Zapped to the Past podcast (C64)

[Unofficial Who]

On 01/11/2022 at 05:59, squirtle said:

Interesting, and sad, history behind TRAZ. I'm sure @Unofficial Whowill fill us in on that one.

 

Let's skip ahead to …Traz by Cascade. Or as they would have it be known Transformable Arcade Zone.

 

MobyGames describes it as follows.

 

Quote

Transformable Arcade Zone is a Breakout clone with multiple paddles, 64 levels and a built-in level construction set.

Each level can have different set of paddles, sometimes one at the top and one at the bottom, sometimes one left one right, sometimes four stacked-up etc. This gives each level a distinctly new gameplay.

There are unbreakable blocks, monster generators (also unbreakable) and glass refractors that change the balls movement angle as it passes through.

 

So far so familiar.

 

But it's the design of it that's really clever.

 

 

The "transformable" aspect is that the well and the bats can be on anywhere on the screen. You could have a traditional layout like above. I've played a screen where there were two wells and two bats on each side of the screen. I've even seen a screen where the well (represented by the static patterned line) was in the middle of the screen.

 

 

And in one player mode you move both at once. It's a really cleverly designed take on the Breakout / Arkanoid formula. It feels a little like Gremlin's Krakout but it's more responsive and has bigger bats. I would have loved this back in the day and part of the reason I'm writing this so late is I've been playing around with this a lot. I would have had no chance getting this back in '88, the only Cascade games I ever saw down here was ACE and ACE 2. Surprised it didn't make a cover tape and for me it's probably going to be the game of the episode. A credit to everyone involved. Cracking stuff.

 

Credit. And here's the rub. Someone on the Zapped to the Past discord pointed out that there was a problem with the credit involved in this game. And this story was covered in GTW ten years ago. And it involves a game called Slideways.

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/slideways/

 

Quote

Simon Birrell was just finishing university at the time, and he completed a multiscreen Arkanoid clone called "Slideways". He sold it to Cascade, who came to visit him in his room at Cambridge "to make some changes", as Simon said.

Basically, Cascade went away and re-wrote the game and published it as "Traz". They gave no credit or royalties to Simon for his hard work, but they did pay him an advance. At the time it annoyed Simon a lot, as all of his hard work went unrecognised – but sadly what was done was perfectly legal.

 

In Simon Birrell's own words

 

Quote

"In my final year at university I wrote a C64 game to earn some money called Slideways.

It was a sort of multi-screen Arkanoid, with a game editor built in. I sold it to a company called Cascade, who came to visit me in my room at Cambridge "to make some changes". In the end they re-wrote the game and published it as "Traz", without giving me a credit or royalties. I was angry at the time, but at least I got paid an advance which kept me in beer money."

 

If that name sounds familiar to you it might be because you're a fan of Virgin's C64 output. Simon converted Strangeloop to the C64 before designing a social engineering arcade adventure called Shogun.

 

You can play Slideways, it was restored from an old disk and a copy is available to download at GTW. It's a lot rougher than Traz and doesn't play as well but many of the unique elements that ended up in the Traz are here including the novel bat / well positioning and spawning blocks.

 

 

This experience appeared to have put him off the games industry (although he does have a couple of manual writing credits in 1990-91) although he did write one last unreleased game Groovy Electric Death https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/groovy-elecric-death/

 

Quote

Can't remember who I planned to sell it to, I just remember the market had already moved on. I used quite a bit of the Slideways code (that ended up as "Traz" at Cascade). I was hoping to make some quick money as I had just left University. When that didn't work, I got a job for a while with an educational software company before moving to Palace Software in London.

 

So that's the tangled tale of Traz. It's a game that shouldn't be forgotten and yet I suspect it might have ended up somewhat cursed to obscurity due to the shitty way Cascade allegedly treated the original designer.

 

The more I read about the British software scene of the 80's the less rosy it looks. Some companies really did churn through the talent and rip them off back then.

