Avesoft games and other stuff

[Master484]

Ok, I checked my collection and some cool stuff still remains.

Firstly, there are some Avesoft mail order game disks, of which a few of might be HOL worthy. And also I found some game boxes from the closet which I didn't scan back then. And some other random stuff too.

So I guess it's time to get back to the scanning business, after a six year break. I'm feeling a bit rusty, so I'll start processing this stuff one by one, without any hurry, maybe a few uploads in a week.

So, let's start with coolest items: the Avesoft mail order games.

I'll upload all the stuff of each game to the Zone (I'm a Zone guy) for you, with disk scans, screenshots + DBS, and then put some infos to this thread; everything necessary to create a good new game entry, and you can then decide what to do with them. I have 3 of these "potentially HOL worthy" games.

The first game is called "Rolling". A HOL deluxe service image pack is in the Zone.

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Rolling - Game Info
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Year of first release: 1992
Number of disks: 1
Number of players: 1
Language: English and Finnish
Hardware: ECS / OCS
Amiga original game: Probably yes

License: Commercial (a mail order game)
Publisher: Avesoft
Developer: Solaris

Coder 1: Janne Kalliola
Coder 2: Hannu Rummukainen
Graphics: Janne Kalliola
Music: Perttu Hämäläinen

Category : Either "Maze Game - Obstacles" or "Puzzler - Ball Manipulation"
Quickmatches: Coding - AMOS

-------------------------

Included in the zone file is an Avesoft advertisement scan from the finnish computer magazine Mikrobitti (issue 8 / 1993), which shows Rolling listed for sale in the box on the upper right corner (number 28). I'll post more info about Avesoft in another post, as this is getting quite long already.

Also there already seems to be a game named "Rolling" in HOL, but this is obviously a different game.

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Also about the screenshots, the game switches resolution multiple times, so that's why you get all those different screenshot sizes. The developer logo is in hi-res, then it switches to lo-res for the Avesoft logo, and then to overscan for the game logo. And then the finnish instruction screens are in hi-res again, and the actual game uses both horizontal and vertical overscan, so the view exceeds the normal 320*256 by quite a lot.

Also I can't remember how the HOL Double Barrel screenshots are supposed to look like, so I included two versions: two normal screenshots (320*256) side by side, and two double size (640*512) screenshots side by side.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Master484

So I guess it's time to get back to the scanning business, after a six year break. I'm feeling a bit rusty, so I'll start processing this stuff one by one, without any hurry, maybe a few uploads in a week.

That's how I felt last year Uploading the first few contributions to HOL and editing entries felt... odd. Only took a couple of weeks until everything came back.

Originally Posted by Master484

I'll upload all the stuff of each game to the Zone (I'm a Zone guy) for you, with disk scans, screenshots + DBS, and then put some infos to this thread; everything necessary to create a good new game entry, and you can then decide what to do with them. I have 3 of these "potentially HOL worthy" games.

Perfect (both the frequency and the info)

About the size of the DBS: It depends. Normally it is 320x256x2, but if a game uses HiRes graphics it is 640x512x2. Normally it should be possible to tell which one is correct (if the two sizes are different the larger one is correct, otherwise the smaller one).

I'll grab the package now and have a look tomorrow

[TCD]

Well, I lied. I took a look today: http://hol.abime.net/6934

Let me know if I messed anything up.

Just had a quick look and couldn't find this game in TOSEC. So if you have a disk image it would be great if we could add it to the file server

[Master484]

Rolling ADF is in the Zone.

Some instructions:

In the title logo screen, you have to press the left mouse button to load the actual game. Or just wait and read the scrolling messages. Joystick button does nothing here. And pressing the right mouse button loads the finnish instructions.

The game itself is joystick controlled.

In the game start screen, move the joystick left and right to read the english instructions, which are unfortunately somewhat less detailed than the finnish ones.

But in a nutshell, this is what you have to do: there are one or two red circles in each map. You collect them as fast as possible, and then go to the exit tile (the one with the letters "XIT" on it). The faster the time, the more points you get. And if you get stuck, pressing the space bar will destroy the ball. And pressing any other key will pause the game.

