Fullscreen Construction Kit

I've a thing for overscan!

The Atari ST/e might not officially support overscan, but that hasn't stopped many games, demos, and programs from making use of it. There's a lot out there with many already featured here on AtariCrypt, not to mention the ability to activate overscan within GEM. The Atari ST is a versatile machine and often underrated.

Fullscreen Construction Kit is a cool utility program developed by FMC Connexion to display high-resolution pictures using the same overscan technique. It works by piecing together four Degas images, which ultimately join to generate the finished picture. This image can be viewed on your ST using the program provided.

The process is simple but I had difficulties with the palettes because I'm not gifted in pixel art!! Hence the reason Milla is in greyscale and the dog is red, not brown. It's worth noting that I found it easier to create the blocks using my Mac but there are online tools available to split images.

Six test images are on the floppy, plus you can create your own. This set of image blocks [by Killer D] should give you an understanding of what's expected from budding artists. But even those without any skills (me!!) should be fine, so why not give this program a playtest to see what overscan goodies you can create?

This is a belting program to enjoy dabbling! Let me know what you think of it in the comments below.

Michigan Mike And The Lost City Of Zorog

We’re off to Zorog!

Michigan Mike is a 1994 platformer developed using GFA Basic by Gordon Storey. It features an Indiana Jones wannabe who's got himself into a spot of bother and desperately needs our help to escape...

The story follows a 1930s explorer named Michigan Mike who becomes separated from his expedition in the South American rainforest. After being rescued by the "Ohla" tribe, a village fire leads the tribe to blame Mike. Your objective is to navigate trap-filled jungle levels to recover five pieces of the Great Ring of Zorog and place them on an altar to save your soul and escape with your life.

As you would expect from any platformer, each level has poisonous critters and many traps like crumbling rocks, acid pools, and spikes. However, Mike's energy levels are slowly depleting, which is really annoying because it forces you to rush. Of course, touching the nasties only increases that energy loss, so collect food to replenish him. That said, it's worth watching him die just to enjoy the explosive graphics! Evil, ain't I?

Michigan Mike And The Lost City of Zorog is a no-frills platformer with great joystick controls, making it very playable. He may have big feet and freaky eyes, but I've enjoyed this. My only gripe is the energy meter, because it goes down far too quickly. Not a great platformer, but far from being a bad one. Worth playing.

• Atarimania download https://www.atarimania.com/michigan-mike-city-of-zorog_9964.html
• Atari Legend download https://www.atarilegend.com/games/michigan-mike-the-lost-city-of-zorog
• AtariUpToDate download https://atariuptodate.de/en/3836/michigan-mike
• We have loads of other "PD" platformers if you click right here!