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Next Book Chapter - Robotron: 2084 - Need Assistance
Well, it's beyond crunch time now and we're in danger of having to drop some chapters if we don't pick up the pace, so we need your help now more than ever. I've been jumping around a bit in the book and just threw a bunch of notes in the Robotron: 2084 chapter. I would love to hear about all your favorite games with Robotron-like 360 degree independent movement and firing, be it in the arcade or at home, to ensure that I don't miss any. It would also be a big help if I could hear a good listing of Xbox 360 and PS3 downloadable games that make use of the Robotron-style control scheme, as there are legion. It would really save me a ton of research. Thanks so much, guys!
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Robotron
However there are excellent games to be had - there's Bangai-O on N64 and Dreamcast, Geometry Wars on XBox and Wii, Smash TV on various (the SNES got an excellent port with NO slowdown and helped by the suitability of the controller), and Mutant Storm on PC(see pompomgames.com).
Thanks, Davy, I agree, though the PS3 and particularly the 360 are loaded with dual joystick games. I actually did mention the Mutant Storm series, though in reference to what was on the 360.
This chapter is actually done. Not great, but done. The publisher is having a conniption that we're not going to finish before the 27th, but there's really nothing we can do. They want the book for GDC in February.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
There aren't many games that
There aren't many games that have successfully followed on from Robotron - least of all the PS1 and N64 remakes.
However there are excellent games to be had - there's Bangai-O on N64 and Dreamcast, Geometry Wars on XBox and Wii, Smash TV on various (the SNES got an excellent port with NO slowdown and helped by the suitability of the controller), and Mutant Storm on PC(see pompomgames.com).
Star Raiders
Thanks, guys. I appreciate the Star Raiders input. I'll start a new blog to make it it's own topic.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Star Raiders
A must read is the short Halcyon Days interview with designer Doug Neubauer (you probably know it already):
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/NEUBAUER.HTM
Some comments from me:
- It's unusual for a "hardware guy" to create a really amazing video game. It seems that in those early days the best people in the industry were like Leonardo Da Vinci who did pretty much anything - and were good at it. Like Steve Wozniak. And the less known but equally brilliant Doug Neubauer.
- According to AtariAge the VCS conversion was done by Carla Meninsky, not by Neubauer.
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=491
- Neubauer did the "real" sequel "Solaris" on the VCS himself and it looks unbelievable on this machine!
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=450
It had better graphics (with compromises), more colors and ran smoother - take a look at the screenshots and imagine them at 60 Hz.
Sadly it wasn't really pushed by Atari.
- I'm not sure if the official sequel "Star Raiders 2" was programmed by Atari US and the converted by Electric Dreams UK for other machines (C64, Amstrad/CPC, Sinclair Spectrum) or if they did the Atari 8-bit version, too, but most reviewers were not very favorable anyway.
take care,
Calibrator
Star Raiders
I look forward to your take on "Star Raiders!" I am surprised and pleased you felt it warranted inclusion in your book!
I remember describing the game to someone, and he said "Oh, you mean WING COMMANDER!"
No, I meant the 8k 8-bit game from 1979! Needless to say, I'm still amazed at how advanced it was for its time! Especially how many cool functions they were able to fit into 8k!
qoj hpmoj o+ 6uo73q 3Jv 3svq jnoh 77V
I just hope there's time to do it justice. Probably not, but at least it will be covered. It was included for a few reasons. One, is its influence on games like Elite and Wing Commander and practically every other space type game, two for its technical impressiveness at the time, and three, the fact that a shocking number of developers call it influential to them. If that's not worthy of being in a book of the most influential games of all time, I don't know what is. The key is being able to convey that in only a day or two of writing.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Star Raiders!
I look forward to your take on "Star Raiders!" I am surprised and pleased you felt it warranted inclusion in your book!
I remember describing the game to someone, and he said "Oh, you mean WING COMMANDER!"
No, I meant the 8k 8-bit game from 1979! Needless to say, I'm still amazed at how advanced it was for its time! Especially how many cool functions they were able to fit into 8k!
qoj hpmoj o+ 6uo73q 3Jv 3svq jnoh 77V
There is also vanguard, that
There is also vanguard, that had a single joystick for movement but used 4 buttons for firing in each of the 4 directions.
I remember actually beating that game :) so it has some fond memories....
-- Stu --
Groupings
I could see lumping Robotron in with the Defender chapter if it could be done easily.
In retrospect I would have lumped more games together, like Pong and Spacewar!, but we pretty much have to stay the course now and just write. I'm actually happy that we jumped around in our writing, as chapters will be "randomly" two to six pages, not counting images (which will probably add one to three pages to each in the final book). Seems like purely by accident, we'll have reached a good mix and balance. If we had written in a linear fashion, the chapters in the back would have received short shrift, whether they were supposed to be or not (meaning some chapters were always meant to be short, and some long).
I expect to finish the Robotron chapter today. There will be a few other short ones too, like Pole Position and Star Raiders, among others, with the rest probably being roughly mid-size, with only one or two remaining of the long variety.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
I did have an interesting
I did have an interesting experience with Robotron. I'd never played it at the arcades and thus never got the dual joystick part of it. Then, much, much, later, I got a dual X-Arcade (I need to take that thing out of mothballs!!) and fired up Robotron. It was definitely a totally different game with the two sticks. It takes special coordination to handle it. Battlezone and other tank games were also much easier (or least different) with the setup.
I could see lumping Robotron in with the Defender chapter if it could be done easily.
Robotron
Certainly part of the reason for inclusion was the game's design, but it was also influential to many developers. I know it's a stretch, but I thought it was also important to include for the POC of independent movement and control, which I think is critical in this world of 3D games, where the camera can at times be considered a controllable character. This is one of those games, like a DDR or Pole Position, mentioned in the book, where the controls are as important as the games themselves.
Karate Champ is a good one. I was going to keep that only in the Street Fighter II chapter, but it's certainly worth a mention here briefly as well.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.