd personally pay someone something to port Phantasie III to the A8. We just didn't get enough turn-based RPGs.

And Ultima V.

 

A Universe 2 port and Elite port as well. Even Frontier even if it has to be done with line vectors still like Elite and Mercenary. How about Mercenary 2 too! I know Elite and frontier "like" space trading game is in the poll already, but I think Universe 2 would be more fitting since Universe was an Atari 8-bit original first, then ported. Granted Elite and Frontier are more graphically action oriented, within the space trader genre and Universe is more text based and "schematic & map like" based with 3D vector ship views only while upgrading and supplying the ships in dry dock, but it is incredibly deep. Granted I haven't seen Universe 2 from the PC or ST, etc. yet, so maybe it is closer to Elite and Frontier graphically?

 

Also if a Elite/Frontier type is done, it would be cool if there were two graphic styles: the original  vector style, but also a faster/smoother Wilmunder Star Raiders II style using dots.

Edited by Gunstar
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6 hours ago, Gunstar said:

That would be cool. Also the menus with stuff that you do have to drag and drop could still be reduced to single icons where a window pops up when clicked, displaying all icons to drag and drop at that point and then click on a "minimize" icon to return it to the one icon. more screen room could be made if those icons were actually done in more of a drop-down/pop-up menu way just using on text line at the top or bottom of the screen possibly. What would be really cool is if instead of the program providing it's own window/drop-down menu system is if the game was programmed using the Diamond GOS 3 desktop. or have the option for either-or.

For anyone looking at how SimCity could be controlled I recommend to look at J2ME (java) game Caesar. While could be improved the UI for the old mobile phones (with numeric keyboard) is quite good https://www.lesmobiles.com/actualite/2744-vivendi-games-mobile-caesar.html

Generally J2ME games are great inspirations.

Edited by ilmenit
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13 hours ago, Gunstar said:

I think a SimCity port could be done well that looks good, it's just that it should not be an attempt to do a direct port. For example, the play field could be made larger and scroll over a larger area than the original so that with the lower resolution graphics the on-screen objects (buildings roads, everything) could be drawn larger to capture the original detail. Also this could allow for some DLI's and other tricks for more game colors (not necessarily trying to get more colors in the immediate viewable area). More screen real estate could also be created by having the icon menus pop-up or just switch to another screen and back.

 

I think there are a lot of ways to do a good Simcity on the Atari if the Atari's strengths are used and the PC and other computer port layouts are ignored, if need be. Though I do think a list of some do's and don't could definitely be made by looking at other ports on computers that have both more advanced and less advanced graphics.

 

 

 

Looking at some of the less appealing ports, getting the icon panel under control would be one of the most important things. A simple/compact drop down menu bar controlled by a choice of house/stick or function keys (Option to bring it up, select to toggle through, start to choose, and help actually being used to bring up a pop up with quick help for controls) could be good.

 

Mathy's dual-screen idea for XEP equipped machines is a good idea for a whole host of more complex games, but I do feel the game should be "dual screen aware" but still have a "legacy mode" for single screen setups, as XEPs aren't that common, and it's nice to have games that you can pretty much toss into a more or less stock 8-bit setup and just play. (one caveat I'd have to that is that we should feel free to go beyond 64k RAM, as there's so many expanded RAM options out there, and it is one of the main restrictions on making more complex games). 

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14 hours ago, Gunstar said:

I did a search for lazer squad and x-com in the 8-bit forum, but didn't come up with anything, but if they are using a similar but different name or something, I may never find the thread. Who knows what the threads title could have been...

 

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40 minutes ago, nebpehtira said:

Looking at some of the less appealing ports, getting the icon panel under control would be one of the most important things. A simple/compact drop down menu bar controlled by a choice of house/stick or function keys (Option to bring it up, select to toggle through, start to choose, and help actually being used to bring up a pop up with quick help for controls) could be good.

