Small sprites on a big screen

alkis21 · 19 August 2002, 12:38

I've always thought that small sprites on a big screen are the secret behind many addictive games. They allow you much room to move and therefore you feel you have more control of your character(s) instead of watching the computer. Maybe that's why I dislike most of today's action games in which the character occupies half the screen. Where's the adrenaline that used to run in our veins when we guided our little spaceship/ soldier/ human among bullets?
Games that featured this:

Kick Off games
Lemmings
Worms
Benefactor
Alien Fish Finger (I discovered this one recently, what a game!)
Cannon Fodders
Deluxe Galaga

What do you think?

Drake1009 · 19 August 2002, 12:43

I think you're somewhat right. Small sprites on a large screen allows for better overview of what's happening and gives you a better sense of control. But if they get too small you might have a problem identifying your own character.

Haven't tried Alien fish finger though. What's it about? And does it have small characters?

Also there are some somewhat addicting games with large characters. I quite liked Rayman even though he took up a fair amount of the screen I still had plenty of fun with that game.

Tim Janssen · 19 August 2002, 12:59

I agree with Drake. When you have small sprites, the area you can overview is much larger.
With a single view you can see the possible treasures and treats which add to a hectic but satisfyig gaming atmosphere.
Impossible Mission illustrates this perfect: Play the C64 original with its static screens scattered with robots & objects and you have a manic experience. Play the Impossible Mission 2025 version on Amiga with its huge scrolling levels and lack of baddies and you almost fall asleep.

alkis21 · 19 August 2002, 13:10

It's a platform/ shoot'em up, the scenery resembles to the ones Worms use but it features multiple screens instead of just one. The character is about as big as in Benefactor, some enemies are bigger. It's fast and very addictive, I'll upload some screenshots tomorrow if someone hasn't done it by then.

Drake1009 · 19 August 2002, 14:46

Then you can dig out Impossible mission 2025 for the Amiga and play a port of the first Impossible mission. Much more satisfying to play than the game itself. Typical isn't it?

Tiny troops lacked a bit of gameplay, even if the sprites were somewhat small.

Super mario was small enough to give it that gameplay feeling. I still really like Locomotion. Maybe the levels weren't that large but it was just right difficulty to keep track of all those small trains.

heh. Still need to make levels for my Java version of that game. only has level 1 and have had that for 8 months now. Practically everything else works.

Amiga1992 · 19 August 2002, 15:33

The game that Buzz linked the other time, Damage, has small characters, and I love it.

YEs, smallish characters rock

Drake1009 · 19 August 2002, 16:05

Heh. Bashing in skulls of people and shooting them all in miniature graphics so noone can say it's too graphic

There are too few games with small characters. Of course if you were to emlate for example a C64 in a window without any doubling you'd get small enough characters.

RetroMan · 19 August 2002, 20:00

Yup

Small characters are fun ! Makes me think of Firepower and the small soldiers getting under my tank by accident

Drake1009 · 19 August 2002, 20:45

GTA 1 and 2 were also somewhat fun with small people getting in the way of a larger car.

Amiga1992 · 19 August 2002, 22:09

Walker/DMA Design. I loved squisshing the soldiers with my feet

. And those bastards that would chuck a rope at yoru motor and hang from you like if they were Tarzan! I loved wiggling the robot to make them fly away and die

Jetstrike/Rasputin also has very small sprites, and it's a fab game.

Djay · 19 August 2002, 22:42

as long as the animation is done well (like Cannon Fodder), then small characters are cool...

it also gives the appearance of a large game area or world without actually using a lot of a systems resources

alkis21 · 19 August 2002, 22:52

Ok I uploaded a couple of Alien Fish Finger pictures at my homepage. Clicking on the links won't work, you'll have to copy&paste them to your browser:
http://www.angelfire.com/al/AlkisJok...ges/alfish.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/al/AlkisJok...es/alfish2.jpg

You control the red dude. He can walk, run, jump and fire different kinds of weapons, even collect some items. The controls are superb and the game is very fast. Definetely worth a try.

Drake1009 · 19 August 2002, 23:08

So the game is hosted by Angelfire as well?

sorry, doesn't seem Angelfire will relinquish control of thier pictures unless you have a homepage there as well linking them.

The usual workaround for Geocities (opening a fresh IE window and pasting the url into it) doesn't work. I don't know if they fixed the rename to .txt too. That one still works for geocities.

I'd have played Alien fishfingers if it wasn't because this 14 inch monitor sucks. Whenever I try running an emulator it claims full screen because apparently 640x480 is not large enough for windowed (duh!!), and then inadvertantly changes the refresh rate sending my screen into ultra flickering "guess what this is" mode until I've reset the computer.

Another game which was funny was Rampage. Had large sprites for you, and small ones for food.

alkis21 · 20 August 2002, 08:45

I repeat Drake, copy and paste the links to your browser and the pictures will work fine.
Another small sprites game I can think of is Fury of Furries!

Drake1009 · 20 August 2002, 11:39

Fury of the furries was excellent. Don't know where my box for it went though. Troddlers (I believe) was also somewhat funny.

Why don't we make a long long list with small reviews of games with small sprites, all compiled into large posts?

alkis21 · 20 August 2002, 11:46

Did you see the screenshots? Has anyone else played Alien Fish Finger?

Drake1009 · 20 August 2002, 11:51

Finally got the screenshots. Had to empty my cache for it.

And as I can't emulate it without messing up my monitor I haven't tried it yet.

alkis21 · 22 August 2002, 09:10

I uploaded Alien Fish Finger at the zone, I recommend it to everyone for a try.

Amiga1992 · 22 August 2002, 09:30

Sure will. Downloading now!

