cthulhu@athena.MIT.EDU@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (02/24/86)
From: cthulhu@athena.MIT.EDU In response to response in response to my last letter... It is true that there is a layer of the kernel that can't use screens, but do you really think it's necessary for Archon, One on one or the like to use such low-level routines? No way. Aside from the resolution, sound and color, Archon could be done as well on a Apple ][ at 1Mhz w/no blitter or any other support chips. When I see some immensly powerful graphics utilities that bypass the Amiga's high level routines, I'll believe that it was necessary, but virtually everything I've seen so far needs nothing more that standard routines... Animating a sprite or two is no excuse to cut down on the functionality of a program... I could have done most of the stuff slower, but identically in AmigaBasic... They're neat games, but there's still no excuse.
perry@leopard.UUCP (Perry S. Kivolowitz) (02/24/86)
[FoobieBlech] There is absolutely no reason why Archon could not have been written to run in a user sizable window. The game could have listened to WINDOWACTIVE and the converse IDCMP message to give up the c.p.u. whenever it was not the current process. Archon is just another example of EA cross-developers spending most of their time coming up with a sexy come-on sequence and providing very little real substance. Quick and dirty (BTW I don't care how long it actually took to port Archon or how much effort was expended. If the end product looks quick and dirty, feels quick and dirty, sounds quick and dirty and plays quick and dirty - the effort was quick and dirty) ports which do not subscribe to Amiga soft- ware design philosophy (that of the Creative Advantage - multitasking) do nothing to move the Amiga market or customer base forward. I haven't seen any evidence to date which suggests that EA has used their special relationship with C-A to advance the frontier in home computer entertainment. EA - We see further - (than who?) or EA - We see further - (yeah, so prove it) So that this note is not delivered in a vacuum, I think it would be ap- propriate if someone passed this on to ol' Mssr. Hawkins (sp?) himself.
hr@uicsl.UUCP (02/26/86)
RE:
"Archon is just another example of EA cross-developers spending most of
their time coming up with a sexy come-on sequence and providing very little
real substance."
Anyone else tried 7 Cities of Gold on the Amiga? This is NOT an arcade
speed game. Most of the screen is static text. Yet it too takes over
the machine. On the other hand, it does have a fancy come-on sequence...
I believe the Atari (800) version of Archon allows two players to go
against each other. When I read the label on the Amiga version I got
the impression only one can play. If this is true, they seem to have
succeeded in breaking it.
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harold ravlin {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!uicsl!hrhardie@sask.UUCP (Peter Hardie ) (02/28/86)
> > RE: > "Archon is just another example of EA cross-developers spending most of > their time coming up with a sexy come-on sequence and providing very little > real substance." AGREED. > I believe the Atari (800) version of Archon allows two players to go > against each other. When I read the label on the Amiga version I got > the impression only one can play. If this is true, they seem to have > succeeded in breaking it. I have the Amiga archon and two players can play it by using both joystick ports (i.e. unplugging the mouse). The sticker on the cover of the game does imply that only one person can play it but that's not true. My kids really enjoy the game but if I had my druthers I'd trade it for something else. While I'm at it has anyone solved Hacker. I can get all the pieces of the memo but I don't have enough computer time left to get to Washington. I've tried all kinds of tricks to optimize the route I take and still can't get within 8 squares of Washington when I run out of computer time. Once I've done that the game will be up for trade! The best kind of game as far as I am concerned is one where you can play it over and over and never get tired of it .... Hacker and the infocom text games etc. are all very nice but once you've solved them that's the end of it. Gimme a Flight Simulator or something like that any day. Pete Hardie ihnp4!sask!hardie
mykes@3comvax.UUCP (Mike Schwartz) (03/03/86)
Copy protection stinks. There is no excuse for a company locking out its customers from backing up floppy disks. Especially when the copy protected software destroys disks and the customer has to pay $10 to get a new one? The fact that a video game can need to take all the resources of a micro computer is well known, but I haven't yet seen a game for the Amiga that requires this extreme (look out when someone does a game that really needs to). There is no reason that Amiga owners should pay for Apple II games like Archon and One-on-One and have them copy protected and not use intuition. EA has done a great job with DPaint, but it is one of the few programs that only the Amiga can do so well. I await more that do the same. Thy say that the bouncing ball demo takes only 9% of the CPU's time. If that is so, then I do not know how Archon or One on One can use more than 3% or 4%, since those games do much more drawing than computing. I wouldn't mind being able to use the other 96% of my Amiga's power at the same time - although it certainly would affect the game's performance. I do not mean these as flames toward EA, because I really appreciate the job they have been doing as far as supporting the Amiga goes. I just wish that they would set the pace for the rest of the Amiga community and abolish the policy of disk copy protection. They might try Software protection, which does not require disk copy protection - that is make the package worth the price and the consumer will pay. When a product is overpriced, the consumer will either not buy or will pirate. I believe that removing copy protection will increase sales - not decrease them, and the expense spent on protection in the first place can be reimbursed to the consumer.