Generation Design is a new company who specialise in budget-priced Acorn games. They have just released their first two offerings, Robocatch and Caves of Confusion. The games are priced at ú7.99 and ú6.99 respectively, or ú13.98 for both, direct from Generation Design. Also included for the price is an application entitled !RpcMode, which gives Risc PC owners a full size mode 13 screen rather than the usual letter box format.
Robocatch
Describing Robocatch as Éa Space Invader clone with a differenceæ, as the accompanying letter does, is not one of the best methods of building my anticipation. The format has been done to death over the years and a game has to be very good indeed to compete with the better implementations, such as Galaforce on the BBC and YAIG, the public domain offering along these lines on the Archimedes. On paper, however, it seems that Robocatch may have what it takes.
The program automatically detects which computer you are using, from a humble ARM 2 to a Risc PC, and increases the effects accordingly. Soundtrack tunes are available to those who have 2Mb or more memory. The game contains 101Kb of sampled sound effects and over 925Kb of 256 colour sprite data. The high score table can be saved to disc, the game is easily transferred to hard disc or a high density floppy to avoid disc swapping and, if you have an A3010, you can use a joystick instead of the keyboard.
On loading the game, one of the first things that you notice is the graphics. The sprites are large and brightly coloured and, obviously, a good deal of trouble has been taken in their construction. The Édifferenceæ, referred to earlier, which differentiates Robocatch from most Space Invader clones is that, when you shoot an alien, they drop a gold football which you can then catch to provide you with power-ups. Amongst other things, the power-ups can increase/decrease your score or provide you with more missiles to launch at the enemy.
One of the most annoying features of this game is the fanfare which accompanies the catching of these balls. I reached the point where I seriously considered avoiding them, as the sound effect was driving me up the wall. It is also very difficult to work out whether catching a ball will result in a positive or negative effect. They are all the same colour, and the only way of telling is to note which alien dropped it. With bombs raining down and sprites hurtling around the screen at a rate of knots, I am still none the wiser.
However, it has to be said, neither did I care. Robocatch boasts nine levels of gradually increasing difficulty, built around a game scenario that makes watching paint dry seem interesting. The longevity of the challenge has to be questioned too, as I completed all nine levels at my first attempt. This is a game that will appeal strictly to Space Invader aficionados only.
Caves of Confusion
The first time I loaded Caves of Confusion, I forgot to run !RpcMode beforehand. My three lives lasted approximately twenty seconds. The utility supplied with both these games would seem to be essential when playing CoC on a Risc PC. Having exited the game and loaded the utility, it became possible for me to progress further.
Caves of Confusion is a horizontally scrolling Éshootæ-em-upæ in which you attempt to blast away everything that moves, while avoiding asteroids and, on later levels, invincible space craft and what can only be described as planets, which appear at ever more regular intervals. Once again, there is a plethora of sprites, sound effects and atmospheric music, while the action is fast and furious. Sadly, it is also mind-numbingly repetitive.
Scrolling Éshootæ-em-upæ games had a renaissance a couple of years back, due to the addition of power-ups which enabled you to upgrade your ship, and huge end-of-level guardians which took not a little strategy and thought to destroy. In Caves of Confusion, the guardians are larger than the standard ships but not overly impressive. The asteroids always appear on screen at the same level as your ship and so are relatively easy to avoid, even on level three, where they appear from behind, as well as in front of you. The invincible ships which appear from the bottom left corner (and the top left in level four) are annoyingly difficult to avoid and I felt it was rather unfair that it was not possible to shoot them.
With four levels, ranging from hard to nearly impossible, Caves of Confusion certainly provides a challenge. The programmer has thoughtfully provided a password system so that you can avoid starting from the beginning every time you bite the dust, having managed to blast your way past level one.
Conclusions
These two games share much the same highs and lows. They are both written in Basic, then compiled using Silicon Visionæs RiscBasic compiler. As such, they are a testimony to what is achievable on the Archimedes without resorting to ARM code. The sprite routines are very fast and completely flicker free. The sprites themselves are reasonably well drawn and, apart from the fanfare in RoboCatch, the sound effects all add to the atmosphere. With more imagination and ambition in the design stage, they could have been very entertaining games. Sadly, however, they merely serve to whet the appetite for what Generation Design may be capable of in the future and should act as inspiration for Basic programmers who yearn to write games. Demo versions are available and I would advise anybody considering spending their money to try them first.áuá
