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New 80s Games?
#360718 - 11/29/16 11:56 AM
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So I was looking through some of the original tables for Future Pinball and noticing that some of them are quite good, at least on par with the physical tables being reproduced. I began to wonder if the same thing could be done with classic arcade games? Hacks like dkongx and dkongpe are cool, but I'm talking about creating original arcade games limited by the hardware that was available at the time and using the same kind of aesthetics and design...
I don't know how many guys were involved in the programming and design of each game back then, so maybe this isn't feasible nowadays. It just seems like in the Donkey Kong/Pac Man period, coming up with abstract game ideas was an art form unto itself.
Neo-retroism may not catch on here, but a man can dream.
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I have officially retired from sucking at everything I do. Life is much easier now.
My MAME/MESS artwork files: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ABxeKgNIrKlIsyck7dx4V241NFQDWAF4
Related screen shots: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U5IbvbVzYW97PuOOQuocvZFE_YJz7WIn
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Nightvoice]
#360720 - 11/29/16 02:40 PM
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> So I was looking through some of the original tables for Future Pinball and noticing
> that some of them are quite good, at least on par with the physical tables being
> reproduced. I began to wonder if the same thing could be done with classic arcade
> games? Hacks like dkongx and dkongpe are cool, but I'm talking about creating
> original arcade games limited by the hardware that was available at the time and
> using the same kind of aesthetics and design...
>
> I don't know how many guys were involved in the programming and design of each game
> back then, so maybe this isn't feasible nowadays. It just seems like in the Donkey
> Kong/Pac Man period, coming up with abstract game ideas was an art form unto itself.
>
> Neo-retroism may not catch on here, but a man can dream.
maybe not arcade games, but there are still a good number of games being released for many of the 8-bit home systems (because there's still a small market for them)
some of them are commercial, some of them are free
http://spectralinterlude.com/
a popular one for example, is a ZX Spectrum game (it's in the MAME Software List, because they seemed to like releasing new versions without keeping the links up to the old ones)
people have made some arcade games, but typically they're simple projects or ports, and often not tested on the original hardware, and not really of the same quality as the original games from back then; the home computer scene on the other hand has quite a few games that are better than the quality of software released back then because it's so much easier to develop and debug on current hardware.
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| R. Belmont |
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Cuckoo for IGAvania
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Nightvoice]
#360721 - 11/29/16 06:00 PM
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> So I was looking through some of the original tables for Future Pinball and noticing
> that some of them are quite good, at least on par with the physical tables being
> reproduced. I began to wonder if the same thing could be done with classic arcade
> games? Hacks like dkongx and dkongpe are cool, but I'm talking about creating
> original arcade games limited by the hardware that was available at the time and
> using the same kind of aesthetics and design...
It's not really the same thing, though. Future Pinball doesn't have the constraints that you would making a real physical table (you can put chrome and gold plating on everything, but Stern can't), so the direct analogy on video would just be modern games.
As far as "the same kind of aesthetics and design", nearly the entire last decade of indie console and PC games has been "I'm going to ship awful programmer art and claim it's inspired by 8-bit systems". Sometimes it works (Super Amazing Wagon Adventure), sometimes it doesn't.
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: R. Belmont]
#360722 - 11/29/16 07:54 PM
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> As far as "the same kind of aesthetics and design", nearly the entire last decade of
> indie console and PC games has been "I'm going to ship awful programmer art and claim
> it's inspired by 8-bit systems". Sometimes it works (Super Amazing Wagon Adventure),
> sometimes it doesn't.
Where's the "+1" button?
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Nightvoice]
#361066 - 12/08/16 01:08 AM
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It's certainly feasible, it's just that original games that are actually fun are a little hard to come up with. Ports are a lot easier, but, then you might as well play the original.
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GatKong |
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Tetris Mason
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Crazy Otto]
#361070 - 12/08/16 06:12 AM
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> It's certainly feasible, it's just that original games that are actually fun are a
> little hard to come up with. Ports are a lot easier, but, then you might as well play
> the original.
So, yeah, coming up with entirely new fresh ideas that would be just plain fun with limited 80's graphics would be as tough as... coming up with ideas back in the 80's that would be just plain fun due to limited graphics. It was done, but it required everyone thinking outside the bun for the next new big title.
But to take existing ideas and tweak them into something, I think there's huge potential. DK2 etc.
I think a great mod would be a head-to-head Battlezone, with two screens and sets of controls. I made a photoshop mock-up of this idea once, but I can't find it. 
Heck, why stop there, network a whole game-room of cabs ŕ la peanut butthole sandwiches.