[Unofficial Who]

I was looking forward to trying the real Skyfox II:The Cygnus Conflict and came away thinking "um, this is Star Raiders all over again right?"

 

Don't get me wrong, Star Raiders was a great game but I can see why I skipped this back in the day. By the end of the 2600 era I'd played three different variants of Star Raiders and by 1988 I'd moved on to Elite and Mercenary. This is very basic, grey and brown and the universe seems to be filled with 90% asteroids making getting around a massive pain. Throw in some pretty hefty disc access, a confusing radar display and this feels like an also ran.

 

 

If this were my first Star Raiders game and if this were the only space game I had access to in 1988 this would rank higher for me. And it's interesting seeing what looks like the bones of games like Wing Commander in the mission design. But this is 2022 and there are so many better choices both in the retro space and now. If this wasn't your jam back in the day I don't see it appealing now.

[squirtle]

I never got into Wing Commander, but did play Starlancer on the Dreamcast for a bit. Skyfox 2 was OK. Nice visuals and we were always going to prefer this to anything vector based.

[Camel]

That's annoying re Traz. I've still got the levels I designed on it somewhere. I'll dig out my disk copy at some point and set fire to it.

[Unofficial Who]

45 minutes ago, Camel said:

That's annoying re Traz. I've still got the levels I designed on it somewhere. I'll dig out my disk copy at some point and set fire to it.

 

I don't think you need to set fire to it. It's still worthy as a shadow of what Slideways might have been. Maybe buy Simon a beer if you run into him.

 

Cascade didn't run for too long after '88. I wonder if word got around?

 

 

[Unofficial Who]

Like Cyborg I really wanted to try Mandroid, as it looked like a neat cyberpunk game. However the reviews warned me off and rightly so.

 

But it does speak to a certain ambition staff at CRL had.

 

 

Ian Foster is the common link here. He coded Bladerunner, Cyborg and Mandroid and I think looking at these with the distance of time he was trying to do something that just wasn't possible on the machine or with the time and budget constraints he had. It would be far later in the life of the C64 that some successful cyberpunk games would be made and even then they had massive concessions.

 

If you squint you can see what the game in their head was. But a confusing map, slow animation and stodgy controls all conspire against it.

 

 

 

Ambition aside I don't recommend this at all. It feels slow and incomplete. Instead I'd recommend other games that succeed where this failed. Liberation CD32, any of the Deus EX games and Cyberpunk 2077 on any of the next gen consoles.

[squirtle]

1 hour ago, Unofficial Who said:

Like Cyborg I really wanted to try Mandroid, as it looked like a neat cyberpunk game. However the reviews warned me off and rightly so.

 

But it does speak to a certain ambition staff at CRL had.

 

 

Ian Foster is the common link here. He coded Bladerunner, Cyborg and Mandroid and I think looking at these with the distance of time he was trying to do something that just wasn't possible on the machine or with the time and budget constraints he had. It would be far later in the life of the C64 that some successful cyberpunk games would be made and even then they had massive concessions.

 

If you squint you can see what the game in their head was. But a confusing map, slow animation and stodgy controls all conspire against it.

 

 

 

Ambition aside I don't recommend this at all. It feels slow and incomplete. Instead I'd recommend other games that succeed where this failed. Liberation CD32, any of the Deus EX games and Cyberpunk 2077 on any of the next gen consoles.

It also has this cover...

 

[Unofficial Who]

Heli Drop 

 

Easily the worst game covered this episode. Were it not for the (c) 1987 on the title screen I'd be convinced that the theory posited on the podcast was true. That this was someone's attempt at a game from 1983.

 

I've seen better type in games. This would have been awful on the 2600.

 

[squirtle]

Such a bizarre thing. 

[Unofficial Who]

On 27/10/2022 at 09:02, Unofficial Who said:

M.A.C.H. or Maneuverable Armed Computer Humans to give it it's full title has to be inspired by the cartoon Centurians. And to give it credit it's more solid than that game.

