Well, don't be so quick because here is Recovery, a shoot 'em up by New Deal Productions. Oddly, it's something I've not heard of until the other day! It takes us on a *Fantastic Voyage* through the lower bits of some poor soul in need of medical assistance. I assume we're trying to help him recover from something nasty as we begin at the bottom and work our way up through the liver (I think), and then onto the heart before finally smashing through the old grey matter.
Recovery is much in the vein of something like Menace or R-Type but runs at a far quicker pace with many of the patient's body parts whizzing around the screen. It's like Anarchy and just as tough - almost nigh on impossible when trying to dodge everything. But our ship is spritely and we're armed with a laser so shoot first and never ask dumb questions.
I love finding something 'new' to play and this is an exciting shoot'em up...
It's a shooter. So, shoot everything!
Each part of the body is a separate stage and also incredibly long, almost to the point where you think it will never end! However, they all feel much the same with a vast array of different "aliens" to avoid or kill. These use a variety of attack patterns but touching any reduces energy levels, so bad pilots ultimately end up losing yet another life. Strangely, there is no end-of-level boss. A beastly tumour would have been nice to destroy - a sentence I thought I would never say!
The joystick controls are excellent - very fast and responsive without any sluggishness. Our main weapon is a laser beam and quite effective too - pressing and holding fire shoots this laser and kills anything in front of you. Sadly, there are no other types of upgrades or special weapons so all we have is one laser and nothing more.
Thankfully, our sleeping patient appears to have popped many pills, which you'll see floating through his body just waiting to be collected. These can boost your weapon's rate of fire, energy and shields which are all displayed in the status bar. I never figured out what "LIGH" is for - I hit every key but nothing, nada, zip. Does anyone know?
Okay, let's take a break from reading and view another lovely screenshot...
Aesthetics?
Visually, this is a mixed-body bag that isn't quite as healthy as you would hope. Don't get me wrong, a scroller needs to scroll and each parallax layer moves very smoothly. However, the backgrounds can be quite bare-bones, but there are tons of funky sprites which only goes to prove how weirdly wonderful we are on the inside. Maybe!
Hitting F4 flips between 50/60Hz which speeds things up even more - if you can handle it?
Sonically, this is going to appeal to lovers of chip music. To be blunt, it's quite simply fantastic and foot-tappingly awesome so makes you realise just how cool your ST is. However, those insane people amongst us might wish to turn it off and hear sound effects. No problem, just hit F2/F3 but why would you ever wanna do that? I know, because you're stupid.
Okay, you've guessed it - stop reading and enjoy another gorgeous screenshot...
The CryptO'pinion?
Recovery is a damn good shoot 'em up and also technically impressive. It slaps the faces of all those lazy programmers that said the ST cannot scroll. However, gameplay could be better as each stage feels overly long with zillions of frantic 'aliens' constantly buzzing about. This static style doesn't seem to go anywhere, so it gets samey after a while. Also, our weapons cannot be upgraded which is a massive disappointment but not as much as having no bosses to fight.
Okay, I'm sure you can tell that this isn't the greatest shoot 'em up but it's far from being the worst. I've enjoyed blasting through some fella's intimate body parts all in the name of science fiction. Recovery is definitely worth booting up for a quick game or two. If only to see who can survive the longest, good luck with that because you'll need it.
Check out these screenshots before deciding whether to download for hard disk or floppy...
Tracking down the geeky kids from the 80s/90s is often tough but always rewarding. I'm grateful that I was able to get in touch with Gary Antcliffe, of PAL Developments (my thanks to his wife Jen who helped me with my stalking)
You may remember that this is the talented fella behind seven Atari ST games for HiTec and Virgin Mastertronic? His final two games were absolute knockouts: Alien World is a shoot 'em up with frenzied action. Whereas Scooby-Doo & Scrappy-Doo is...well... a new personal favourite of mine. Terrific games!
So, I thought it might be an idea to track down this fella and have a chat about his history? I found him interesting, especially with regards to his upbringing - like the need to get two paper rounds to afford a Commodore 64. A humble start, for what was about to be the beginning of a very special career. My sincere gratitude to Gary for taking the time out of his schedule to answer all my questions and I hope you all enjoy the interview?
