Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!elroy!cit-vax!oberon!nunki.usc.edu!castor.usc.edu!rjung
From: rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Arcade games on the ST
Message-ID: <857@nunki.usc.edu>
Date: 5 May 88 23:16:27 GMT
References: <880501041352.036351@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA> <223@snjsn1.SJ.ATE.SLB.COM> <1786@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
Sender: news@nunki.usc.edu
Reply-To: rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung)
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 49
Keywords: Mono and color?

In article <1786@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> wolf@csclea.UUCP (Thomas Wolf) writes:
>My reason for posting this message is to express my amusement:  Here we have
>Atari Corp. who has marketed a single computer for which a software developer
>has to develop TWO distinct versions of a game if he/she wishes to have them
>run on both colour AND monochrome.  But does Atari set a good example by doing
>exactly that with its arcade-style games?

  Yes. Read on.


>  Apparantly not.  The first version
>of Star Raiders at least did not run in monochrome.  Atari apparently expects
>other developers to go through the extra trouble but doesn't do so itself.

  Despite all the Atari flaming ("constructive criticism"?) going on here,
you can't pin this one on them. I don't know about the latest release of
_Star Raiders ST_, but Atari's _Missile Command_ game not only runs in low
and high resolution, but medium as well. I do believe (but cannot confirm)
that their gun-shooting (mouse-shooting?) game _Crack'ed_ also runs in
monochrome...


>The only publisher of Atari ST games to have undergone that "extra effort"
>(as far as I know) seems to be RainBird/Firebird.  Their "StarGlider",
>"Tracker", etc. games all work fine in monochrome.  Since I only own a mono
>chrome system, I would like to commend them for their efforts (btw, I have
>no affiliation with this publisher -- I'm just a satisfied user.)

  Everybody who's bought a Firebird product is a satisfied sustomer. They and
FTL are among the best Atari ST developers around. Long may they live!


>Maybe in the future we will see other companies taking that extra step in
>developing their games?  Perhaps they already do in Europe? (since there,
>monochrome systems are much more common than in the US)

  You could also check out that new program _Monoware_, which is supposed to
make your monochrome monitor emulate a color monitor perfectly, and vice
versa. I haven't used it myself, but everything I've heard says that it
delivers.


						--R.J.
						B-)
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