Game Programmers Hall of Fame , The Amstrad elite.

[Puresox]

Hope that this question is ok in this part of the wiki as it is the area that has more relevance for my browsing plus I think it is valid here too .
As the title suggests would like to find out and know what  programmers,who were involved primarily on the Amstrad are/were the finest .  And hopefully find out what made there work stand out whether it be graphics,music or whatever. 
Off the top of my head a few that come to mind.
Ralph Cecco
Richard Aplin
Dave Perry
Nick Bruty
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson[/size]
[/size] To me,These are just names that are attached to consistently good games ,my knowledge of what there expertise is not fully understood so hope that someone can enlighten us retro gamers who are not programmers .

[Duke]

It's a good topic, might be a good idea to link their works also.
Problem is also many games don't list the programmer, ie. who programmed Batman the movie - CPC version ? It's one of the best polished games on CPC I think.

Hope that this question is ok in this part of the wiki as it is the area that has more relevance for my browsing plus I think it is valid here too .
As the title suggests would like to find out and know what  programmers,who were involved primarily on the Amstrad are/were the finest .  And hopefully find out what made there work stand out whether it be graphics,music or whatever. 
Off the top of my head a few that come to mind.
Ralph Cecco
Richard Aplin
Dave Perry
Nick Bruty
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson
To me,These are just names that are attached to consistently good games ,my knowledge of what there expertise is not fully understood so hope that someone can enlighten us retro gamers who are not programmers .

[ukmarkh]

Batman the Movie

Program by
Michael Lamb
Graphics by
Dawn Drake
Music by
Matthew Cannon

This was basically the dream team on the CPC...

Mike also did, Robocop, Arkanoid and Revenge of DOH, Target: Renegade, WEC Le Mans and Renegade.

I think we have a winner!!!

[Puresox]

Yes hard to argue with that ^^^. The graphics on Gryzor and Renegade are just superb. The games look stunning and play as good as they look in most occasions.

[AMSDOS]

Paul Shirley?

[Singaja]

Putting the actual games next to the names would really helpful. Even better what technical achievement was done in particular game(s).

[AMSDOS]

[attachimg=1]



Sorry, I couldn't resist! 


He wrote Quack a Jack, Spindizzy & Mission Genocide(?), I don't know what else he wrote, though given Quack a Jack is an early excellent example of BASIC/Assembly, people could produce good quality type-ins (even though Roland in the Caves was earlier).

[arnoldemu]

CPC-Power has an excellent search.

Here I searched for Mission Genocide:

mission genocide &copy firebird (1987)

The sheet often gives all the credits. You can also search by name. I clicked on "Paul SHIRLEY" in the sheet.

Here are the games he did:

CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC

I find it easier to find a game, then click on the name in the sheet and see what else was written by that person.

Renegade:

Programmation : John BRANDWOOD
Graphisme : Mark K. JONES
Musique : Fred GRAY
Illustration de couverture : Bob WAKELIN
Version arcade originale : Technos

CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC


CPCRulez also has a good search (www.cpcrulez.fr) and has lots of different download variations. I find that I use cpc-power for searching more than cpcrulez.

For cpc-power, If you find that the credits are wrong or you know the credits then contact Kukulcan and tell him

Don't forget to support both these financially if you can.

[Puresox]

Paul Shirley?

Paul Shirley had some great games under his belt and I was amazed at the scrolling in Mission Genocide when I got it as a kid . Was his technique used in many other games? 
I was/am a massive fan of Quack a Jack , didn't realise it was done in basic .
Spindizzy was just a pure classic , well thought out game and put together superbly . Only lacks some atmospheric music i feel .
Confusion was also a decent little game, although not groundbreaking a great budget title..

[Puresox]

James Higgins.. Vindicator                          Jon Ritman...... Headover Heals
Jonathon Dunn..Vindicator music               Bernie Drummond...." "      "
Paul Shirley.. Spindizzy                                Michael Lamb.... RobocopGryzor etc
Jason Greene. Turrican Graphics                 (The guy who did BB4CPC..)...Bubble bobble
Darron White. Turrican Prog                         (The guys who did Orion Prime)....
Gang of Five.. Sorcery... Strangeloop          Ralph Cecco ..... Exolon, Cybernoid 1+2 Stormlord

[ivarf]

Batman the Movie

Program by
Michael Lamb
Graphics by
Dawn Drake
Music by
Matthew Cannon

This was basically the dream team on the CPC...

