Iceblox Plus

Yet Another New Game?

I might be a couple of years late but here is Iceblox Plus, a brand new Pengo remake by Karl Hornell for Côté Gamers. It's based on the recent Commodore 64 conversion - which is based on the mobile phone original. That is some history and it's actually strange to think it was something I could have played on my old Nokia!

The game introduces us to Pete the Penguin and explains the gameplay basics which are crushing blocks as the method used to eliminate our enemies. As in Pengo, there are 16 icy screens with blocks to shove or smash; some you break whereas others can slide into the baddies for an instant kill (flames and burning wheels). A few blocks will contain hidden coins and it's these that we should break open to complete each level.

Sounds cute and cuddly doesn't it? Let's check out the first screenshot of our chubby fella...

Wee-SMASH!! This image fails to display my joy at sliding a block for a kill. Points awarded too!

Gaming like it's 1982

Iceblox breaks you in gently with just the one flame lurking, but things soon heat up with the next level having two flames chasing you. By the fourth level, three flames are chasing which is frantic. However, I personally found the difficulty drastically increased by level 6 which is all thanks to those dreaded burning wheels! These do a magnificent job of tracking down poor old Pete for a terrible death by fire. He prefers it cold!

It's interesting how the levels become progressively harder; thanks to their unassuming design and the firey enemies who appear in combinations (up to) four at once. Both use great chasing techniques that feel like H-Mec II. Killing them results in bonus points. Plus a much-needed short breather, before they respawn!

You won't last long without a few practice games, trust me. This next screenshot was a killer...

Run Pete, RUN!!! (He's got no chance because I was controlling him <insert evil laugh>)

Fancy some tips?

Oh heck, I only managed to reach level 12 which isn't bad at all (for me). So I hope this helps you guys:

1. Don't just run around like an idiot - think before you make your move! 
2. Use the blocks to extinguish those dreaded enemies for a burst of freedom albeit only for a second or so. Hey, don't knock it, every second counts.
3. Each nasty provides a high degree of cunning chase, rather than blindly heading to your location. However, the wheels can be infuriating so take them out as quickly as possible.
4. Use the maze design by hiding behind static blocks for cover (see below).
5. Don't panic. I know, it's easier said than done, but panicking only gets Pete killed quicker!

Pete is a penguin and NOT a chicken. Ahem, you can't hide forever...

Graphics & Sounds

Okay, this is no Gods or Magic Boy but I doubt any version of Pengo would drop your jaw to the floor? Iceblox is strikingly 8-bit with a bold design using colourful and beautifully animated sprites - I love how Pete wibbles as he walks! Plus he turns into a skeleton when dying, which is sad but also funny. It looks old yet sorta new?

The audio is just as cute as the visuals with jingles and chip music by M.D. Smit. Everything has a simplicity I adore - it's not trying to produce the greatest ST music but it's humorously apt for the task at hand.

It looks and sounds like the 8-Bit era should have been? Yup, and it's screenshot time too...

Oh no, things are hotting up (sorry) with both a flame and a burning wheel chasing you!

The CryptO'pinion?

Iceblox Plus is a great twist on the original and, rather than a straight conversion, it comes with added bells and whistles. My only gripe is the limited play area using a grid layout of 12x10 which is a little claustrophobic.

I enjoy how Iceblox Plus transported me back in time. Those old enough to remember the original (or the 8-bit conversions) will appreciate the balance of authentic and updated styles. Although I panic like a big girl's blouse from level six onwards, I'm completely smitten by the exhilarating oldskool gameplay.

Iceblox is quite simply a fantastic game and is highly recommended.

AtariMania has the download 

There is a boxed version by Cote Gamers (now sold out). 

Has anyone got Iceblox Plus for sale? Thanks! 

Techno Cop

I Am The Law!

Have you ever booted up something that instantly felt cheap and tacky yet you spent hours playing and never once considered hitting the reset button? Think Club Drive for the Atari Jaguar... Well, here is a game by Gremlin Graphics that tries to blend two genres: car racing and a quiet walk through rough neighbourhoods.

If you hadn't already guessed, we're one of the heroes in blue but, no ordinary policeman. No, we're a Techno Cop under orders to take down various members of the DOA - Death On Arrival. This is a huge gang of thugs who enjoy fast cars, live in abandoned buildings and look like extras from a Death Wish movie!

Being a Techno Cop must be cool because they get to drive a VMAX Turbo Interceptor sports car and use a Magnum to kill anyone they don't like the look of. That's about as technical as it gets and I love that simplicity! So, ignoring first impressions, I booted up this apparently crude and violent arcade game.

