Thrust

Reliving my college days!

The thumping chiptune of the day is awarded to Thrust!! Let me explain... Earlier, I enjoyed a couple of plays and now must suffer the reward of having its funky music booming through my tiny mind. Yep, I just can't get it out of my head lol. Well, it's a good job then that it's one of my favourite Rob Hubbard masterpieces.

I love Thrust but I don't recall many rave magazine reviews? Probably because it didn't appear that much of a technical improvement over the 8-bit games? For me, that's good because it's perfect. Any cosmetic changes would have been a huge mistake. Remember Chuckie Egg 2, a shocking 16-bit disaster!

Thankfully, Thrust isn't like that. It's still a great game with tough mechanics and hugely addictive gameplay. I love it and so will you because it's a cracking game. It's as good today as it was back then - I should know, I spent most of my college years in the 'library' playing Thrust on a BBC Micro instead of studying!

It looks funky, sounds boomtastic and plays great so is a timeless classic for the Atari ST. Love it!!

D-Bug has a version of Thrust that you can install onto a hard drive/ultrasatan.

Those that need the floppy disk can check out Old Games Finder.

SNDH Record is the place if you fancy driving yourself crazy with this gorgeous chiptune?

Masochists can download it to play later, courtesy of the SNDH Archive. All good fun :-)

Rotor

One for the collection?

In the not-too-distant future, everything will be impossibly expensive. Jobs becoming scarce with no opportunities for the majority of us (now that's a surreal and scary prediction). Hmm, perhaps we should quickly move on? Anyhow, there is the prospect of joining the Roto-Raiders who pilot huge tanks through dangerous caverns for a lucrative reward. Only the brave need apply because the missions are deadly.

Dare you sign up? What, really? Yeah... Of course, we do so count me in!

Gravitar-Esque games are popular for the Atari ST. We have killer titles that are extraordinarily awesome - Oids and Thrust instantly come to mind. That means Arcana had to bring something new to the table in order to stand out from the crowd. Plus I naturally had high expectations considering the strong competition!

Before we crack on, I bought Rotor off eBay so let's look at all the goodies...

Yeah, it's hardly in perfect condition but it's pretty good and I like the design too.

  
Hmm, mind-blowing content? It's minimalistic but it's nice owning a piece of hiSTory.

Get to it, I wanna blow stuff up!

Rotor is like Thrust with numerous tasks split into separate missions. We begin with a training simulator to learn the controls, how to collect items, and kill the many different types of enemies. This is a great way to understand the basics and to learn (or rather grasp) the technical user interface. Oh, and the training needs to be fully completed before moving on to the real missions. That sounds like a con but it is a good thing.

You can attempt each mission in many different environments - earlier levels are tame compared to the torturous ones later. Every cavern has antagonists (as the manual loves to say) who are enemies like Cannons, Laser Guns and Gravity Generators. Some can be destroyed whereas others can be temporally disabled.

Our spaceship is a large circular craft with adequate but sluggish manoeuvrability. Physics plays a part, so there is gravity to consider and you can only accelerate in the current facing direction. The caverns are vast and claustrophobic due to the ship's size and lacklustre abilities (feels leaden compared to Thrust or Oids).

All missions follow the path of needing to complete requirements like shooting Container Pods for their contents. Destroying them and killing as many enemies as possible rewards extra points. All this is within the time constraints of limited fuel and armour. Once you're finished, exit coordinates detail where to go to escape.

Simple stuff, so let's take a peep at a couple of early screenshots...

The training missions are a fantastic way to learn the ropes.

In this simulator, we only need to shoot (and then collect) what's in that box. Easy!

Power-ups & other stuff

Rotor could have been a simple game of shooting/collecting stuff. But it's not. Arcana obviously thought this would be far too boring, so jazzed it up with pointless clutter. Let's begin with its user interface...

On the left-hand side, is a map detailing your position, the dots above that are your remaining lives. The coordinates of zeros will change once the mission is complete to show the exit location to rendezvous (the other coordinates are your current location). The three icons between these are 1) the time left until a bomb explodes. 2) The time left until a disabled laser resumes. 3) The required number of crystals to gain exit coordinates.

At the bottom of the screen is the radar and this shows helpful information like the state of your armour, cargo, and remaining fuel. However, it also displays potential enhancements that can be gained by collecting pearls. For example, the second icon is for the ship's rotational speed. The third icon improves upon its lethargic thrust.

