Archon "ORIGINAL" version ?
Walter DAO
I grew up looking at the Apple ][ version of the Archon game. As I
matured, I played the c-64 version of the game.
Many years have gone by and I have a been able to run various Apple ][
emulators on my PC clone.
While booting up the Archon game, It is written on the opening screen that
the Apple version was written by some other entity than Freefall .
My question :
On what computer was Archon originaly writtem ?
The intro on the c-64 was sweet. (bouncing title screen, cool tune, moving
board pieces ...etc ..)
(Apple 2 vers : just the tune with the standard gfx picture of the package)
bottom line :
On what computer was the game programmed ? I can only see 3 containders
-Apple ][, c-64, atari 400/800
Walt
Jim Nitchals
>
>While booting up the Archon game, It is written on the opening screen that
>the Apple version was written by some other entity than Freefall .
That's me. I did the work under contract to Electronic Arts. I did
the Apple II version of Archon II under contract to Freefall.
>
>My question :
>On what computer was Archon originaly writtem ?
It was written on an Atari 800. That was the first version that shipped.
I no longer remember the name of the development software they used, but
it was native on the Atari.
The Apple II version was written with a customized version of LISA, an
assembler written by Randy Hyde who's still around on Usenet somewhere
but not writing on classic computers.
>The intro on the c-64 was sweet. (bouncing title screen, cool tune, moving
>board pieces ...etc ..)
>(Apple 2 vers : just the tune with the standard gfx picture of the package)
Aah, but the picture had hand-tuned edges using the high bit to shift the
black and white by half pixels. If the Apple II could've scrolled it on
smoothly I would've :)
The C64 had vastly improved hardware for dealing with sprites and scrollable
backgrounds. Most of the graphics code that was downright EASY for them
was major work on the Apple II. Archon II was even worse, with animating
water and fire (done with character cell animation on the C64, but all
with fast bitmap routines on the Apple.)
- Jim
--
Jim Nitchals <ji...@netcom.com>
Ronald Watkins
: bottom line :
: On what computer was the game programmed ? I can only see 3 containders
: -Apple ][, c-64, atari 400/800
Archon was done first for the C64. It was a marvelous game.
Probably the best port was to the Amiga; while it was an early release
that barely touched what the Amiga could *really* do, it was still the
best version of Archon. The IBM port of Archon was so painfully bad it
was pitiful; IBMs were just XT's with CGA graphics, and were just
absolutely unsuited to playing games.
Archon II was done a few years later. As far as I know, it was
designed first for the Amiga and then ported from there. I didn't enjoy
it as much...it didn't have the sheer 'grab' of its predecessor.
Archon Ultra was released a year or so ago for the IBM platform
only. It's a dreadful game, not even as good as Amiga Archon I.
*sigh*.
<<RON>>
Jay Krell
cool.
--
-- Jay jay....@cornell.edu http://crux4.cit.cornell.edu/~jmk3 --
Wideman
screen of both Archons:
Ctrl-I J L N <enter> (all caps).
:^)
David Autry
(stuff deleted)
>
> That's me. I did the work under contract to Electronic Arts. I did
> the Apple II version of Archon II under contract to Freefall.
(stuff deleted)
>
> - Jim
>
> --
> Jim Nitchals <ji...@netcom.com>
Wow! Jim Nitchals! We're not worthy...we're not worthy! I have an old
Electronic Arts poster with you and some other folks on it. You guys that
used to write those games back in the 70s and 80s included something in
your games that a lot of games nowadays lack--playability. No fancy
graphics or sound (you did what you could with the hardware limitations),
or gigabytes of data, but they sure were fun! Archon was one of the best!
David Autry
dau...@uic.edu
Tom
... Stuff removed.
> Also -- check out the Amiga version of Archon if you want to
>see something sweet!!
Didn't the Amiga version only work on Workbench V1.2?
>--
> [[[ URL: http://www.pcs.cnu.edu/~bpatters ]]]
>+--------------------------------- ---- -- - - - - -
>|Blake W. Patterson "I'm not quite clear about what you just spoke-
>|bpat...@pcs.cnu.edu Was that a parable, or a very subtle joke?"
>|bl...@vigsun1.larc.nasa.gov
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Jim Nitchals
David Autry <dau...@uic.edu> wrote:
>Wow! Jim Nitchals! We're not worthy...we're not worthy! I have an old
>Electronic Arts poster with you and some other folks on it. You guys that
>used to write those games back in the 70s and 80s included something in
>your games that a lot of games nowadays lack--playability. No fancy
>graphics or sound (you did what you could with the hardware limitations),
>or gigabytes of data, but they sure were fun! Archon was one of the best!
Thanks for all the flattery :)
I wasn't on the EA posters. Let's see: Bill Budge, Jon Freeman & Anne
Westfall, Mike Abbott, and one or more people I forget.
Thank FreeFall for the playability of Archon. All I did was adapt their
design for the Apple II and Mac (btw, the Mac version broke ALL the rules
all the way down to page-flipping the video and jamming on the mouse
hardware for extra speed.)
The game designers were then, as now, the real heroes. People like me
are becoming commodity items for game development.
Matthew Fries
>>Wow! Jim Nitchals! We're not worthy...we're not worthy! I have an old
>>Electronic Arts poster with you and some other folks on it. You guys that
>>used to write those games back in the 70s and 80s included something in
>>your games that a lot of games nowadays lack--playability. No fancy
>>graphics or sound (you did what you could with the hardware limitations),
>>or gigabytes of data, but they sure were fun! Archon was one of the best!
>
>Thanks for all the flattery :)
>
>I wasn't on the EA posters. Let's see: Bill Budge, Jon Freeman & Anne
>Westfall, Mike Abbott, and one or more people I forget.
>
>Thank FreeFall for the playability of Archon. All I did was adapt their
>design for the Apple II and Mac (btw, the Mac version broke ALL the rules
>all the way down to page-flipping the video and jamming on the mouse
>hardware for extra speed.)
>
>The game designers were then, as now, the real heroes. People like me
>are becoming commodity items for game development.
Yeah, I had that poster too. I got mine autographed by bill budge when
he was in town going around to all the software stores promoting his
pinball construction set. It's a shame I don't have it anymore.
I wonder what happened to all those guys? (and gals)
Probably got married, bought a power book, and started PLAYING games
instead of writing them.
Johnson Lam
Hello Jim,
>>your games that a lot of games nowadays lack--playability. No fancy
>>graphics or sound (you did what you could with the hardware limitations),
>>or gigabytes of data, but they sure were fun! Archon was one of the best!
>Thanks for all the flattery :)
Archon is the best game in Apple ][ computers, 1 side of disk carry
out exciting action that can compete with friends, and the speed is
fast! I feel disappointed when I play x86 version of Archon, 486dx-33
was too slow, and the speed and exciting feeling less than Apple.
>Thank FreeFall for the playability of Archon. All I did was adapt their
>design for the Apple II and Mac (btw, the Mac version broke ALL the rules
The joystick routine was excellent, even in 1995.
Best Regards,
Johnson Lam.