🚀 go-pugleaf

Bruce F. Webster wrote:
> 
> Scott Le Grand wrote:
> >
> > Bruce F. Webster wrote:
> > >
> >
> > > Probably more than y'all wanted to know, but there it is.
> > > ...thanks again for the kind words.  ..bruce..
> >
> > Thanks for yet another reminder why I constantly fight the
> > battle against Texture-Mapped 3D fighting Hell...
> >
> > Scott Le Grand
> > Head Coder
> > 4Play
> > "It's the gameplay, stupid..."
> 
> I must confess that I get a real kick out of the modern SFX in games. I
> just about wept the first time I booted up The Hive, remembering what
> the Apple II graphics in SunDog were like, and I told someone recently
> that when I want to get in touch with my inner child, I boot up DOOM.

Heh heh, I love technology, I love special effects, but I prefer a plot
with them as well...  I'll take Terminator II to ID4 any
old day :-)...
 
> That said, I haven't come across much out today that holds my attention
> for any length of time. It is, of course, an easy cliche, and one common
> in many fields, to pooh-pooh flashy technical advances and yearn for
> 'true art'...but that doesn't make it less true.

What I really love is what happens when someone who knows gameplay
gets their hands on today's technology and runs with it...

I can >STILL< drop out of reality only to emerge a day or two later
with the right game...  XCOM grabbed me and wouldn't let me go last
Xmas vacation...  Magic Carpet had me engrossed for 10 levels or so
until the difficulty curve spiked like crazy and I never played it
again...   Tempest 2000 on the lowly Atari Jaguar qualifies as Jedi
training in my book...

> _That_ said, the gameplay in SunDog had some major flaws (IMHO). It took
> too long to complete the game, with too much repetition, and there
> wasn't much in the way of plot or non-player characters--all things I
> wanted to fix in Old Scores to Settle. But what I think hooked people on
> SunDog--in spite of those flaws--was that Wayne and I wanted to build a
> pocket universe that one person could kick around in. We wanted to avoid
> what Wayne termed "railroad games" that kept you on a track from start
> to finish.

Agreed...  In Privateer, you pretty much had a set series of dogfighting
missions
to complete or the plot would not advance, and many times it wasn't
clear how
to even get to the next mission...  I've never been able to get into
Elite because I've been cursed with the horrible PC editions... 
BattleCruiser 3000 is and inadequately playtested and buggy mess.  You
provided a set series of objectives (clearly defined!), but....  you
could complete them in many many ways because they mostly depended only
on acquiring money by whatever means necessary and making a possibly
hazardous trading
run...

That's what did it for me...  I was an avid gun and drug runner and
I could double my money on single trips selling such goodies in bars...
Before that, I used to go into heavily armed brawls with street
thugs and live off the spoils...  Man that was great!  And then
there was the ability to step out of the cockpit and literally walk
around, even within your ship...  That's a game!  

> There are, of course, many games out that offer complex, rich universes
> where you populate worlds, negotiate with other governments, and wage
> vast wars. Ours was one person, wandering around, fending off muggers
> and pirates, patching up critical systems, buying illegal components in
> bars to customize your ship, and trying to keep some cash in the bank. I
> think in retrospect that this is why folks still think of SunDog
> fondly--there was a personal dimension and a freedom that were
> appealing.

It was magic...  Never forget that...  I spent 2.5 days from start to
end playing Sundog...  I didn't sleep, I didn't bathe, and I barely
ate...  When I got
the certificate of ownership at the end, I slept for 18 hours straight
and I awoke with the energy to make it through the final month of an
intense 
1 year coding project...  I appreciated it then, and I still remember
it...  
 
> Come to think of it, it's probably just as well there aren't many games
> like that around--my personal and professional life would probably be
> ruined. :-) But don't let that stop any one from trying. ..bruce..

Heh heh, better watch out, I have a pretty rockin' dogfight engine
(16+ player) just itching for a plot :-)...

Scott Le Grand
Head Coder
4Play
"You're only as good as your last line of code." - Eugene Jarvis