Hang on, what was that about Container Pods and Pearls? Container pods offer a variety of goodies like fuel, upgrades, explosives (potential traps) and sun crystals (to exit the level). Pearls affect performance significantly: collect two and the ship rotates faster. Pick up a third and you can upgrade the thrusters.

I cannot help but wonder why they needed to be earned rather than come as standard? It feels unnecessary to upgrade the ship during a mission instead of concentrating on the task. Too convoluted.

Let's take another look at some more screenshots from my victorious venture...

Blast those gun turrets before attempting to sneak by.

Things are getting hectic in Lego land which is very difficult to manoeuvre through.

Tips and level codes!

• Don't even think about skipping the training missions. Trust me!
• Bombs automatically activate after first shooting the pod. You have two options, leave the screen safely and survive or collect the extra cargo and take it home.
• Beware of how much cargo you're carrying. Extra weight means a slower ship using more fuel.
• Watch the walls, take your time and let the scrolling catch up with you.
• If something is able to shoot at you then it's best to shoot that first and clear the way.
• I hate to say this, but don't worry about ship upgrades as this wastes time (and fuel).
• I said don't skip the training but, if you really can't wait, here are the level codes:

Level 1 = GAG,

Level 2 = LIP,

Level 3 = SLY,

Level 4 = MEW,

Level 5 = AWE,

Level 6 = TNT.

 

As tough as it is groovy-looking. Must admit, I do love the weird palette!

Argh, this level looks so passive but is insane! I died straight after taking this screenshot.

Input & Output

Controls are as familiar: fire button to (erm) fire, upwards to thrust and left/right rotates your craft. I doubt there would be any reason to change this asteroid-ripping formula because it's tried, tested and works great. However, my problem is the craft's manoeuvrability which is far too sluggish by default, and that's a bit rubbish.

Graphically, Rotor is lovely, with a futuristic/Tron-like feel for the training simulator. Later levels look funky with colour and a design that feels 8-bit in some respects. The screen scrolls in all four directions smoothly but it will struggle to keep up with your ship if go too fast. Hmm, at least that forces you to be more careful I guess?

The sounds are acceptable albeit not the best you've heard. There are effects for the engine, shooting, enemies, etc. They hold back the deafening silence of space and make Rotor pretty much what you expect.

I think it's time for the final run of sexy screenshots...

Later levels are far too hard (for me) because there's too much going on for your sluggish ship.

Another later level which has far too much going on for my reactions to cope with!

The CryptO'pinion?

I've enjoyed Rotor but not nearly as much as I should have. Don't get me wrong, Rotor has some good points like the training missions and groovy graphics. However, it complicates what should be a fun shooter for no decent reason. The worst is the necessity of ship upgrades during the game rather than after each stage.

There's a lot to moan about, I guess? I have enjoyed Rotor, it's good to play and something new. But let's not kid ourselves, it's bordering on mediocre compared to Thrust and Oids. Close but no cigar!

PP has adapted Rotor to be run from a hard drive and Old Games Finder has the floppy disks.

Grav

Downlow on Brownlow

I've had Grav on my bucket list for far too long. Like many, it's something that I fondly remember and wanted to share with those who may have missed it. Grav is a game similar to Oids, Thrust, and Rotor. However, it wasn't commercial, but rather shareware, released by Martin Brownlow in 1991. Now that's impressive.

The story goes that something evil is going about conquering galaxies and now has its eyes on ours. This predictably evil creature has arrived at Earth, so rather than wait for our demise, we are tasked with a preemptive strike attack at two of its secret bases. Each is split into four separate missions, and we can choose either to do first. Every mission has a briefing; always read that before attempting the challenge. Completing all the levels wins the game and sends whatever this evil entity is back to its own galaxy.

Fancy a quick break? I hope so because I have some screenshots on their way...

The start screen - read the briefing and use its craft options wisely.

Wait, STOP!! Don't shoot that generator because we only have half a tank of fuel.

Phew! I wasn't an idiot after all... That blue glow means I'm refueling.

Gimme that joystick!

Before diving into the main game, I recommend starting with the three training missions. As you begin, you'll notice key information at the bottom of the screen: your score, unused bombs, fuel level, shield strength, and remaining lives. These training levels are designed to help you get familiar with the controls, understand the typical cavern layout, and learn about the dangerous enemies you'll face. The controls are similar to other shooters: Left and Right rotate your craft, Up activates thrust, and Down is something you need later. Tap the fire button to shoot, or hit the Spacebar to launch a powerful bomb - perfect for tougher foes.