However, I must admit that I almost censored his photograph... Hmm, I can't think why! ;-)
Gary Antcliffe - The Interview
Hello Gary, please tell us about yourself
I got interested in games at an early age. I was probably around 8 or 9 when I first saw and played Space Invaders. This would have been when we were on holiday and in later years my parents took us to Butlins and I remember visiting the arcades lots to try out all sorts of other games. This was only once a year though and as I grew older I became aware of home computers starting to become popular. I remember looking through the Argos catalogue and flipping between the Spectrum and Commodore 64 and dreaming about owning one of those machines.
I think initially I was drawn to the Spectrum as it was cheaper and had all sorts of peripherals in the picture. One day though my friends and I visited an electrical/appliances store called Comet. They had some computers on display and we could play some games that were already running on them. I'm not sure if it was Tony Crowther's Loco or Suicide Express but as soon as I played that game I was hooked, I had to have a C64!
We were a working-class family though, my dad worked in a steel mill and my mum was a cleaner at the local college. The C64 was just too expensive. However, my mum made me a deal: if I could save enough pocket money to pay for half of the C64 then they'd get me one for Christmas. I was already doing 2 paper rounds and had saved some money so after about a year of saving that I had enough and my folks bought me a C64 for Christmas. I think I was about 13 at that time and this was the start of a life long passion.
I spent loads of time playing games, swapping tapes with friends at school as kids did. I was always curious as a child and would take things to bits to see how they worked. I also loved building things in Lego and Mechano, so I think this curiosity and creativity lead me down the path of wanting to create my own games. It was hard to get started though, I tried Basic but it was too slow. I used to type in pages of listings from magazines but often these were just data statements and told you nothing of how to program a game.
The programming bug was about to be born...
I was aware that real games were written in machine code but had no idea how to do that until one day I came across a basic listing for an assembler. This gave me a route to trying out and learning to program in assembly. The only problem was you had a limited number of lines before it ran out of memory. I then saw an Action Replay cartridge advertised in a magazine. This had a machine code monitor and disassembler, so I saved up more paper round money and bought one. I would then type directly into memory in hex and disassemble the code to make sure I had done it correctly. This was the start of my proper programming days and I was able to experiment with writing scroll routines and moving sprites around the screen...
It was hard though and I had a love/hate relationship with coding initially, getting frustrated and going back to just playing games, then really wanting to make my own creations and coming back to programming and trying again. I wanted to do so much but just didn't know how to. All I had was a C64 reference manual, an Action Replay cartridge and my own creativity. Looking back on it now, writing directly in machine code is pretty cool given my age at the time. To this day I still remember some of those hex opcodes!
The next few years were spent on and off between playing games and trying to write them on the C64. I'd often get partway through a game then have ideas for another game and start working on that instead. Actually finishing a game can be the hardest part of it.
I left school and went to college to study programming. Unfortunately, they dropped that just before it started and put me on a business course instead, boring!!! Fortunately, they had a great careers advisor and after a few months, she secured me a work placement at Alligata Software. After 2 weeks they offered me a full-time job!
What was it like working for Alligata?
At Alligata it was pretty standard. I started as a junior programmer helping out on a C64 game doing things like the intro, high score table, music and sound code. I had access to an assembler rather than doing everything in hex. We assembled from a tape which took about 20 mins and sent the game over the parallel port to another C64.
I later moved to programming the Amiga and we used GenAm to assemble the code and ran it on the same machine. This was a bit time consuming as you'd take over the operating system so you had full control of the machine and all of the memory. So you had to reboot and reload everything after each run.
Onto PAL Developments...
Where things got more interesting and unusual was later in my career when working for PAL developments which published games though Hi-Tec Software. We built our own development system from the ground up. I wrote almost all of the software so I created assemblers for different chipsets (6502, Z80, 68000) and we connected to different machines using parallel cables. I wrote a text editor, disassembler, machine code monitor and communication software on both the Amiga and ST. We could then send over and run the code on the C64, Spectrum, Amstrad, Amiga, ST, MSX and then I later altered the Z80 assembler so we could write Gameboy games as well. It was a similar chipset to a Z80 but with some registers and instructions missing, so we called it the Z40 internally.
