Whatever happened to Archon Evolution??
Community Forums/Showcase/Whatever happened to Archon Evolution??
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| Just wondered what happened to the remake Leigh? I was really looking forwards to this, as im sure many others are, and I dont say that about many games.Trust me! |
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| Update: Re-released - See a few posts down. http://archon.curvenet.co.uk 'tis me... The developer of Archon Evolution. Well, where to start? Basically, I lost my domain name and my wife and I had our third child; a son. Also, the artist who was creating the (excellent) art work for the game became too busy to help, and we lost touch. I actually still play it (fairly) regularly with my friends (NetPlay is probably 80% done), and I have been known to work on it from time to time. My son is now almost 14 months old, so perhaps the time is right for me to finish it off... |
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| Brilliant!! I know how it is, Im in exactly the same situation.I started coding my game in 1999, but designed it as far back as 1990!Still only about 60% complete! But if my little post has prodded you back into continuing the game, then thats really good.If only more people knew how good this game probably is. (I say probably, cos I never caught the demo version you let out in time, but Im sure its excellent. Hint hint!!). Much better game than crawling through the mud shooting enemy soldiers/terrorists/etc in 'Counter ops warfield 3' or whatever the latest popular 3d fps is called, in my opinion. Lets hope you manage to finish this... thanks for the update anyhow. |
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| Bobby Ball, do you have somewhere else to host the game? I'd been meaning to play it. I remember Archon! If you don't want to use FileFront or one of the other download sites, send it to me and I'll put it up somewhere. I have literally dozens of domains that burn up thousands of gigs per month, hosting your files wouldn't hurt me any :) SpaceAce |
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| I'm more than happy to make the old beta available again. Leave it with me... Oh, and thanks for the offer SpaceAce. |
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| Nice Leigh! As you know, Im a big fan of the game and if you in any way need some help with the title (artwise, codewise ,sound etc) I would be happy to help out between my 2 other games. regards |
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| Please finish the game!!! :o) |
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| See the cult following you have here with this game? I would like to lend a hand with something on the game, but even my game doesnt get a look in ATM, so it would be pointless to say I could help. Maybe I could be the official morale officer for archon ultra! lol Seriously though, if you have some sort of agreement with John Freeman (i think thats his name) then you are the only person 'allowed' to write this game anyway. ;) Were all relying on you!! |
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| BUMP! ;o) |
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http://archon.curvenet.co.uk   I've re-released a beta. All media is unprotected this time, and the beta will never expire. |
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| oh wow i hope u finish this. I remember playing Archon Ultra back when I was a kid in a 386. Been trying to find it back all these years, but dunno waht the name was called. Now I did thx to ur remake. Googled some shots.....it blew mine mind. Old skooooool ahha would definately want to see it finished! best of luckk nack |
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| I agree with everyone above, would definitely love to see this game finished. Keep it up. |
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| Thanks for the comments. I'd love to finish it tbh, but I simply can't find the time! I have three kids and I now run a company with a couple of friends. There simply aren't enough hours in the day unfortunately. I've been toying with releasing the source code so that someone else can finish it off. The trouble is, I'd have to tidy some bits up before doing that and, and I can't even find the time to do that. I still play my Archon: Evolution with friedns, and I also play the 8-bit original on an emulator. Archon is my favorite game of all time! |
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| Well, well. Youve finally let it out. Thanks for that. Totally understand about your lack of time to work on it though. Im in exactly the same situation myself. (Have even started to resort to getting up early before work to chip away at my game, because I'll be damned if Im going to waste all the time Ive spent on it). Will try it when Ive got some time, as Ive been looking forwards to this for a LOOONG time!! Thanks Again. |
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| Well, where to start? Basically, I lost my domain name and my wife and I had our third child; a son Ack, I read that as "I lost my domain name and my wife" XD I'm looking forward to Archon, the game was always a great memory for me, that and Mail Order Monsters :) *hint hint* |
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| Just had a go. Youve done well here. Although its incomplete, its completely playable.Infact, apart from the options screens, if I hadnt of played the original (or looked in the character bmp folder) I would have beleved that the game was pretty much complete. Again, thankyou for giving us all the chance to play this remake, and best of luck finishing it. As always Id love to hear of any advances make Leigh. |
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| Zenith: A Mail Order Monsters remake was apparently stopped by EA (http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=6660). mrbombermillzy: Thanks for your comments. What in the character bmp folder told you that the game was incomplete? I don't quite follow you. I wish someone would re-design the Sorceress icon, and also the Banshee "weapon"... |