Another similar awesome "hack" idea would be a head-to-head penguin kun wars. That game is in my top 10 as it is.... to play head-to-head would make it dagnabin near top 2. Ever play Hat Trick? Way fun. We've had so much fun on that, I had to call an ambulance for a guy who funned over the top. Now imagine that not on ice, but over a gymnasium floor, and not a hockey puck, but a dodgeball, and not just one puck but like 20 dodge balls, and not a hockey player, but a penguin. Penguin kun wars, not vs an AI, but vs your Aunt Nicky. Are you keeping up with me on this? It would make sense to have paramedics on standby, that's how fun that would be. Awesome 80's graphics and all.
Still on my bucket-list to hit the lottery, and then open a one-of-a-kind arcade full of high-quality "hacks" of old titles. Not emulated hack titles, but actually burned onto roms and snapped into mother boards. With style. So, old programmers, keep your resumes sharp, because I bought another ticket this weekend, and I got a good feeling about that Powerball.
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Haze]
#361071 - 12/08/16 06:36 AM
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: GatKong]
#361074 - 12/08/16 09:42 AM
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It just seems that in the last 20 (or more) years everything has been about different takes on FPS games and I've gotten burned out on it. I miss games that were games for their own sake. Monopoly still works, as does Pac Man, etc. I had an idea for a Donkey-Kong-era game where you're a monkey throwing turds at zoo visitors that I thought might have been fun, but only if written by a dev with a good sense of humor.
I majored in music. I've been to more than a few commercial songwriting workshops, and they stress that it all begins with the song itself. If the song is good, any number of arrangements or performances of it will stand on their own. As with video games, graphical sophistication matters little if the game concept itself is enjoyable and not too thought-intensive. And so much of the experience of classic arcade games was the robustness of the sound; they knew how to make things simplistic yet catchy. Tempest was as simplistic as it gets graphically, but the game concept keeps it fresh.
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I have officially retired from sucking at everything I do. Life is much easier now.
My MAME/MESS artwork files: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ABxeKgNIrKlIsyck7dx4V241NFQDWAF4
Related screen shots: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U5IbvbVzYW97PuOOQuocvZFE_YJz7WIn
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Nightvoice]
#361081 - 12/08/16 03:46 PM
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> It just seems that in the last 20 (or more) years everything has been about different
> takes on FPS games and I've gotten burned out on it.
Even over the past 5 years, there's been an absolutely mind-blowing number of high-quality games made that don't have a lick to do with first-person shooter mechanics. It seemed like things were heading that way about 10 years ago, but in the intervening decade there's absolutely no shortage of games that are a blast to play, original, and creative.
If you don't use Steam already, go get it and have a look at what's out there, you can even specifically exclude FPSes from your search. I'm pretty burned out on FPS games myself, haven't played one in about a year, but I haven't had any lack of good games to keep me occupied.
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: Nightvoice]
#361083 - 12/08/16 04:03 PM
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As MG says, you're really not looking very hard. Let me just pull up my own Steam list for a second here and rattle off just a small chunk of what I have installed right now.
ALLTYNEX Second
Aqua Kitty - Milk Mine Defender
Astebreed
Battle Crust
Broforce
Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours
Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round
DoDonPachi Resurrection
Double Dragon Neon
DuckTales Remastered
Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
ESCHATOS
FINAL FANTASY IV
FTL: Faster Than Light
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
GUILTY GEAR XX ACCENT CORE PLUS R
GUILTY GEAR Xrd -SIGN-
Gunman Clive
Gunman Clive 2
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
Ikaruga
La-Mulana
Legend of Dungeon
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Odallus: The Dark Call
Pinball Arcade
Raiden IV: OverKill
Saint's Row: The Third
Shovel Knight
Sonic Generations
Steredenn
Street Fighter IV
Strider
Super Cyborg
TrackMania United
Ultra Street Fighter IV
VVVVVV
Xanadu Next
Ys I
Ys II
Ys Origin
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
And that's just a small cross section. I have a number of FPSes, but they're not even 10% of my total collection. It's not nearly as bad as you think.
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Try checking the MAME manual at http://docs.mamedev.org
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: R. Belmont]
#361084 - 12/08/16 04:05 PM
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I don't think the ratio of "trying too hard" to "gets it right" is quite THAT bad. Stuff like Super Cyborg gets the general look and feel of Super C down pretty well, for instance, and Shovel Knight is probably the gold standard in how to make a modern classic.
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Try checking the MAME manual at http://docs.mamedev.org
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Re: New 80s Games?
[Re: GatKong]
#361102 - 12/09/16 07:29 AM
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One of the ideas I had was battlezone graphics style, but the gameplay of death race. I coded up a demo of it for PC, but I gave away my battlezone cab I was planning on putting it in.
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Shovel Knight! I forgot about that one!
[Re: Firehawke]
#361150 - 12/10/16 03:46 AM
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You know, a shovel is a great weapon. K-tool anybodae??
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