Creatures [ beta 2 ]

Clyde: Version Two

Behold, the second beta release of Creatures is available. If you want to read about this project, click this link. New features include some bug fixes and subtle background music to make up for the game's dreaded silence. I think this is a big improvement, and the download will be available very soon at Atarimania.

I’ve been let out !

Silicon Heaven

You know me, I'm pretty much pigeonholed into being an Atari ST guy who doesn't use anything else. Sure, I have many fond memories of the ZX Spectrums from my youth, but the ST is still my true love. But did you guys know that I've always had a soft spot for other machines? I'd love to find the space (and money) for something like an Amstrad 6128, Oric Atmos, and others on my desk, but that's never gonna happen.

Anyhow, I recently visited a computer museum not too far from where I live. It's pretty cool, with a whole room filled with computers from every era you can remember, from a Commodore PET and Link 480Z (the computer I used at college) to those soulless PCs (that were thankfully running Doom II). Of course, they had everything in between, too. And yes, I really do mean everything - I was in silicon heaven!!

This is a geek's paradise, and impressive to see so many machines up and running. It was like stepping through a portal, and I was in my element (even the wife loved it!). Naturally, I gravitated towards their Ataris, with an STe and Mega ST sitting alongside our deadly enemy. Sadly, the STe was just sitting at the GEM desktop, so I used its Gotek and rebooted. That's more like it, I thought to myself as Frontier loaded.

This belting museum proves just how cool and diverse the 80s were, with so many different computers. Part of me wants to scrap the lot and replace them with a room full of STs, but you can't have everything! Seriously, it's a great day out, and I highly recommend a visit if you're anywhere near Northwest England.

Take a look at some of the naff photographs I took before you visit their website...

The Great Escape

Denton's Great Escape

Those who have been following AtariCrypt for a while might remember my review of Where Time Stood Still? A stunning open-world-like adventure by Denton Designs that I originally played as a kid on my ZX Spectrum. Thankfully, our Atari ST conversion is superb, but many were disappointed by its 8-bit appearance. You may also remember that in the review I mentioned another game of theirs I loved: The Great Escape.

Cue the music...!! Yes, The Great Escape was another favourite of mine, and I lost hours of my teenage years to it. It's a prison-break adventure obviously based on the incredible movie where we are a P.O.W. trying to escape from a nazi prison camp. It's displayed in glorious isometric 3D, but don't let the black-and-white graphics put you off; this is an immersive open-world adventure. I remember spending hours sneaking about and crawling underground, avoiding the nazis and their restrictive prison routine.

So why am I telling you this? Long story short, my bestie, Claude, and I have been beavering away to convert the original. In fact, there are now three versions of this olde classic I'd like to share with you:

• The original game in all its monochrome glory. [ST/STe]
• The same game but colourised to feel more "wartime". [STe]
• Ultimately, I wanted something that wasn't just a port, but more "16-Bit". So we painstakingly (it took ages!) remade it to look more like what a possible official release might have looked like. [STe]

Bearing in mind that all this took much longer than Creatures or Shadow of the Beast, I like the results. The original port works on any ST and is as faithful to the Spectrum as is possible. The colourised version uses some of the STe hardware, and I really like the atmosphere it creates. The third increases the screen size, adds lots of new sounds, features superb music, and is generally the best version to play.

It's done a good job, but I'd love to hear your feedback. Funky images and links inbound...

• Download my Speccytacular new Atari ST/e game(s) at Atarimania.
• The original game (and tons more) are at World of Spectrum.
• The Great Escape is enhanced, so it makes it to my ever-growing list. Check that out!!
• Wanna see more of the ST junk I've made? Of course, you do :)

This was the first port and duplicates the original ZX Spectrum game.

I ditched the monochrome display for "wartime" colours. I really like this!!

I couldn't end it there and needed to create a better POW camp. I love the grunge!

SOTB

Shadow of the Poop

I said I would never do it, but here we are. Yep, for years, I've told myself that this abomination was never worthy of appearing on this glorious website. Well, AtariCrypt anyhow. So what changed my mind? Of course, you've seen the title above and have come to the Claude conclusion. Good.

Long story short, it was never going to be perfect without complete rewrites. But the turd got polished as best it could and, you know what, it isn't that bad. So what's changed? Well, quite a bit, actually:

• Firstly, all credit to Psygnosis and Peter Putnik for his adaptation.
• Repackaged for hard drive and will work on an Atari STe with 2/4MB RAM.
• I've added a start screen: infinite energy option and details.
• Title and Game Over screens now play their music in stereo.
• In-game, press F2 to hear the original's boring sound effects instead of lovely chiptunes.
• The frame rate is now much sprightlier, running around 24fps.
• Improved player turning added.
• Fixed a few bugs and removed screen glitches.

Considering this is an STfm game, it was never going to truly shine on the STe (feel free to prove me wrong). At least not without a human developer working on it with Claude from the ground up. Surprisingly, I've come to respect this beastly game, because the ST has no extra hardware, yet it still pumps out layers of parallax scrolling (kinda!). I think Mark McCubbin deserves a pat on the back for doing the impossible.