Mike also did, Robocop, Arkanoid and Revenge of DOH, Target: Renegade, WEC Le Mans and Renegade.

I think we have a winner!!!

Michael Lamb.... RobocopGryzor etc

You give Mike Lamb way to much credit. You can remove Arkanoid, Revenge DOH, Wec Le Mans, Renegade and Gryzor from the list. Not much left

[||C|-|E||]

David Perry and mr. Bruty, in my humble opinion, were a fantastic team: Savage, Trantor...  Then, the guys behind some of the Dinamic games, like Pablo Ariza and José Martín. I would also put Paco Menéndez and Juan Delcán in the ultimate hall of fame (Abadía del Crimen) 

[Puresox]

Got to add.
Andy Williams
Pete Tattersall-  Live and Let Die 
Gutted this wasn't Buggy Boy because it is awesome and runs fast smooth and could have been a 'Chase HQ' grade conversion had it been 'Buggy Boy'

[AMSDOS]

The sheet often gives all the credits. You can also search by name. I clicked on "Paul SHIRLEY" in the sheet.

Here are the games he did:

CPC-POWER, sauvegarde du patrimoine de l'Amstrad CPC

Sorry I was trying to make use of the Wiki on this occasion, though Paul Shirley's Page needs an update! 

CPCRulez also has a good search (CPCRULEZ > ACTUALITÉS AMSTRAD CPC : C'est nouveau, ça vient de sortir ...) and has lots of different download variations. I find that I use cpc-power for searching more than cpcrulez.

I've used it a little bit, it takes some getting used to because the Search bar in the Menu Bar searches the entire site, but go into a category and you get another one, which just searches that category.

Paul Shirley had some great games under his belt and I was amazed at the scrolling in Mission Genocide when I got it as a kid . Was his technique used in many other games? 

I'm using A List of games that use demo programming techniques because it documents the games which use Fine Vertical Scroll, the list probably isn't complete though, initially I thought Mission Genocide was only in good company with Prehistorik 2 and Super Cauldron, though Legend of Kage is also mentioned.

I was/am a massive fan of Quack a Jack , didn't realise it was done in basic .

A fair chunk of code was written in BASIC, if you use Winape, when the game has loaded you can open the Assembler, Select File followed by Read BASIC, the code will reveal itself. Though in that BASIC code there are a number of M/C subroutines, one for handling the sprites, when the program is loading an initial Loading Screen is printed with ordinary Quack A Jack lettering, but when the M/C has been loaded, that lettering turns all fancy and the main BASIC program gets loaded last (because the initial loader is also in BASIC).


I was playing Quack a Jack yesterday and I must say I was impressed. We're discussing in another thread (in the programming section) and as usual the subject of Flickering is the discussion. So people are now talking about Double buffering which is legitimate way of removing that by Drawing to a screen before displaying that screen, though in order to do that another 16Kb must be used. Because Quack a Jack is part BASIC, part Assembly, I didn't notice any flickering, this makes this game (from 1984) unbelievable and worthy of further study. A quick study reveals the M/C sits in an area which would occupy the second screen, so a second screen isn't used, though my Duck character is destroying the backdrop that might be a clue as to why it doesn't flicker, though the evil nasties which move around the playing field don't destroy it and I didn't think those flickered either, so I feel I need to study this old program.     

Spindizzy was just a pure classic , well thought out game and put together superbly . Only lacks some atmospheric music i feel .
Confusion was also a decent little game, although not groundbreaking a great budget title..

I haven't played Confusion, but it looks interesting and I think ACU gave it a thumbs up back in the day when all their reviews weren't favourable. I also haven't played Splat! but I recall Richard Fairhurst enjoyed playing it and I think he maybe in good company there as well! 

[ivarf]

I'm using A List of games that use demo programming techniques because it documents the games which use Fine Vertical Scroll, the list probably isn't complete though, initially I thought Mission Genocide was only in good company with Prehistorik 2 and Super Cauldron, though Legend of Kage is also mentioned.

