It's hard to believe that OutRun came from the same team behind Enduro Racer. Enduro Racer played so well on the Speccy.
not really.. maybe it was a case of a later version of the same engine.. just outrun came out later.. I mean you have to wait for all versions to be in + the tape duplication + artwork then distro's.. the times they were released might hint to it.. as I doubt they were working on 2 games at the same time.
OR simply it was a rush job and they were called in last minute.. the c64 version compared with turbo outrun or say power drift isn't so good. In some cases 2 versions of a c64 game were put out.. e.g. after burner USA and sky shark (funnily enough by software creations :D ) that are far better.
crash reviewed outrun 9 issues later.. but maybe they had less memory to play with gfx wise / soundwise etc with outrun.
c64 engine that Chris Butler did is another prime example.. or at least the same coder doing scaling games.. first space harrier... then thunder blade.. .then turbo charge + power drift turn up near the same year or 2.. it really got better from his intial scaling game.
I guess it takes a certain type of coder, much like the folk who did the star strike things :)
I do think if someone could contact the coder regarding the generic "distro" version of the engine.. it'd be better than re-inventing the wheel though .. just my 2p worth :)
Speccy OutRun was developed by Ian Morrison and Alan Laird, and as fog says, it used their driving game code that was first developed for Nightmare Rally.
It went:
Nightmare Rally
Enduro Racer
OutRun
OutRun Europa (unreleased first version)
Turbo OutRun
Chase HQ 2
For each game, they developed the code (for example, with OutRun they introduced the forking roads). I think with OutRun they just over-reached slightly, opting for large graphics that impacted on framerate. Turbo OutRun was better/faster.
I got OutRun when it came out out, and should have really followed Sinclair User's advice and opted for Super Hang-On instead (which came out at the same time). IIRC, SU gave OutRun 8/10 and Super Hang-On 10/10 in the same issue.
not really.. maybe it was a case of a later version of the same engine.. just outrun came out later.. I mean you have to wait for all versions to be in + the tape duplication + artwork then distro's.. the times they were released might hint to it.. as I doubt they were working on 2 games at the same time.
OR simply it was a rush job and they were called in last minute.. the c64 version compared with turbo outrun or say power drift isn't so good. In some cases 2 versions of a c64 game were put out.. e.g. after burner USA and sky shark (funnily enough by software creations :D ) that are far better.
crash reviewed outrun 9 issues later.. but maybe they had less memory to play with gfx wise / soundwise etc with outrun.
c64 engine that Chris Butler did is another prime example.. or at least the same coder doing scaling games.. first space harrier... then thunder blade.. .then turbo charge + power drift turn up near the same year or 2.. it really got better from his intial scaling game.
I guess it takes a certain type of coder, much like the folk who did the star strike things :)
I do think if someone could contact the coder regarding the generic "distro" version of the engine.. it'd be better than re-inventing the wheel though .. just my 2p worth :)
Yes I understand all of that, it's just that Out Run doesn't perform anywhere near as nicely as Enduro Racer does. Out Run felt like a back step back in terms of the engines performance.
I think that la piramide is right in saying that they probably tried too hard to include the multi lane track ect. However, Chase H.Q has multi lane tracks too, but the lanes are no where near as wide.
I've just played Miami Cobra GT. Now that feels very similar to Chase H.Q and possibly even a bit faster. No hill's or forking roads though. Maybe that's how it's able to run a bit faster?
Miami Cobra GT is a little not so famous budget game with surprisingly good engine, fast and smooth, better in my opinion than "big" games like Outrun, Turbo Outrun, Cisco Heat or Chase H.Q 2.
Miami Cobra GT is a little not so famous budget game with surprisingly good engine, fast and smooth, better in my opinion than "big" games like Outrun, Turbo Outrun, Cisco Heat or Chase H.Q 2.
Miami Cobra GT is a little not so famous budget game with surprisingly good engine, fast and smooth, better in my opinion than "big" games like Outrun, Turbo Outrun, Cisco Heat or Chase H.Q 2.
Indeed! I tried on emulator few years ago and was so impressed that I bought it on tape and played it until completing it. Its a notable game, a quite unknown!
I've a bit of a soft spot for Chevy Chase, runs quite well
True, thats another semi-unknown game, which is a high quality game. I think the Spectrum must be the biggest gaming machine ever, with an unbelieveble number of hidden gems, from many years and different countries, so we are really lucky on that.
The only thing I didnt like in Chevy Chase was the high difficulty on the middle levels on.
I think the Spectrum must be the biggest gaming machine ever, with an unbelieveble number of hidden gems, from many years and different countries, so we are really lucky on that.
c64 easily wipes the floor with it, as remember 2 versions of big hits exist.. the UK/Euro one + US one. Also homebrew stuff was far bigger.. with mags like cp-verlag etc / compute :) . I'd say it was the biggest 8 bit wise anyway.
I've just played Miami Cobra GT. Now that feels very similar to Chase H.Q and possibly even a bit faster. No hill's or forking roads though. Maybe that's how it's able to run a bit faster?
Maybe so - it'd be great to see a remake done using this engine, not sure how hard it would be to mod? Sprites and tracks would have to be completely redone.
Hi people, I start making Outrun Remake for Spectrum 128k, this video is a mockup of what game can be, with colors and fast speed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZysR9A8rQmo
The road is has 9 frames, then frame 0 is full left, frame 5 center, frame 9 is full right.
There is no 3D road, but it is easier for the coder. The animation of the stripes of the sides of the road are 8 frames. The with of the road is 256 pixels but the map is 384 because the road can scroll 8 by 8 pixels in x.
The enemy cars has some ways on the road. for example 3 ways.