 

 

A bit of tweaking and I could see this being quite the game in 1986. The problem is that it's 1988 and there are loads of 360 degree shooters that are better than this. Want something new with some depth? Hunters Moon is a better choice. But if you've owned a C64 for a number of years you probably already have Z (or Z Pilot as it was called later.) Real old timers would have Raid on Bungling Bay in their collection. 

 

I quite liked the music despite it being very 80's, the composer Johnannes Bjerregaarg would later work on Flimbo's Quest.

 

Well this is sad.

 

https://www.kcbd.com/2022/11/04/prominent-lubbock-jazz-musician-johannes-bjerregaard-dies-52/

 

Quote

Prominent Lubbock jazz musician Johannes Bjerregaard dies at 52

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Johannes Bjerregaard moved to Lubbock, Texas from Denmark in 2000. Shortly after arriving in West Texas, his musical gift took him to the Cactus Theater.

Don Caldwell, former owner of the Cactus Theater says, “I don’t think he expected when he moved to Lubbock he would end up being a full-time musician but that’s where he went.”

He quickly became the historic theater’s music director, where he spent years creating music and helping others perfect their craft. Although, he was an expert pianist he offered words of wisdom to every kind of musician.

“Johannes was a super mentor to everyone whether they were a pianist, singers, whatever everyone was inspired by Johannes,” said Caldwell.

Not only did Johannes inspire other musicians, his coworkers remember him for his patience.

“Johannes was absolutely one of the kindest people I know. He was so even-tempered that everyone around him kind of stayed in line because he was so solid.”

Close friends of Johannes all said the same, that he was an amazing man who will be greatly missed by all, especially his family.

“I’m telling you he is a wonderful father and just great for those kids and Amber,” said Caldwell.

Johannes Bjerreggard was 52.

 

[Unofficial Who]

If you liked the look of Starquake but found it a little too complicated and fiddly then maybe Scumball might be for you.

 

It feels like a simplified version of Starquake, almost a Starquake Jnr. I'm not big on the central premise (find 8 grenades and feed them one at a time to a big boss who lives in one of the screens) but is it really so different from Starquake with it's replace nine core pieces of the planet goal?

 

 

It looks like a Spectrum port but it's zippier than most ports from the Z80 and it has a lovely (but way too short) piece by Tim Follin.

 

It's decent enough. Having played many hours of Starquake and Equinox it holds little appeal for me now but had I have played it near 1988 I could see this being a pleasant way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

[squirtle]

4 hours ago, Unofficial Who said:

If you liked the look of Starquake but found it a little too complicated and fiddly then maybe Scumball might be for you.

 

It feels like a simplified version of Starquake, almost a Starquake Jnr. I'm not big on the central premise (find 8 grenades and feed them one at a time to a big boss who lives in one of the screens) but is it really so different from Starquake with it's replace nine core pieces of the planet goal?

 

 

It looks like a Spectrum port but it's zippier than most ports from the Z80 and it has a lovely (but way too short) piece by Tim Follin.

 

It's decent enough. Having played many hours of Starquake and Equinox it holds little appeal for me now but had I have played it near 1988 I could see this being a pleasant way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

For £2, Scumball was a proper bargain for those into that kind of thing. 

 

There's become a real gulf in quality in the budget games we're seeing. Having just done ep86, there's one in there that is genuinely brilliant and another which is all kinds of crap.

[Rex Grossman]

7 hours ago, Unofficial Who said:

If you liked the look of Starquake but found it a little too complicated and fiddly then maybe Scumball might be for you.

 

It feels like a simplified version of Starquake, almost a Starquake Jnr. I'm not big on the central premise (find 8 grenades and feed them one at a time to a big boss who lives in one of the screens) but is it really so different from Starquake with it's replace nine core pieces of the planet goal?

 

 

It looks like a Spectrum port but it's zippier than most ports from the Z80 and it has a lovely (but way too short) piece by Tim Follin.