No way that Legend of Cage scrolls in the same way as Mission Genocide

[arnoldemu]

No way that Legend of Cage scrolls in the same way as Mission Genocide

Legend of Kage uses R5 for smoother vertical scroll in a similar way to Mission Genocide but not exactly.

It also uses R3 for horizontal.

Mission Genocide uses rupture to make the panel separate from the scrolling and R5 is "corrected" so that the screen remains much more stable and the scrolling is smoother.

Legend of Kage uses R5 in the same way LED Storm does.

I think with some modification it could be fixed to be smoother, but what lets down Legend of Kage is the flickering graphics.

[arnoldemu]

I'm using A List of games that use demo programming techniques because it documents the games which use Fine Vertical Scroll, the list probably isn't complete though, initially I thought Mission Genocide was only in good company with Prehistorik 2 and Super Cauldron, though Legend of Kage is also mentioned.

The page is correct, I've checked them all - although not all games that use these effects are listed because I haven't checked every game BUT they look different because of the way it is implemented.

Prehistorik 2, Super Cauldron and Mission Genocide use rupture to make it smoother.

[Puresox]

Thanks for the detail you go into Amsdos and others, for us non-programmers pretty interesting .
Going tohave to check Legend of Kage(can't recall being impressed with the game) and Super Cauldron didn't that use a semi push type-scroll.
Don't suppose it had any part in the fantastic Turrican vertical section? Stunning piece of work

[Puresox]

Legend of Kage uses R5 for smoother vertical scroll in a similar way to Mission Genocide but not exactly.

It also uses R3 for horizontal.

Mission Genocide uses rupture to make the panel separate from the scrolling and R5 is "corrected" so that the screen remains much more stable and the scrolling is smoother.

Legend of Kage uses R5 in the same way LED Storm does.

I think with some modification it could be fixed to be smoother, but what lets down Legend of Kage is the flickering graphics.

In ref to LED Storm , the scrolling in this , which is a little raggedy round the edges , could that have been tidied up by giving a bigger border?

[AMSDOS]

The page is correct, I've checked them all - although not all games that use these effects are listed because I haven't checked every game BUT they look different because of the way it is implemented.

Prehistorik 2, Super Cauldron and Mission Genocide use rupture to make it smoother.

No worries, I wasn't expecting it to be a definitive list, but thought Legend of Kage was using the same technique, guess it's a matter of sorting out the Rupture and non-Rupture games.

[ukmarkh]

I like the Legend of Kage on the CPC... I hoped other games would use the same programming techniques and big screen. 

[Puresox]

Can anyone explain ,in laymans terms, the trick that Paul Shirley used to get that scrolling technique? The one used on Mission Genocide .

[AMSDOS]

Can anyone explain ,in laymans terms, the trick that Paul Shirley used to get that scrolling technique? The one used on Mission Genocide .

Not sure if I can, but will give it a go.


So Mission Genocide is doing 2 things, Rupture and a Hardware Scroll. The Rupture is used to cause a Split in the Screen, which allows programs to have Static Areas onscreen as well as Moving areas. That allows the status bar is sit on a position of the screen which doesn't move, while the game playing field is moved. I don't know a lot about the Scrolling Routine used apart from it being a Fine Vertical Scroll and am presuming that the CTRC is used for the rolling effect.

[reidrac]

I read somewhere that Mission Genocide uses bitplanes to simplify blitting by not needing to apply a mask to the foreground sprites. It is faster, uses less memory, but limits the number of colours you can use.

Perhaps someone else can contribute a better explanation

[arnoldemu]

I read somewhere that Mission Genocide uses bitplanes to simplify blitting by not needing to apply a mask to the foreground sprites. It is faster, uses less memory, but limits the number of colours you can use.

Perhaps someone else can contribute a better explanation

Correct.

Sprites are drawn using OR and removed using AND.
Some bits of the byte are reserved for sprites and some for background.

The sprite plotting routine is much simpler so they are faster:

Code Select Expand


ld a,(de)
or (hl)
ld (de),a
inc hl
inc e


Because some bits are used for sprites only you are reducing the number of colours for sprites and the number of colours for background. This is the "bitplanes" part.

Like using XOR, ORing sprites will change the colours where sprite and background mix. To compensate the colours in the palette are repeated so this doesn't happen.