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Smasher
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 520 |
Michael Archer's games with source code
Hi. In case you missed the news... Mighty coder Michael Archer released the source code of 6 games he programmed.
Those are:
-Nemesis the Warlock (Martech)
-Slaine (Martech)
-Rampage (Activision)
-Altered Beast (Activision)
-Atomic Robokid (Activision)
-Alien3 (Acclaim Entertainment)
And here's the link: https://github.com/milkeybabes?tab=repositories |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
It's a fascinating look into *real* development, where you couldn't afford the time for any over-engineering! (but could always insert a well-placed profanity or use your name for a variable) |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2980 |
The code is pretty straight-forward and rather well-commented, i think. :)
What kind of over-engineering are you referring to? =) |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
Yep, I'm with you, it's straightforward and does exactly what's needed.
Overengineering could be e.g. having common game object archetype for player and enemies, and using indexed access to their variables (I think I always do that.) But if you see e.g. the Alien3 code, the Ripley movement code is completely different from enemy movement, there's no indexed variables being used. Which makes sense, if the player & enemies are to do completely different things. |
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Comos
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 73 |
I got some spare time @ work,so I have slowly started to port the Alien 3 to 64tass,so let's see if it works :) |
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Adam
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 323 |
fantastic! i've been reading through the sources, very interesting looking at how things were done back then. thank you for sharing the link. |
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Jazzcat
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1044 |
For Alien 3, looks like the basic disk routines are in place in the source. Meaning a disk version indeed on the cards. |
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Endurion
Registered: Mar 2007
Posts: 73 |
These are really awesome to analyse!
I'm using them to get the PDS syntax working in C64Studio, almost there with Atomic Robokid. |
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TWW
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 545 |
Nemesis is converted to kickass (thank god for scripts and shortcuts^^).
now all neede is for someone to pinpoint what needs improvement (I honestly cant recall playing this game) and perhaps a gfx'ian to overhaul the visuals… |
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Zub
Account closed
Registered: Mar 2003
Posts: 2 |
Quote: Nemesis is converted to kickass (thank god for scripts and shortcuts^^).
now all neede is for someone to pinpoint what needs improvement (I honestly cant recall playing this game) and perhaps a gfx'ian to overhaul the visuals…
In Nemesis The Warlock:
The main drawback for me is the ultra basic AI of the aliens. Inspecting the code, when one of them is reaching the end of the platform he is walking on, it just gets a random value between 0-3:
0 - Fall down
1 - Jump
2 - Turn Around
3 - Fire
That explains the erratic behaviour of the enemies.. Even though, making them more intelligent could turn the game absolutely impossible ;) |
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enthusi
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 677 |
I always sort of liked that 'we dont care about you but we kill you anyway in the end' attitude back then ;-)
It can give better atmosphere than all enemies 'chasing' you or adding stupid delays in reactions. |
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