Each cavern has a myriad of hostile objects that the enemy has planted in various locations. Turrets are everywhere and fire constantly, while other hazards like Repulsors push your ship away. (Yes, there are Attractors too, pulling you in). Later levels introduce new and improved turrets that fire more rapidly. Another enemy launches homing bombs that seek you out - so shoot them first. The base cannot be destroyed until its bay doors are open. Additionally, don’t go around blowing up everything without thinking. Remember that fuel gauge at the bottom of the screen? You’ll need it. Generators - oddly enough - refuel your ship when you land near them. So maybe don’t shoot those straight away, not until you've robbed them of their worth!

Always begin your game by reading the mission briefing; it instructs you exactly what is required to beat each level. What I didn't expect was the "Review Craft" option, which allows you to use a limited supply of "resource points" to upgrade your craft. This is similar to Rotor but much better and feels part of the game rather than a bolt-on. It's here you get the opportunity to make several adjustments to the controls...

• Impact Shields - to protect from enemy fire (1 point)
• Turn Rate - alter the rotational speed (0 points, so use it)
• Shot Power - costs the most and is possibly overrated at the start (5 points)
• Vane Strength - for better landings (2 points)
• Thrust - for a speedier ship, but practice first! (0 points)

I'm sure you are ready for a screenshot break before the gripping conclusion? Here you are then...

Beginning the first stage, and it's tough from the get-go!

Turrets are firing from both sides, so don't dawdle!

I made it up, and instantly, a hidden turret appeared. I was quick (for once) and shot it!

CryptO'pinion

Let's be honest, for a shareware game, GRAV rocks. It's absolutely superb and almost up there with its commercial siblings, which is quite incredible when you think about it. I adored being able to alter the ship's mechanics (I preferred to reduce the turn whilst increasing the thrust and improving the shields). However, nothing can completely compensate for my gaming skills, but Grav sure tries its hardest. Ha!

It's not all roses, as I found the cavern designs harder than I first imagined. Boy, are there some tight spaces to try and navigate? Not to mention if near a Repulsor, that made it nigh on impossible for me to pass. Also, I hated having to restart from the beginning after dying. My last moan is about the audio - I find it odd that the ship makes no thrusting sound. Everything else makes a sound, yet the engine is eerily silent.

Like the other games previously mentioned, Grav is another "Gravitar" game to gleefully add to our catalogue. It's great to play with smooth scrolling and sampled sound effects. Plus, I loved the little touches - like being able to intercept enemy fire, making use of training missions, and reconfiguring your craft. The only thing is, it's very tough. Are you a good enough pilot to take on this challenge? I hope so because this is a damn fine shooter. Although I shall never have the skills to complete it, I rate Grav an alien-splattering 80%.

• Slap it onto your hard drive https://atari.8bitchip.info/SCRSH/grav.html
• Awesome/Elite has a great disk https://dev.atarilegend.com/games/grav
• Fantastic game maps by SToS https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=479534#p479534
• Check out this video by Rob Capper https://youtu.be/DNT2aR06MaU?si=i4e3aisffiTVme_v

Yet another tight space to try and navigate through without embarrassingly dying!

Another tricky maneuver is needed here...

Being shot at from all angles, and then I noticed that bomb-launcher up there!!

Stardust

Meh, another Asteroids?

Stardust was released late in the ST's life by Bloodhouse in 1994 and it's not only one of the last commercial games released but is actually an STe-only product. Developed by several famous names from our great demoscene (thank you Aggression) these guys burnt the midnight oil to deliver a wicked twist on the original Asteroids arcade genre.

It not only plays similarly to that old favourite but also features modern aesthetics for extra zest. Such as ludicrously awesome colours and sampled sound effects; all are quite stunning and complement the frantic action.

Wanna see the war plan? It's technical but translates to "kill everything and don't die!". Check this out...

A clear and accurate war plan, I'm sure you'll agree? lol

Bam! Bam! Bam! Blast the rocks!

There are a total of five levels with each containing six missions. All are host to a variety of rocks along with the expected dangerous baddies. After each level is completed, you must travel through a wormhole-like tunnel onto the next part of the galaxy like something from Buck Rogers or Starwars!! These tunnels are filled to the brim with oncoming rocks for you to dodge or destroy - no easy task but it's a thrilling moment that I never expected to play!

Bonus levels pop up regularly and feel similar to a particular Thrust clone. Note, these are optional but you must be daft to ignore the fun. So don't be daft!! Of course, a game like this wouldn't feel right without End-Of-Level Bosses. Each mission has them and these guys are tough! Much perseverance will be required during these enjoyable romps.

