Does anyone have any questions for the programmer of Wrath of the Demon? - Page 2

laffer · 28 February 2007, 00:49

Well I didn't know if he knew about these forums and I didn't want to bother him asking him to sign up and answer the questions directly in this thread but he suggested himself that he might reply directly in this thread

He seems like a very cool guy.

viddi · 28 February 2007, 07:01

Hey laffer, this is very interesting!

Wasn´t this guy involved in the WOTD sequel discussed here some time ago?! (Damn, I forgot its name)
Well, maybe we find a new aGTW that way

laffer · 28 February 2007, 07:08

I think it's very interesting too, Wrath of the Demon is a great game and even though I'm no programmer, I can tell that it's definately solidly programmed. Really great graphics and sound and the animation is awesome. And it runs so smoothly all the way through.
I can't wait to hear his answers to some of these questions

28 February 2007, 07:22

Hello everyone!

Nice to see that there's still people interested in my game after so long... (17 years already). As I mentioned to laffer, watching his longplay was for me like traveling back in time to those days (and nights) when I was designing, coding and even testing that game. It's been so long that I forgot most of the technical details but I'll do my best with what I can remember.

Now, let's start with some of your questions:

> are there any cheatcodes for the game?

Unfortunately no... Only load & save games.

> on which hardware the game was developed? Bog standard A500/2000/3000 or something else? And how long did it take to code from start to end and did you have to make many custom tools for it?

For most of the development, I was using a basic A500 with a Trumpcard HD. Near the end, I moved to an A2000 equiped with a 68030 card. The game took approximately a year and a half to make, considering this was my first attempt at coding a commercial product. Like many games back then, the entire game was coded in 68k Assembly. No custom tools were required for making the game.

> did you spend a lot of time creating the copy protection for the game and can you tell a little bit about how it worked?

The copy protection was very similar to some of the other Readysoft titles like Dragon's Lair. It was mostly handled by David Foster who was already familiar with it. It was added at the very end. The disk format used longtracks and to make it a bit more challenging for hackers, many levels of the game used different checksums so the game had to be played through before you could be sure you had a 100% cracked copy. From what I remember, the copy protection did pretty well since it took a few weeks before the game reached pirate boards when most games back then were pirated within a few hours or their release.

To be continued in the next post...

Pierre Proulx
Abstrax

viddi · 28 February 2007, 07:47

Welcome to EAB, Barbadel!

Cool that you have time to answer our questions

Thank you very much.

Edit: Did you start to program a sequel to WOTD?

BTW: I like WOTD soooo much.

28 February 2007, 08:00

> why was the game so difficult and did you ever complete it?

To be honest, I played the game so much while I was coding it that I didn't realize how hard it was for newcomers. For me, the game difficulty was challenging but not to the extreme and I could complete the game very easily. Although, I think we should have gotten more feedback from testers but the release date got changed and we ended up with no time at all for additional testing.

> while you were coding it, did you think it would be a runaway success like Shadow of the Beast?

Since it was our first game, I was hoping for the best but I seriously didn't have any idea how well it would be received. It only became clear to me when the game got released and we started seeing excellent reviews in the gaming press.

> did you ever consider making studio tracks for the CDTV version of was it more of an afterthought?

We did consider it but we had a request from Commodore to bundle our game with CDTV units and time was too short to redo the soundtrack and match with their release schedule.

To be continued...

Pierre Proulx
Abstrax

laffer · 28 February 2007, 08:35

Thanks a lot for signing up here and answering questions

Really awesome of you!

I have an additional question unrelated to the game - how do you feel about games these days compared to games back then?
Personally I find games from that period to be much more addictive and fun than most of the stuff released these days. I also happen to think old games often have a lot more charm to them as well.

Oh and how do you feel about the kind of copy protection you used in that game? I really dislike copy protection like that as it limits the longevity of the game to the durability of the media it's stored on. I don't think of games as stuff you play until you're tired of them and then throw them away, I like to keep them and play them again years and years later (as you've probably guessed from my Youtube longplays

).
I do of course understand the need for copy protection and I don't blame anyone for using it, I just don't like it

It's the same thing today but at least CDs and DVDs last longer than floppies normally.. but I still really dislike it. I think people should have the right to make backups of their games and not have it limited to the media it came on. Too bad there are so many pirates

Also, who's idea was it to make the last level sort of a maze? I think that level was a lot of fun to complete, it's been a long time since I've actually had to draw a map in a game

If you're curious, here's the map I drew, I think it's pretty accurate -

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ncastlemap.jpg

Marcuz · 28 February 2007, 09:47

Welcome here Pierre, thanks for the great (yet frustrating) hours at Wrath of the Demon.

ps. can you have a look here:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=6051
about a Readysoft unreleased game

dlfrsilver · 28 February 2007, 10:43

OH yes ^^ Hi Pierre, King Ransom was a very promising game, and beautiful.

