Quazatron, by a country mile. Great mix of two game styles, and really looked the business. The sub-game may not have been his invention but the implementation was great.
+1
For it's time, I considered this (Quazatron) game to be highly original. Cool game. :)
I have played all of the others listed in the poll except Rana Rama, of which I'm going to take a look at in a little while. Given the amount of games I bought back then, I'm struggling to recall how I missed this little gem as I like Gauntlet type games! :D
As much as I love Avalon, Dragontorc and the fantastic Quazatron I went for 3D Seiddab Attack as I was totally wowed by the immersive 3D effect.
...and this on the 16K Spectrum too. Amazing, I've played it lots and I still like to play it. It's a real "just pick it up and play it right away" game.
Did you know that Sieddab Attack was originally "War Of The Worlds" until Hewson got a phone call from US lawyers? I based it on the scene where the alien craft is flying down a city street zapping everything in sight. I got the idea of the city at night from a dream where I was watching a game thinking I wished I had thought of that, then I woke up and thought "I did think of that!". In the dream the player flew a helicopter. I thought I would have to include banking for that which I didnt manage till the next game.
To celebrate Steve Turner joining us here at WOS I thought we'd see what your favourite game by him is.
The only one missing from this photo is 'Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road' released by Virgin, so don't let the fact it's not in the photo put you off if that's the one you'd like to vote for.
I didn't include 'Zynaps' as, as far I know, Steve only made the music.
I voted for 'Dragontorc'. I loved Steve's games as a kid and it was seeing his games and those of others that made me want to start to work in the games industry. Without people like him I never would have got to work at 'Ocean'.
I havent seen those in years! I always wanted Hewson to put Avalon in a box as I thought the plastic cases looked too futuristic and inferior to the posh boxes that Ultimate used. Then the map could have been bigger. I like the poll !
Did you know that Sieddab Attack was originally "War Of The Worlds" until Hewson got a phone call from US lawyers?
That would've been cool with Martian War Machine sprites, complete with goose-neck heat-rays. Ooh, yeah - I can really imagine that being quite haunting. Even so, it's still a great game as it is. Cool dream to have though. I love dreams like that!
I came into this thread to vote for Firelord, and then I realised that's by Stephen Crow. Doh!
ha! Well a best Stephen Crow game would be a shorter poll...
I didn't realise the Zynaps music was done by Steve T until the other day even though "MUSIC BY STEVE TURNER" is on the opening screen.
Always loved that music even though I could never work out where would the downbeat be if it had drums - is it "diddle er derrr... dee-derrr" or "diddleer derrr... dee-derrr"?
I didn't realise the Zynaps music was done by Steve T until the other day even though "MUSIC BY STEVE TURNER" is on the opening screen.
Always loved that music even though I could never work out where would the downbeat be if it had drums - is it "diddle er derrr... dee-derrr" or "diddleer derrr... dee-derrr"?
Just knocked up the first bit of the Zynaps tune in Vortex Tracker II and added a simple beat. The first 3 notes are the lead in to the first bar, so the bass drum starts on the fourth note of the tune, or the first note of the bar.
Just knocked up the first bit of the Zynaps tune in Vortex Tracker II and added a simple beat. The first 3 notes are the lead in to the first bar, so the bass drum starts on the fourth note of the tune, or the first note of the bar.
OK one hour later, here's 2 tap files of the Zynaps music I recreated in Beepola with a simple drumbeat. (sorry, it's a bit slow compared to the original)
Version 1 has the drums coming in on the 4th note (same as FrankT's version above) but in my opinion they go out of sync with the music halfway through, as if they're half a bar adrift.
...and here's version 2, the drums come in straight away and sound a bit out of sync at first, but then seem to correct themselves.
I don't know if there is a "right" or "wrong" way as such - but I'm leaning towards version 2.
How do you open/edit those .pt3 files? I found something to listen to them on (although I can't at the moment) but wouldn't know where pattern 6 was - although I can probably guess.