It's time to stop reading and enjoy some pixels! Let's take a peep at another screenshot...

Check out these outstanding and colourful visuals!! Amazing stuff.

Enhanced gaming!!

Stardust is something else. It's on another level with gritty, fast-paced gameplay. The basic mechanics are what you would expect - Asteroids - so it also feels more or less as you would expect. This is awesome because you can jump straight in and begin playing without that learning curve. Heck, it's all about dodging and shooting. Are you tough enough?

The controls are also familiar: left and right will manoeuvre your spacecraft around. Pushing upwards will thrust you forward into hell. Don't worry, we have a shield that aids you during those sticky moments. Finally, our ship's main weapon is more than capable - perfect for gratifying rock-blasting!! Nothing wrong here, folks. This is all super-spacey-gun-fun!

This next screenshot does itself no justice. Seriously cool stage with mind-blowing fx...

Buck Roger's side event is absolutely exceptional. Impossible not to be impressed.

Enhanced Aesthetics

Graphically, Stardust is utterly glorious. Everything is bold and colourful with stunningly smooth animations. The rocks are also something else with jaw-dropping 3D renditions that look beautiful. Not only that but the display is running in overscan!! Yep, it looks so HOT and everything is in overscan which means lots of extra pixels to blast.

Equally impressive; is the audio with beautiful examples of thumping stereo tunes, accompanied by BAM!! BAM!! BAM!! DMA sound effects. This is one shooter that's gonna blow your socks off. If I can offer one piece of advice: crank up the volume!! Yes, I guarantee you will love everything Stardust delivers so turn it up high. No, even higher! :-)

This is one of the best-looking/sounding Atari STe games ever released. Let's have another screenshot...

Look out! Move quick and keep on firing - are your reactions good enough?

The CryptO'pinion?

This is a spectacular showcase of what the Atari STe is capable of when in the hands of people with talent and commitment. These guys didn't simply rehash an old idea or produce a weak Amiga port. No, they unleashed a product that feels fresh and exciting. The effort that everyone put into the gameplay, visuals, and audio is far beyond praiseworthy.

Stardust is a joyride of rock-blasting thrills and a perfect shoot 'em-up. One of the best games I have played.

Download for floppy or hard drive.

OIDS!

Oids, the final frontier...

Certain games need no introduction; they are classics that changed the course of history. Think of Knight Lore (Speccy), Dungeon Master (ST), Doom (PC) and you get the idea. Oids is another that needs no introduction but, this one is possibly restricted to the Atari ST world, and all those who looked on in green envy, of course! Well, let's continue on anyhow just in case you are braindead and have never heard of this game before...

Little iddy biddy Oids are our robotic friends but they are being mistreated, in a terrible way by their evil creators, the Biocretes. Innocent oids are being held prisoner on various remote planets located in the deepest parts of space without any noticeable atmosphere - yet strangely trees still managed to grow! ;-)

Oids was created by Dan Hewitt who unleashed it onto the world in 1987 by FTL. For years, it remained an Atari ST exclusive title until 2002 when the Apple Mac got a conversion. (the older PPC Macs, not the newer Intel or ARM Macs). Anyhow, this is a bid deal for the ST because it's exclusive and holds dear memories.

Okay, we've hit the point where even I'm bored of reading, so let's view a screenshot...

Hurry up and rescue little stickmen from that prison!

In space, no one can hear you scream!

Similar to any Gravitar game, we navigate a spaceship through caverns searching for our metallic friends. Use your weapons to destroy the buildings holding them captive; find a place to land so they can climb on board. Now, sit back and watch as the superbly-animated stickmen make their way toward your ship. Simple and elegant. Once everyone is found, the mothership appears to whisk everyone to safety.

Controls are simple to turn, thrust, fire and so on. It might sound strange to rotate and turn your ship in the right direction before thrusting. But it works perfectly well and in tune with the physics and gravity of each planet. It feels real, without being fiddly or difficult and are precise and perfect.

Those Biocretes aren't going to sit back and passively watch as you take the captives. They are an evil bunch and have laid many traps and hazards. Not only that, but each planet has a wealth of artillery defences: rocket launchers, gun turrets, repulsers, gravity bases, etc. Everything can be destroyed, but don't expect a mothership or ground base to be easy. Sometimes it's best to fly away like a cowardly chicken!

