Revisiting Another World 28
The Delphine Software title Another World was a singular experience in early 90's gaming. The game is coming back to life in the here-and-now, in the hands of creator Eric Chahi. From the Edge Online article: "It's a collector's re-issue, not a remake ... When I created Another World I was already thinking that one day it would be able to run on higher end computers. The idea was to create something that respected the original release, so the enhanced backgrounds are in harmony with the flat polygon animations. And, of course, the game in its original 16 color form will be available too."
Soap opera (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Soap opera (Score:1)
A look on things to come? (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been thinking often about how the old games could be refreshed and renewed, but I can't figure out if it would be feasible. MOST gaming companies will re-create the game with the mess of 3D animation, large storage needs and slow cut-scenes, probably destroying them in the process. Civ4 is the most frustrating game I've ever played, I even battled to return it to the store since the only way to get it to work was to pirate it (the boxed release didn't work on 6 different PCs). Sid can go choke on my box for all I care -- the love of the game is gone.
Yet I do see the "50 games for $5" that contain some of my favorite games of my youth -- Sinistar, Pole Position, Joust, Galaga, you name it. Thinking back, were these games my favorite because that is all we had at the local teen hang-out? I don't think so, we spent enough time at the super arcade to get our pick of 100 machines. Are they "the best" because they're from my childhood? I'm not sure, as my friend's 3 kids love to play them at our house, moreso than any of their X-box games. Are the games still powerful because they have some uniqueness to them? Not at all, there is just something about the story+gameplay+graphics that pulls you in.
I wish I could figure it out, I've been dying to create something similar to the old games, but without making a copy. Tying some of the best features together might be a real winner, especially now that almost every cell phone can run most older games with better speed, maybe there is a new market for bringing the old tech back.
Can you imagine Space Quest 3 on a Samsung d500?
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2, Troll)
Then tell me how today's games stink.
I think it's just that the people who used to game don't know where to look to find the new good games. We look back on gaming history and only remember the good games. There were just as many crappy games (Battletoads) then as there are now.
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
I'm a geek, I have very high end hardware, I've tried all the various OSes and drivers and software patches, and they still have issues.
The X-Box and whatever Sony's machine was called are good to a point, but many of them are just more eye-wash window-dressing gorgeous graphics th
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait. Whatever Sony's machine was called? Are you serious? And you're posting on Slashdot about games?
Give me a second... I think my brain is going to explode
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
In all seriousness I can't think at the moment what Sony's machine was called. Was it Dreamcast? I like older stuff ... Atari 2600, 5200, Nintendo, early Super Nintendo, Epyx games on my Apple II. I just don't like what people call a "game" today for the most part. (I enjoy Freeciv. Does that count?)
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
I still love Utopia on my Aquarius (great game, I wonder if there is a PC version that is low res). I also play a ton of Dreamcast when I have time -- I once had a Dreamcast in my old Subaru RS
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
Last night for my birthday I received an Atari Flashback 2 from my wife, and it's one of the best gifts I can think of. (And it only cost $15 on ebay.) And there's a secret code to enable two paddle games, which I could never play on my old Atari because there was a problem with the jacks that kept them from working with paddles. We had a blast playing, with the baby crawling all over the place getting in the way. :)
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:1)
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
People forget that games are ment to be fun. The thing aboy all those classic games is "lets just STFU and play, have a giggle, go home and we're done". It didn't try to change the world, impress you or dazzle you with eye candy. It just tried to ent
Re:A look on things to come? (Score:2)
A: One developer, working full time. Get a tight iteration time on the gameplay and code side, making changes as you go.
B: Incredibly limited scope. You're not making the world's greatest space opera: you're making a 5-minute title about flying around and shooting stuff (or what have you)
C: Release early, release often. Make one thing and move on to make another.
Flash games are probably the way to go. Orisinal [slashdot.org] has a lot of original games in this vein.
Games like this are cheap enough to b
Bravo!! (Score:2)
Yes, classic games industry, there are reasons why we liked the originals, and sometimes it's nice to revisit them without them being completely mutated beyond all recognition.
I am so grabbign this when it comes out.
Excellent (Score:3, Insightful)
A true classic, but worth reviving? I dunno. (Score:3, Interesting)
Then there was the frustration. Many parts of the game are so frustrating that I remember wanting to smash my monitor with my keyboard. Being able to continue an unlimited number of times just meant that I had to perform an intricate series of jumps or combat moves hundreds of times just to get *to* the part where I kept dying. In the end it was worth it (the late part of the game and the ending music were pretty cool, although the open ending was a little bit of a letdown after the effort involved), but you can bet your ass I've never tried to seriously play the game since.
I'm not sure what I think of the idea of bringing this game back in an enhanced form. I looked at the screenshots and they weren't what I was hoping for. Something much more detailed is currently possible; the screenshots look like they just touched up the background art and rendered the flat polygon foreground models in a higher resolution, and it looks like something that would have run on Windows 95. What they really ought to do is render the game world in 3D from the same perspective, and place even higher-res, shaded flat polygon models into the scene. They could still easily retain the abstract polygon look of the original (I've seen it done in 3D console games) while achieving a much more immersive and higher quality effect. Unfortunately the current "touch up" will probably kill any chance of that, unless they turn this game into another Myst by releasing new versions every couple of years for the next decade (which I think is not feasible due to the game's more frustrating aspects, which will undoubtedly limit its mass appeal).
One final thought: I hope they also remember to touch up the sound and music. Some additional ambient background music during the actual game would be really really nice.
Re:A true classic, but worth reviving? I dunno. (Score:2)
Re:A true classic, but worth reviving? I dunno. (Score:2)
We want a sequel! And Flashback! (Score:2)
Also, Flashback ABSOLUTELY ROCKED. I WANT MORE!
Re:We want a sequel! And Flashback! (Score:2, Informative)
Make that 17 minutes and 20 seconds [speeddemosarchive.com].
Re:We want a sequel! And Flashback! (Score:1)
Re:We want a sequel! And Flashback! (Score:1)
Re:We want a sequel! And Flashback! (Score:1)
Aaarrrgh (Score:2)
It's one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, and the graphics style helps it look great even today, when most old games look old and crappy now.
But it was also the hardest game ever. Each and every scene required precise timing to get through, and you'd have to play several scenes over and over and over. I never even got halfway t
Re:Aaarrrgh (Score:2)
Re:Aaarrrgh (Score:2)
I always wondered if the makers of the State of the Art demo [untergrund.net] had been influenced by the game. (Well, it was not the first game ever to use rotoscoped graphics, but st
Good graphics but.. (Score:1)
Besides the time it took me to find out how to find out of water, or how to slowly smash the lil black worms, this game is like, either try to find out by yourself what you gotta do, or follow a walkthrough and do what you're told to do. It's like it's not a game, it's more like you're watching a show and you gotta find which buttons to press to get to the next scene. That'
Re:Good graphics but.. (Score:1)