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| A Mail Order Monsters remake was apparently stopped by EA (http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=6660). I honestly think EA stopped that remake because it was /ass/ :P *hides* |
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| I say that because I noticed the elemental character bitmaps in the graphics folder, which dont feature in the game, and are also in the original Archon/Ultra. Hey, if you ask nicely around here, Im sure some nice person can help finish any loose ends with the graphics/game. There doesnt seem to be too much left to do. Doesnt look like a massive job to me.Maybe Im wrong though. |
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| The elementals are in the game, or at least they should be. What happens when you cast the "Summon Elemental" spell? I don't think there is that much to do either tbh. Well, not for the 2 player game anyway. The Network stuff needs quite a bit of work still (lag is a problem), and the single player mode is 0% complete (well, I did plan ahead, so that's not strictly true). |
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| Sorry. My mistake. I only had a quick go. Forgot the elementals had to be 'summoned'! As far as I could tell on my quick playaround, all that was left to do was: 1. Settings screen(s) need completing. 2. I'll take your word for the multiplayer issues, as have not tried network mode. 3. Minor sound/graphics polishing. 4.Characters only have 1 attack type. 5. Banshee is not invisible 6. Manticore does not have 3 different weapons And to tell you the truth, numbers 4 onwards are only trivial, depending on how close to the original (and what version aswell) you intend to go. For example, I think in Archon Ultra (PC) the Banshee was visible, whereas in Archon II (C64) it was invisible untill it attacked. (Im going on a pretty abused brain for my memories here, so please forgive me if Ive not got the versions quite right!). Anyway, the point is its down to your individual taste now, as to what goes where in this instance. |
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| This release is intended to be a near perfect (playability wise) remake of the original 8bit game, and does not include any of the Ultra enhancements (points 4 thru 6). I always did plan on adding them in as a game option. Due to the amount of interest/support this re-release has received (thanks for the emails), I've actually decided to resume development! I'm going to start small and see how things go... I've just released v0.7.000: + Random side now starts. + Added alerts for unsupported game modes. * Slowed down screen fades. ! Title music would continue to play in game - Fixed. * Removed unused images from distribution. * Changed core images from BMP to PNG. This release is worth (re)downloading for two reasons: The disk footprint is much smaller now (PNGs used in place of BMPs) and, more importantly, a random side now starts the game (was always the light side in the previous release). After this release, I'll provide updates so that you won't need to re-download the full game. |
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| I loved C64 Archon - thumbs up! |
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| Sweet |
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| I spent hours hunting around the net for a copy of this. Looked in the internet archive and everything... It's the best looking remake I've seen and is still mentioned on wikipedia: Another rewrite of the game, entitled Archon: Evolution, was developed by Curve Software. The game reached public beta status before disappearing from the Internet without a trace. The game used code from the original 8-bit version and supposedly had the support of John Freeman. I never tought of just asking lol... Thanks ! |
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| Thanks for the comments McSeb. I hope to have another release ready in a week (or so). |
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| Hi again Leigh, If youre up for some constructive comments, heres what Ive noticed after a fair amount of playing lately on v0.7.000: 1. Characters 'bounce' when walking against background scenery, which hinders dodging enemies,which is not necessarily a bad thing, but its not in the way that you might have intended. 2.When wizard/sorceress is selected, they are very hard to unselect, which may be due to sensitivity in the fire button buffer routine. 3.Not sure how the wizard/sorceress energy values work.No indication of how much magic energy you have left, and I could only bring back my dead creatures once in the game, despite having a monster on most of the power squares.Im pretty sure the c64 version showed the energy values and the dead characters could be brought back from the dead at much less energy cost. 4.Cant be 100% sure, but in the original versions,couldnt some characters like dragons and phoenixes for example, fly over the background scenery? 5.Wizards.sorceresses had 'steerable' fireballs in the original (as far as I can remember). After all that, I just want to say, I absolutely love your remake, and the above comments are just minor nit picking and differences Ive noticed with the other versions. So glad that you are continuing the development of the game. Cant wait for the next update... |
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| Cheers for the feedback. I believe you are comparing it to Archon 2 (Adept) though. All of the features you mention were in the sequel. Also, the bounce you describe is present in the 8-bit originals. I might add an option to turn this off. I never liked Adept as much as the original. It didn't seem as balanced. Pressing fire twice on the wizard/sorceress will bring up the spell selector. You need to cease conjouring to cancel the selection. Thanks again. |
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| Would most people be more interested in NetPlay or the Single Payer game? I've received a number of emails from people asking me to implement AI before I finish the NetPlay stuff. I'd always assumed that NetPlay would be the most desirable game mode!? |