The game is for 128k Spectrum with more detail from the arcade, all the musics.
I don't want to discourage you but Outrun is a really ambitious project and if it is your first project, then you maybe could try something easier.
Believe me, there are some good reasons why most Spectrum racing games are monochrome. You won't make a smooth moving colourful cars with colourful backgrounds in real Spectrum game as you did in your mockup.
Its ok Ralf, I have more than 20 games done in my life for Gameboy Color, GBA, PC, MSX and PSP, I know the graphics limitations on spectrum very well. I hate to make platform single screen jumping games like other people, I whant something better and I know how to make it. The game can move like this on the real Spectrum because the mockup I done moves 8x8 pixels everytime.
Joefish, I explain before, 0 is the frame of full left, 5 is the frame of all streight (the road that show in the video) and the 9 frame is the road to full right. You have 9 road positions, later the road can be divided to choose the way.
Please take a look to OUTRUN EUROPE, it is the same GFX engine idea.
Comments
Hey, such a game exists! It is called Chase HQ ;)
Well, maybe one day if my life will be long enough ;) I'll take a look into Chase H.Q code and see how could it be modded to create new levels.
Because I seriously doubt that anything better could be done.
My work on Double Dragon is done. It's in Jim's hands now :)
As for Chase H.Q, it's a different style of racer. Very similar but different. Using the same engine would be the way to go.
I'm sure the one for enduro racer / nightmare rally are simular, if not the same..if ya looked at the code .. they even have the same cheat keys hehe
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub.cgi?regexp=^Alan+Laird$
wonder if you could re-use it ? as he did say he had the source still.. but that's years ago.
not really.. maybe it was a case of a later version of the same engine.. just outrun came out later.. I mean you have to wait for all versions to be in + the tape duplication + artwork then distro's.. the times they were released might hint to it.. as I doubt they were working on 2 games at the same time.
OR simply it was a rush job and they were called in last minute.. the c64 version compared with turbo outrun or say power drift isn't so good. In some cases 2 versions of a c64 game were put out.. e.g. after burner USA and sky shark (funnily enough by software creations :D ) that are far better.
crash reviewed outrun 9 issues later.. but maybe they had less memory to play with gfx wise / soundwise etc with outrun.
c64 engine that Chris Butler did is another prime example.. or at least the same coder doing scaling games.. first space harrier... then thunder blade.. .then turbo charge + power drift turn up near the same year or 2.. it really got better from his intial scaling game.
I guess it takes a certain type of coder, much like the folk who did the star strike things :)
I do think if someone could contact the coder regarding the generic "distro" version of the engine.. it'd be better than re-inventing the wheel though .. just my 2p worth :)
It went:
Nightmare Rally
Enduro Racer
OutRun
OutRun Europa (unreleased first version)
Turbo OutRun
Chase HQ 2
For each game, they developed the code (for example, with OutRun they introduced the forking roads). I think with OutRun they just over-reached slightly, opting for large graphics that impacted on framerate. Turbo OutRun was better/faster.
I got OutRun when it came out out, and should have really followed Sinclair User's advice and opted for Super Hang-On instead (which came out at the same time). IIRC, SU gave OutRun 8/10 and Super Hang-On 10/10 in the same issue.
Love the mock-up BTW Swainy :)
Yes I understand all of that, it's just that Out Run doesn't perform anywhere near as nicely as Enduro Racer does. Out Run felt like a back step back in terms of the engines performance.
I think that la piramide is right in saying that they probably tried too hard to include the multi lane track ect. However, Chase H.Q has multi lane tracks too, but the lanes are no where near as wide.
Yeah, it's impresive!
Indeed! I tried on emulator few years ago and was so impressed that I bought it on tape and played it until completing it. Its a notable game, a quite unknown!
Apologies!
Our car doesn't move at all (just background moves), so it was possible to make it colourful and fit into attributes.
It works with this game but trying to do Outrun this way would influence gameplay quite badly, I believe.
True, thats another semi-unknown game, which is a high quality game. I think the Spectrum must be the biggest gaming machine ever, with an unbelieveble number of hidden gems, from many years and different countries, so we are really lucky on that.
The only thing I didnt like in Chevy Chase was the high difficulty on the middle levels on.
I'd like to see Alien 3 for the Spec instead :) Or at least a graphical mockup of what it could like :P
c64 easily wipes the floor with it, as remember 2 versions of big hits exist.. the UK/Euro one + US one. Also homebrew stuff was far bigger.. with mags like cp-verlag etc / compute :) . I'd say it was the biggest 8 bit wise anyway.
...I can't remember which version though...they're all pretty different.
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation, SQIJ.
Twitter: Sokurah
Maybe so - it'd be great to see a remake done using this engine, not sure how hard it would be to mod? Sprites and tracks would have to be completely redone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZysR9A8rQmo
The road is has 9 frames, then frame 0 is full left, frame 5 center, frame 9 is full right.
There is no 3D road, but it is easier for the coder. The animation of the stripes of the sides of the road are 8 frames. The with of the road is 256 pixels but the map is 384 because the road can scroll 8 by 8 pixels in x.
The enemy cars has some ways on the road. for example 3 ways.
The game is for 128k Spectrum with more detail from the arcade, all the musics.
What do you think of this?
I don't want to discourage you but Outrun is a really ambitious project and if it is your first project, then you maybe could try something easier.
Believe me, there are some good reasons why most Spectrum racing games are monochrome. You won't make a smooth moving colourful cars with colourful backgrounds in real Spectrum game as you did in your mockup.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
So good luck to you then! Check this link if you don't already know it:
http://www.extentofthejam.com/pseudo/
Please take a look to OUTRUN EUROPE, it is the same GFX engine idea.