We had to build some specialised hardware as some machines such as the Spectrum, Amstrad, MSX and Gameboy didn't have a parallel port, but an electronics wiz (Ian) from Alligata built those for us and wrote the comms software on those machines. This was a huge time saving for us, no more rebooting after each run, just sending it over the parallel port and running it on the target machine.
If the game crashed then you could inspect the registers, disassemble the code, save off memory etc. Best of all was that the assemblers were lightning-fast, your whole game was built in about a minute. You'll be pleased to know that I mostly developed on the Atari ST as the CPU ran quicker than the Amiga so it would build the code faster.
That was just one part of what was needed. I also wrote map editors, tools for cutting out sprites, placing objects, creating collision data, full-screen animation codecs... I think the only commercial software we used was DPaint. It's not like today, there were no engines, few commercial software tools, you built everything yourself.
A do-it-yourself world?
As I mentioned we built our own development system and I wrote most of my own tools such as the map editors. These would also get refined with extra features added each time we made a new game, so there was a gradual improvement over time.
I think I used the ST as my editor/assembler. We used a standard 520 ST and an Amiga 500. For the graphics then Richard Morton would draw the blocks and sprites in DPaint and then import these files into our editors. The editors would then cut the blocks up, pull out the sprites and palettes and then he could go about creating the map files for the levels and then save these in a binary format that I'd use in the game.
For audio, I wrote a tracker player and we'd outsource the music. It's so long ago that I can't remember how we did sound effects, I think for the ST, maybe I did those myself with a little editor I created to define the sounds we played? It’s so long ago I really can’t remember!
A very different world?
I guess when I started at PAL it was a step backwards. Alligata was a bigger company with more people located in the same office working together. PAL was just me and another programmer Richard Stevenson in a back room of a small office building. It really didn't matter though as I was doing what I loved which was writing games.
Over time the team grew and when Hi-Tec was set up then there were more opportunities to do slightly larger and more challenging games. The atmosphere improved as well as you could discuss ideas with other coders and artists, chat with the team who created the box art, did the publishing and the advertising.
The early games for Mastertronic were written in a matter of weeks, maybe a couple of months. As my programming skills developed and PAL / Hi-Tec became larger then the games became a bit more ambitious and took a bit longer. The longest title in development was Scooby & Scrappy Do, which took about 6 months for the Amiga and ST.
You appeared to master the Atari ST so quickly?
I think there are a number of reasons the games got better. I certainly got better at programming. Going from the 6510 in the C64 to 68000 CPUs was a big step up and the 68K was just fantastic to code for. 15 32bit registers and a feature-rich instruction set, it was just a dream to use.
In the early days, we'd outsource the graphics as well as the music and the games were much simpler. As the company grew though, Richard Morton joined us and we worked together on pretty much every game I did from that point onwards. That teamwork made a big difference to the quality of the games and ideas we had, it was very collaborative and a really enjoyable time in my career.
As the standard ST didn't have much in the way of hardware then horizontal scrolling was one of the big challenges. The CPU just isn't fast enough to software scroll the full screen and render sprites at a reasonable framerate. We worked out a technique though which I called pairs scrolling. I'd look at adjacent blocks that were scrolling on to the screen and pre-shift (software scroll) these into a cache. I'd do this for the whole scroll area and when I came across 2 blocks that were already in the cache then I could directly copy them to the screen rather than having to incur the slow cost of shifting and combining them again.
I think this is probably what you're seeing with Alien World and Scrappy that makes a big difference, along with improved sprite drawing routines that I optimised over the years. It's all about counting the number of CPU cycles taken and looking for ways to optimise the code to get better performance.
Who inspired you?
Initially, my inspirations came from C64 games as that was the machine I was using. Tony Crowther was a definite inspiration, he produced many games I played as a kid and I met him a few times when I started in the industry. I used to read Zzap64 every month and you'd learn the names of the more prolific programmers. I loved reading the programmer diaries and Andrew Braybrook made a big impact as well. Paradroid and Uridium were favourite games of mine and reading about how these were developed drove that internal craving to make my own games.
