esucv@warwick.ac.uk (Blitter) (10/11/90)
Hi,
I find that most Amiga games are INFERIOR to many which appeared on the 64,
not just in gameplay terms but GRAPHICS also. This is because almost all 64
games ran at 50/60 Hz and were hence arcade smooth but very few Amiga games
do. The graphics may look fine when viewed in a magazine but are usually very
jerky when 'on the move' - this spoils the otherwise promising gameplay which
the game may have had.
Also, while the sound on the Amiga is technically superior to the 64's,
most of the music tends to use the same old Soundtracker voices, hence giving
a 'samey' feel to the music. The 64 had some great composers working on it
(Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway), where are they now???
I hope I am not sounding too fussy, but I hope that games writers
utilise the hardware features of the Amiga more.
Blitter "come back hardware scroll, all is forgiven...."C503719@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Baird McIntosh) (10/12/90)
In Message-ID: <1990Oct11.164358.20406@warwick.ac.uk>
esucv@warwick.ac.uk (Blitter) said:
>[...]
> Also, while the sound on the Amiga is technically superior to the 64's,
>most of the music tends to use the same old Soundtracker voices, hence giving
>a 'samey' feel to the music. The 64 had some great composers working on it
>(Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway), where are they now???
I have to agree with you on the 64-Amiga sound comparison. The Amiga is
definitely able to mimic anything produced on a 3-voice 64, but the software
and programmers are not doing it. Soundtracker, Noisetracker, et al are fine
Amiga sample sequencers, but they don't do any synthesis. Sonix creates its
own custom Analog synth instruments, and these are good, but you still don't
see a lot of 'on-the-go' sound changes in Amiga scores (such as crescendos,
decrescendos, tempo changes, ...) While Amiga songs are usually sample-laden,
they are often not very interesting musically. I got out of the C64 games
arena in 87-88, but some interesting/good music I recall includes: the music
for Ocean's RAMBO, classical pieces in Gyruss and Trolls & Tribulations, and
Seven Cities of Gold's title music. I had a SidPlayer version of the M.U.L.E.
theme song as well. Yes, the C64 really did sound good... and programmers
really could push it to the limits.
| Baird McIntosh | c503719@umcvmb.missouri.edu <-or-> c503719@umcvmb.bitnet |
| COOL DRIVING TECHNIQUE #17: Leave your left turn signal on while driving. |
| (Right signal may be used, but driving with HAZARDS on is _uncool_.) |ahonen@ohdake.uta.fi. (Anssi Ahonen) (10/12/90)
In article <901011.170932.CDT.C503719@UMCVMB>, C503719@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Baird McIntosh) writes: > I have to agree with you on the 64-Amiga sound comparison. The Amiga is > definitely able to mimic anything produced on a 3-voice 64, but the software > and programmers are not doing it. Soundtracker, Noisetracker, et al are fine > Amiga sample sequencers, but they don't do any synthesis. Sonix creates its > own custom Analog synth instruments, and these are good, but you still don't > see a lot of 'on-the-go' sound changes in Amiga scores (such as crescendos, > decrescendos, tempo changes, ...) While Amiga songs are usually sample-laden, > they are often not very interesting musically. I got out of the C64 games > arena in 87-88, but some interesting/good music I recall includes: the music > for Ocean's RAMBO, classical pieces in Gyruss and Trolls & Tribulations, and > Seven Cities of Gold's title music. I had a SidPlayer version of the M.U.L.E. > theme song as well. Yes, the C64 really did sound good... and programmers > really could push it to the limits. If you like to hear your favourite C64 tunes on the Amiga, there is a great demo disk around, programmed by two Swedish programmers, which contains about 100 C64 tunes on one disk! And the tunes are really faithfull conversions of C64 originals. (100 % SID emulation) I think the reason why so many Amiga tunes are nowadays simply boring, is the fact that it is almost TOO easy to make music with the Amiga. You just need a soundtracker (one of the 999999 versions?), a couple of drum samples and that's it. An instant house song, with no melody, no chord progressions and no MUSIC. And the music programmers for the Amiga are far too often 16-year old kids with some assembly programming background but no musical training. Anyway...there ARE some good music for the Amiga! For example, check out these musicians: SLL (from Denmark, I suppose?) One of the first SoundTracker wizards. Simple and melodic techno-pop. Maniacs of Noise (especially Jeroen Tel) A Dutch bunch of music programmers. Many great game-themes. Alistair Brimble and Bjorn Lynne Regular contributors of "NewsFlash"-disk magazine. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Anssi 'Affe' Ahonen "You're never dead till you're out of quarters"
buffa@krakatoa.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) (10/12/90)
It's true that many games don't use the power of the amiga:
-US GOLD GAMES
-SSI GAMES
-Most of the OCEAN GAMES
-others...
For strategy games, it's not so important, but for arcade games, fast
animation, good music and of course a good playability are essential.
Games with 50 frames/second animation and smooth scrolling:
X-OUT (Rainbow arts)
TURRICAN (Rainbow arts)
BATTLE SQUADRON
SHADOW OF THE BEAST 1 and 2 (Psygnosis)
ANARCHY (Psygnosis)
DATASTORM
SWORD OF SODAN
SILKWORM
R-TYPE (Rainbow arts)
THE GREAT GIANA SISTERS (Rainbow arts)
PROPHECY
VIPER
ROCK'N'ROLL (Rainbow arts)
HYBRIS
DENARIS (Rainbow arts)
MENACE (Psygnosis)
BLOOD MONEY (Psygnosis)
THE KILLING GAME SHOW (Psygnosis)
GOLDRUNNER (Microdeal)
SUPER GRID RUNNER (Lamasoft)
PHOTON STORM (Lamasoft)
... I don't remember others
Complete the list !!!!!
