Swoop, Ambrosia, and all
Yan Lee
I love Ambrosia software. I like their work a lot. Although
many of their games are remakes, they do a real good job and there bits
of originality within them. Not necessarily the concept, but the way
things are done. Like how the asteroids rotate in Maelstrom. Or how the
coins drop in Apeiron.
However, I must say I am a little disappointed with Swoop. Why?
IMHO, I think Solarian II kicks butt. Solarian II had so many enemies
with so many different ways the enemy set themselves up. I love Level 11
in Solarian II where the enemies rotate back and forth, like, it's
psychedelic, hehe. It is good thing when Ambrosia makes a remake that
suprpasses others, but in this case they didn't.
I noticed that some people commented that Ambrosia did not have
the "manpower" to do something really original. I am tempted to flame on
that comment. Chiral is very original and is a good game. Minesweeper (
not really groundbreaking but original) and Tetris ( a bigtime hit ) did
not take a company a size of Microsoft to come up with. Even Bolo was
made by only one person. In fact, if one looks at the software industry,
the bigger the company, the less original they are :)
Anyways I trust that Ambrosia will make more good games in the future.
Tony
Jon A. Maxwell
] I noticed that some people commented that Ambrosia did not have
] that comment. Chiral is very original and is a good game. Minesweeper (
] not really groundbreaking but original) and Tetris ( a bigtime hit ) did
] not take a company a size of Microsoft to come up with. Even Bolo was
] made by only one person. In fact, if one looks at the software industry,
] the bigger the company, the less original they are :)
Maybe I am mistaken and Chiral is NOT the Ambrosia game where you put down
atoms and try to make molecules with no charge (no free electrons, anyhow).
But if it is.... it is anything but original. The original was called
Atomino and was released by Psygnosis, I think (although it was not written
by them). Atomino was FAR better that Chiral --in music, gameplay, and
graphics. I saw the graphics were better in Atomino, even though the Chiral
atoms /look/ better because nothing can replace seeing the electrons orbit
each atom! (I guess the mac or Ambrosia couldn't handle that level of
graphics speed..... or something.
In fact I would say Chiral is Ambrosia's worst game, that I've played
anyhow. Maybe it would be fun, except that I've actually played Atomino.
(I've go the music on tape since it is such cool 'traveling music'!)
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Trevor Powell
A. Maxwell) wrote:
> But if it is.... it is anything but original. The original was called
> Atomino and was released by Psygnosis, I think (although it was not written
> by them). Atomino was FAR better that Chiral --in music, gameplay, and
> graphics. I saw the graphics were better in Atomino, even though the Chiral
> atoms /look/ better because nothing can replace seeing the electrons orbit
> each atom! (I guess the mac or Ambrosia couldn't handle that level of
> graphics speed..... or something.
Okay, I know, I probably should have let this thread die, but I figured I
should probably say something here. I finally got a good look at Atomino
shortly after Chiral's release, and there are a number of similarities
(gameplay is very similar).. Still, I like to think that great minds
think alike.. ;) The answer to why Chiral didn't have the 'spinning
electrons' that Atomino did is simply that I didn't think of it when I was
developing Molecular Tendencies (Chiral's original name).. If you're
interested, btw, I've since done tests with Andrew's animation and
blitting toolkit, and the spinning electrons certainly could have been
done (on a low-end 040) if I'd come up with the idea.
I can only imagine the outrage that would have erupted if I'd gone through
with polishing and releasing the next project I was excited over.. which
turned out to be very, very similar to Neo Geo's "Puzzle Bobble" and
Nintendo's "In Yo Face" (I think that was the title).. ;) I had a working
prototype up and running when I saw a coin-op version (which was simpler,
easier, and with a more standard level structure, admittedly) in a local
arcade. ::sigh:: Back to the drawing board.
> In fact I would say Chiral is Ambrosia's worst game, that I've played
> anyhow. Maybe it would be fun, except that I've actually played Atomino.
> (I've go the music on tape since it is such cool 'traveling music'!)
::grin:: So, um, are you listening, Zach? (From the 'Swoop Sucks!'
thread).. I'm still getting the 'Chiral sucks' messages. ;)
Out of curiosity.. and this is totally unrelated to this thread.. I'm
trying to pick a new project to help me raise money for a CD-ROM
adventure/rpg I'd eventually like to create (okay, I admit, I've already
started on graphics and coding for it.. I just need money to buy more HD
space to store it all)... I was thinking about creating a new space
conquest game (in the vein of Ho/MOO/Pax), but am not sure if there's any
interest in a more complex entry in the same genre.. I'm wondering if the
market's glutted, that is. If anybody's got an opinion, I'd love to hear
from you (e-mail to tpo...@cmcvax.claremont.edu.. but only until 5/14/95,
when I'll be leaving college for the summer)
Trevor "I still think Chiral's lots of fun" Powell
David A. Kurtz
tpo...@cmcvax.mckenna.edu (Trevor Powell) wrote:
> I was thinking about creating a new space
> conquest game (in the vein of Ho/MOO/Pax), but am not sure if there's any
> interest in a more complex entry in the same genre.. I'm wondering if the
> market's glutted, that is.
Does it have to be *space*? Conquest games are all incredbly fun, but it
might be cooler if you could differentiate your product a bit (due simply
to the fact that you already mentioned -- there are already at least three
good space conquest games, as well as a few decent shareware ones too).
--
David A. Kurtz | Portions (c)1995 David A. Kurtz
da...@ucla.edu | The Microsoft Network is prohibited
dku...@lightside.com | from redistributing this work in any http://lightside.com/~dkurtz | form whatsoever.
Ian Russell Ollmann
On Sat, 6 May 1995, David A. Kurtz wrote:
> Does [a conquest game] have to be *space*? Conquest games are all
> incredbly fun, but it
> might be cooler if you could differentiate your product a bit (due simply
> to the fact that you already mentioned -- there are already at least three
> good space conquest games, as well as a few decent shareware ones too).
What else are you going to do? Space has been done, there are several
modern day conquest games. Civ. is a conquest game that spans time.
Warlords is a fantasy conquest game. So there you have it, future, past
and present day somewhat realistic conquest games as well as fantasy
settings. There is still plenty of room for remakes and improvements, but
I think it's going to be difficult to come up with an entirely new
setting for conquest games.
Ian
Trevor Powell
Ollmann <ia...@scripps.edu> wrote:
> On Sat, 6 May 1995, David A. Kurtz wrote:
>
> > Does [a conquest game] have to be *space*? Conquest games are all
> > incredbly fun, but it
> > might be cooler if you could differentiate your product a bit
[snip]
> What else are you going to do? Space has been done, there are several
> modern day conquest games. Civ. is a conquest game that spans time.
> Warlords is a fantasy conquest game. So there you have it, future, past
> and present day somewhat realistic conquest games as well as fantasy
> settings. There is still plenty of room for remakes and improvements, but
> I think it's going to be difficult to come up with an entirely new
> setting for conquest games.
::grin:: Got tired of seeing that subject title.. ;) I've pretty much
decided on, yes, a space game (if I do indeed do it).. definately
different from all the ones currently out there in several ways, which I
shan't go into here, for various reasons. ;)
I'll start work on it once I finish a short demo for that other CD project
I mentioned in an earlier message. Please take any responses to e-mail,
rather than discussing here. ("tpo...@cmcvax.mckenna.edu" will be active
for a week, or perhaps longer, forwarding e-mail to a different site)
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone, and thanks to those who've sent
e-mail about how much they like Chiral. :)
Trevor Powell