Let's pause my yapping and see a lifeless planet with trees. Or is it just nighttime? You decide...

Hang on, so trees can grow fine on rocks without an atmosphere?

Sound & Vision?

Visually, this game might appear simple and without much to it. Well, stop right there buddy boy, because this game is bang-on awesome. The outline of each planet's landscape is represented by a rough terrain design which looks ragged and suits the barren theme. Buildings, turrets and all other objects are detailed very nicely. However, it's the excellent animation of those stickmen that makes my grin very wide!!

The audio is lacking in the chiptune dept - there isn't any! But we get to hear the boing...boing... of the ball in a cool 3D intro. In-game effects are for the ship's thrusters and guns - I love the firing sounds and other explosion effects are nice. The audio is perfect and any music would kill the dead-of-space atmosphere.

It was 1987, a time when the ST was a baby. Yet, Dan/FTL released (another) timeless classic...

Roaming around planets is fun but later levels are very, very hard to master. Learn to pilot!

The CryptO'pinion?

Every ST nutter loves this game because Oids is absolutely magnificent!! The idea isn't original but the execution is spot-on thanks to superb mechanics, realistic physics, and interesting levels. Not only is this an Atari ST exclusive, it's enjoyable and extremely challenging thanks to great gameplay. A wonderful shooter.

Oids is one of the most outstanding games released - it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! ;)

UPDATE: 8BitChip has updated Oids with better framerates!!

8BitChip has a download that can be installed on HDD.

Klaz Hideaway has a great download for floppy and HDD.

Read the Oids manual (Apple Mac but relevant)

Richard Davey

I'm always excited to meet people from the ST world, both past and present. I'm especially thrilled about this interview as it transported me back to the ST's later days, including my emulator years after migrating to the Apple Mac (PPC/1997).

So far, I've interviewed 16 incredible ST guys, which has been an absolute honour. So, let me present the 17th with great pleasure. Yep, it's Rich who you will know as the brains behind the Little Green Desktop! Not only that, but he's also the fella behind those cute visuals in Stario, a gorgeously cute (cough) Mario ripoff.

I found it interesting to discover his motives and passions for the Atari ST. He knows his games and favours some crackers too (do you remember me playing Color Clash?). Not only that, it was fascinating to discover how he came to love the demoscene and its culture. Hearing of his history concerning the MSX and Speccy +3 was fascinating. At least this lead the way to the mighty Atari ST and its Super Pack.

I found Richard kind and enthusiastic although I was shocked by his "modesty" regarding those pixel skills I admire so much. Especially when you consider the Calvin and Hobbes factor. My gratitude to Richard for his time and I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I have? Hey, after you've finished reading this, check out even more interviews?

Richard is featured within the Demozoo archives where you can view more of his excellent work.

 Richard Davey ~ The Interview 

Hello Richard, tell us all a bit about yourself

I was born in 1975 and for as long as I can remember, if we went around to friends or family and they had a computer or console. That would be me lost to the sirens' call of the devices :) We'd travel to the seaside on holiday, and I'd vanish into the arcades until my money was exhausted. Once it was so I'd just stand there mesmerized, watching others play. They were captivating to me in a way nothing else was.

To this day, I can remember visiting a friend who owned a BBC. He ran a program on it, which was an animated demo featuring dancing skeletons. They would take their heads off, roll them down their bony arms, and flick them back on again, all in time to music. I was enamoured that a computer could do this. I pestered my parents for a home computer. I didn't care which one. I just wanted one!

They relented and bought a Toshiba MSX. It had many wonderful games, including lots of Konami cartridges such as Antarctic Adventure, Hyper Rally, and Yie Ar Kung Fu. It also came with several books on BASIC programming, which I devoured. The first program I entered, I didn't realise you had to press RETURN at the end of each line, so I just moved the cursor down. Strangely enough, it didn't work :)

However, I didn't know any other kids who owned an MSX, and I was frustrated at being unable to swap games at school. So we "upgraded" to a Spectrum +3, with those crazy expensive disks. Of course, in retrospect, it wasn't an upgrade at all. The MSX is significantly more capable, with a great keyboard and some staggering games that load instantly thanks to the cartridge. The +3 was a technical step down, but the volume of games available to me exploded. Interestingly, MSX content is extremely collectable these days, with good-quality items going for hundreds! And I sold ours just to get a Speccy. Ahhh, the joy of hindsight.

It's a shame that no MSX photo was ever taken. At least we have a later capture with his Falcon!