It woudl be great if you has any clues about it

jmmijo · 01 March 2007, 16:42

Welcome to the forums Pierre and thanks for the great game

I figured that David Foster had his hands in that copy protection scheme and it was a bear to come up with a proper custom disk copier for the old Backup Buddy Drive + Maverick back in the day too

StingRay · 01 March 2007, 23:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantasm

In many (most) cases, it doesnt - the copy protection is added right at the end of the process by a completely different person/team.

Thats why most games are cracked in such a small amount of time. Just look at how many badly implemented RNC protected games there are out there, and then look at some of the better implemented ones with exactly the same protection mechanism.

Well, I know that it was almost always like this, yet some coders did take care of the copy protection instead of just (badly) implementing RNC Copylock f.e., that's why I was asking.

Like f.e. almost all Microprose titles could be cracked within a few minutes, yet, try that with Gunship 2000.

02 March 2007, 07:45

> did you work on any unreleased games or were you in any way involved in anything unreleased?

Yes, many titles. The most important one as mentioned in some of the threads here was King's Ransom. The game was supposed to be some kind of sequel to Wrath of the Demon combining action and arcade-RPG elements. The game had a massive storyline with hundreds of different characters that you could interact with in many ways. The game had been in development for 2 years in parallel on Amiga and PC and was 85% done when it got unofficially "cancelled".

Another title was called TRIX. It was some original puzzle type game. The game was basically completed but unfortunately never got released. Maybe someday if time allows I'll code a PC version of it.

We also developped another yet unnamed one which was some kind of Smash TV clone and also one more which was a bit similar to Q*bert.

All those were done in the early 90s. Since then, there would be many more unreleased PC and console titles to list but that would be a bit off topic.

To be continued...

Pierre Proulx
Abstrax

viddi · 02 March 2007, 09:02

Hi again.

Wow, 85%! This sounds fabulous.

Any chance to get a working version for aGTW and the Amiga community?

Would be fantastic, a kind of

. Maybe you could dig out this lost gem again?
Thank you very much for all your efforts.

laffer · 02 March 2007, 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barbadel

> The game was supposed to be some kind of sequel to Wrath of the Demon combining action and arcade-RPG elements. The game had a massive storyline with hundreds of different characters that you could interact with in many ways. The game had been in development for 2 years in parallel on Amiga and PC and was 85% done when it got unofficially "cancelled".

Damn, that sounds awesome! And it was so near being done too

28 February 2007, 00:49	#21
laffer Zone Friend Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Norway Age: 43 Posts: 1,335	Well I didn't know if he knew about these forums and I didn't want to bother him asking him to sign up and answer the questions directly in this thread but he suggested himself that he might reply directly in this thread He seems like a very cool guy. Last edited by laffer; 28 February 2007 at 01:40.

28 February 2007, 08:35	#27
laffer Zone Friend Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Norway Age: 43 Posts: 1,335	Thanks a lot for signing up here and answering questions Really awesome of you! I have an additional question unrelated to the game - how do you feel about games these days compared to games back then? Personally I find games from that period to be much more addictive and fun than most of the stuff released these days. I also happen to think old games often have a lot more charm to them as well. Oh and how do you feel about the kind of copy protection you used in that game? I really dislike copy protection like that as it limits the longevity of the game to the durability of the media it's stored on. I don't think of games as stuff you play until you're tired of them and then throw them away, I like to keep them and play them again years and years later (as you've probably guessed from my Youtube longplays ). I do of course understand the need for copy protection and I don't blame anyone for using it, I just don't like it It's the same thing today but at least CDs and DVDs last longer than floppies normally.. but I still really dislike it. I think people should have the right to make backups of their games and not have it limited to the media it came on. Too bad there are so many pirates Also, who's idea was it to make the last level sort of a maze? I think that level was a lot of fun to complete, it's been a long time since I've actually had to draw a map in a game If you're curious, here's the map I drew, I think it's pretty accurate - http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ncastlemap.jpg Last edited by laffer; 28 February 2007 at 09:22.

02 March 2007, 09:02	#33
viddi Moderator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 4,007	Hi again. Wow, 85%! This sounds fabulous. Any chance to get a working version for aGTW and the Amiga community? Would be fantastic, a kind of . Maybe you could dig out this lost gem again? Thank you very much for all your efforts. Last edited by viddi; 13 November 2009 at 13:51.