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| Well I'd say AI, but then maybe that says more about the geeky types you get on here ;o)! |
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| I've received a number of emails from people asking me to implement AI before I finish the NetPlay stuff. I'd always assumed that NetPlay would be the most desirable game mode!? I would assume Archon was always thought as a two players game. Playing in single player, while enjoyable (expecially when you have 5 mins to kill), is like playing against bots in a deathmatch. In my childhood I had lots of fun by playing it with my brother, mostly because in multiplayer the tactics aren't predictable. Single player in comparison is mildly fun. All in all, in the 80's it could have been a problem finding someone to play with, but in modern age with netplay... Also, I guess the AI will require a lot more tweaking than netplay, so I find it fair to worry about it after multiplayer code. ...anyway, I still didn't congratulate with you: the gameplay is remarkably similar to the original one (kudos to the graphic artist as well, since backgrounds and sprites are very suited). |
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| I'd have to agree with Doiron.Nowadays, theres far more netplay than before, but on the other hand, youve had mail from people asking for the AI to be finished first. I myself, dont really go online to play games.(Probably an old habit from growing up with ZX80's,C64's,BBC B's,etc). That, and because my brother used to make me play Counterstrike online, and it seemed everyone on the enemy were either complete pros, and shot you as soon as you drew your first breath, or your teammates were complete idiots, who didnt 'realise' there were teams, and well, the same consequences as above really. It put me off online gaming. Some real loons out there.Its scary!! LOL Best thing for you to do is what youve just done.. As they say on 'Who wants to be a millionare', you should 'Ask the audience'. |
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| FYI: I will be removing the download of "Archon: Evolution" very shortly. It will never (officially) be available to download again. http://archon.curvenet.co.uk My reasons will become clear in the coming days... |
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| Did you get a letter from EA? |
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| No letter from EA :) I had permission to develop the freeware game. |
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| oohh.. must be an "offical" version update then? |
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| Wow, had permission from EA, or an original Author?!?! That is great! This was one of my favorite games back on the C64 and Amiga. |
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| I had permission, and help, from Jon Freeman. He's a really nice guy. |
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| its telling me i cant download it cos im already downloading (something) from them yet im not |
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| It said that to me as well. Eventually it worked. |
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| Rapidshare uses a flawed method of IP detection, which will lead to it incorrectly thinking you're downloading already. I was under the impression they had fixed it, but if not, try downloading it again at a quieter time of day. Given that you're taking the game down soon, I guess congratulations are in order. Good job. |
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| worked first time for me.... |
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| it eventually downloaded ive not played it yet but had a mooch at the gfx folders 1 jpg per ascii code ??? individual frames of animation as a single png? bad use of clusters even if ive got a huge drive to slap it on 1 image with all ascii characters vs 256 images hmm ... |
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| 1 jpg per ascii code ??? individual frames of animation as a single png? @Ginger: It was originally distributed in a "Thinstalled" package (kinda like a wildly more powerful MoleBox), and this file organisation gave me the most control over patching and (Thinstall's superior) compression (hence the use of BMPs in some cases). I only changed to distributing the game like this (i.e. free, and free of any protection) to allow people to examine and play with the images. Sheesh... There's no pleasing some people! Having said that, I don't use JPGs at all!? Also, the complete icon animations are stored in individual files, and not one frame per image. Only the weapons are stored in 1 file for each direction (not for each frame, as you imply). The existing font system was temporary (and ugly, as noted in the readme file), and was intended to be replaced with an Anti-Aliased font system (~75% coded). |
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| well i looked at some of the gfx and i saw a LOT of single sprites if you wanted a customizable bitmap font a 16*16 grid of whatever size you were using would be better, giving the user numerous size combinations to choose from (even blank grids) as long as they call it 12x8-font.png or whatever and stick to the ascii charts (even if you use nothing than a-z A-Z 0-9 and a few special symbols) otherwise words will all be jumbled im not dissing the art or anything its just like going to a pub and having shot's served in pint glasses |
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| ouch .. a minute too late *sniff* |
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| Yeah, me too *sob* |
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| http://www.archonclassic.com/ The things you trip over on a GP2X forum. Onwards and upwards for (what used to be) Archon:Evolution. :o) [edit] Of course this link is on the old Archon:Evolution site... but for those who'd given up on this and thus hadn't looked... |
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