ChinnyVision - The Game Of Dragons

[chinnyhill10]

Another visit to the Amsoft vaults of tat and this time it's The Game Of Dragons.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3FB9lodsM


Always found it curious why it doesn't have the standard Amsoft loading screen. But then again they seemed to move away from the standard loading screen around this time anyway.

[MacDeath]

A bit slow but nice animation and graphics indeed.

[CraigsBar]

Another reasonable looking Amsoft Title I had not heard of before, thanks for that. Perhaps not the best looking Amsoft, Personally I think that goes to Airwolf, although in the case of that game looks are deceiving, It looks decent but is nearly impossible not to get frustrated to hell with the controls and tighter than tight environment.


Oh well at least this one looks playable. Not as addictive as Oh Mummy! I bet.


Craig

[chinnyhill10]

A bit slow but nice animation and graphics indeed.

The eggs remind me of Penguin Land on the Master System. That also came out in 1985 but the author can't have possibly have seen it so I think it's just coincidence.

[arnoldemu]

A bit slow but nice animation and graphics indeed.

I was thinking the same.

[robcfg]

Looks definitely nice! But these yellow dragons are a bunch of bastards... XD

[Carnivius]

For a 1985 game, particularly an Amsoft game, that looks pretty damn lovely.  The graphic artist certainly had some talent and understanding about how to use the wide-pixels.  Does anyone know who it was and if they did any more games?

[pinace]

I think it's the only Amstrad CPC game that made O. Goodman

[arnoldemu]

I think it's the only Amstrad CPC game that made O. Goodman

correct.

This is from his Linkedin profile:
"
University of OxfordBA, Mathematics1983 – 1986During my first long vacation I wrote a video game for the Amstrad CPC 464 which I was able to sell for enough money to keep me out of debt for the remainder of student years.
Activities and Societies: Played Bridge, Croquet, Squash."

[pinace]

Only if possible ... Can you say the name of the programmer? Is to update the entry in cpc-power

[arnoldemu]

Only if possible ... Can you say the name of the programmer? Is to update the entry in cpc-power

Oliver Goodman.

[chinnyhill10]

It is basically a Chuckie Egg variant. but one with awful collision detection and infuriating enemy AI. The speed isn't so much the problem but like so many games of the era the AI is unforgiving.

[pinace]

Oliver Goodman.

Thanks

[Carnivius]

It is basically a Chuckie Egg variant. but one with awful collision detection and infuriating enemy AI. The speed isn't so much the problem but like so many games of the era the AI is unforgiving.

I dunno.  I quite enjoyed it when I played it earlier and I was never fond of Chuckie Egg. 

[dragon]

Ohh, this is my holy grail game,I mean i am the owner of the only copy Conserved(of the spanish versión) with the blue caratule .

I conserved it from 16  years? was a gift from a pool partner.(he gift me her all games).

[Carnivius]

It is basically a Chuckie Egg variant. but one with awful collision detection and infuriating enemy AI. The speed isn't so much the problem but like so many games of the era the AI is unforgiving.

Just wondering if these things can be 'fixed' somehow by one of the talented codey folks on this forum.

[pelrun]

I'm of the opinion that the AI doesn't really need to be 'fixed' - it's frustrating, sure, but the behaviour is completely deterministic.


The trick to completing a level is learning how to manipulate the dragons - I was almost screaming at the video because it was blindingly obvious to me that all Chinny had to do to avoid those two yellow dragons was to wait at one point for just a couple of seconds longer instead of rushing forward. That would have got them down onto a lower platform and stuck there for long enough to go up and around them.

[Axelay]

This was amongst the first dozen or so games I had for the CPC, and I guess I have a soft spot for it as it had the first real clever use of colour in mode 0 that I had seen.  I never had a problem with the AI either, two of the three standard dragons simply follow paths from memory and the yellow ones, as pelrun says, were easy enough to manipulate if you just use their predictable AI to make them go where you want.


The only real problem I had with the game was that it could be quite fiddly to get on the vines, and just felt less responsive than it should.  In a way the low speed of the game helped counter this, but of course control is a pretty fundamental part of a game so the problem is not trivial.  A nice early effort though, I thought.

[chinnyhill10]

I'm of the opinion that the AI doesn't really need to be 'fixed' - it's frustrating, sure, but the behaviour is completely deterministic.


The trick to completing a level is learning how to manipulate the dragons - I was almost screaming at the video because it was blindingly obvious to me that all Chinny had to do to avoid those two yellow dragons was to wait at one point for just a couple of seconds longer instead of rushing forward. That would have got them down onto a lower platform and stuck there for long enough to go up and around them.

From having now played it more, they do move in a predicable pattern but it often seems to be pot luck if the collision detection actually works or if they move towards you or not. Sometimes you can overlap them and not die, other times you do.