Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!iconsys!caeco!jose!pedro!zzb From: zzb@pedro.UUCP (Zzb) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Emerald Mine Message-ID: <537@pedro.UUCP> Date: 20 Jul 88 13:19:14 GMT References: <4762@gryphon.CTS.COM> <908@esunix.UUCP> <2287@sugar.UUCP> Organization: Bitsko's Bar & Grill, Public Access, Salt Lake City Lines: 59 In article <2287@sugar.UUCP>, peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: > I looked at Emerald Mine in the store, but decided not to buy it. It has one > totally unacceptable feature: not only is it heavily copy protected, but it > continually *writes* to your irreplacable copy-protected master disk. > > If you want to play Boulder Dash on the Amiga, the best bet currently is > "Rockford". It's done by the same people who did the original Boulder Dash, > but apparently they had to change the style somewhat (I guess they didn't > copyright the name, or the publisher kept the rights to it). It's pretty > good, though way harder than the original. I have yet to get through the > second level in any of the "worlds". > > Maybe I'll have to write my own... > -- > -- `-_-' Peter (have you hugged your wolf today?) da Silva. > -- U Mail to ...!uunet!sugar!peter, flames to /dev/null. > -- "Running DOS on a '386 is like driving an Indy car to the Stop-N-Go" I can completely sympathize with you on the copy-protect subject. I must say, however, that Emerald Mine is one of the absolutely BEST games written for the Amiga so far, and is one everyone should have. I bought it myself, but put off playing it because I could not back it up. Eventually the (dreaded, evil, unspeakable...) pirates came out with a broken version of it, and I feel no guilt from having it. In fact I hope that the people responsible for the blatently asinine idea of releasing it like they have do read this. If it weren't for pirates I'd be unable to play my favorite game without the risk of a childish (but dangerous) virus or power irregularity taking it into oblivion. There are many other ways to protect it, EA's "key disk" that lets you USE your backup while maintaining the security of an un-copyable original for the copy-protect tracks, Storing the high scores on a separate data disk so you can keep your valuable originals write-protected, and non disk-based protection such as EA's "new" trend of codeword protection or the dreaded Dongle protection. I won't knock copy protection because I'm not sure this is the right board for it, but I do have to say that forcing write-enable on originals is definately not something an intelligent person should consider. As far as Rockford goes, ~r I only wish it was playable. The graphics are spectacular and even far better than the ones that blew me away in Emerald Mines. The controlling, however, is like what I used to find in the old BASIC games on the Commodore 64. You push the joystick in a given direction, and it pauses for a bit then "jumps" you in that direction. This is so when holding the joystick in that direction, the little guy on the screen won't go too fast across the playfield. He has to pause between his moves. Great way to render a great game useless. When you want to move just one space, you have to hold the joystick that way for a bit, and then let go when you see the guy move. The pause is so short that it is difficult to keep from going 2 moves instead. Emerald Mines uses smooth scrolling, so the instant you press the joystick, your guy starts to walk in that direction, taking 4 or 5 steps to complete his move. Thus a single square is a quick tap away, and long walks are smooth scrolling trips that are very easy to end exactly where you like. So, makers of Emerald Mines, does guilt cross your conscience when you get confronted with the FACT that people are buying Rockford simply because of the copy-protection? Regardless of how much better a game Emerald Mines is??? -- /\/\/\/ Zig-Zag Bandit \/\/\/\ uunet!iconsys!caeco!pedro!zzb /\/\/\/\ The Zig-Zag Bandit \/\/ uunet!caeco!pedro!zzb /\/\/\/\