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Worst Ever Amstrad CPC Games

Started by Xyphoe, 07:19, 05 September 11

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EgoTrip

Sultan's Maze was made in 1984. It was at the beginning of the CPC's life. What it achieved was OK for the time, but I feel like im repeating myself really. Its unfair to put it up against later games. I personally enjoyed playing it. It took ages to load cos it was in BASIC and although I can't be bothered to load it up and check right now, it probably uses up all of the available memory. Also, Amsoft games were recorded in standard AMSDOS format in SPEED WRITE 0, for reliability, so this is another reason they took so long.

At least it WAS playable, unlike the machine code Home Runner which was fucking awful in every way, and on a level of depravity all by itself. Super Gran is almost as bad to play, but at least (very minimal) effort was put into the horribly flickery graphics, not using redefined characters.

Shaun M. Neary

Sultans Maze, as bad as it was, was only made worse by it's 17 minute loading time for such poor, slow drawing graphics, for reasons already explained.


3D Monster Chase by Romik wasn't much better, but at least the loading time was halved and the graphics were easier to see. Still zero playability though.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

AMSDOS

Quote from: EgoTrip on 19:39, 06 March 14
Sultan's Maze was made in 1984. It was at the beginning of the CPC's life. What it achieved was OK for the time, but I feel like im repeating myself really. Its unfair to put it up against later games. I personally enjoyed playing it. It took ages to load cos it was in BASIC and although I can't be bothered to load it up and check right now, it probably uses up all of the available memory. Also, Amsoft games were recorded in standard AMSDOS format in SPEED WRITE 0, for reliability, so this is another reason they took so long.

At least it WAS playable, unlike the machine code Home Runner which was fucking awful in every way, and on a level of depravity all by itself. Super Gran is almost as bad to play, but at least (very minimal) effort was put into the horribly flickery graphics, not using redefined characters.

I wonder if it would be easy to implement some M/C drawing routine to Sultan's Maze or would it be asking for trouble to take some Commercial program from 1984 just to speed it up.
* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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McKlain

#228

Quote from: AMSDOS on 08:55, 07 March 14
I wonder if it would be easy to implement some M/C drawing routine to Sultan's Maze or would it be asking for trouble to take some Commercial program from 1984 just to speed it up.

Changing the basic drawing commands for a fast RSX implementation maybe?

And adding some atmospheric music, why not  ;D

Sultan's Maze: The Return.

Sykobee (Briggsy)

A raycaster with textured graphics and lighting effects would probably still be quicker on the CPC than the current Sultan's Maze drawing routines!

McKlain

Let's get our hands dirty. I'll do the soundtrack and effects  :P

tastefulmrship

Quote from: AMSDOS on 08:55, 07 March 14
I wonder if it would be easy to implement some M/C drawing routine to Sultan's Maze or would it be asking for trouble to take some Commercial program from 1984 just to speed it up.
Someone in the community (I believe) is still in the process of doing this. Their last update was pretty impressive, but I've not heard from them for a while, now, so I do not know if it's still in development. I, personally, liked SULTAN'S MAZE back in the day, but my CPC-464 had a DDI-1 and Transit, so I didn't have the 2hr 44min loading time! ^_^



Also, if you're talking bad CPC games, then our conversion of ST. DRAGON (an amazing Jaleco arcade game that I STILL hold the Reel's Worldwide High-Score for at 23 Million) was simply diabolical. Other than the amazing title music (a conversion of the arcade's Level 1 music; METAL PLANET) it played like a dog! The other conversions were ok-ish, but ours was poo!

Axelay

Quote from: khisanth on 18:23, 06 March 14
Elite is a quality game whether you love it or hate it.


Why do you say that?  The game has it's problems, why should people not prepared to overlook them for the sake of the concept still regard it as a quality game?

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Axelay on 15:29, 07 March 14

Why do you say that?  The game has it's problems, why should people not prepared to overlook them for the sake of the concept still regard it as a quality game?


This is it, gaming is subject and one's poison is anothers pleasure.
And for me personally, I never bought into the hype. I certainly didn't believe it was the greatest game to arrive on the CPC, even when AA hyped it on it's 100th issue in the early to mid 90s. It wasn't pleasant to look at, the trading got boring after a while and trying to get into each station/shop was a right pain in the ass.


The game always got a big fat MEH! from me i'm afraid.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

dcdrac

I kept on with Elite and made it to Elite, I enjoyed lining up the ship correctly before docking it

AMSDOS

Quote from: McKlain on 10:23, 07 March 14
Changing the basic drawing commands for a fast RSX implementation maybe?

