Orion Prime : ordering has started !

[ivarf]

>can you give some numbers? How many copies were sold?


Millions !!!
Seriously though, combining the two ordering sessions :
175 copies sold in total, including 121 (FR), 33 (EN), and 21 (SP).


Trg.Aks

Not bad for a computer many considered
near dead 20 years ago
and stone dead 15 years ago


I am surprised if Amigagames sell more

[ukmarkh]

This is seriously good news for the CPC... long may it continue. I reckon it won't be long before someone releases a game on the CPC that nobody thought possible, and sales reach a thousand or more.

[Bryce]

Sorry Mark, nothing personal, I just couldn't resist it

Bryce.

[TFM]

>can you give some numbers? How many copies were sold?


Millions !!!
Seriously though, combining the two ordering sessions :
175 copies sold in total, including 121 (FR), 33 (EN), and 21 (SP).


Trg.Aks

Ok, great! Now I will learn French again! Will release everything in French! Anything else suXXX!

What a shame for the rest of the world!

[Gryzor]

I was considering buying the french and spanish versions as well (I got both the english 3/3.5" ones), but no money, no honey...

Keep us posted for the number of downloads, too

[ukmarkh]

Ok, great! Now I will learn French again! Will release everything in French! Anything else suXXX!

What a shame for the rest of the world!

It's probably because the game was more of an adventure... People in the UK maybe prefer the arcade stuff. But 33 sales for the UK still adds up, so don't alienate yourself. Has the programmer considered converting it across to the Speccy and C64... might end up selling shed loads. The extra cash could help finance other CPC projects?

[mr_lou]

It's probably because the game was more of an adventure... People in the UK maybe prefer the arcade stuff.

I'm also more of an arcade gamer. I've never had the brains to figure out adventure games, and I couldn't complete Monkey Island (even today) if my life depended on it. I can also say, that Dead on Time is much more interesting to me than Orion Prime.

But Orion Prime is no ordinary adventure game in my opinion. It's a CPC adventure game! And the most impressive one by far. It must be played. hehe
I admit, I haven't played it a whole lot yet, but I'm saving it for the right moment. Then I'll appreciate it more.

[TFM]

... But 33 sales for the UK still adds up, ....

Well, only 32 because I ordered the english box ;-) But honestly I think that this 32 boxes have been spread over the world to all non-french & non-spanish speaking countries. I know at least some other germans who got the english box, DeveloppmentMarkus and Octoate for example...

How much english boxes did really go to the UK?

And yes, the number of downloads would be of great interrest!

[fano]

Has the programmer considered converting it across to the Speccy and C64...

blasphemy 
Everything in this game has been done especially for the CPC.

[MacDeath]

Ok, great! Now I will learn French again! Will release everything in   French! Anything else suXXX!

Perhaps because in France, we search better than games co-produced ion Speccy and MSX, as quite a good portion of spanish recent production is, As I saw iat Madrid.
Not bad yet, as long as the game runs well on CPC and has specificly designed graphics.

People in the UK maybe prefer the arcade stuff. But 33 sales for the UK   still adds up, so don't alienate yourself. Has the programmer considered   converting it across to the Speccy and C64... might end up selling shed   loads. The extra cash could help finance other CPC projects?

I recognize the "perfide Albyon" who spammed us with speccy porks... erh... ports.
Lol, not only thx god...

Actually, Orion Prime is so heavily graphic oriented and Supersly so CPC maniac that...I'm actually not sure the game would be that great on C64 or Speccy, or even on Atari 8 bit...

The main argument is that supersly put a heavy Graphical presence, and worked so hard on CPC 3*3 palette that...well... and with no attribute limitation too...
Only MSXs (not 1 perhaps 2 and certaily 2+ and turbo R) can pretend to this.

Enterprise or sam coupé also perhaps....
Or Thomson MO6/TO8 or Amstrad PLUS (of course).

Concerning the "Scene".

French scene was more into Demo and crack/cracktros...at the time...
But we start at last to produce games...



Germany has never be that into games. yet great in Hardwares/OS.
Notable Exception being bollaware... but it was in the late 90's early 2000's...

Briton...well, you are a lot into CPC preservation, but don't produce a lot of games Am I right ?


Yet the fact is, a net-based co-production is quite possible and by all our powers combined...er... WTF ?
Sorry, drank some beers...and listening to Colour lines musics....


So more seriously, C64 and Speccy can't do a OrionPrime as on CPC.
Graphics are too good as a CPC based game.

It's as if "Bard's Tale" or "Pirates!" had a CPC version first, with a great CPC specialized Graphist...

And as such, the CPC scene has to be more brilliant than speccy or Commodork scene...
Or even 16 bit...

As the Game producing company were... Amstrad version being the first (Zombi, Ubi Soft...) or the best...Captain blood...Sqweek...er...Xyphoes ? lol)

But also Gryzor or Sorcery (from british companies, not ?) or Commando or Barbarian... (well, draw actually)


France has actually produced another Captain Blood 2009 on CPC, even badasser than the original Captain Blood... on CPC/8 bit... Orion Prime was its name...

And unless you use a CPC, a Thomson (yet sucks at sounds...[good part of even only OrionPrime's intro... ]and shitty 1mghz... lol...) or a MSX... (but Japanese can't do european games well... can they ? We have mostly MSX1 in europa... perhaps MSX2... but no real market...) no mass-market 8 bit is really a match....
Until C128 perhaps...er...not him...well more likely C-16 actually... (bad on animation but good on graphics) or Russian "overclocked video speccies"...(but hey, speccy is graphically flawned from the start...we know it...)