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Thanks for adding the game, everthing looks good, more stuff will follow soon.

About Avesoft, this was a finnish publisher that besides selling their own games, also sold PD games, software and various small computer gear through mail order. They had advertisements in almost every issue of finnish computer magazines back then. In addition to their own releases, they also had those usual lists that had hundreds of different PD games, demos and software in them, and these were mostly the same stuff that was available on the common PD libraries spread worldwide.

About their own games, Avesoft released both full price games, and budget games. Rolling was one of the "Budget games", which, as far as I know, were sold only through mail order and came in single disks without a box. But I think that the full price games (Coloris and some others) actually had big box releases at some point, at least in Finland.

Coloris was their best game and "main product", but from what I have read, the game faced some legal problems, because it resembled Sega's Columns too much. And so the game seemingly never got an international release, and was sold in Finland only. And because the mail order business also mainly focused on Finland, Avesoft remained almost unknown outside of Finland. But here everyone knew this company, because of it's advertisements in every issue of Mikrobitti and other computer magazines. Every subscriber of Mikrobitti knew about Coloris, and were familiar with Avesoft's knight mascot (Averitari or AveKnight as it was called), that's for sure.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Master484

Rolling ADF is in the Zone.

Thank you I've added the file to the file server in 'Non TOSEC Games/Disk' as 'Rolling (1992)(Avesoft)'.

Originally Posted by Master484

Some instructions:

In the title logo screen, you have to press the left mouse button to load the actual game. Or just wait and read the scrolling messages. Joystick button does nothing here. And pressing the right mouse button loads the finnish instructions.

The game itself is joystick controlled.

In the game start screen, move the joystick left and right to read the english instructions, which are unfortunately somewhat less detailed than the finnish ones.

But in a nutshell, this is what you have to do: there are one or two red circles in each map. You collect them as fast as possible, and then go to the exit tile (the one with the letters "XIT" on it). The faster the time, the more points you get. And if you get stuck, pressing the space bar will destroy the ball. And pressing any other key will pause the game.

Thank you for the instructions I'll add at least the part about how to start the game to the HOL entry.

Originally Posted by Master484

Thanks for adding the game, everthing looks good, more stuff will follow soon.

Looking forward to it

[NPI]

Will be good if you could compile a catalogue of their games (from the ads).

[Master484]

Will be good if you could compile a catalogue of their games (from the ads).

Yes, a complete Avesoft game catalogue would be cool.

Their general PD game lists of course had hundreds of disks in them.

But the amount of software actually published by Avesoft is much smaller, and it should indeed be possible to compile a complete list by looking at magazines from different years. But unfortunately most of my old magazines are in another place right now. Although I did find some more scanworthy stuff from the ones that I have.

[TCD]

Since my Finnish is a bit rusty (as in non existent ) maybe starting a Google spreadsheet that people can contribute to would be an idea to get that catalogue?

[Master484]

Since my Finnish is a bit rusty (as in non existent ) maybe starting a Google spreadsheet that people can contribute to would be an idea to get that catalogue?

Yes maybe, but I'm not a Google spreadsheet guy. But if someone else wants to do such things, then cool.

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But anyways, I just uploaded three Avesoft advertisement scans to the Zone for those who are interested. They are from years 89, 90 and 93. The one from 1993 shows their entire PD library at that time.

As you can see, if you wanted to order something, all you had to do was to fill that coupon, cut it out, and drop it into a mail box. And making the order wouldn't cost you anything; as you can see in the corner of the coupon there is that box where the stamp would be, and there it reads "Avesoft maksaa postimaksun", which means "Avesoft pays the postage fee"; and below that is the contract number that they had with the finnish post service. So you just mailed that coupon and then they sent you the stuff + the bill.

Also what's interesting is that their ads were always these 2-page ads, which suddenly filled both the left and right pages in front of you, so that you simply couldn't miss them when reading the magazine. You would just suddenly be confronted by this cool looking knight in white armor with a blue cross, basically commanding you to order something. And if you didn't buy anything, then in the next issue the knight was there again, reminding you.