 

It's decent enough. Having played many hours of Starquake and Equinox it holds little appeal for me now but had I have played it near 1988 I could see this being a pleasant way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

There’s a budget game I got in probably 1989 that for years I’ve been trying to track down. I couldn’t remember the premise or its name. Just a vague memory of the main sprite and the backgrounds. It may have been Scumball. I did also buy it on a Sunday, crazy I remember that detail but not the name or anything else.

I got an Amiga a few months later so it was probably one of the last C64 games I bought.

[Unofficial Who]

Episode 85 is up! Available at your usual podcast suppliers or at https://zappedtothepast.com/

 

This week games covered include

 

-4th & Inches

-Thundercross

-Blockbusters

-Dan Dare II

-Snooker And Pool

-Task III

-Soko-Ban

 

Some good titles in that lot along with a couple of stinkers.

[squirtle]

Seems there was some issue with the release of this. If you normally download it today and it has not downloaded, please refresh your feed and it should appear. 

[Unofficial Who]

4th & Inches is another solid Accolade game by Atari and Activision alumni Bob Whitehead with music by Ed Bogas and graphics by Mimi Doggett.

 

 

I skipped this back in the day, I'm just not a gridiron fan. Trying this tonight didn't make a fan of me but if you're a fan of American football this is probably the best rendition out there. It's just so solid, the interface is easy to use, the sprites never flicker and if the ball moves faster than the screen can follow it cleverly transitions just like it would on a real broadcast.

 

 

Possibly the best game of the episode and a must for sports fans. I might not have been able to get into this but I definitely admire the design work behind this.

 

Was this Bob Whitehead's last game? Probably the last he coded, according to various sources he left the games industry soon after this and didn't return until 2004 where he ran a mobile games studio until 2009. 

[squirtle]

Technically amazing that game. Look at all those sprites on screen at once (unless it's doing something clever with character graphics). But whatever it is, this is the first game to feel like a modern take on American Football. Brilliant game.

[Unofficial Who]

The review for Thundercross has always stuck in my head as being representative of CRL during this time.

 

This image in the review in 1988 gave me no desire to play this back then.

 

 

And I did have the option, I'm pretty sure most if not all CRL games came out here, at least as a budget title. During this period it felt like CRL were out to rip off kids with really shitty games. Of course in retrospect looking at their catalogue I think after a strong start they struggled and looking at games like this and Mandroid you can see what was needed was just much more time to either fully develop these titles or to scrap them.

 

This title feels like it was rushed out the door as soon as it was vaguely controllable. Because that's all it has. You can sort of move. And shoot. Just not both.

 

Avoid.

[Unofficial Who]

Blockbusters never came out here because the TV quiz show was never broadcast or syndicated in Oz and probably wouldn't have been able to knock off the two big ones at the time locally. Sale of the Century and Wheel of Fortune.

 

(Who is this guy?)

 

Anyway I didn't come to Blockbusters expecting much. It's pretty dry looking but a couple of points raised by the podcast convinced me to give it a go.

 

-If you're playing single player the human always gets to pick first.

-If you type in something that's close enough it will count as a pass.

 

 

It really is bare bones. But it's not a bad time apart from questions about recently departed dukes circa 1988 and questions about The Archers.

 

I played a few rounds of this before I beat the computer and got to The Goldrun! (And failed.)

 

Not bad, Trivial Pursuit is still my pick for the C64 thanks to a more international approach to the questions but this isn't bad.

[squirtle]

That's Bob Holness. He was also the first person to play James Bond (on the radio).

[Unofficial Who]

I had no local exposure to Dan Dare being a very UK centric hero but I had plenty of exposure through UK magazines. C&VG in particular seemed to have a soft spot for him and I remember fondly an art competition in said magazine that printed impressive reimagining's and parodies. As I mentioned a year ago I loved the C64 version of Dan Dare, an incredibly good three part arcade adventure that punched above it's weight. Seeing the reviews of Dan Dare II:Mekon's Revenge I was keen to revisit that world.