Tell us about the years that followed

It was less than a year after getting the +3 when I started seeing the Atari ST appearing in anger in magazines like C+VG. To this day, I still remember the C+VG issue that had Xenon on the cover (issue 77, March 1988) and the screenshots inside of it. The graphics were like nothing I had ever seen before. A world apart from the Spectrum and even the MSX.

I knew I had to have one. I saved money from my paper rounds and odd jobs, and combined with a birthday, I took the bus into the city with my Mum one weekend, visited a large department store, and bought the Atari ST Super Pack. I carried it home on the bus, beaming from ear to ear. My life had changed forever.

The Super Pack came with a large bundle of games, including Xenon, Thundercats, Buggy Boy, and Ikari Warriors, all of which sucked-up hours of my life. It also came with a few real duffers like Chopper X and Road Wars! But even those were graphically way beyond the Spectrum I was used to.

Using a mouse was great, and I enjoyed the power of GEM and the loading speed from disk compared to tape. In August 1989, I bought issue 1 of ST Format, and the cover disk contained a demo of Bloodwych, GFA Basic, and what I thought was an amazing sampled sound demo: Stringray.

That, combined with menu disks from the likes of the Pompey Pirates, introduced me to the demoscene. It felt like the disks could hold so much content back then. In terms of actual bytes, of course, they couldn't, but if you look at it from the point of view of the variety of content you could fit on them, they were absolute gold mines.

Previously I had been all about playing games on the MSX and Spectrum, with a little artwork and coding - but the ST represented something different. A new computing era for me. Perhaps it was my age? Perhaps I was just mature enough to be able to explore the creative side of computing now? I was growing as a person, the ST was there, growing with me, showing me all of these great new avenues and communities I never even knew existed. And I dove head-first into it.

The power and versatility of the Atari ST must have been mindblowing at that time.
It eventually led to projects like Stario and many more throughout the 90s.

This is a games website, so what are your faves?

Like lots of gamers, I struggle to maintain a consistent list of favourites. Remembering one title sparks off the memory of another, and soon that list has grown beyond its original bounds. So instead, here are some games that sit very fondly in my mind for several different reasons:

• Buggy Boy - this came with my ST and I played it for hours! It's a superb racing game and one of those rare titles that I feel has aged well.
• Bloody Money - there's something addictive about this shooter. I think it's the slow pace, it's almost sedate in nature but dials up the challenge little by little.
• Turrican 2 - the raster sky effects! The music! The speed! That final level, when you're escaping the exploding thunderball in your spaceship! Just perfection.
• Dungeon Master - do I need a reason? It's Dungeon Master, for goodness sake!
• Oids - this game is sublime. A wonderful take on Thrust with a brilliant level editor and great animations. The way you can melt the poor oids with your thruster still makes me grin.
• Dynabusters+ - this PD game is a brilliant take on Bomberman with great sampled sounds.
• Flood - this sits alongside Captain Dynamo as one of those often overlooked but sublime to play platform games.
• Golden Axe - there aren't many arcade conversions I rate on the ST, but this is up there with the best of them.
• Hunter - definitely responsible for my love of sandbox gaming. Who can forget all of those great vehicles at your disposal?
• Nitro and Super Cars 2 - they are in the same camp of great overhead racing games. I like my cars to have guns, otherwise I'm just not interested.
• Special Forces - a tactical espionage/infiltration game from Microprose. I lost hours to this when I should have been doing my GCSEs!
• Robotz - if you own an ST, you know how great this PD game is.

Me - how odd that he didn't mention Stario ;)

Richard has great tastes and we share many favourite Atari ST games.

Let's talk about Stario and how this came about

I was talking to James (of Top Byte) one day, and he told me about this game he had been sent. It was a complete rip of the NES Mario Bros, right down to the graphics! He wanted to release it but knew he legally couldn't. I said I'd be happy to look at the graphics, and we took it from there.

I received a few disks and set about making sure it wasn't entirely Nintendo's pixels that Atari players would see on screen. I used Deluxe Paint ST because it was (and remains) my favourite art tool on the ST, although I actually did the graphics on my Falcon running under ST emulation. It was a real challenge to maintain the speed of the original, the sprites used dramatically limited bit planes. For all of them, I had 3 colours maximum I could use (from a fixed palette of 16).

Going legit...

I was a big Calvin and Hobbes fan, so I redrew Mario to look like a little pixel version of Calvin. The other creatures I modified as best I could. Strange spikey monsters, frogs, etc. You can tell I was losing steam when it came to the tiles? Because those are very similar to the Nintendo originals. All in all, it only took a few weeks to do. I shipped them back, and that was that.