Archer Maclean created some amazing games as well, Dropzone and IK+ on the C64 are fond memories. I was actually playing Dropzone at the Cambridge Computing History Museum last year showing the game to my son and who popped up behind me to watch, only Archer! I’m not sure how I knew it was him having never met him before, but I did. Anyhow, we had a long chat and it was great to be able to thank him for the influence he and his games had on my life, which ultimately helped shape me into the person I am today.
We were always trying to make better games and we'd often look at arcade games for inspiration too. You can see it in a number of the games we produced, Ikari Warriors gave us ideas for Blazing Thunder, R-type for Alien World, Space Harrier for T-Bird / Futurebike and there were a whole host of platform games that gave us ideas for Scooby. I was a big shoot-em-up fan and we still visited the arcades occasionally. I remember on one trip out Dave Thompson completed Space Harrier on a single credit, pretty good value for just 10 pence!
Any inspirations from the demoscene?
I remember looking at demos early on with the C64 and later on the Amiga and ST. It certainly had an influence on me when trying to program. How could they get more than 8 sprites on the screen when that was all the hardware supported? I then started to experiment myself and wrote little C64 demos with bouncing raster bars, opening the borders and some basic sprite multiplexing, although it wasn’t very sophisticated. Hey, I was still a kid!
Writing the title and high score screens for a game can be a bit of a bind as they tend to come late in development and you’re pretty tired by this time. As I mentioned earlier, finishing a game is really hard. I think some of the things I did was just to make the title screens look a bit different, and to give myself something enjoyable to do!
There are some great demo coders out there and I’ve worked with a number of them over the years, especially at Core Design. Coders from that era were always looking at ways to push the machine, whether that was doing things the hardware wasn’t designed for or meticulously counting CPU cycles to optimise your code as well as you could. I believe this attitude has helped me over the years. If you look at Killzone Mercenary on the PS Vita that game really pushes the boundaries of what is possible on a handheld device at that time. I was the engine lead and the brief was to produce a game that looked like a PS3 title. That was a lot of hard work and performance analysis as the PS3 is a beast when you fully leverage the SPUs, so it’s massively more powerful than the Vita! It was a struggle getting so much out of that machine, but I think we did a really good job in the end.
Any spare time left to play a few games?
Unfortunately, I don’t get that much time to play games these days as family life doesn’t leave me with lots of spare time. I can’t say I’ve booted up any of my old games over the last few years. I don’t have the time to invest in large games but I do have a Switch and I do like to look at some of the indie titles that are out there.
I have recently bought a PC-Engine mini and I’ve been enjoying playing some retro games. I was aware of the PC-Engine when it was out but it wasn’t easily accessible so I bought a MegaDrive instead at the time. I must say though I’m really impressed with it. Some of the arcade conversions are almost perfect and the fact that it’s running an 8bit 6502 derivative CPU is astounding.
I also take my kids to the Cambridge Computing History Museum quite often so I get to play some of the older games and it’s a great day out. My wife isn’t a gamer though so she thinks it the most boring place on the planet!
Looking back, any regrets?
I’m not sure really. I’ve had a long and varied career, worked in many different studios, cities and sometimes other countries. Everywhere that I’ve worked I’ve met interesting people and have gained some life long friends. Even when things have been tough, if you look back you can usually find something positive from the situation. Programming and especially writing games is a life choice; you’re choosing to have a life where you continually learn. You have to otherwise you just can’t compete and the games industry is a very competitive place.
I remember one of the times when I went to see Tony Crowther and he showed me a scrapbook with reviews of all of his games, cut out of every magazine he found a review in. At the time I thought ‘damn it, wish I had done that!’. It would have been good to have a record of all the games I’ve worked on, a copy of each title and the original source code. Unfortunately, a lot of this has been lost over time and if I was to go back then that’d be something I’d do differently. It’d be nice to be able to show my kids and pique their interest in following their own creative endeavours as they grow up, whatever they decide to choose.
Would you say that times have changed for the better?
That would be quite a long answer but you could put a link to my The Centre for Computing History video here if you like? Which is a superb idea because this is a very interesting video and an eye-opener - Steve.
What are you doing these days?
