Mattcrampy wrote:
Man, old games.

There was this one game I remember that I can't remember the name of. I think it was an Activision game, and I know that it was published for the Amiga at least. The name was one word, I think.

I recall that the first level was a highly uneven polygonal wireframe landscape, and you could move around it at will in two dimesions. It was a tilted view, sort of like the later adventure games where if you went too deep into one screen you'd get another one. You could move up and down the mesas all over the landscape at will, but spend too long on the level and you'd be killed by something.

I know other levels were different - level 4 was top down, for instance.

For the life of me, I can't remember the game, and we got rid of all our Amiga games long ago. It's been bugging me.

Briareos wrote:

Mattcrampy wrote:
There was this one game I remember that I can't remember the name of. I think it was an Activision game, and I know that it was published for the Amiga at least. The name was one word, I think.

Spindizzy (Worlds)?

np: Mikkel Metal - Align (Victimizer)

Syntax wrote:

Mattcrampy wrote:
Man, old games.

There was this one game I remember that I can't remember the name of. I think it was an Activision game, and I know that it was published for the Amiga at least. The name was one word, I think.

I recall that the first level was a highly uneven polygonal wireframe landscape, and you could move around it at will in two dimesions. It was a tilted view, sort of like the later adventure games where if you went too deep into one screen you'd get another one. You could move up and down the mesas all over the landscape at will, but spend too long on the level and you'd be killed by something.

I know other levels were different - level 4 was top down, for instance.

For the life of me, I can't remember the game, and we got rid of all our Amiga games long ago. It's been bugging me.

Sounds very much like Firebird's "The Sentinel" ?

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=1733

Mattcrampy wrote:
It's not Sentinel. You could move around freely, you'd just get killed at some point for no apparant reason after about three screens.

Syntax wrote:
Sentinel is free roaming too. Or are you not referring to your game ?

Mattcrampy wrote:
No, it wasn't Sentinel. The first level, which I remember the most vividly because it was the only one I personally played, wasn't set on an island. The fourth level, which I saw someone else play, almost seemed like a different game - green, top-down and more self-explanatory.

trick wrote:

Mattcrampy wrote:
we got rid of all our Amiga games long ago.

That kind of thing is punishable by death, you know.

Anyway, I asked a friend about your game, and the only thing he could think of was "Hunter". Could that be it ?

As long as we're talking about old games that's been bugging us; I remember this game I played once at a cousins place. It was on an Atari computer of some sort. You could stash cartridges in it. The computer, I mean. On the top. Also, the keyboard was detachable, and there was a light gun.

Oh! I just found out what that thing was! An Atari XEGS!

Anyway, this was a cartridge game, a labyrinth game of some sort. I remember .. brown .. although there were more colors, I think. Also, there were monsters and keys and stuff, and lots of animations -- torches burning on the walls. It also had a two player mode, which was the best part. I think it had 'Labyrinth' or 'Maze' in the title (and the title had more than one word), but I've searched a bit and found nothing.

- Gerry

jamie wrote:
Is it listed here?

http://my.execpc.com/~krieg/links/8bit.carts

silver wrote:
I'm 35. Suddenly, though, I feel younger. Hurray for outing the people older than I.

trick wrote:

jamie wrote:
Is it listed here?

http://my.execpc.com/~krieg/links/8bit.carts

Hm, I don't know. There's no games there with 'labyrinth' in the title, and the only hits for 'maze' are either too early (before the XEGS came out) or too late (I know I played this long before 1998). MidiMaze doesn't have a year listed, but I know that's not it. So, if the game's there, I got the name wrong. Too bad there's not any screenshots ..

Thanks anyway, though.

- Gerry

Syntax wrote:

Anyway, this was a cartridge game, a labyrinth game of some sort. I remember .. brown .. although there were more colors, I think. Also, there were monsters and keys and stuff, and lots of animations -- torches burning on the walls. It also had a two player mode, which was the best part. I think it had 'Labyrinth' or 'Maze' in the title (and the title had more than one word), but I've searched a bit and found nothing.

Ok... this can be tackled.

Firstly, I too had that console. But there were definitely no 3D games on it. Even tile based pre-gened dungeons. Are you talking about top down view?

