Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu!czei From: czei@accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu (Michael S. Czeiszperger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: Review: Adventure Construction Set Message-ID: <381@accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu> Date: 12 Jul 88 13:41:11 GMT References: <960SUb8pfj10109AH/A@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> Reply-To: czei@accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu (Michael S. Czeiszperger) Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Electrical Engineering Lines: 74 In article <960SUb8pfj10109AH/A@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> dwl10@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) writes: >I also presume that my readers are generally aware of what performance can be >expected of a C-64, and that I would be insulting their intelligence to point >out that the IBM-PC and Amiga versions of ACS would certainly be faster than >the C-64 version. My comment regarding the speed of ACS on a C64 was not meant to be insulting, but rather to indicate that perhaps ACS was too ambitious a project for the C64. Part of being a good software developer is to choose the right hardware for the task. I'm NOT FLAMING the C64 - I've owned one for years and still use it for MIDI music applications. Maybe it's just me getting older, but those 2-8 second waits while scrolling through the big map, and also in combat are just too annoying for me to sit through the game anymore. It's just MY opinion; someone else may not notice. (To put this in perspective, I also don't like using Sun 3/50's for the same reason) > >Although the computer-generated adventures can't be "tricky" with ingenious >puzzles to solve, I feel that they *can* be interesting when treated as the >basic hack-and-slash quest-for-an-object style of adventure. That's exactly why I tried to see if ACS could handle rogue. It's got random rooms, a set cast of monsters, a finite set of potions and scrolls, and a special object to obtain. Theoretically, ACS should be able to handle this type of game, but my first and second attempts ended up with games that are impossible to finish. I'm sure it WOULD work if I spent alot more time tweaking things but I've kind of lost interest in it now... FLAMES a comin: Although I own 5 other EA games, the copy protection on ACS and Bard's Tale II are particularily vicious. I know, my Blue Chip drive isn't supposed to be able to handle that kind of protection, but after trying ACS and BTII in the stores, I just couldn't pass them up. It is extremely maddening to pay $30-$40 for a computer game only to have to replace the disks 2 and 3 times at MY EXPENSE. I expected the games not to load at all, but suprise, they did. If they would not have loaded and run, I would have simply taken them back for a refund. The problem was, after I reported to the dealer that they worked fine, and wanted to keep them, the disks quickly started getting errors, until finally they would not load at all. The BTII disks accumulated several bad blocks, which would hang the game right when I was about to solve a dungeon. To get around this I had to copy the disk, and then go in with an editor and try to re-construct the uncopyable blocks. This was after I replaced my entire first set of disks that became totally unusable. Copy protection causes more problems for legitimate users that hackers; it would be more effecient to prosecute those who steal their programs than cause miles of headaches for their customers. I'm never going to buy another EA product unless it is absolutely free of copy protection. FLAMES off; I still think it's an amazing program for those with enough patience. The length of time it takes to make a good adventure with any system is going to be substantial, and ACS provides a wonderful system for building your own without writing a program. For the $10 price you mentioned, it's worth it if you just get to take a look at the wonderful programming job. Michael S. Czeiszperger | "The only good composer is a dead composer" Systems Analyst | Snail: 2015 Neil Avenue (614) The Ohio State University | Columbus, OH 43210 292- ARPA:czei@accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu PAN:CZEI 0161 -- Michael S. Czeiszperger | "The only good composer is a dead composer" Systems Analyst | Snail: 2015 Neil Avenue (614) The Ohio State University | Columbus, OH 43210 292- ARPA:czei@accelerator.eng.ohio-state.edu PAN:CZEI 0161