I did have a little interaction with Adrian (the developer), via his Dad, who requested a few changes. But what you see in the final game is largely the first pass at it all.

Looking at it now, the graphics aren't very good. A real pixel artist could have done a much better job, even with the bitplane limitations. Thankfully, when people play it, they mostly focus on how fast and smooth it is - and because it feels responsive and moves well, they can forgive the amateur graphics.

Any regrets about making the change?

No, it would have been taking the piss to release it with the actual Mario graphics still in it! Plus, I don't think any magazines would have reviewed it. So it was sensible to change the graphics. I'm glad I found the old disks with the Mario graphics on, though, so they eventually got released anyway.

Top Byte/Top Dollar

I liked James (who ran Top Byte). He was an enthusiastic guy and had a knack for cultivating a good little community. That is what the Atari was all about at that point. The big commercial companies had left, and it was the grassroots communities that held it all together. I'd talk with him for ages over the phone.

On the downside, I never saw a penny for my work on the game :) So I've no idea how many copies it sold. I doubt it was big numbers, but it did review well, so likely a few hundred copies at least.

Me - I see you have a boxed version. Wanna donate it to the Crypt?

Rich - It sits proudly on my gaming shelf, where it will remain :)

 

Of course, I tried bribing Rich, but sadly, he had none of it. Damn!!

What about other games?

I've never done any serious commercial games. Although to be honest, I never tried to either. I was too fascinated by the PD and demo scene. Games were more just for creating and throwing out there fast, to share with friends, not for 'making money' with them.

Robert Annett, a friend from the Storm / STOS days, and I worked on a couple of games - with me on the graphics. We released Super Tet and Shockwave. He did most of the heavy lifting. I just pixel-pushed for them. Shockwave was a good Asteroids-style game and published as licenseware by New Age PDL, whom I traded disks with a lot at the time. Super Tet was released in 1992 and was a standard Tetris game, although even now, I still like the graphics I did for it. DPaint fills for the win.

Fun fact: the digitised face in the middle of the playfield is Sting. I didn't even like Sting's music, I just had his head on a disk for some reason, and it slotted in well.

I've also worked on other games over the years, including Dopewars, some graphics for Biohazard 2, and a strategy game called Outrider. I was clearly stealing other people's art there! The title screen is obviously a scan from White Dwarf magazine, which I then drew a logo over. And the lady on the credits screen was nicked from an art disk. The 3D intro was taken from the PC. I don't actually remember which game, but I stole the cockpit and 'mini-screens' animation - and then I coded the star field effect and the planet appeared.

The game itself was a fun little strategy title. I did the in-game graphics, which was a nice change of style. Small buildings, tanks, UI, etc. Again, it's not exactly great. I'm absolutely not a good artist! Even so, I enjoyed making it. If I remember correctly, the game was actually called Battle for the Stars. We renamed it to Outrider for Top Byte. There are other silly games, too, like Octopod and GoSub! I still have the graphics lurking around.

All images are kindly supplied by Rich. The middle two are of the unreleased game Blasto.

Tell us about the demos!

I adored the demoscene, and I still do. Storm was never a serious demo group. It was more just a collection of friends, both in school and people I traded disks with. We all used STOS and wanted to make demos with it. So, we did. There are only really two megademos to our name, and I use that term very loosely as the first one didn't even have a proper menu system!

The second demo, Cor Blimey, was mostly the work of Robert Annet and his older brother, who developed a number of the screens and compiled the whole thing together. There were a few STOS crews back then, such as the Radioactive Hedgehogs, and it was a fun rivalry. Although the release of the Misty and Missing Link extensions kind of put paid to that.

The demoscene was and still is all about the community. Sure, there were the technical challenges and one-upmanship, of course. Bragging rights were a big part. But I think most would agree it was the friendships built up and within the demo groups that endured long after the machines fell out of grace.

Storm pushed STOS quite well and Richard created the face image using Crackart (1999).

You appear to enjoy diskmags?

I loved disk magazines! I loved reading them, and I loved helping create them. The ST had loads of great mags: ST News, Maggie, Ledgers, Power Mag, STOSSER, Ictari, etc. They fascinated me, and I spent many a fun evening reading and writing for them.