Secondly, brown would generally suggest Eye of the Beholder as all the walls were a rather dull brown. But again, wasn't released on that particular console.

Thirdly, the torch thing is very reminscient of Dungeon Master for the Atari, but the computer as opposed to the console (STE|F). It was the first game to really capture the atmosphere of an underground maze in "3D". This includes the first "pseudo 3D" monster anims, as still used by ID Software 7 years later. In fact, if you changed "brown" to "grey", and "console" to "computer" I'd have put money on the fact this was the game.

Fourthly, and sticking with "brown", later came Ultima Underworld which is definitely either brown, or has a brown feeling to it.

And fifthly, in a bizarre twist, I also suggest Solomon's Key (Web remake that's very akin to the original) as it has not only brown blocks, and keys (on every level) but also featured on the Atari 520 (albeit never on the cartridge version). This is indeed a longshot, especially considering the original blocks were more yellowy, had a theme tune, and the fact there's no 3D.

Go on... one more hint

trick wrote:

Syntax wrote:
Ok... this can be tackled.

Thank you for the attempt, but it was none of these games (at least not if Google Images is to be believed). I never said the game was 3D .. maybe you mixed my and mattcrampy's descriptions ?

And fifthly, in a bizarre twist, I also suggest Solomon's Key (Web remake that's very akin to the original)

Great game! But alas.

Go on... one more hint

Okay. The game took place in a dungeon, with top-down tiled graphics. IIRC the tiles were pretty colorful, but it's a pretty long time ago since I played this, so that might just be my imagination. I'm 100% sure this must have been before I was 10 (due to certain later events), probably long before. Probably before I was 8, now that I think about it. Anyway, the keys were yellow, and the doors looked like old wooden doors, upright squares where the top corners were rounded. The ground was dark. I think there might have been other tilesets, but I'm not sure. Also, it was not a turn based game, everything moved around in real-time. I don't think there was much music, but there were sound effects. You played a man, and, hm, I think one of the monsters was a ghost (classic white sheet with holes style). I don't remember being able to get rid of the monsters, so maybe you just had to avoid them. Not sure, though (might have been just the ghost). The torches on the walls lit up (smoothly) a small circular section of the wall they were hanging on, making them lighter brown, and the animation of the torches was more than 2-frame (3, maybe 4).

Also, it was definitely a cartridge game. I remember my cousin putting in the cartridge, turning on the machine, and the game popping up. I think the title screen had some red text.

- Gerry

Syntax wrote:
Well that sounds very much like Gauntlet from 1985.
Especially the ghost and key references.

Plus everything was mostly brown

Briareos wrote:

Syntax wrote:
Well that sounds very much like Gauntlet from 1985.
Especially the ghost and key references.

Plus everything was mostly brown

"Blue delver needs food, badly..." *g*

Yes, Gauntlet could fit the bill even though the ghosts were definitely killable.

np: Vladislav Delay - Part 02 (Naima: Live)

trick wrote:
Food! You had to eat food regularly, or you died! I remember it looked like a meaty bone.

It certainly sounds like it could have been Gauntlet from the Wikipedia description (I think the game even had the narrator comments it mentions). Thank you, Syntax! However .. the screenshot from (and the description of) the XEGS version I found (on this page) doesn't even look remotely close to what I remember. I mean, the game actually had nice graphics and animations and such. Granted it's a long time since I played this thing, but I can't be that wrong, can I ? Maybe it was a clone ?

- Gerry

mrimer wrote:
Wow, Gerry, that game sounds eerily familiar, but I can't remember what it's called. It also has some elements of "Haunted House" on the Atari 2600.

Tangentially, "Demon Stalkers" is a fun and interesting Gauntlet clone I played through on the Commodore 64, but it doesn't look anything like that.

trick wrote:

mrimer wrote:
Wow, Gerry, that game sounds eerily familiar, but I can't remember what it's called. It also has some elements of "Haunted House" on the Atari 2600.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's seen this mysterious game .

- Gerry

trick wrote:
I decided to be a good mod for once and post a new thread about this in the Electronic Games forum. We can now continue the old games discussion here! (Or watch the new topic get ignored. It should be entertaining either way.)

- Gerry