86 replies to this topic

[Trinity]

Anywhere to play the old Star Trek text game?

[Mclaneinc]

morelenmir, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 12:03 PM, said:

For all my Elite'ing needs I go to 'ooLite' now! A true A8 elite would be awesome.

On the SR front though, I think there was a sequel?

Which after a bit of research I learn was a re-badged edit of 'The Last Stafighter' tie-in!

Yes and should have been left as that, not a spot on star raiders..

Good for the Last Starfighter tho, note to me, must watch that again on the special edition DVD...

[morelenmir]

I just watched the trailer on youtube!!!

[kogden]

I think I'd leave Star Raiders gameplay alone if it means altering the graphics. An elite port would be kinda cool but I never really got into elite much.

I would love to see a new space game written though.... maybe a Star Raiders "sequel" with wireframe 3D. Written with 128K machines in mind and fast math routines.

The thing I loved about Star Raiders was its simplicity and free-form gameplay. There's no such thing as a 5-minute game in Elite. In Star Raiders you can hop right in and start blowing things up. The damage model was cool too. Easy to fly as well. No need to worry about ship orientation.

I would LOVE to see a commented dissassembly of Star Raiders just to see how it was put together and play with it. I thought about modding it for use with an analog joystick for more precise flying and maybe using a paddle as a throttle control wheel. Screwing with the 5200 version might be a better idea for that.

So far the only other 3D-like space game I've found for the Atari 8-bit is Shadow Hawk One which is pretty slow and I can't figure out how to turn the engines on. We could definitely use some more good space games. The ST had tons of them....StarGlider, Elite, Deep Space, Star Raiders, etc

If any A8 game needs some speed tweaks and a code overhaul, it's Flight Simulator II. Talk about incredibly unresponsive. I can't believe they bundled it with the XEGS. Did anyone ever release a better flight sim for the 8-bit?

[Stephen]

kogden, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 1:04 PM, said:

If any A8 game needs some speed tweaks and a code overhaul, it's Flight Simulator II. Talk about incredibly unresponsive. I can't believe they bundled it with the XEGS. Did anyone ever release a better flight sim for the 8-bit?

Not a full simulator per se, but F-15 Strike Eagle was miles better than FS2.

[Mclaneinc]

Star Raiders altered is a bastardisation of the game, it MUST be left alone as the classic we remember, any changes must be under a revamped release named as such. I grew up with a love of many many 8bit games, I'll go back to then again and again because of what I both remember and enjoyed, the idea of taking the same game and merely altering it is Frankenstein in my world without letting the user know.

Cheats are one thing, level editors are another but altering without user recognition is a foul mistake..

If you later change it then make sure the user knows both in the file name and on screen before they play it, give them the chance to play it as released.

Edited by Mclaneinc, Wed Feb 8, 2012 4:41 PM.

[JamesD]

Has anyone ever posted a disassembly of Star Raiders?

[bcombee]

Looks like Doug's posted some stories about Star Raiders on his site, see http://dougneubauer.com/starraiders/

[ZylonBane]

kogden, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 1:04 PM, said:

I think I'd leave Star Raiders gameplay alone if it means altering the graphics.

I'm pretty sure you mean that the other way around.

Myself, I'd love to play a version with a single-line resolution starfield and optimized math routines.

[Chris++]

I'd like to interject that if anyone who's shown interest in this thread hasn't played the amazing VCS conversion of Star Fire by Xype, I highly recommend that you do so. It doesn't have sector maps, but it retains the "whole point" of a first-person space shooter -- the actual shooting-in-space part -- and remains my single favorite such game (pre-Colony Wars III, anyway).

http://www.atariage....areLabelID=2385

[Stephen]

ZylonBane, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 8:32 PM, said:

kogden, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 1:04 PM, said:

I think I'd leave Star Raiders gameplay alone if it means altering the graphics.

I'm pretty sure you mean that the other way around.

Myself, I'd love to play a version with a single-line resolution starfield and optimized math routines.

Search the forum - there is a version out there already with single line resolution starfield. I don't think that version has any speed optimizations though.

[Vandal968]

To me, the game that BEGS for a speed-update is Choplifter! When there is too much happening on the screen at-once, gameplay slows-down severely. At one time I thought that maybe it should not be fixed since that's just the way it was and was meant to be, however, I recently played the Apple version of the game from the same time period and it runs perfectly with no slowdowns. One of the few Apple ports of the time that was more impressive than the Atari version IMHO. To me this makes it a matter of honor to fix the Atari slowdown bug. If I ever learn to program, it will be at the top of my list.

PLEASE, someone do this!

cheers,
v

[ZylonBane]

The Apple version of Choplifter isn't a port. It's the original.

[Gunstar]

morelenmir, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 12:03 PM, said:

For all my Elite'ing needs I go to 'ooLite' now! A true A8 elite would be awesome.

On the SR front though, I think there was a sequel?

Which after a bit of research I learn was a re-badged edit of 'The Last Stafighter' tie-in!

It's more than just a re-badging, while there is a LOT alike between the two, I'd say SR2 is about 75% the same as TLS, 25% of the game is quite different.

[kogden]

Gunstar, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:43 PM, said:

morelenmir, on Wed Feb 8, 2012 12:03 PM, said:

For all my Elite'ing needs I go to 'ooLite' now! A true A8 elite would be awesome.

On the SR front though, I think there was a sequel?

Which after a bit of research I learn was a re-badged edit of 'The Last Stafighter' tie-in!

It's more than just a re-badging, while there is a LOT alike between the two, I'd say SR2 is about 75% the same as TLS, 25% of the game is quite different.