And in some of these ads the knight points his finger at the reader, like in some army recruitment poster, reminding you of your patriotic duty.

Here's a picture of it:




So basically Avesoft dominated the finnish Public Domain retailer scene.

And what makes this even more funny, is that one of their products was a 250 page information package called "Mainoksin markkinavoittoihin", which roughly translates to "Market victories through advertisements".

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Also I uploaded some screenshots for Coloris, and a 1 page version of the ad from the year 1990, that promotes both Coloris and Bloody Afternoon, which you can add to these games if you want.

About the screenshots, the logo screens of Coloris use overscan, but the rest of the game is in normal lo-res 320*256.

Also the game uses Extra Half-Brite mode, so a Quickmatch tag for that might be added. This is also mentioned in the advertisement. The EHB is used for shadow effects for the falling pieces, although the already dark background makes it a little bit hard to notice.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Master484

Yes maybe, but I'm not a Google spreadsheet guy. But if someone else wants to do such things, then cool.

I made a simple Google spreadsheet that people could edit and that NPI could then use to hunt the games down: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Originally Posted by Master484

Also I uploaded some screenshots for Coloris, and a 1 page version of the ad from the year 1990, that promotes both Coloris and Bloody Afternoon, which you can add to these games if you want.

About the screenshots, the logo screens of Coloris use overscan, but the rest of the game is in normal lo-res 320*256.

Also the game uses Extra Half-Brite mode, so a Quickmatch tag for that might be added. This is also mentioned in the advertisement. The EHB is used for shadow effects for the falling pieces, although the already dark background makes it a little bit hard to notice.

Thank you I'll add the info and the pictures in a bit.

[NPI]

Here's my take on what games are mentioned, but are MIA (with the translated description):

Sources from:

https://archive.org/details/pelit-1993-05
https://archive.org/details/pelit199502


Exterivm I
Guide the microbit team on lapi adventures.

Exterivm II
Three tough Amos games, Oderfront-a tactical game. Eye of the Mutant, Spacestarlazer

Survival-Duetto
adventure games developed for studying English.

Formula Ace
27 tracks, an advance game and a fantastic single game. Top music & graphics.

Eat or Die
Syd are running empty and chasing the pursuers at speed with the substance transporters.

Ave Strategy Pack
Contains the strategy games Star front and Conflict as well as the alygame Master Mind.

Line Up
An improvised version of Hedelmapel, i.e. one-deck bandit, which can also be played by two people.

Laser Maze
Calculate your moves and direct the rain to its target. Dozens of challenging levels.

Electronic Worm
1-4 players. Control the sahkdmat and Punch your opponent. The more players the merrier.

Veloris
A decent domestic challenger to Tetris.

Ambush
Be smart and shoot your way through the enemy fields and destroy Zhar's main fiend.

Zombie the Living Dead
Aaargh Zombies comes as a thrilling 2-disk graphic adventure.

[Master484]

Thanks for adding the Coloris stuff.

Here's my take on what games are mentioned, but are MIA (with the translated description)

That's a good start.

From the magazine ads that I uploaded to Zone yesterday, we can also add the following:

Memoris
A memory game where you control a robotic arm.

S.E.U.C.K. games Vol 1
Has games Dragon, Bioblast and Terminator.

S.E.U.C.K. games Vol 2
Has games Flying A.C.E. and D-6000. Also contains Shaman-intro.

About those games mentioned in their SEUCK collections; I wonder if anyone by chance have any of these, and if so, do they mention Avesoft in any way ?

[TCD]

I've added all the games with their description to the spreadsheet. I also added a 'Found' column to keep track of which ones have been found.

[Master484]

Another Avesoft game uploaded to the Zone: Formula Ace.

There are two separate files, one is the ADF, and the other one has screenshots and a disk scan for HOL.

