Strip Poker datadisks

[mai]

I am looking for Strip Poker datadisks!
http://hol.abime.net/3737
http://hol.abime.net/3738
http://hol.abime.net/3739

[mai]

I am expecting, that this datadisks are lost.

[BippyM]

or never existed

[mai]

Originally Posted by bippym

or never existed

indeed, its also possible

[niobyte]

I tried to contact Artworx on the email address 'inbox.1@artworx.com'. The email did not bounce back. The one listed on HOL did. I have not received a reply back from them. I sent them an email on '5th of August 2010'.

I have sent an email to the artist 'Doug Mcfarland' of these games to find out if he knows anything about these or other titles.

[niobyte]

I have received a reply from Doug Mcfarland.

Here is what he has had to say about it:

Here's what I can tell you from memory, which is a bit rusty.

We were marketing a poker game for the Apple II written by a freelance author Roger Harnish. I played it a couple of times and found that if I was getting low on money, I would just restart the game. In a meeting with ArtW, DennisZ, I suggested the game was a bit lame as there was no purpose with fake money.

As a long time portrait artist I had started to experiment with Atari graphics and was looking for a new project for the 800 after Questar IV and Beta Fighter and a couple of collaborations.

So I suggested we make the Apple poker game into a strip poker game, although personally at the time, with a very conservative market, I didn't think it would do well, but Dennis and Art thought it was a great idea.

Anyhow, we decided to do the project and Art Walsh wanted small stick figures or something up the top right corner of the screen. I objected, and thus was born the first computer graphics based Strip Poker Game as it is known today.

The original graphics were done 1 pixel at a time on my 800 in the basement, and while I worked on the graphics for the C64 a couple of guys wrote the Strip Poker code. (1983), we also had a collaboration (Roger Hamish with Apple II code and DennisZ doing a code port to the A800 - I remember him saying it was very difficult as the syntax was different - may have been basic. The Apple Graphics were done by someone else.

One of the early problems was keeping people from just looking at the images on the disk, so I devised a simple encryption mechanism. The first byte of the graphics file was a key, this was xor'ed with the rest of the bytes in the file while rotating the key right through carry. We even had some Atari reps come by our booth at the CES show in 1986. They were trying to break the key but had not succeeded yet but were impressed.

http://members.chello.at/theodor.lau...es/artworx.htm

With these early versions I was not impressed with the game play because the play was predictable, so I did a complete rewrite for the Amiga when I upgraded from the 800.

It was a bottoms up job written in C (and no cheating by by the computer by looking at opponent cards) with music, voice and sound by Mitch Garnaat and it was designed to have personality modules that went with each player, so game play was different for each opponent. The key to that was the more difficult players were unpredictable in there betting strategy, I had 4 or 5 personality attributes that would control their play.

I also did the splash screens for the early C64 and A800 version (a Playboy Barbi Benton knock off), but for the Amiga version I drew a new splash screen.

I remember doing Candi, but not sure of Marlena. I think we started to use other artists so this might have been a combined effort. I *think* Candi is the image listed here under Atari ST with yet another one of my new splash screens.

http://members.chello.at/theodor.lau...es/artworx.htm

I did Disk #4 Crystal and Dawn.

For Strip Poker II we were able to finally digitize photos, touch them up and use them as opponents. (1988). I don't remember the names of those two opponents that came with the game but I drew both of them.

This was close to my last involvement with Strip Poker. I didn't do any of the M/M or M/F disks etc. as we could hire photographers and models and digitize. By 1988 I started my own project on the Amiga and that was Centerfold Squares.

Anyhow - as I mentioned:

Strip Poker Data Disk #4: Crystal & Dawn [OCS] [1987] - is my work, but
Strip Poker Data Disk #5: Cynthia & Janice [OCS] [1987] - was Stuart(?) Grant's artwork.

I did not do the other disks - However, my wife worked at Artworx those years and she believes these 5 disks were for the Amiga (she even said I did the two males and was not happy about it - but I don't remember that).

She says she might have an old catalog archived somewhere and if she finds it we can say for sure - maybe even scan the graphics if there are there.

Strip Poker Data Disk #1: Candi & Marlena [OCS] [1987]
Strip Poker Data Disk #2: Tony & David [OCS] [1987]
Strip Poker Data Disk #3: Dominique & Lindsay [OCS] [1987]

So I think it's safe to say for now at least that all 5 were available for the Amiga.

Thanks for keeping a bit of history alive.

As a side note, when I made Centerfold squares, I programmed it to take data disks as well, but non were ever made. The opponents were given different look ahead levels and the toughest player (I think evaluating 5 plays ahead) was so good that I couldn't beat her.

We even had a call to Artworks one time from a guy that said he had been playing the toughest player for weeks and finally beat her.

He was talking to my wife and she congratulated him and said that even the programmer who wrote it couldn't beat her.

We'll dig some more to verify - but it will be later this fall as I have to find the archives. Stay in touch.

Doug

Thanks for all of this info Doug.

This was greatly appreciated.

If you want to reply to this thread directly please do. Just register an EAB (English Amiga Board) account. Then reply away

[nujack]

Thanks for that information.
Maybe the missing disks/opponents can be found some time.

[demoniac]

Quite an interesting reply from Doug McFarland. I believe I have beaten all the Centerfold Squares' levels.

If Doug reads this thread, I hope he could explain the situation with Anco's Strip Poker II+ version. It seems like Anco was a publisher of Artworx games and decided to release their own.

[Capitaine]

Well, no datadisk for Centrefold Squares but there's one at the Games Archive
http://www.thegamearchives.com/?val=..._45217_0_0_0_0

Must be fake then ? But it has such a close design to the original game

Weird

[lambrettadave]

hello I Do belive I have these Disks here for strip poker 2 the data disks plus extra data disks

Dave

[lambrettadave]

and I also have centerfold square data disk here, never tried it though

[TCD]

@lambrettadave
Could you try to make ADF images of them?

[lambrettadave]

they are in adf.

i have a complete strip poker set here.

where could i upload this lot for you to go through. to check the contents

[Jimbo]

Sounds very interesting

[lambrettadave]

i aint to shureif i have the permission to dump them on this forum so i will wait to see what happens

Dave

[TCD]

Originally Posted by lambrettadave

where could i upload this lot for you to go through. to check the contents

Put them in the zone here Check the link on the upper right here and http://eab.abime.net/faq.php?faq=vb_...ezone_faq_item

[lambrettadave]

ok strip poker 3 and 2 are in the zone please have a look

[TCD]

Thanks for the upload, but those are the TOSEC disks (which mai will have for sure ). He's looking for the missing data disks for the first Strip Poker (http://hol.abime.net/3731).

[lambrettadave]

I think the first stripoker i have has 7 disks which problys is normal

[TCD]

Do you mean :

Strip Poker (1987)(Artworx).adf
Strip Poker (1987)(Artworx)[a2].adf
Strip Poker (1987)(Artworx)[a].adf
Strip Poker (1987)(Artworx)[h Bytey].adf
Strip Poker Data Disk #4 - Crystal & Dawn (1987)(Artworx)[datadisk].adf
Strip Poker Data Disk #5 - Cynthia & Janice (1987)(Artworx)[datadisk].adf

? What's the seventh disk?

Edit : Old TOSEC renamed disks...

Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 1 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 2 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 3 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 4 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 5 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 6 of 7)
Strip Poker (1987)(Anco)[cr Comax](Disk 7 of 7)

Just a not properly renamed set I'm afraid.