There's no shields in TLS and you have to go to the sun to refuel/repair right? My son really likes playing SR2 and the last starfighter. I never cared much for either. Star Raiders kinda made you feel like you were actually piloting something. More like an open-ended sim. SR2/TLS feels like an arcade space shoot'em up on rails. Not a terrible game but definitely not worthy of being called a Star Raiders sequel.

The original Star Raiders was a very immersive game. The damage model was great too and really added a lot to the gameplay experience. Being able to limp the beat-up ship back to base with no attack computer, damaged LRS, no subspace radio, no photons, flickering shields and sputtering engines was awesome....quite a challenge too but doable. I can't believe he managed to squeeze all that game into 8K. Definitely a work of art.

I swear if someone finds a commented source listing for it, it should be etched onto a sheet of gold and hung in one of the Smithsonian museums.

[Marco!]

What I'd love to see is a "modern hardware" version of Star Raiders. It should of course implement the game "as is", I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc., except using 21st century graphics and sound. Of course while avoiding the "Atari ST" feel. I don't know if you, in this age of SOPA can infringe on visual elements as a "Klingon Cruiser", "Tie Fighter" and "Cylon Basestar" but that is what they should resemble.

I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc. Further, it'd be nice if it offered an enhanced mode where for instance Basestars are larger than in SR and you have to target the center to destroy it. The basestars could also shoot larger photon torpedoes than the cruisers. It's important to accurately translate the behaviour, e.g. what happens to the torpedoes (or asteroids) coming at you when you "turn"

Maybe you will call it blasphemy. I've played SR on the 800, 2600 and my brother's ST *a couple of times only*, the 800 version on real hardware is still unbeatable. But it would still be nice to have a modern incarnation (not: reimagination) of the classic game.

[Chris++]

Trinity said:

Anywhere to play the old Star Trek text game?

Finally found this for you:

http://www.dunningto...ublic/startrek/

Scroll down a bit to see the more modern .exe files that will work in Windows or DOSBox.



(Alternate -- This might be easier to run, if you don't mind signing up to something:)

http://www.codeproje...-1971-Text-Game

The blue "download source" link is a bit small and hard to locate right away, but it's just above the orange subtitle, "A Bit of History," which is worth reading either way.


.

Edited by Chris++, Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:29 PM.

[ZylonBane]

Marco!, on Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:39 AM, said:

It should of course implement the game "as is", I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc.
...
I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc.

Two negatives equals a positive, so you're saying that you DO want trading and landing on planets added!

I'd like a version of Star Raiders that uses the sound effects from this ad (which themselves sound very similar to the sound effects from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan).

Edited by ZylonBane, Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:37 PM.

[Chilly Willy]

ZylonBane, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

Two negatives equals a positive, so you're saying that you DO want trading and landing on planets added!

Only in math or English. In Spanish, more negatives implies more emphasis. That's where the double-negative usage in the US arises from - the influence of Spanish from the large hispanic populations.

[Chris++]

Chilly Willy said:

Only in math or English. In Spanish, more negatives implies more emphasis. That's where the double-negative usage in the US arises from - the influence of Spanish from the large hispanic populations.

Is that really true? I always thought that expressions like "No tengo a nadie'" were erroneous, because of the double negatives.

The influences leading to the English double-negative mistake are debatable (I'd say that old blues songs, not to mention the music of spin-off genres, played a large part). That's surely a matter of locality, ultimately. For instance, I'm in NM as well, so the English errors made by many of my friends growing up were probably due to the influence of the Spanish language -- but not in NY state, where I'm actually from.

[kogden]

Quote

Maybe you will call it blasphemy. I've played SR on the 800, 2600 and my brother's ST *a couple of times only*, the 800 version on real hardware is still unbeatable. But it would still be nice to have a modern incarnation (not: reimagination) of the classic game.

I agree for the most part, the original 8-bit release and the 5200 release are the best versions. I never liked the 2600 and liked the Star Raiders port for it even less. The ST version was not horrid but they could have done a lot better. It didn't feel near as intense as the original game.

The 5200 version was pretty cool. Some minor graphical changes in the map icons and more precise flying with analog joystick. With an aftermarket auto-centering joystick I was an ace on that thing.

--Kevin

[FujiSkunk]

ZylonBane, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

Marco!, on Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:39 AM, said:

It should of course implement the game "as is", I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc.
...
I don't want anything added (like "trading", "landing on planets") etc.

Two negatives equals a positive, so you're saying that you DO want trading and landing on planets added!

Two negatives equal a positive only if those negavites are in the same sentence. So nag him for repeating himself, not for using double negatives.

Chris++, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:59 PM, said:

Chilly Willy said:

In Spanish, more negatives implies more emphasis. That's where the double negative usage in the US arises from - the influence of Spanish from the large hispanic populations.

Is that really true? I always thought that expressions like "No tengo a nadie'" were erroneous, because of the double negatives.

I don't know how much Spanish has to do with double negatives appearing in English, but he is right in that double negatives in Spanish are considered grammatically correct. I remember one of my high school Spanish teachers wishing English wasn't so anal about that. In Spanish they figure the more negatives you're throwing into a sentence, the more you are emphasizing the negativity.

Edited by FujiSkunk, Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:46 PM.

[ZylonBane]

Chilly Willy, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:51 PM, said:

ZylonBane, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

Two negatives equals a positive, so you're saying that you DO want trading and landing on planets added!

Only in math or English. In Spanish, more negatives implies more emphasis. That's where the double-negative usage in the US arises from - the influence of Spanish from the large hispanic populations.

What language guarantees that the people who speak it are smart enough to understand really obvious jokes?

[Ransom]

ZylonBane, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:05 PM, said:

What language guarantees that the people who speak it are smart enough to understand really obvious jokes?

Esperanto?

[Stephen]

ZylonBane, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:05 PM, said:

What language guarantees that the people who speak it are smart enough to understand really obvious jokes?

Non-human?