I guess a lot has happened since the early 90s. I’ve worked on most platforms since the 16bit era, all of the Playstation platforms, N64 and PC. I’ve worked on some well-known titles - Tomb Raider, 24, Medievil, Little Big Planet and Killzone to name a few. We pushed the boundaries of what was thought possible in VR with RIGS on PlayStation VR. I’m no longer in the Games industry these days though. When Sony decided to close the Cambridge Studio I decided to try something else. I’ve been made redundant 5 times in the games industry due to companies going into liquidation. Most of those times finding a new job had meant moving to another city as well. This isn’t something I’m prepared to do anymore now that I have a family.
I do miss writing games but what I miss most is the creative side and teamwork. I don’t miss the stress, pressure and unrealistic expectations from publishers, massive teams where you’re a tiny cog in a huge machine. I miss the small team vibe, pushing the boundaries of what you believe can be done. I occasionally tinker around on an emulator and have been writing a Uridium style shooter on the C64 but I’ve had to put that on hold since the pandemic started. I’ll look at this again during some of my holiday time when I don’t need to focus quite so much on my work life.
I now work for Arm in Cambridge who designs chips and you probably have several of these in your phone, tablets, smartTV and other devices. I lead a team that looks at GPU performance when running general-purpose compute on those devices, so languages such as OpenCL and Vulkan compute rather drawing graphics using vertex and pixel shaders. With advances in technologies such as Machine Learning and digital assistants, more of this processing is moving on to mobile devices rather than being run in big data centres in the cloud. This is where being able to run general computing workloads on a GPU, rather than just rendering graphics, becomes ever more important.
It’s very different to working in the games industry, but challenging in a good way and my skills with pushing the boundaries of performance come in handy. I’ve worked at many places before but I’ve never known any company to care about its employees as much as Arm does. They’re very open with their staff, promoting a sharing community with learning and development as a pivotal part of the job, so this suits me well.
Thanks for getting in touch Steve, it’s been quite a trip down memory lane!
I'm sure you were all expecting this, right? :@) Yup, I've put together a second video recording that features even more Atari STe games from the Crypt archives. Once again, just a few seconds of each game is shown accompanied by the same groovy background tune by Tomchi. Greetings to all my fellow STe Nutters out there!
Okay, let's check out those games...
+ Uridium - Peter has performed his usual magic and transformed this old clunky shooter into a beauty. + Operation Garfield - I dare you not to laugh at this silly shoot 'em up! + Zool - Good on the ST and even better on the STe. Different to Sonic and fun for a few hours.
+ Giana Sisters - This is what the original should have been like all along! One of the best-enhanced games. + Chronicles of Omega - More colours on the STf but smooth as silk on the STe and with DMA audio. + Substation - Doom for the ST? Well, no it's very different but it's still a BRILLIANT fps game.
+ Stardust - Now we're talking, play this Asteroids and tell me it's not mind-blowing. Superb shooter!! + Heartland 2000 - An Easter Egg with legs but look how smoooooth it runs!! + Zero-5 - The STe goes all Star Wars on us and it's utterly brilliant too. What a cracking game this is.
+ Pac Mania - The original was good but this blows it out of the water!! + R-Type Deluxe - Good old Bod did us proud right until the end. I miss him and thank him for the pics. + Team - I ain't a soccer fan but check out this in overscan. Wow!!
+ Sliders - Looks weird, scrolls like silk, but can you play it? One odd game this. Very odd... + Obsession - Best pinball game on any ST? Very possibly because this is a jaw-dropper Christmas cracker!
I recently came upon an unreleased shoot 'em up called Bold, by Laurent Kermel which I instantly liked. But I then did something most guys don't normally do - I read the documentation!! This listed his website - which still works - and that linked through to an Atari ST section that detailed lots of unfinished ST games. Just look at these pictures of Slug, Dragoon Twins, Tenesis, and Empire. Impressive STuff I'm sure you will agree? O_o
I contacted Laurent to thank him for Bold and another game I download - a Dungeon Master clone called Wiliness 3. I've only just started to play that, but boy is it a cracker. Laurent is a really nice guy who I enjoyed talking with - I urgently suggest fans of either shooters or RPGs, should play Bold and Wiliness 3.
Bold is fantastic, albeit unfinished, shoot 'em up for the Atari ST/e and is influenced by a number of other games. I personally feel it's a cross between Zynaps or R-Type with fast and frantic gameplay as every enemy zooms onto the screen like they're on steroids. Quick reactions are the order of the day.