 

It never happened. For whatever reason I didn't find this game locally. Also worth mentioning from about 1988 onwards I stopped getting dodgy copies from mates, that big box of discs I mention a bit drops off about here. Whenever I think of this issue of Zzap I always remember the cover and the review. So it's really strange that in the past few years I hadn't thought about playing this on emulation.

 

First impressions aren't great with a very Spectrum like loading screen. This is odd in retrospect because from what I can see a Spectrum version was never released. (An error, a Spectrum version was released and it looks excellent!)

 

 

Second impressions? Also not great. This is the title screen and character select. And it's played out in total silence.

 

 

But when you start playing it's frantic from the get go. The best way to describe this is like a pure action version of Strangeloop.

 

 

The pixel work is small but perfect. Not pictured here, the Super Treen soldier fetus tubes where if you look closely you can see them blowing bubbles. Also not pictured, the grim dark nature of this where you destroy their life support computers as Dan leaving them red lifeless husks. (As the Mekon destroying the computer shoots their tube to safety.) It's fast, bouncy and a tad mean (there's a fondness for pipes leading to dead ends where you will get crushed by garbage compactors.)

 

The sound is....well almost non existent. Just blaster fire and doors.

 

I really liked this except for one thing. And it's the thing that @squirtlementions in the podcast. The time limits are too tight. This means you are doomed to fail until you memorise the critical path through the game. Some people like this sort of tension. I hate it because it feels like the game is playing you rather than you playing the game.

 

Find a trained version of this and you might get some joy out of this. While Gang of Five did both this and Strangeloop they don't share coders but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some code sharing here. It's a neat little game if let down a tad by spares sound effects. Worth a look.

 

 

 

 

[redballoon]

The Spectrum version of Dan Dare II was indeed released and is one of it’s truly great games. 

[squirtle]

Yeah, definitely a Spectrum version.

 

https://www.mobygames.com/game/zx-spectrum/dan-dare-ii-mekons-revenge_

[Unofficial Who]

Missed that somehow due to Mobygames splitting the other versions from the Spectrum one. It looks great too!

 

[Unofficial Who]

Snooker And Pool is....hang on....haven't we already done this? I'm sensing a Black Thunder / Suicide Express / Loco situation here.

 

Let's have a look.

 

 

My mistake, that's Steve Davis Snooker from 1985.

 

Here's Snooker and Pool.

 

 

Actually, nope. I'm off for a pint.

[Unofficial Who]

Task III reminds me a lot about UK / European game design from about 1987-1995. Amazing presentation. Smooth scrolling. Brilliant synth music. And a game that's almost on the verge of being great apart from one thing.

 

And that thing in this case is difficulty. There's a lot to like about this game. I love the musical stings. The sound effects are up there with the best of Sensible Software and Braybrook. (This feels like this would have been at home being published by Hewson.) I love the autofire. I love that it starts you with loads of weapons. I love that it's bas relief BUT colourful, not grey.

 

 

But it's brutal. There's little space to move, so little that the first two runs I got the "suicide" rank due to slamming straight into scenery. Even with your increased firepower the waves are a little too hard. It reminded me a lot in some respects of Xenon 2.

 

This was Databyte's last game (and apparently their first original release, their previous games being US imports.) It feels very much like a game made by demo coders. It's slick and with a little adjusting it could have been something special.

[squirtle]

On 11/11/2022 at 08:47, Unofficial Who said:

Snooker And Pool is....hang on....haven't we already done this? I'm sensing a Black Thunder / Suicide Express / Loco situation here.

 

Let's have a look.

 

 

My mistake, that's Steve Davis Snooker from 1985.

 

Here's Snooker and Pool.

 

 

Actually, nope. I'm off for a pint.

Don't forget On Cue in the middle of those.