Of course, finding a proper Japanese translator and porting the game on MSX 2+ / turboR...may work...for the export sales...

But yeah, on graphic adventures/reflexion (RPG?) games with no "sprites" (not heavy user of those actually) nor Scrolls...CPC6128 is still damn better.


Well, Sam coupé scene or Enterprise 128 scene may try to get it on their machines ?
Especially the Enterprise folks who use to port CPC softs...directly...



The good part is that a project as Color Lines managed to put together peoples from 3 Amstrad countries...perhaps more...

We can achieve even better.

Er... Panother concern... perhaps some american do own a CPC in their collection ? are there any ? they should be given an edition to show of in museum...

[Gryzor]

I got two of the English copies, as mentioned. In Greece.

[ivarf]

and I have one english copy in Norway

[Cpcmaniaco]

And Deepfb 3 copies, one on each language.

[Nich]

175 copies sold in total, including 121 (FR), 33 (EN), and 21 (SP).

Does this include all of the copies that were sent to everyone who was involved in bringing the game to fruition (such as myself)?

[Nich]

I reckon it won't be long before someone releases a game on the CPC that nobody thought possible, and sales reach a thousand or more.

I thought Orion Prime is exactly that game?! I can't see anyone releasing a better game (in the sense of stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits) in the near future.

[TFM]

I thought Orion Prime is exactly that game?! I can't see anyone releasing a better game (in the sense of stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits) in the near future.

Orion Prime lives IMHO the most from the Graphics, the huge world it provides, the endless number of things that must be done, things like the minigames and also the great songs, and not so much "in the sense of stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits". It's an adventure not an action or arcade game. That should be kept in mind. And I love it like it is. But this does not mean that in other genres nobody can "stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits" a bit more.

[Targhan]

>Does this include all of the copies that were sent to everyone who was   involved in bringing the game to fruition (such as myself)?

It does include all the copies *produced*. Some were sent to the same people, who may use only one copy and put the others on a shelf as trophies .

[TFM]

Doesn't matter!    Looks like 99% of all CPC owners bought the boxed OP. I wouldn't wonder if people bought OP first and then bought a CPC (maybe after years again).

And if you see, how much you get for that small amount of money - it's amazing!

[Gryzor]

Orion Prime lives IMHO the most from the Graphics, the huge world it provides, the endless number of things that must be done, things like the minigames and also the great songs, and not so much "in the sense of stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits". It's an adventure not an action or arcade game. That should be kept in mind. And I love it like it is. But this does not mean that in other genres nobody can "stretching the CPC's capabilities to its limits" a bit more.

I agree. While I long for a new arcade-type game of the same magnitude, OP is just fantastic. I'd better withhold opinion till I play it to the end, but I think it is the pinnacle of the CPC megagames (there is a thread about that I think?)...

[ukmarkh]

I didn't mean this wasn't a fine adventure, just saying it'll probably inspire people to go on and go one better, regardless of the genre. I foresee a shoot-em-up or plat-former to set the standard in the same way Orion Prime has done for its genre.


The future looks bright, the future is 16 colour     

[Xyphoe]

Hey guys ... I ordered and received the game some weeks ago now so apologies for remaining silent...

Well this is because I was waiting for a free evening where I could be left alone, turn the lights off, set the mood and give myself a few hours to play it through properly.

What can I say except...

This is F***ING AMAZING!!!!

I absolutely love it, and well n truly addicted to it! I've never been much of an 'adventure game' fan, the most I ever got was playing "The Famous Five" adventure on an Amstrad Action cover tape, but this isn't at all a standard text adventure game... this is much more like B.A.T. which I loved, but didn't really bother progressing far... maybe because I wasn't sure where and what I was doing.. so this is testament to what an excellently designed game Orion Prime is because the learning curve is spot on and just continues to draw you in further and further. Incredibly well paced so ... what strikes me more than the excellent graphics, music and presentation (probably the best in any CPC game) is the whole game design aspect. Game design as a concept and process is still in these modern times often overlooked, and here in 2010 we have a CPC game that exemplifies what game design should be like.

Saying that, I'm not sure 'how far' I am into the game ... the timer says 2 hours + and I've just completed the mini game sections for turning on the primary pump. Would you say I'm at the half way point or do I have much much further to go?! I've gotten so into the game that for the first time I've sat down with pen and   paper and drawn out maps and notes of where everything is and all that!   Normally I would never have the patience or the attention span to do   this!

Talking of mini games, I don't want to give away any spoilers but there's so many extras such as the 'easter egg' (ha! see the new Dan Dare topic ... perhaps the Wiki could do with a section for these!) in the bar room!! Amazing!! I just love these little touches.

I wish I go back and revise that Top 20 Amstrad games vid I did on YouTube a few months back, because this game should surely belong in there.

Any criticisms?

I have a minor one, but going into detail might give away spoilers, so I'll save that for a later time when people have really played it through.
Not found any bugs so far at all, only occasionally it asks me to insert the same disc side that's already in there which I can live with for the super fast loader!

10/10

[Grim]

Would you say I'm at the half way point or do I have much much further to go?!

something like much much much much further to go

[Gryzor]

I guess we're expecting a video soon

[ukmarkh]

Someone I spoke with recently thought Orion Prime was a bit boring... can't mention names for obvious reasons.

[fano]

We are not fanatic fanboys , everyone can have an opinion about it , good or bad...