I bought one of the first Atari Falcon 030s on the market. It was crazy expensive. I had worked for months to save up for it! Yet it was and remains the pinnacle of Atari home computing. I enjoyed many years with my Falcon, running the Falcon Owners Group, a big PD library, publishing a magazine, and squeezing every last drop of love out of that machine before the PC finally took over the world. I still have a Falcon today, which I recently renovated (recapped, new parts, etc) - but perhaps that's a story for another day?

The first 3 (maybe 4) issues of Falcon Update were printed. I've sent you issue 1 and some pics from 2 and 3, but I have not scanned the whole of issue 2. I did scan the whole of issue 3 but don't have the time to convert it to a PDF right now.

The diskmag used a magazine shell that I coded in GFA Basic 3 on my Falcon! I bet it would work on Hatari, might be worth trying. I worked with Anthony Jacques to create a Falcon-specific shell, which was based on the Windows 95 concept of using a start menu. It was nicely coded, lovely for the time - but sadly never used and never released. I did release the prototype shells years ago, but no actual magazine was made using it.

Me - I cannot wait for Rich to complete PDF issues 2 and 3!!

Again, I think it all comes back to the social aspect. I know I keep harping on about this, but for me, that is what made the ST and Falcon special. It wasn't the machines themselves (although that did play their part). It was the people I met while using them. Some of which I'm still in contact with today.

Richard is right, the ST/Falcon has an incredible community to this day!

I couldn't end without asking Rich questions about LGD

Ahhh, good old LGD :) I created the first version of the site back when emulation was really taking off. PaCifiST had been released, and I loved it! I still had most of my Atari disks and a few CDs or burned games, and I was working for an ISP, helping look after their servers and working on web development full-time. So it was the perfect marriage at the perfect time.

When it came to creating the site, I knew it had to look like GEM. I also had all of the Pompey, Automation, Medway, etc. disks available. So I stuck them on my PC in the office of the ISP I worked for and ran an FTP server. When I put the site live, it utterly saturated the bandwidth on our line! So I had to introduce some rate limits, but the ball had started rolling, and visitors to LGD spread like wildfire.

Lots of other ST sites were popping up at the time: Demonburps ST Emporium, Lunar Jetmans site, etc. It was fun to be part of all of this. Like the old community was coming back together again, this time via the web and emulation. I contacted the developer of PaCifST, and LGD became its official home. After which, we added WinSTon (one of my all-time favourite ST emulators), and it grew from there.

LGD itself went through a few variations over the years, adding in the games database, the magazine scans, the YM player music, the TOS ROMs, and more. You have to remember back then, most people were still connecting via dial-up, so a nice speedy site was important. It was a wonderful few years, and I met a lot of famous ST legends thanks to it. I'm pleased with the role it took in bringing the Atari ST back into the public consciousness. Plus, I still believe it did it elegantly, much more so than most other sites at the time :)

And yes, I really ought to get around to fixing it one day. I've gone into the ancient PHP code and had a look a few times over the years, but wow, it's really old. I mean decades old. And I've never justified the time it would take to redo it so it could run on a modern server. One day, perhaps...

An iconic moment and website for many of us back then. Much loved!!

What are you up to these days?

I run my own company, Photon Storm (named after the classic Jeff Minter ST game!), and my day job is the creation/maintenance of the game framework Phaser. This allows developers to create games in and for the browser, although you can take them out to Steam and mobile stores. It's open source, heavily inspired by my love of the Atari, the demoscene, and all things retro, and is financially supported by its great community.

It may be 4 decades later, but that excitement and thrill I got from computers and gaming back in the 80s has never left me. And I'm very happy that I can bring this to fresh new developers today. It's like everything has come full circle. I guess some things just never change :)

Rich - Photon Storm Ltd.

Tipbit: I collect ARC games and Photon Storm

is the only one I've left to buy! #spooky

One more thing...

Hey, before you go, how about some insider photos from Richard's years throughout the 90s? These photos are excellent but the PDF of Falcon Update is unbelievable. My gratitude to Rich for everything and thank you for taking the time to answer all my Qs over such a long period of time - we eventually got it done! :)

• The exclusive PDF download - Falcon Update issue #1 (including covers of issues 2/3)

Don't rush off just yet! Check out this final run of images kindly donated by Rich...

Richard's room at university was taken around 1993.

This photo was taken during his Falcon Update years - around 1994/95.

Check this out, the original Stario with that annoying Italian plumber Mario!

Now this is a cool image!

Does anyone remember this remarkable image?

Taken from issue 7 of Falcon Update.

Unreleased shell from FOG issue #10.