I love the graphics but it's a shame there's a large part of the screen unused - probably meant for a status panel? Bold isn't controlled using a joystick but instead the mouse and, I admit that the thought of this failed to impress me, at first. I changed my mind after the first play because it's perfect for sharp manoeuvrability.
Any model of ST is compatible but Bold plays better (and smoother) if you have a Blitter chip. Of course, all Atari STe computers are fine but others may need to shop with exxos to fill that empty socket inside their STFM. Sadly, those really old pre-1987 STs might not even have an empty socket so I imagine an extra cost?
Although unfinished, Bold is furiously great with precise mouse control I loved. A thrilling shooter!!
The Bold web page has the download and a nifty walkthrough of each level.
I made a video but I hate YouTube so advise you don't watch and instead PLAY the game :-)
A cheat code is mentioned in the interview with Laurent within Alive Magazine #09.
Chris Swinson, aka Exxos, sells Blitter chips but I've now exhausted my hardware knowledge...
- W I L I N E S S III -
Grab a flask and sword, we're going in!!
Laurent developed a Dungeon Master clone called Wiliness 3 which is shockingly professional and certainly on par with the FTL classic and another favourite of mine, Walls Of Illusion. The RPG experience is amazing with a familiar user interface as we crawl through another creepy dungeon. Of course, it's unfinished but 6 levels are playable plus I liked the control system and those eerie sound effects. Wiliness had the potential to be a winner. It really did...
This is something I need to spend a weekend on sometime very soon. Brilliant dungeon crawler!
The Wiliness web page has the download and a BUCKET load of help and information!!
ImageWorks released Phobia back in 1989 with a gorgeous retro-themed cover. The artwork is stunning with lots of colour, action and a cruel glare from evil eyes which reflects the game itself perfectly! Phobia has all the hallmarks of a potentially outstanding shooter but it's impossible to get very far without a trainer because of its choppy framerate. Probably a poor port and it pales in comparison to shooters like R-Type, Alien World, or Menace.
Well, I bought Phobia for only 99 pence and it was sealed too. The box and contents are in superb condition but I wonder why nobody ever bought it? <yes, sarcasm!>. Maybe I'll be brave and record a video? Maybe...
LINKS
- ST Format #1 reviews Phobia but wasn't too impressed with the difficulty - lol wimps!!
- D-Bug has a download with a trainer and hard drive support.
- Stonish has the floppy disks and I liked Timelords #29 Menu CD (1MB).
- Here is a fantastic video recording by Stefan Lindberg.
- My tweet after playing Phobia for a few minutes... ARGGHHHHHH!!!
I should have known this was going to be hard with such a hideous screen.
Annnd this next screenshot is of me and my ship being blown up! Again.
It is with great sadness I inform you of the death of Stephen Jones, aka Bod. More recently he was the gentleman behind the Atari STe game R-Type Deluxe, an eagerly anticipated upgrade to an already ace game and was highly regarded as the biggest STe project for years. He demonstrated to the entire retro gaming world just what this machine was capable of - when in the hands of someone with talent and commitment. Something we as Atari STe owners appreciate more than most.
I remember talking to him last year and he kindly supplied screenshots of his progress I was excited to feature them on my little-known website. Kindness I shall never forget. Also, his commitment to the Atari ST scene is fully featured on Demozoo where you can view his Fuji portfolio. It's extremely impressive, to say the least. A great loss.
Prayers and my condolences to his family and friends at this time †
I had a free hour today so decided to entertain myself with Rainbow Arts' Z-Out. Essentially this is a bog-standard horizontally-scrolling shooter with nice graphics and (familiar) sound effects. The controls work well but it feels like a poor clone of Menace or R-Type but there is a nifty two-player feature which we really enjoyed.
However, I found it extremely difficult at times, plus it didn't really bring anything new to the table compared to shooters already out. Don't get me wrong, this is a good game, and I am really enjoying it, but the Atari ST has a wealth of better shoot 'em ups. Am I right? Well, I think so but let me know what you think in the comments below.