Shall we take a gander at a screenshot from the racing part...

It's hardly Crazy Cars 3 or Vroom, but this is a fun section of an insane game!

All In A Day's Work

For each stage (scene of a crime), we begin behind the wheel of a fancy sports car on the way to a troubled hotspot. The roads are cluttered with DOA agents but our VMAX is fitted with a cannon to blast those suckers into smithereens. The dashboard shows speed, revs and even a damage meter that worsens with each roadside skirmish. Also displayed is the distance to a crime hotspot - so put the pedal to the metal!

Upon arriving, get out for a stretch of the legs and the game flips into a scrolling shoot 'em up quite similar to Thunder Jaws or Rolling Thunder. These rundown apartment blocks are full of trash, graffiti, thugs, hookers and even rats that nibble your toes. The thugs are relentless; carrying chains, whips, baseball bats, knives, etc. It's now that you should use the magnum and blast 'em into a gloopy mess of blood. More, later...

Mission objectives detail how you should uphold the law; be it a hostage situation, a mugging in progress, a boss to eliminate, etc. To help follow these orders, use your wrist gadget that shows lives, score, and jumping energy - plus you can even swap the magnum for a net (to capture rather than kill). Importantly, it also features a radar to help locate each boss. Beware, this isn't a direct route so you may need to use the elevators to avoid a dead-end. Completing a mission grants points and promotion through the twelve ranks:

1 Grunt... 2 Rookie... 3 Flat Foot... 4 Patrol Man... 5 Cop... 6 Officer...
7 Sergeant... 8 Enforcer... 9 Commander... 10 Top Cop... 11 Chief...
12 Technocop

Okay, now that you have an idea of this whacky game, let's take a look at the next screenshot...

Hey, have I got the time? Erm, no I don't so let's just move on searching for bad guys!

Gimme That Joystick!

The VMAX handles like a wooden wedge, unrealistic. Okay, this is an arcade racer and nothing serious but, even so, it's lagging way behind something like Crazy Cars 3, Test Drive, Lotus 2 or Buggy Boy. And by a mile. Sadly, it's all too easy to crank up the damage by smashing into the roadside objects when preoccupied with shooting enemy cars. Plus, I didn't care for the initially sluggish rate of fire. Road Blasters, this stage is not!!

I learnt that it's good practice to simply rush to the next crime hotspot, ignoring the DOA cars the best you can. This is not only quicker but saves lots of potential damage so your game should last longer too. Plus, quick racers are awarded upgrades such as a turbo boost and (much needed) faster firing.

The crime stages are best - we can walk, crouch, leap, and run through (yet another) condemned building. The leaping is ace, allows you to explore quicker, and is best when surrounded by henchmen. The radar is a huge help and I doubt it would be possible to complete any mission without using it. And learning the map.

Gun love is why we're here and Techno Cop is superb. In fact, there are times I forget I'm a policeman and behave more like an escaped psychopath because it's easy to ignore the plan and go about killing everyone. Even the odd innocent kid stupidly runs by or when playing outside. The death of all victims is bloody and violent as they scream and explode into piles of gloop. Gloop with eyes stuck on top. Brilliantly brutal and I love it.

You won't believe how cool that is. Argh, go on then, here is a screenshot to prove it...

Come on, how cool is that? Play the game and enjoy the effect for yourself lol

Aesthetics 80s-Style!

The driving scenes are bland with little scenery and average framerates. Though I did like the mountains and the palette choices/changes. Weirdly, the DOA cars are cumbersome beasts and the road changes too quickly to be driven well. The fuzzy sampled sound effects are great. Okay, it's not Turbo Cup but I enjoyed them.

The scrolling-crime parts are excellent!! Each building is packed with incredible attention to detail: litter, traps, graffiti, broken plaster, damaged floors, dead bodies, loot, and traps. It's the perfect environment for the Michael Winner movies!! Enemy sprites are nicely animated and detailed, even down to their spikey punk hair. Okay, the scrolling could have been better but at least the developers didn't wimp out with push/flick.

Audio is made using crunchy samples which add to the violent atmosphere although I don't understand why our Techno Cop makes a silly "meow" when he jumps! The best sound effect from the entire game is the screaming explosions when killing a criminal - your gun can turn a human into a horrendous pile of slop! It's brilliant and makes Techno Cop one of the most hilarious killers you could imagine. Fan-freaking-tastic!!

It's fun, fun, fun and looks/sounds the part. So one more screenshot of me getting promoted...