By the way: NO US GOLD GAMES have a good animation. Never buy an US GOLD GAME.
Most games by RAINBOW ARTS have a 50frames/second animation and are very
playable. It's the best company for arcade games. Psygnosis games also have a
great animation, but are often not very playable (SHadow of the beast 1 and 2
are totally unplayable, but ANARCHY and THE KILLING GAME SHOW are very
playable and addictive)
Games with synthetized sound:
-----------------------------
The only good ones I remember are the ones written by Jeff Minter, the English
psychedelic programmer who created Lamasoft. He wrote several games like "The
revenge of the mutant Camels", but there are two among them which are quiete
good:
SUPER GRID RUNNER
PHOTON STORM
They both have a very good animation, and are very playable and addictive.
They've got also a very original look, with a lot of colors, and a lot of
sounds... I recommend PHOTON STORM.
------------------------------------------
Michel Buffa: Projet Robotvis, INRIA, France
Internet: buffa@sardaigne.inria.fr
Surface Mail: Michel BUFFA, INRIA - Sophia Antipolis,
2004, route des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex -- FRANCE
Voice phone: (33) 93.65.78.39, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 65
------------------------------------------brian@sky.COM (Brian Pelletier) (10/13/90)
In article <1990Oct11.164358.20406@warwick.ac.uk> esucv@warwick.ac.uk (Blitter) writes: >Hi, > I find that most Amiga games are INFERIOR to many which appeared on the 64, >not just in gameplay terms but GRAPHICS also. This is because almost all 64 Really? Have you put a C64 next to your Amiga and really viewed them side- by-side lately? I had the same impression you did for a while, but once I saw them running together there was really no comparison. The Amiga graphics are almost *always* better, usually by quite a wide margin. Games like Shadow of the Beast (I & II) and Turrican have tremendous character animation as well. > Also, while the sound on the Amiga is technically superior to the 64's, >most of the music tends to use the same old Soundtracker voices, hence giving >a 'samey' feel to the music. The 64 had some great composers working on it >(Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway), where are they now??? This was a pet peeve of mine for a while too. With the ability to easily store 'digitized' sounds, it seemed all the creativity was taken out of many game soundtracks. Advertisers even *boasted* the amount of digitized sounds in their games. I always thought that a few tastefully done digitized sounds enhanced a game, while a whole digitized soundtrack usually ruined it. Again, the titles I mentioned above (as well as a lot of others) have much better music/sound effects than similar games from a year or 2 ago. Just my opinion.... +=========================================================================+ | Brian Pelletier Disclaimer: These are MY opinions, not SKY's.| | Sky Computer | | UUCP - brian@sky.com | +=========================================================================+
joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) (10/13/90)
esucv@warwick.ac.uk (Blitter) writes: > Hi, > I find that most Amiga games are INFERIOR to many which appeared on the 64 > not just in gameplay terms but GRAPHICS also. This is because almost all 64 > games ran at 50/60 Hz and were hence arcade smooth but very few Amiga games > do. The graphics may look fine when viewed in a magazine but are usually very > jerky when 'on the move' - this spoils the otherwise promising gameplay which > the game may have had. > Also, while the sound on the Amiga is technically superior to the 64's, > most of the music tends to use the same old Soundtracker voices, hence giving > a 'samey' feel to the music. The 64 had some great composers working on it > (Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway), where are they now??? > > I hope I am not sounding too fussy, but I hope that games writers > utilise the hardware features of the Amiga more. > > > Blitter "come back hardware scroll, all is forgiven...." Can you believe this guy?! I think this could be called: "Marc Barrett II: The Revenge of -MB-" -Joseph Hillenburg UUCP: ...iuvax!valnet!joseph ARPA: valnet!joseph@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu INET: joseph@valnet.UUCP
wulfgar@jwprod.UUCP (Wulfgar (Tribe of the Elk)) (10/16/90)
>game soundtracks. Advertisers even *boasted* the amount of digitized >sounds in their games. I always thought that a few tastefully done Yeah, Shadow of the Beast II would be a one disk game without that intro-anim and sound. >digitized sounds enhanced a game, while a whole digitized soundtrack usually >ruined it. Again, the titles I mentioned above (as well as a lot of others) >have much better music/sound effects than similar games from a year or 2 ago. No doubt! I can't wait to see what happens five years from now. > >Just my opinion.... Mine too... -- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ | "Over 700K of sampled smells in this game!" | |FROM: wybbs!jwprod!wulfgar <<NEW ADDRESS | |ORGN: JW Productions | |DISC: The opinions expressed in this message ARE necessarily those of my | | organization, as I own the organization. Flame at /dev/null. | +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU (Usenet Account) (10/16/90)
From: n074ev@tamuts.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton)
Path: tamuts!n074ev
Thomas Lopatic
From Rainbow Arts fame...
Chris Heulsbeck (He is going to kill me for spelling it wrong)
Also from RA
Mark II
Former Cachet, RA, and independent.
Uncle Tom
Argued as THE BEST! Currently working for Active as well as others.
Romeo Knight
Independent
Etc...
You have to know all of them to complain... If you only here a few tunes,
ie. the ones in the lame demos that reach US soil, then you have no basis
for complaint.... Get some real EuroDemos, and you will see what I mean.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Walton : n07ev@tamuts.tamu.edu
'To LIVE is to use an AMIGA!' : cmw1725@tamvenus.tamu.edu
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