 

[squirtle]

7 hours ago, Unofficial Who said:

Task III reminds me a lot about UK / European game design from about 1987-1995. Amazing presentation. Smooth scrolling. Brilliant synth music. And a game that's almost on the verge of being great apart from one thing.

 

And that thing in this case is difficulty. There's a lot to like about this game. I love the musical stings. The sound effects are up there with the best of Sensible Software and Braybrook. (This feels like this would have been at home being published by Hewson.) I love the autofire. I love that it starts you with loads of weapons. I love that it's bas relief BUT colourful, not grey.

 

 

But it's brutal. There's little space to move, so little that the first two runs I got the "suicide" rank due to slamming straight into scenery. Even with your increased firepower the waves are a little too hard. It reminded me a lot in some respects of Xenon 2.

 

This was Databyte's last game (and apparently their first original release, their previous games being US imports.) It feels very much like a game made by demo coders. It's slick and with a little adjusting it could have been something special.

Don't forget the annoying 15 second sequence between each life as well. If this had been a standard vertical shmup, this would have been much better. And you should have been able to fly over the scenery. Looks great. Plays terribly. 

[Unofficial Who]

I haven't played Soko-ban. Not this version anyway, and none of the official versions. But I have played this in many many forms as have most of you.

 

 

This looked pretty bare bones back in the day but post Tetris many companies were looking for the next Tetris and this old game from 1982 fit the bill. It's a simple premise. Your warehouse is a mess and you have to move all the crates to a specified slot. But being a stickler for health and safety you can only push the heavy crates, not pull.

 

 

If I had played this in 1988 I might have found it somewhat interesting although games like Boulderdash felt a lot more dynamic at this point. But being disc only for some bizarre reason blocked a lot of the potential audience from the off. 

 

While this looks sparse it's almost a remaster presentation wise compared to the 1982 original from Japan. (PC 88 version shown below.)

 

 

This is a hard game to go back to. It's been ported to so many platforms (Jeremy Parrish makes jokes about how many Gameboy versions he's had to cover for his video series) but the concept is so simple that it's been used in dozens of games as in game puzzles. There are rooms for instance in the Lost Shrine in Nier Replicant where the camera moves to a top down view so you can slide boxes around to make your way from one end of the room to the other.

 

This might have been fresh in 1982, and even in the west in 1988 but now I can't really recommend going back to this version. The disk access and speed of the game are just too slow and the design is too worn now.

 

Did anyone get this in the day? I didn't even see it in the shops!

[squirtle]

12 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

I haven't played Soko-ban. Not this version anyway, and none of the official versions. But I have played this in many many forms as have most of you.

 

 

This looked pretty bare bones back in the day but post Tetris many companies were looking for the next Tetris and this old game from 1982 fit the bill. It's a simple premise. Your warehouse is a mess and you have to move all the crates to a specified slot. But being a stickler for health and safety you can only push the heavy crates, not pull.

 

 

If I had played this in 1988 I might have found it somewhat interesting although games like Boulderdash felt a lot more dynamic at this point. But being disc only for some bizarre reason blocked a lot of the potential audience from the off. 

 

While this looks sparse it's almost a remaster presentation wise compared to the 1982 original from Japan. (PC 88 version shown below.)

 

 

This is a hard game to go back to. It's been ported to so many platforms (Jeremy Parrish makes jokes about how many Gameboy versions he's had to cover for his video series) but the concept is so simple that it's been used in dozens of games as in game puzzles. There are rooms for instance in the Lost Shrine in Nier Replicant where the camera moves to a top down view so you can slide boxes around to make your way from one end of the room to the other.

 

This might have been fresh in 1982, and even in the west in 1988 but now I can't really recommend going back to this version. The disk access and speed of the game are just too slow and the design is too worn now.

 

Did anyone get this in the day? I didn't even see it in the shops!

If you speed the emulator up, it plays better. I liked it because it's design is so pure, and as both you and I mention, the core of this has been seen in so many games - how many crates have we pushed around to get to a higher ledge? - it's worth recognising it's legacy.