Promotion leads to better gameplay with many more baddies all too willing to challenge me!

The CryptO'pinion?

You can't go wrong with fast cars and big guns. This game has what it takes but there are a few niggles that bugged me: the driving stage feels like a clunky afterthought but the power-ups are a neat touch. The missions are pretty much the same, thus quite repetitive and later tasks require more time.

Techno Cop still scores very highly because of its arcade styles, and killing scumbags is quite simply brilliant. Okay, it could have been better in parts but blasting baddies into a pile of mush is bliss. I loved it.

Download for floppy or hard drive.

Sine Scrollers?

Wibbly-Wobbly-Scrolling

I've always had a thing for sinus scrollers! I mean, just look at it. Gorgeous!! This screen is called The Two-Screens-Together Demo by Black Byte/Bytechangers and weighs in at 3.5Kb - less than JetPac!! But why so tiny? Well, it was programmed for the first-ever STNICCC in their "VIC Times Revisited" competition. I guess, the rules were obvious with a Ram limit based on the Commodore VIC-20. Impressive results!!

Sadly, there's no music but I guess there wasn't enough space left over, which is completely understandable. I would love to see this updated with music and freed from the shackles of that old competition because it's too good to remain as is. I'm sure something beautiful could be done with this piece of code?

I'm always on the lookout for demos with similar scrollers but I fail to remember which disks I saw back in my youth. So it's been a painful process manually hunting them down. Of course, similar effects are used in many demos for waves, circle scrollers, distorting images, etc/etc... but I'm specifically referring to a sine wave used for a horizontal text scroller - like the one displayed above in all its wavey sexiness.

There must be a ton of cracktros and demo screens that I've forgotten about!! So, if you know of any using this sine scrolling technique, then please let me know in the comments below. Until then, here is a selection of text scrollers using the sinus effects which are all utterly amazing and definitely worth downloading...

Nibble Scrapping Smooth Sine Scroller by XXX International

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Possibly the best-known ST sine scroller I'd say? Okay, there's no sound but the visual effect is great and incredibly well coded. I wish more would have been done but there's no denying how cool this is.

Circle Dots by MJJ Prod

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This is such a smooth screen and with gorgeous music by Dma-Sc. The scroller is sine-tastic and works well with the stark palette style which really appeals to me. Oh, and there are some dots too which ain't too bad!

Sinfull Sinuses by Chronicle

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What a great demo this is with a bunch of cool visual fx and great music. The sinus parts are very good throughout but this is all about the sinus text so I loved their big blue sine scroller, which is just lovely.

Electrolytical Artificial Intelligence by ACF Design Team

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Another fine sine example and taken from one of the best megademos there is - Just Buggin'

Disk #0052 by BITS

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A slap-bang, in-your-face, no-frills sinus scroller and it's pretty darn excellent too!!

Flexiscroll by The Resistance

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An awesome screen from the Decade Demo but it spends (most) of its time doing everything other than what I wanted to see! However, as a demo, it's pretty cool with some lovely fx and wonderful chip music.

Genesys by Aenigmatica

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Yes, it's quite mild but the sine scrolling is there and I like it. This is a pretty great demo too.

Menu #3 by Electronic

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I don't remember this group from back in the day but here's an intro with a nice sine-scroller. Sadly, there appear to be many of their disks that still need to be found and preserved. Can you help?

Module Compilation #09 - Plejades

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An intro for a cool MOD disk that includes (possibly) the best player available for the Atari STe? Well, I was blown away by it! Anyhow, this intro has a dodgy image, cool music, and a neat sinewave to enjoy.

Arsch Screen by FOXX

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This was released as part of Phaleon's GigaDemo and boy what a screen from an outstanding megademo. Nothing short of mind-blowing. Yes, both the sine scroller and the megademo. What a point in time this was!!

Alvin Puzzles Cracktro by Elite & STAX

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This cracktro was used many times because it's fast, classy, and superb. I only wish the sine scroller had a splash (ahem) colour! One of my favourite intros for the ST. Erm, cracktro I meant to say.

Mr Heli Cracktro by The Replicants

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The Replicants released what seemed like a zillion hacks and I've found a fantastic sine-scroller disk!!

The Greetings Screen by MJJ Prod

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The Anomaly Megademo is an absolute cracker and this screen is simply divine. Outstanding. [link]

Phototro by Hemoroids

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This is a superb demo with a great plasma screen but the sine scroller is also pretty darn cool.

Go Ahead Make My Bed

Happy Halloween!