And adding some atmospheric music, why not  ;D

Sultan's Maze: The Return.

On checking out Sultan's Maze I was pretty impressed with the opening screen and considering the game was done mostly BASIC (with some M/C here and there), it was ambitious what they came up with. The problem in the game itself seems to be filling in the walls because it has to deal with drawing lots of vertical lines along the main outline.

@Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship - CPC Power have a copy in Spanish which is using BASIC 1.1, so it's probably using MASK and FILL to draw in the Walls which would speed up the process of the original game, besides that I wasn't able to find any discussions relating to anyone reworking Sultan's Maze and I was surprised how few discussions I found about Sultan's Maze.

* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

Home Computing Weekly Programs
Popular Computing Weekly Programs
Your Computer Programs
Updated Other Program Links on Profile Page (Update April 16/15 phew!)
Programs for Turbo Pascal 3

Shaun M. Neary

I can't believe people are willing to waste their time reworking Sultans Maze! Some stones are best left unturned :D
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Carnivius

That reminded me of a discussion I was having the other night with friends about movie remakes.  Why try remaking the films that were already great in the first place when there's plenty of crappy ones that you could do a much better job of.  Sometimes a crappy thing had a decent concept or idea behind it.  Not saying that's the case with Sultan's Maze but I'm kinda curious now to see a version of Sultan's Maze that isn't terrible.  The basic gameplay could be kinda fun if in a much faster engine I suppose.   Might end up somewhat like the 'flick 3D' RPG style of games like Dungeon Master and Hired Guns.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Carnivac on 19:05, 08 March 14
That reminded me of a discussion I was having the other night with friends about movie remakes.  Why try remaking the films that were already great in the first place when there's plenty of crappy ones that you could do a much better job of.  Sometimes a crappy thing had a decent concept or idea behind it.  Not saying that's the case with Sultan's Maze but I'm kinda curious now to see a version of Sultan's Maze that isn't terrible.  The basic gameplay could be kinda fun if in a much faster engine I suppose.   Might end up somewhat like the 'flick 3D' RPG style of games like Dungeon Master and Hired Guns.


I agree to an extent, but because the concept was improved (via 3D Monster Chase), the game was still quite bland to play, you can only walk around collecting diamonds dodging ghosts/bats/monsters for so long before you tire of it.
Strictly my opinion of course.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Puresox

far as i'm concerned ,loading Sultans maze is more exciting than playing it , it's that good

pacomix

I even remember that after waiting such amount of  time sometimes the game was freezing when generating the maze x'D

Shaun M. Neary

Folks, you do know that April fools day isn't for another few weeks, yeah? ;)
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Gryzor

I still maintain Sultan's Maze was a pretty nice game. Gameplay is King!

Puresox

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose , I really can't see much enjoyment in the game even without taking the slow draw times into account. I will give it a go to see if it entertains me  these days .

steve

Perhaps it is the poor games like sultans maze which should be rewritten?

ralferoo

I enjoyed Sultan's Maze back in the day. With the benefit of hindsight, the slow drawing is rubbish. At the time as an 8 or 9 year old, I just thought it was a fun game and the slow redraw just added to the fear of whether the ghost was going to appear or not.

Also, just re: Elite (talked about by people a month ago). Personally, I thought it was amazing. But even if it's not something you like, the fact that it was such an important game to many many people surely means you can't vote it as "worst game ever", just "something you don't like"...

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ralferoo on 23:40, 20 March 14
Also, just re: Elite (talked about by people a month ago). Personally, I thought it was amazing. But even if it's not something you like, the fact that it was such an important game to many many people surely means you can't vote it as "worst game ever", just "something you don't like"...

It may be important to many, but it's throwaway to many also... it's totally subjective.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

khisanth

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 02:32, 21 March 14
It may be important to many, but it's throwaway to many also... it's totally subjective.


Its important to the industry as a whole. Not one magazine review will have given it a negative review which tells you a lot. Like it or not, Elite is an important and technically impressive game.

dcdrac

Quote from: khisanth on 20:20, 22 March 14

Its important to the industry as a whole. Not one magazine review will have given it a negative review which tells you a lot. Like it or not, Elite is an important and technically impressive game.

Elite like Doom was a genre creator

Shaun M. Neary

I'm not denying any of this. I'm just saying I (like many others) didn't buy into it.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

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