🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 16 Feb 2014 03:08:54 +1300, Peter Huebner
<no.one@this.address> wrote:

>In article <r9g4f9934secdj5t3...@4ax.com>, Xoc...@gmx.com 
>says...
>> 
>> There's a vast difference between 1024x768, native on a 17" CRT and the
>> same resolution windowboxed on a 20" 1600x900 widescreen LCD (which is
>> what I have, though it's by no means state of the art.)
>> That windowboxed display is actually _smaller_ than on the 17".
>> 
>> That doesn't equal fun, it equals eyestrain and headaches - no thanks,
>> no sale.
>> 
>> Xocyll
>> 
>> 
>
>Now imagine that on a 2560x1600 monitor!
>I bought good ole Populous 2 a little while ago off GOG. I fired it up 
>once, howled in anguish and never clicked on the icon since. Seriously, 
>it looked like something made of Lego, or maybe a minecraft clone (not 
>that I'm particularly familiar with minecraft - it may look better 
>than). Similar result for Conquest of the New World (deluxe) which I 
>always wanted to play, but could never obtain in this little country at 
>the time. 
>
>If they (re-)release games they should make sure that they can be run on 
>modern hardware. max resolution of 1024x768 is just not acceptable for 
>modern flatscreen monitors.
>

Unfortunately it's not just a matter of making it run, remaking a game
in a high resolution is major work, it can be on the order of a
complete re-write if the original code wasn't written to scale to
different resolutions.  Not to mention all of the artwork would need
to be redone, and finding an artist that can really reproduces the art
style of the original is kind of like finding a replacement lead
singer for a classic rockband -- they are out there but they are hard
to find.  Even if the original artist works on it, putting himself
back in the same design mindset he had a couple of decades back might
not be possible.

I miss Populous too, FWIW.  I had high hopes for Godus, but looking at
the Steam feedback, I don't think I've ever seen a more dismal
clusterfuck of negative reviews.  I think Pete Molyneaux was one of
those one-hit wonders that's really good at convincing people he can
make great games, but is really only good at putting a snake-oil sales
spin on a few things he got lucky with in the past.