I figured I needed to make a silly video for Halloween and what better than Chainsaw Massacre by The Lost Boys? It's a short and nostalgically entertaining demo but, also a fantastic example of the banter between ST groups back then. I love this a lot and ended my video recording with a beautifully scary image taken from Halloween, by The Black Twins.

Those of you who are too much of a wimp to watch a Swedish Carebear getting mutilated might be better off playing a game or two instead? The Atari ST has many ghoulishly 'scary' games to choose from and many I have yet to feature here on AtariCrypt. But here are some nerve-racking ideas which are highly recommended by yours truly...

Horror Zombies From The Crypt is the obvious choice - because it's fiendishly superb. Ooze was recently reviewed and, while it's a little quirky, there are lots of things going bump in the night to entertain. Following on in a similar vein is The Curse of Rabenstein, a brand new slice of horror which is jaw-droppingly awesome. Frankenstein takes us all on a humerous B-Movie adventure. But now, I feel I need to inject some violence into the world of horror and I personally feel nothing beats Death Chase for immense blood and gore! Finally, there is Nightbreed if you dare to try your luck within the disturbed mind of Clive Barker?

I'm now in the mood for something new (for me) to play: Brides Of Dracula, Munsters or Night Hunter. Has anyone played 'em?? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Oh, and don't forget about ZombieCrypt which is spine-chillingly cool. By that, I mean it's that lame slideshow I made a while back. Watch it and let me know what you think!

Happy Halloween folks and remember, it'll soon be Christmas!! ;^)

Evil Ash, from Evil Dead II and then featured in ZombieCrypt on the Atari ST. How cool is that!

GEM Desktop Music

Music while you work!

Over the decades, I've seen many neat programs that play a piece of chip music in GEM as a background task. I always thought this was cool and wondered why there wasn't more. Well, it turns out there are a lot on several Budgie UK disks. (I don't think I ever saw these types of programs on any other floppy disks?)

I've spent some time going through my disks to gather a quick, no-frills compilation. Some of these tracks were made by Goth but I'm not sure who else to credit for the rest - possibly Budgie UK? There's also an intro included which is a scroller text by me using a utility coded by Dogue de Mauve of Overlanders.

I hope my floppy disk is of some interest to you ST Nutters? Like it? Let me know in the comments!

(my download is updated to v1.1 -thanks to Tronic of Effect for his new addition!!) :-)

Evasion II

Ignore the looks - play it!

Evasion 2 was developed by Chris Skellern for Budgie UK and is a maze game where we run around collecting pills whilst being chased by the nasties. Yes, I know this sounds all too familiar but the structure of the gameplay's mechanics is different for a frantic rush. Each level offers a chance to collect power-ups - to freeze the baddies, drop smart bombs and gain extra lives. Heck, you can even drop mines in their path which is a brilliant touch I thought. The enemy's AI is really good and makes the game demanding.

There might only be 8 levels but completing them grants the chance to do it again - with insanely zippy baddies!! You know, this is a perfect example of how cool Atari ST retro gaming is. Evasion is maddening and I enjoyed the frenzied challenge. It's brilliant and I'm sure you will love its adrenaline rush. Highly recommended!!

Grab the download off AtariMania and why not also play Starburst (another corker by Chris Skellern).

Ignore how it looks. Yes, it isn't 1982 but since when did aesthetics matter? #GameplayMatters

Beware, these humble-looking tiny blighters are actually infuriatingly intelligent and fast!

Arghhh!!! I came so close to finally completing the game - and without cheating! :o)

Dave Semmens

It's now over three years since I featured a platformer called Spellfire The Sorceror, something that I hadn't previously heard about so was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's tons of fun and very easy to pick up & play. Plus another glaring example is that the Atari ST can scroll - when in the hands of talent.

It was programmed by Dave Semmens, the same guy who gave us Kid Gloves II, but he also made a couple of older ST games which, ahem, left a lot to be desired. I began to wonder what could have changed for such an immense leap in quality compared to those earlier efforts? The difference is quite staggering!

So I tracked him down to find out, and then asked a few more questions too! :-) Dave was more than willing and I thank him for being such a great guy taking the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy this little interview and don't forget to check out his incredible photography (and FaceBook group) which are both linked below.

- The Dave Semmens Interview -

Hello Dave, tell us all how you began...

I got interested in computers when I bought a C64 as a teenager. I soon started programming in basic and then looked at assembler. Within a short period, I realised that I wanted to try Z80 so sold the C64 (which was 6502) and bought a ZX Spectrum with microdrive. I bought an assembler and started coding simple games like TRON. One of my mates spotted an advert for programmers in Otley. I decided to give that a try and got the job.