8BitChip has adapted this for hard drive installation w/ a level skip feature. Floppy disks can be downloaded using Old Games Finder. Here are some nifty cheats : > pressing J + K together gives infinite energy. > pressing J and a number between 1 - 6 (on the main keyboard) to skip levels. > pressing K and a number between 1 - 3 (on the keypad) to jump stages.
I remember when I first heard tracker music, it was around 1989 and it was a pretty cool experience albeit not on the ST. To be honest, it was something that I never expected to hear from such a small file - after all, I am comparing it to a sound sample of course would eat up the entire space on any floppy disk (and then the Ram).
So, when I upgraded to an Atari STe in 1990, finding a MOD player was one of the first things I attempted. I think that I wanted to ditch chipmusic for this tantalising new style of computer music. It's weird but, back then, I felt disappointed in my Atari ST and its chip music but I don't feel that way now. In fact, I find many of those MODs I find poor and often quite irritating, excluding classics like R-Type, Menace, and a few others.
Today, I'm a chip guy, but that doesn't mean I'm completely against MODs. I just prefer chip. I see videos on YouTube and read people's comments of how they wished a particular ST game sounded more like the Amiga. I get that but, imagine IF our computer did sound the same. Would that be a good thing? I don't think so. The ST is its own entity with the ability to sound its own way using gorgeous chip music. If the ST had the same music capabilities as the Amiga (in games) then why not just buy the Amiga and have done with it?
No other computer out there has to justify itself like the Atari ST and that ... annoys me! Think about it. In fact, this is why I started AtariCrypt because I was tired of the way we were ignored. I want the ST to be an ST and not pretend to be something else. The YM is part of what makes the ST an ST, and that's a good thing and shouldn't be thought of in a negative way. With that off my chest, here is a selection of excellent MOD players for the Atari STe...
Atari STe MOD / Tracker Players
BackTrack - I wasn't too sure about this at first but I cannot deny its playback quality and the selectable frequencies is a brilliant idea that will be useful on every model of Atari. The audio playback sounds great, especially at 50KHz - but you might need a Mega STe for that!! (v4.04 - released 1993 - by Wizzcat)
CD Player STE - This is like a CD player from the 90s. Just copy the MOD files into the same folder as the program and boot it up. Obviously not a GEM program but something that works really well and is very effective and with a fantastic interface. Cracking program - leave it running while you work! (released 1990 - by Light)
DBE Player - Another GEM program to punch out your favourite MODS. The quality is excellent and has a decent playlist feature but it's pretty demanding of the basic model STe (v2.0 - released 1999 - by Sector One)
The MusicPlayer - Ignoring its quirky GEM interface (which is odd) I thought this program produced good sound quality and even supports 50KHz / 8 channels! (v1.0 - released 1994 - by Christian Dahl)
Sirius Player - This is another that refuses to use GEM and replaces that with its own beautiful UI and what a gorgeous player it is!! The sound quality is Grade A with support for 50KHz thus proving a normal 8MHz STe can handle outside of GEM. Also, 8-channel MODS can be played using features like presets /etc/etc. Don't forget to press the HELP key for all of the options. This is my favourite program of the lot because its playback quality is literally mind-boggling!! (v2.0 - released 2001 - by TSCC 2001)
Paula - A great program that makes you wish you'd have bought a Mega STe for that extra grunt! This is yet another example of the sound quality an Atari STe can produce - and in GEM too. My thanks to Pavel Puchala for alerting me to the freeware release! (v2.6 - released 1999 - by Pascal Fellerich)
JAM - A true jack of all trades that works either in GEM or using its own frontend GUI. It features a neat plugin architecture so lots of different file types are supported - not just MODs but various chiptunes. This is absolutely fascinating and JAM always produces excellent sounds! (v1.0 - released 2000 - by Cream)
The CryptO'pinion?
This page proves nothing. Well, except that the Atari STe can easily handle those Amiga MODs with quality playback, no matter what program you decide to use. They're all great. It just depends on your own needs: if you need a GEM player then any of the above is a good choice to install onto your hard drive/ultrasatan.
Yes, they are all great in their own way but I really loved how CD Player can be stacked up and left to play while you're doing something else. Also, JAM is great and can handle a wide variety of different formats too. Ultimately, I think Sirius is best (for me) with its astounding 50Khz playback, so I tend to prefer this above all others.