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Game Info:

Year: 1990
Number of Disks: 1
Simultaneous max players: 2
Language: English
Hardware: OCS and ECS
Amiga original game: probably yes

License: Commercial (mail order game)
Publisher: Avesoft
Developer: Nikki Corruptions

Coder: Ari Nykänen
Graphics: Ari Nykänen
Music: Perttu Hämäläinen

Category: Racing - competitive
Quickmatch: Super Sprint

---------------

The musician is the same guy as in Rolling. Also the title screen says "Intro and Music by Perttu Hämäläinen", but I'm not sure if that means that he also coded the intro, or only did the music for it.

About the screenshots, the in-game screens are 320*260, so 4 pixels higher than normal, because of the 2 pixel high copper health bars at the top and bottom, that are outside of the actual screen area. This affects the double barrel screenshot too, which is 640*260.

The game is joystick controlled. Pressing ESC allows you to exit the current race and also go backwards in the menu screens.

Also the loading speed is quite impressive. The intro screens appear as fast as the cracktros, and so does the game. And even on a 512K machine there are no in-game loading breaks, despite the 27 different tracks.

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Also about these ADFs, the guy who made me these ADFs said that there are amiga viruses in some of them. And this game might be one of them. (I scanned it with a scanner from year 93, complains about a non-usual bootblock, but it couldn't remove it without destroying the game). So I wouldn't use any of these with WinUAE configs that have hard drives specified. But surely you all already know this stuff.

[TCD]

First of all: thank you

I might ask Crashdisk to have a look before I add the disk to the file server so that we at least know which virus it is (and maybe it can be removed...).

Here's the new entry: https://hol.abime.net/6937

[Crashdisk]

@TCD @Master484
I do not see any particular problem with this disk :

ave-13-formula_ace.adf
It was infected by the Saddam virus in the past, but it is not the case anymore. The bootblock is a simple loader that loads first the intro and then the game, nothing special to report.
It is necessary all the same to remain prudent...

[TCD]

Thank you Crashdisk I'll upload the disk to the file server then

Edit: I've added the file to the file server in 'Non TOSEC Games/Disk' as 'Formula Ace (1990)(Avesoft)'.

[Master484]

It was infected by the Saddam virus in the past, but it is not the case anymore. The bootblock is a simple loader that loads first the intro and then the game, nothing special to report.

Okay good to know, thanks to both of you.

You should probably check all the disks that I upload before adding them anywhere, just in case.

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About the developer Nikki Corruptions, one of my magazines mention that they have made several games for Avesoft, and the article has quick reviews of two PD games made by them, called "Lada 2000" and "Game of Life", to which the magazine gives scores 7/10 and 9/10 (but these games were not published by Avesoft). A game called "Game of Life" exists in HOL, but it quite clearly seems to be a different game.

Some small things:

In Formula Ace I didn't notice that the maximum player amount is actually 7, because in the "race against the clock" game mode you can have a maximum of 7 players taking turns. But the simultaneous maximum is still just 2.

Also about Coloris, the quickmatch tag "Enhanced Graphics - Extra-Half Brite (EHB) mode" could be added to it, as according to the advertisement the game uses it, and I checked it in WinUAE visual debugger, and 6 bitplanes are indeed active.

[TCD]

Don't think I can bother Crashdisk all the time, but I might add your uploads to a seperate folder on the file server so people that pay attention know what to expect

Originally Posted by Master484

Some small things:

In Formula Ace I didn't notice that the maximum player amount is actually 7, because in the "race against the clock" game mode you can have a maximum of 7 players taking turns. But the simultaneous maximum is still just 2.

Also about Coloris, the quickmatch tag "Enhanced Graphics - Extra-Half Brite (EHB) mode" could be added to it, as according to the advertisement the game uses it, and I checked it in WinUAE visual debugger, and 6 bitplanes are indeed active.

Done and done Interesting that the max number of players in Formula Ace is 7 and not 8.

[Crashdisk]

Originally Posted by TCD

Don't think I can bother Crashdisk all the time, but I might add your uploads to a seperate folder on the file server so people that pay attention know what to expect

You can always ask me, the answer will come when it is possible