The company was Source The Software House and they did many conversions from arcade/other home computer formats. I worked on a number of Spectrum titles and then added Amstrad (which is also Z80) to the list and then moved up to 16-bit with the Amiga and Atari ST. After a couple of years at Source, I went freelance and spent around 4 years working for Mirrorsoft, Probe and US Gold on various 8 and 16-bit projects.

What were you using back then?

We used a system called Programmers Development System (PDS) - it allowed a PC to be connected to the target machine and for all the assembly of code to be done on the PC then downloaded to the target. This meant that if the machine crashed (which it did often) then the code was still safe. Originally, I started with a basic Amstrad PC that didn't even have a hard drive - just huge floppy disks. We slowly moved over to faster and better-equipped PCs as time progressed and the codebases/graphics for each game got larger.

I still have my Atari ST in the loft along with copies of all the games I worked on and quite a lot of magazines with reviews of my games. But it's much easier these days to just boot up an emulator to play them :)

Dave, hard at work in 1986 in an office made in heaven!

What was it like working in the games industry?

This industry is not like any other I have worked in. The people (most of them) would put themselves through hell to get a game out. I have worked with teams that spent days in the office, with very little sleep, and that was on floors or couches in the meeting rooms. I remember rushing disks down to a waiting motorbike courier, who would speed off at high speed to deliver the latest build to our QA people. I always said that crunch time to get a game out (normally the last 2 months) was the best of times and the worst of times.

To see a team come together and work together in this period was fantastic - the late-night antics and comradery were brilliant. But the impact it had on people was huge 20-hour shifts; nothing but take-away food for days on end was a killer and I had one lead engineer end up in the hospital with heart problems after one game.

How did you find this development?

I was always pushing to speed up the code as I wanted it to be better than anything out there - I wanted to have a proper dual playfield parallax not just a wrapping background etc. So I was always looking to improve. I discovered that, on the Atari ST, if I had the sprites at a 0-pixel shift when they hit the scroll point, then I had more processor time to scroll the screen which compensated for the lack of hardware for screen/sprite manipulation.

Any inspirations?

The games by Ultimate always blew me away - such great games and so playable.

Rainbow Warrior, eh?

This was late in my time at Source and the project had been given to an engineer. He was new to the company (if I remember correctly) and, in the end, he didn't get it completed. I found that the programmers coming in, who had not worked on the 8-bit systems, did not have the same concerns for memory. They had 512k to play with and didn't have to worry about finding ways to compress the graphics and save as much memory as possible.

As this was based on several mini sub-games, it was decided to split them up across a few programmers. I picked up a couple of levels and (maybe) the front end. I think Rainbow Warrior was my first Atari ST/Amiga game.

And then SAS Combat Simulator?

SAS was a straight conversion from one of the 8-bit versions (C64 I think) so I was just asked to create a like for like version for the Atari ST. The problem with budget conversions was that you were limited to what was possible on the 8-bits. There wasn't much time to do the conversion if you wanted to make good money, so it was a case of doing the best you could in a short time. The game played ok as it followed the playable C64 version.

By the time you had finished any game, it was hard to judge how playable it really was as you had to spend so much time playing and replaying sections yourself to test it. That got very repetitive!

But then two fantastic games!

I think one main reason for both Spellfire and Kid Gloves 2 being better and more polished is because they were my games. They were not conversions - I designed and put in more time/effort as they would not have had the same time limitations as the other conversions. As I designed the games, I could also make the mechanics fit well with the limitations of the system I was working with. Time and polish = quality :)

I was also on a royalty deal for both so made sure everything was as perfect as possible. As a programmer, I had a set of routines that I would use for all games - the basics like sprite and scroll routines. I would improve these over time and the main time to put extra effort into improving these was for my own creations.

Looking back, would you do anything differently?

No - I loved my time in the industry and would do it all again. I wish I had been 3/4 years earlier as that is when the big money was flying around. I will always remember the teams and people I worked within the Games Industry. I have yet to find a more dedicated bunch of people and, as I am getting on a little, so I doubt I ever will.

So what are you up to these days?

I now work as a project manager/agile data specialist for the largest online betting companies in the world. I still code in VBA and Tableau. I have a wife (the same one who suffered the games industry :) ), three kids (all grown up), a grandson and a small yappy Yorkshire terrier. My passion is now photography - not writing code. You can find some of my images on Flickr and I have a Facebook Group :) His photography is outstanding!! -Steve