Of course, the game itself is terrible, but it runs better now! With that in mind, I hope you enjoy it...

• The download is considered a beta and is freely available at Atarimania.
• Wanna see more I've worked on over the years? Click here then!
• As this is now an enhanced game, it gets banged on this list.
• For the best comparison, I highly recommend playing the original game first.

Let us begin with lovely trees and nice skies. All downhill from here...

Watch out for unfair mechanics like spikes appearing from nowhere.

These eyeballs are probably the best enemies in the entire game!

Gotta hand it to the graphics artists. The loading screens are superb.

Terrible level design and ugly enemies hit from all angles.

Argh, what an annoying level. Shock, another one... Ugh.

Creatures [ beta 1 ]

Claudetastic

If you have followed AtariCrypt over the years, you might remember my mini review of Creatures. It's a platformer by WJS Design for Thalamus, with gorgeous aesthetics and incredibly sadistic baddies. This game is a lot of fun, but the push-scrolling ruined the overall experience for me. Anyhow, check out that old review before you carry on; I included a couple of videos worth watching for comparison.

So, as you've probably guessed, I've been working with my good mate Claude again. I asked him to look at a possible STe version with scrolling. Within a couple of hours, I had a playable build - which was shocking to get so quickly. Yes, there were lots of bugs, and many areas flickered and glitched, but it scrolled. A couple more builds, and presto, I had a decent port to play. So I figured I should share it with y'all.

As always, consider this a WIP and a free download. If anyone finds any bugs, please let me know...

>> A new update is out <<

• This first beta is now available at Atarimania.
• I'd like to thank and credit my friend Peter Putnik for his awesome hack.
• All credit for the official Creatures release goes to WJS Design and Thalamus.
• Check out the other things I have made for the Atari ST/e.

Hey, I just had to add an extra screen to the introduction :p

Weeee, let's go for a ride!

Creatures must be one of the cutest platformers there is.

Just look at all that colour. Shame it never scrolled... Until now!!

STicks and STones ...

Back to my roots

Without making this sound like a sob story, I didn't have a computer in 1983. Our family simply couldn't afford one. Of course, I was madly fascinated by everything I saw on a friend's 16Kb ZX Spectrum, and by games like Manic Miner in our local computer shop. Oh, how I wanted to play it for myself.

Anyhow, by the summer of 1984, my parents had started making monthly payments to the shop above, so I knew I'd be getting a ZX Spectrum for Christmas. Around November, with the big day getting closer, I bought a second-hand copy of Styx using my pocket money (many weeks of saving, I might add). As I recall, it cost about three pounds, a lot of cash back then, but certainly cheaper than a brand-new game!

I kept this safely in my bedside cabinet drawer as I eagerly awaited Christmas like never before. It was like new, and each night before bed I looked at the inlay and read its storyline. That wasn't much, but the image it portrayed of the dangers travelling down the River Styx captivated my imagination. I wondered what it would be like! I'd never been so excited about a game I hadn't even played. Crazy, right?

As it turned out, Styx is an incredibly (ahem) simple game even for 1983. And I'm being kind there because it has only one screen, split into three segments: a spider-filled maze, the river itself, and a rather feeble showdown with the Grim Reaper. Once you kill him, the game loops back to the beginning! Yeah, a humble game, but I fondly remember it as my first Speccy game. Happy memories :)

Wait!! We've reached that point where the internet's weirdos will want to leave their nasty comments. Why? Because I've discovered Claude, which compensates for my lack of coding skills. I have used this to convert my childhood memory into an Atari ST/e reality. It's a straight conversion, not bloated with unnecessary changes. That's right: I wanted it to feel authentic, with the same graphics, sounds, and gameplay.

Okay, okay, you've caught me out, as there are a few enhancements! Our game features high scores, which the original lacked. The limited gameplay might loop after you defeat the Grim Reaper, but we changed it so the number of baddies and their speed increase with each new round, making it a little harder. Additionally, on an Atari STe, you can press the "S" key to toggle between the original ZX Spectrum sounds (via DMA) and the Atari's native YM effects. On a standard ST, the game defaults to the YM effects.

Of course, the obvious question is: why not just run the original game in a Spectrum emulator? Well, I'm an ST guy, and that's where my passion is. Plus, I was bored and thought, why not! All credit for this cool game goes to the legend Matthew Smith. I hope he likes what Claude.ai has created. I do.

• I made this for myself, but I decided to share, so it's at Atarimania for all to download.
• You can find the original ZX Spectrum game at World of Spectrum.
• I recorded a quick video! Check it out here.
• I've made many other Atari ST programs that you can check out here.

The first part takes us through a spider-filled maze.

He might shoot a laser from his hip (ahem), but use that to kill all the piranhas.

Death moves quick so be ready! Nah, he doesn't, and he's dead easy to kill. lol