 

Mathy's dual-screen idea for XEP equipped machines is a good idea for a whole host of more complex games, but I do feel the game should be "dual screen aware" but still have a "legacy mode" for single screen setups, as XEPs aren't that common, and it's nice to have games that you can pretty much toss into a more or less stock 8-bit setup and just play. (one caveat I'd have to that is that we should feel free to go beyond 64k RAM, as there's so many expanded RAM options out there, and it is one of the main restrictions on making more complex games). 

He actually referred to the upcoming XEP80 II device which I haven't dived into that topic thread yet, as I've never wanted an 80-column device using controller ports. But then I'm thinking "XEP80" when I say that, and since I haven't looked into it yet, maybe I'm wrong and they making it a proper PBI/ECI device. But in either case, this will allow a lot more people to get one probably.

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I SO miss Populous.  Would LOVE to see a game like that again!

 

OTOH, I recently bought a C128 so I could run Elite because I really want to play that.  Unfortunately though I haven't been able to get it to work on my hardware (was trying to use a BackBit)...  Having something similar on the Atari would be really awesome.

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On 8/12/2021 at 12:24 PM, ilmenit said:

The most problematic genres are probably real-time 3D games, but I believe a lot can be done using 1MB cartridge, modern programming techniques and tools, even without hardware extensions (either modifications or cartridges like Tomek8).

The most problematic games are the Platform games. 

Because 3D games allow to use lower resolutions which would offer more CPU speed. 

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there are quite a few racing games on the atari but very few good ones so I voted for that. 

 

Future sports like speedball would be good if it were multijoy aware

 

would be nice to have some kind of realtime online game now most people seem to be getting fujinets.

 

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18 hours ago, nadir said:

OTOH, I recently bought a C128 so I could run Elite because I really want to play that.  Unfortunately though I haven't been able to get it to work on my hardware (was trying to use a BackBit)...  Having something similar on the Atari would be really awesome.

Well it's been worked on, afaik it's almost playable, "just" needs some finishing touches. Go on and pester @Wrathchild about it ;) 
 

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On 8/13/2021 at 10:17 PM, nebpehtira said:

Some of these genres wouldn't really do well on the Atari... I love city builder games like SimCity and strategy games like Civ, and while I suspect they'd easily be within the system capacity, I don't think they'd really show the platform at its best - the Atari 8 is much more impressive for it's colours and sprite hurling than it is for expansive high res playfields. 

Imho you're right about a8 maybe not being best for those detailed 2d map types of strategy games.
On the other hand I can imagine something like Supremacy working extremely well. M.U.L.E. is such type of game if I'm not mistaken, and even something with gameplay like Megalomania could work.

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1 hour ago, popmilo said:

Imho you're right about a8 maybe not being best for those detailed 2d map types of strategy games.
On the other hand I can imagine something like Supremacy working extremely well. M.U.L.E. is such type of game if I'm not mistaken, and even something with gameplay like Megalomania could work.

ah, Megalomania - memories! 

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  • 1 month later...

I enjoyed reading this thread over the summer. One modern game I'd love to see, despite the obvious challenges/limitations on the A8, in some form perhaps utilising some of the technicolour tricks of the likes of Albert  - is the PC game "Tales of the Neon Sea":

 

 

I played it on my laptop earlier this year and it was compelling with great atmosphere. Aside the obvious high end graphics/effects, gameplay mechanics and obvious size of the world in this game, I do wonder what could be done on the A8 to some degree. I realise this would be clearly very ambitious.

 

Just a guess but for outdoor scenes a lot of background city scape art could be siloluetted and parallexed, DLIs could bring in some great colour. Minimise the "sprites" on screen. For indoor a lot is static aside the glipse of cityscape through wndows and again DLIs could be employed. (Thinking the stained glass windows of the WIP game ADM and also what Michael achieved with Bettie's Issues and the colours he managed to cram onscreen).