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28 February 2007, 07:01	#22
viddi Moderator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 4,007	Hey laffer, this is very interesting! Wasn´t this guy involved in the WOTD sequel discussed here some time ago?! (Damn, I forgot its name) Well, maybe we find a new aGTW that way

28 February 2007, 07:08	#23
laffer Zone Friend Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Norway Age: 43 Posts: 1,335	I think it's very interesting too, Wrath of the Demon is a great game and even though I'm no programmer, I can tell that it's definately solidly programmed. Really great graphics and sound and the animation is awesome. And it runs so smoothly all the way through. I can't wait to hear his answers to some of these questions

28 February 2007, 07:22	#24
Barbadel Posts: n/a	Hello everyone! Nice to see that there's still people interested in my game after so long... (17 years already). As I mentioned to laffer, watching his longplay was for me like traveling back in time to those days (and nights) when I was designing, coding and even testing that game. It's been so long that I forgot most of the technical details but I'll do my best with what I can remember. Now, let's start with some of your questions: > are there any cheatcodes for the game? *Unfortunately no... Only load & save games.* > on which hardware the game was developed? Bog standard A500/2000/3000 or something else? And how long did it take to code from start to end and did you have to make many custom tools for it? For most of the development, I was using a basic A500 with a Trumpcard HD. Near the end, I moved to an A2000 equiped with a 68030 card. The game took approximately a year and a half to make, considering this was my first attempt at coding a commercial product. Like many games back then, the entire game was coded in 68k Assembly. No custom tools were required for making the game. > did you spend a lot of time creating the copy protection for the game and can you tell a little bit about how it worked? The copy protection was very similar to some of the other Readysoft titles like Dragon's Lair. It was mostly handled by David Foster who was already familiar with it. It was added at the very end. The disk format used longtracks and to make it a bit more challenging for hackers, many levels of the game used different checksums so the game had to be played through before you could be sure you had a 100% cracked copy. From what I remember, the copy protection did pretty well since it took a few weeks before the game reached pirate boards when most games back then were pirated within a few hours or their release. To be continued in the next post... Pierre Proulx Abstrax

28 February 2007, 07:47	#25
viddi Moderator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 4,007	Welcome to EAB, Barbadel! Cool that you have time to answer our questions Thank you very much. Edit: Did you start to program a sequel to WOTD? BTW: I like WOTD soooo much.

28 February 2007, 08:00	#26
Barbadel Posts: n/a	> why was the game so difficult and did you ever complete it? To be honest, I played the game so much while I was coding it that I didn't realize how hard it was for newcomers. For me, the game difficulty was challenging but not to the extreme and I could complete the game very easily. Although, I think we should have gotten more feedback from testers but the release date got changed and we ended up with no time at all for additional testing. > while you were coding it, did you think it would be a runaway success like Shadow of the Beast? Since it was our first game, I was hoping for the best but I seriously didn't have any idea how well it would be received. It only became clear to me when the game got released and we started seeing excellent reviews in the gaming press. > did you ever consider making studio tracks for the CDTV version of was it more of an afterthought? *We did consider it but we had a request from Commodore to bundle our game with CDTV units and time was too short to redo the soundtrack and match with their release schedule.* To be continued... Pierre Proulx Abstrax

28 February 2007, 09:47	#28
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	Welcome here Pierre, thanks for the great (yet frustrating) hours at Wrath of the Demon. ps. can you have a look here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=6051 about a Readysoft unreleased game

28 February 2007, 10:43	#29
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,412	OH yes ^^ Hi Pierre, King Ransom was a very promising game, and beautiful. It woudl be great if you has any clues about it

01 March 2007, 16:42	#30
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,395	Welcome to the forums Pierre and thanks for the great game I figured that David Foster had his hands in that copy protection scheme and it was a bear to come up with a proper custom disk copier for the old Backup Buddy Drive + Maverick back in the day too

02 March 2007, 07:45	#32
Barbadel Posts: n/a	> did you work on any unreleased games or were you in any way involved in anything unreleased? Yes, many titles. The most important one as mentioned in some of the threads here was King's Ransom. The game was supposed to be some kind of sequel to Wrath of the Demon combining action and arcade-RPG elements. The game had a massive storyline with hundreds of different characters that you could interact with in many ways. The game had been in development for 2 years in parallel on Amiga and PC and was 85% done when it got unofficially "cancelled". Another title was called TRIX. It was some original puzzle type game. The game was basically completed but unfortunately never got released. Maybe someday if time allows I'll code a PC version of it. *We also developped another yet unnamed one which was some kind of Smash TV clone and also one more which was a bit similar to Qbert. All those were done in the early 90s. Since then, there would be many more unreleased PC and console titles to list but that would be a bit off topic.** To be continued... Pierre Proulx Abstrax

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