Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cunixb.cc.columbia.edu!es1
From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Subject: Re: Mike Farren Tutorial.
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.070713.27206@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Sender: usenet@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (The Network News)
Nntp-Posting-Host: cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Reply-To: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Organization: Columbia University
References: <21510@shlump.nac.dec.com> <2105@pdxgate.UUCP> <1517@tronsbox.xei.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1991 07:07:13 GMT

In article <1517@tronsbox.xei.com> dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com (Dennis Heffernan) writes:
>
>	I think the "bash the OS" forces need to get a clue.  I don't honestly
>care how many moving objects you can cram on the screen, or whether or not the
>game has 245E+10 levels (which all look the same anyway).  I DO care about the
>quality of the game play.  Some of the best games I ever played were originally
>done on platforms like the C64 or even the Atari 2600.  And no matter how much
>you gussied them up, they wouldn't be any better if ported to the Amiga.
>
	Agreed! Shadow of the Beast is a technically awesome game
with great graphics. It is fun to wow friends with, and is fun to
watch, for about 20 minutes. This is more true I guess of the
out-and-out shoot-em-up which just isn't creative, but the
graphics can really wowing.

>	PIRATES, for instance, is one of my favorite games.
>It's a perfect example of what an Amiga game should be,
>even if it only has two moving objects (most of the time) and no eurorock 
>soundtrack.
>
>	Looking over my collection, the games I've enjoyed the most are the 
>ones with some kind of engaging plot, with lots of different things to do.
>ROCKET RANGER (my all-time fave, which I'm going to miss when I get a hard
>drive because anything that won't load on it is going out the window...),
>LAND OF THE RISING SUN, WINGS (hmm, lots of CinemaWare...), 

	Agreed. CinemaWare games weren't graphically miraculous,
but they were still nice artwork, were interesting and had nice
scene-dependent sound/music. They held my interest long enough to
finish them. I believe that Rocket-Ranger is my all-time favorite
game. And, BTW, there was no Euro-Rock music, but the music was
catchy and exciting. I still remember the Rocket-Ranger music, it
really got to me.
	Note that none of the games which are the most
interesting use 60fps, and thus none of them really NEED to take
the system over. How about Sierra On-Line? Yes, I know they are
junk ports. But Space Quest I-III were damn funny, they were
hard-drive installable, there was no copy-protection and
multitasked just fine.

	BTW, Mike F., I don't think taking over the machine is
the worst thing in the world, even if you can't restore to where
you were. What I want in return is the ability to use my expanded
memory to pre-store data, to use a second disk drive (for God's
sake!) and, preferably, to use the HD.

	In pre-response to what Mike S. and Steven S. are going
to reply (I think), you will get better sales from a game that
has some thinking involved, rather than simple rapid-fire
animation. Realistically, most people won't even think of buying
those games. They will either pirate them or just not care. There
are SO many of these basic simple games with neato graphics and
absolutely nothing to keep you playing it.
	You mention that in 3 months all the old games are off
the shelf and replaced. That may be true for the latest
shoot-em-up, because it isn't going to keep people's attention,
but I still see old CinemaWare games and games like Dungeon
Master on store shelves. They sell anyway.

	I'm babbling, gotta stop doing this. 8-)

>dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com   ...uunet!tronsbox!dfrancis     GEnie: D.HEFFERNAN1
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"I don't understand why you make such a big deal out of everything...haven't
>you learned; if it's not happenning to me it's not important?" -Murphy Brown


	-- Ethan

Q: How many Comp Sci majors does it take to change a lightbulb
A: None. It's a hardware problem.