 

A moody noir cyberpunk sound track playing quietly in the background. One thing would be ensuring you load/and or uncompress every few screens independantly. (So you'd not be talking about cramming it all into 64K or 128K in one go. From what I've read of recent discussions there are some fantastic compression algorithms being used in a lot of Homebrew/moderm A8 releases/WIP). 

 

Anyhoo I highly recommend the game on PC. 

Edited by Beeblebrox
typo
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  • 2 months later...

Mini necro bump of this topic thread rather than starting a new thread.

 

Does anyone recall this game that was on the Amiga in the early 1990s called Walker?

Indie Retro News: Walker (Psygnosis Game, Commodore Amiga, 1993) reviewed  by AlanG

 

Walker gallery. Screenshots, covers, titles and ingame images

 

 I used to go round my mates and play it on his Amiga.  I loved the control interface. Essentially two keys to move your Walker mech left and right and the mouse to control the gunsight around the screen - which ultimately animated the head of the Walker (essentially a mech with mini guns), as you did it. Very satisfying.

 

I use to love playing this and it made good use of sampled sound effects.

 

Whilst obviously a lot of simultaniously occurring things that the 16-bit Amiga was able to do can't be all replicated, I reckon a version could be done on the A8 playing to it's strengths.

 

Some great DLI coloured/separated parrallax scrolling landscapes, PMG colours and some excellent animation and sound.

 

The Walker stays on the same horizontal plane on screen, and so do a lot of the ground and air enemies. Also it's only side scrolling.

 

The little paratroopers are so small they could be simple 1 colour graphics. In fact you could be clever and have the paratroopers in the higher graphic mode and keep them in a horizontal plane on the same level. Would mean all the paratoopers would be one colour hi res but it could work. Then lower res colour graphics in the upper horizontal levels for other enemies could feature. (Just a thought).

 

The lower stats/display panel could be single colour hi res graphics. 

 

Weapons upgrades, ammo, repair/medkits and different types of enemies including bosses could feature. For 128k versions of the game sampled sound FX could be used potentially. Levels could be loaded in as needed.

 

Here the key is the control method of keyboard AND mouse is essential for the gameplay. (At a push keyboard AND joystick).

 

Check it out:

 

Just popping it out there mainly because it was a cool game and also because I don't think there many if any action/shooter titles on the A8 that utilise the dual control aspect of mouse AND keyboard like this game. I really think it lends itself to the A8 in many respects, in particular the horizontal side scrolling nature for the graphics.

 

Would certainly be a challenge :D

 

All the memories of the mini gun sampled sound effects chewing through the enemies and the sounds of ricocheting ammo have just come flooding back watching this. :grin:

 

Thinking about it I think I vaguely recall doing a picture of the Walker mech on the A8 in perhaps Technicolour Dream or similar in the 1990s. (Maybe I'll find it someday!). :grin: I remember being very taken with the game at the time.

Edited by Beeblebrox
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8 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

 

Here the key is the control method of keyboard AND mouse is essential for the gameplay. (At a push keyboard AND joystick).

 

Check it out:

 

 

Thinking about it I think I vaguely recall doing a picture of the Walker mech on the A8 in perhaps Technicolour Dream or similar in the 1990s. (Maybe I'll find it someday!). :grin: I remember being very taken with the game at the time.

As soon as I saw screenshots of the mech, I thought to myself "that MUST be an Epyx game!". And then googled it and saw that it was a Psygnosis game published well after Epyx bit the dust. 

 

In any case, while I've never seen that design in a game made for the A8, it was surely "inspired" (translation: ripped off from) the same artwork and concept that was used for the Walkers in Lynx Zarlor Mercenary and Electrocop. 

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I loved playing Yoomp! because of the synchronization of the music to the movement.  A fairly recent PC game, Crypt of the Necrodancer, had a similar aspect.  It is essentially a puzzle game that included movement to music.  It didn't have a great deal of fast animation or screen scrolling.  Something like that seems like it could be done well on the Atari.

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