Toki (never releaed)
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010317
that Giana Sisters was-it-or-wasn't-it-even-made discussion got me thinking about this one. I remember this game causing a buzz at school when it came out (for amiga?) but I never played it
this one looks like it was definitely made. YS got sent a 5 level demo which was going to have one more level added for the finished game. it got a 'mega-preview' with screenshots aplenty, and the write up gave the impression the reviewer had played each level.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue67/Pages/YourSinclair6700019.jpg
Crash! did a pretty big preview too
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=Crash/Issue90/Pages/Crash9000012.jpg
the thing is, couple of the screenshots in the Crash preview are identical to ones in the YS preview, which seems a bit fishy?
anyway could this game be out there in the ether somewhere. I'd like to play it
that Giana Sisters was-it-or-wasn't-it-even-made discussion got me thinking about this one. I remember this game causing a buzz at school when it came out (for amiga?) but I never played it
this one looks like it was definitely made. YS got sent a 5 level demo which was going to have one more level added for the finished game. it got a 'mega-preview' with screenshots aplenty, and the write up gave the impression the reviewer had played each level.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue67/Pages/YourSinclair6700019.jpg
Crash! did a pretty big preview too
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=Crash/Issue90/Pages/Crash9000012.jpg
the thing is, couple of the screenshots in the Crash preview are identical to ones in the YS preview, which seems a bit fishy?
anyway could this game be out there in the ether somewhere. I'd like to play it
Post edited by def chris on
Comments
You can't have up for jump and aim up......Retards!
Even with the crap controls though it'd probably still be better than the Megadrive version :lol:
Also, I'm quite suspicious about the frozen score panel. If they had 5 levels done, why not the timer & score routines as well?
EDIT: Just had a quick read of the YS preview. The programmer cheerfully admits the screenshots are mocked up!
in my excitement I've managed to spell 'released' wrong in the thread title 'doh...
didn't see that... guess it was just an unfinished version?
ah thanks, didn't see that interview. I thought that section was one of those YS random zany bits where they'd start talking about the history of bananas etc...
YS guy making out he's actually playing it though. at the end he says "And that's it! And I was just getting into it too" :)
oh well!
The Miggy version certainly looks the part, but the controls make it almost unplayable, but of course the home computers even way into the 90's seemed to be allergic to making the several buttons on the joysticks do anything other than the basic fire.
Seriously you could've bought a 95 button joystick for any home computer and all 95 buttons would do the same thing :lol:
I forgot it'd be 96 buttons if you count autofire ;)
just had a sneak at the amiga version of Toki on YT...reminds me of a cross between Sonic and Rick Dangerous or something.
I played on the C64 and Amiga, it's a decent game, but nothing more than that.
http://zx-pk.ru/
You couldn't really tell the difference between the Amiga and arcade version in way of graphics. Quite impressive port. I agree with everyone else though; the controls sucked and imo, made playing the game more difficult.
Shame there was never a Speccy version.
There was one arcade down the coast when I was younger had Toki from when it first came out probably until 1995, and it was still popular. The screen was starting to turn a greenish colour, but people were still playing it.
I remember it was a Japanese cabinet as it had the word Juju on it with some Japanese writing next to it, and at first it was a Japanese board in there, maybe it broke though, as the cabinet stayed Japanese, but the game had turned English by about 1992 :D
However the programmers ran into issues fitting it into the standard cart size, asked Ocean for more storage on the cart and were told no. Project was canned taking with it all the Z80 versions.
MC: How did you land the Toki job?
DL: Partly on the basis of work we'd done for other companies, but also through my contacts with Ocean from developing the Speedlock tape protection system.
MC: Did Ocean provide you with a Toki arcade machine on which to base the game?
DL: Yes, in the form of a circuit board!
MC: The game is credited to yourself and your son John. How did you split/share the workload?
DL: John's involvement was mainly in creating the graphics, mine was the coding.
MC: What were the circumstances behind the game not being released?
DL: The main problem was memory. The primary target platform was to have been the Amstrad GX4000 console, so the game had to fit in a specific cartridge size. This proved to be impossible with the high-resolution sprites that Ocean wanted. We managed to get the first level finished and working in the cartridge, but there was no more space for the other levels, and Ocean would not agree to a larger cartridge ROM size on cost grounds. They decided that it wasn't worth releasing the Speccy version even though it was nearly complete, probably for political reasons.
MC: It's fascinating to hear that the Spectrum version was nearly complete. Were you pleased with how this version was shaping up?
DL: It was OK, but didn't bear comparison with the colour and lack of attribute problems of the Amstrad version.
MC: At the time were you disappointed/annoyed that the game went unreleased?
DL: Yes, it did look really nice in hi-res on the CPC and GX4000, but we needed the extra ROM space which was not forthcoming. In the event, the GX4000 was a flop, so it wasn't that big a deal. The Amstrad GX4000 cartridge system was really a flawed design, the way it handled the hi-res sprites was not very well thought out, which was one of the reasons for the memory required exceeding the available space.
MC: Can you estimate how long you spent on the entire project?
DL: Can't remember for sure, probably getting on for a year.
MC: Did the project end amicably with Ocean?
DL: We had an initial up-front payment, but obviously didn't get the full payments we would have had if it had been completed. Ocean were fairly amicable about it, but some people just didn't appreciate the technical problems.
MC: I note that you are still involved in the games industry. Did John stay in the industry too?
DL: For a while, he worked at SCI in Southampton until it closed down, then moved into mobile phones. He's now studying robotics in Glasgow.
MC: Does anything of the conversion remain (source code, sprites, design work etc)?
DL: I very much doubt it. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then! If I get time I could have a search through the boxes of disks at the back of my shed, but as I'm working away in London these days I don't get much time at home.
Toki's a game that I've always wanted to enjoy, but it's just too hard! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy playing it, but I usually get to a certain point (up, past the floating thing that spits fireballs, then along to the left before going up platforms again) and just give up there as actaully completing the game is going to be a git!
Still, I did enjoy this in the arcade and still fire it up on MAME frequently. It would have been nice to play a Speccy version though, but I think by the time it will have come out, I'd moved onto my Amiga.
Hmmm. So, somewhere, out there in the abyss (well, shed), could still be the Speccy source code for Toki?! When you think the Amiga version of Putty Squad finally saw the light in 2013... Is there ever a possibility that it could materialise on the humble Spectrum (and I'm fully aware that back in the day, memory was an issue)? And btw, I'm not a programmer lol. :D
I never saw it on sale but it must of been released as its in the archive: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000485
Beach Volley was released, I have my copy, released by Erbe in Spain ;)
I tried to contact Dave Looker via Facebook couple of years ago about Toki and did not receive any reply.