Not used to AY music, I'm a 48K beepola man myself :)
How do you open/edit those .pt3 files? I found something to listen to them on (although I can't at the moment) but wouldn't know where pattern 6 was - although I can probably guess.
Not used to AY music, I'm a 48K beepola man myself :)
I started with Beepola too. I think there's a song folder in the install with my name...
I got moved to AY by Ariel of Worldsoft XXI. Wrote a tune called December in Beepola, he liked it and wanted me to make it AY. Which turned into the Carlos Michelis title tune. I never had a clue about making AY other than 128 Music Box, before doing the Carlos Michelis tune in Vortex Tracker II.
It was reviewed in the first ever issue of Crash I bought (#38 March 1986). I finally got it for Christmas 86/87 and played it for weeks (I still have that original item). The magazine review did a fantastic job of selling it to my imagination and I wasn't disappointed when I finally sank into it!!! The spelling sub-game was an awesome feature btw!!!
So a big thank you to Steve for a classic game that kept me (and many others) entertained for hours on the Spectrum!!! :-D
Comments
For it's time, I considered this (Quazatron) game to be highly original. Cool game. :)
I have played all of the others listed in the poll except Rana Rama, of which I'm going to take a look at in a little while. Given the amount of games I bought back then, I'm struggling to recall how I missed this little gem as I like Gauntlet type games! :D
That would've been cool with Martian War Machine sprites, complete with goose-neck heat-rays. Ooh, yeah - I can really imagine that being quite haunting. Even so, it's still a great game as it is. Cool dream to have though. I love dreams like that!
ha! Well a best Stephen Crow game would be a shorter poll...
I didn't realise the Zynaps music was done by Steve T until the other day even though "MUSIC BY STEVE TURNER" is on the opening screen.
Always loved that music even though I could never work out where would the downbeat be if it had drums - is it "diddle er derrr... dee-derrr" or "diddleer derrr... dee-derrr"?
Just knocked up the first bit of the Zynaps tune in Vortex Tracker II and added a simple beat. The first 3 notes are the lead in to the first bar, so the bass drum starts on the fourth note of the tune, or the first note of the bar.
This is how I would transcribe it anyways.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9498358/pt3/zynaps.pt3
My ZX Art Music Page
Carlos Michelis Theme
See that's how I used to listen to it too... but if you carry the beat on, it goes out of sync with the widdly bits later on.
I'll knock something up in Beepola in a minute so you can see what I mean...
Version 1 has the drums coming in on the 4th note (same as FrankT's version above) but in my opinion they go out of sync with the music halfway through, as if they're half a bar adrift.
...and here's version 2, the drums come in straight away and sound a bit out of sync at first, but then seem to correct themselves.
I don't know if there is a "right" or "wrong" way as such - but I'm leaning towards version 2.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9498358/pt3/zynaps2.pt3
My ZX Art Music Page
Carlos Michelis Theme
Not used to AY music, I'm a 48K beepola man myself :)
You need Vortex Tracker II from here.
http://bulba.untergrund.net/vortex_e.htm
I started with Beepola too. I think there's a song folder in the install with my name...
I got moved to AY by Ariel of Worldsoft XXI. Wrote a tune called December in Beepola, he liked it and wanted me to make it AY. Which turned into the Carlos Michelis title tune. I never had a clue about making AY other than 128 Music Box, before doing the Carlos Michelis tune in Vortex Tracker II.
My ZX Art Music Page
Carlos Michelis Theme
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9498358/pt3/zynaps3.pt3
My ZX Art Music Page
Carlos Michelis Theme
It was reviewed in the first ever issue of Crash I bought (#38 March 1986). I finally got it for Christmas 86/87 and played it for weeks (I still have that original item). The magazine review did a fantastic job of selling it to my imagination and I wasn't disappointed when I finally sank into it!!! The spelling sub-game was an awesome feature btw!!!
So a big thank you to Steve for a classic game that kept me (and many others) entertained for hours on the Spectrum!!! :-D