Drake1009 · 22 August 2002, 10:28

Dangit I want my monitor back. I downloaded it after you mentioned it first time, but dang emulator screws with refresh rate.

19 August 2002, 12:38	#1
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	Small sprites on a big screen I've always thought that small sprites on a big screen are the secret behind many addictive games. They allow you much room to move and therefore you feel you have more control of your character(s) instead of watching the computer. Maybe that's why I dislike most of today's action games in which the character occupies half the screen. Where's the adrenaline that used to run in our veins when we guided our little spaceship/ soldier/ human among bullets? Games that featured this: Kick Off games Lemmings Worms Benefactor Alien Fish Finger (I discovered this one recently, what a game!) Cannon Fodders Deluxe Galaga What do you think?

19 August 2002, 12:59	#3
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Small sprites I agree with Drake. When you have small sprites, the area you can overview is much larger. With a single view you can see the possible treasures and treats which add to a hectic but satisfyig gaming atmosphere. Impossible Mission illustrates this perfect: Play the C64 original with its static screens scattered with robots & objects and you have a manic experience. Play the Impossible Mission 2025 version on Amiga with its huge scrolling levels and lack of baddies and you almost fall asleep.

19 August 2002, 23:08	#13
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	So the game is hosted by Angelfire as well? sorry, doesn't seem Angelfire will relinquish control of thier pictures unless you have a homepage there as well linking them. The usual workaround for Geocities (opening a fresh IE window and pasting the url into it) doesn't work. I don't know if they fixed the rename to .txt too. That one still works for geocities. I'd have played Alien fishfingers if it wasn't because this 14 inch monitor sucks. Whenever I try running an emulator it claims full screen because apparently 640x480 is not large enough for windowed (duh!!), and then inadvertantly changes the refresh rate sending my screen into ultra flickering "guess what this is" mode until I've reset the computer. Another game which was funny was Rampage. Had large sprites for you, and small ones for food. Last edited by Drake1009; 20 August 2002 at 00:08.

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19 August 2002, 12:43	#2
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	I think you're somewhat right. Small sprites on a large screen allows for better overview of what's happening and gives you a better sense of control. But if they get too small you might have a problem identifying your own character. Haven't tried Alien fish finger though. What's it about? And does it have small characters? Also there are some somewhat addicting games with large characters. I quite liked Rayman even though he took up a fair amount of the screen I still had plenty of fun with that game.

19 August 2002, 13:10	#4
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	It's a platform/ shoot'em up, the scenery resembles to the ones Worms use but it features multiple screens instead of just one. The character is about as big as in Benefactor, some enemies are bigger. It's fast and very addictive, I'll upload some screenshots tomorrow if someone hasn't done it by then.

19 August 2002, 14:46	#5
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Then you can dig out Impossible mission 2025 for the Amiga and play a port of the first Impossible mission. Much more satisfying to play than the game itself. Typical isn't it? Tiny troops lacked a bit of gameplay, even if the sprites were somewhat small. Super mario was small enough to give it that gameplay feeling. I still really like Locomotion. Maybe the levels weren't that large but it was just right difficulty to keep track of all those small trains. heh. Still need to make levels for my Java version of that game. only has level 1 and have had that for 8 months now. Practically everything else works.

19 August 2002, 15:33	#6
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	The game that Buzz linked the other time, Damage, has small characters, and I love it. YEs, smallish characters rock

19 August 2002, 16:05	#7
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Heh. Bashing in skulls of people and shooting them all in miniature graphics so noone can say it's too graphic There are too few games with small characters. Of course if you were to emlate for example a C64 in a window without any doubling you'd get small enough characters.

19 August 2002, 20:00	#8
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	Yup Small characters are fun ! Makes me think of Firepower and the small soldiers getting under my tank by accident

19 August 2002, 20:45	#9
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	GTA 1 and 2 were also somewhat fun with small people getting in the way of a larger car.

19 August 2002, 22:09	#10
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	Walker/DMA Design. I loved squisshing the soldiers with my feet . And those bastards that would chuck a rope at yoru motor and hang from you like if they were Tarzan! I loved wiggling the robot to make them fly away and die Jetstrike/Rasputin also has very small sprites, and it's a fab game.

19 August 2002, 22:42	#11
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	as long as the animation is done well (like Cannon Fodder), then small characters are cool... it also gives the appearance of a large game area or world without actually using a lot of a systems resources

19 August 2002, 22:52	#12
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	Ok I uploaded a couple of Alien Fish Finger pictures at my homepage. Clicking on the links won't work, you'll have to copy&paste them to your browser: http://www.angelfire.com/al/AlkisJok...ges/alfish.jpg http://www.angelfire.com/al/AlkisJok...es/alfish2.jpg You control the red dude. He can walk, run, jump and fire different kinds of weapons, even collect some items. The controls are superb and the game is very fast. Definetely worth a try.

20 August 2002, 08:45	#14
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	I repeat Drake, copy and paste the links to your browser and the pictures will work fine. Another small sprites game I can think of is Fury of Furries!

20 August 2002, 11:39	#15
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Fury of the furries was excellent. Don't know where my box for it went though. Troddlers (I believe) was also somewhat funny. Why don't we make a long long list with small reviews of games with small sprites, all compiled into large posts?

20 August 2002, 11:46	#16
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	Did you see the screenshots? Has anyone else played Alien Fish Finger?

20 August 2002, 11:51	#17
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Finally got the screenshots. Had to empty my cache for it. And as I can't emulate it without messing up my monitor I haven't tried it yet.

22 August 2002, 09:10	#18
alkis21 Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Age: 49 Posts: 1,409	I uploaded Alien Fish Finger at the zone, I recommend it to everyone for a try.

22 August 2002, 09:30	#19
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	Sure will. Downloading now!

22 August 2002, 10:28	#20
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Dangit I want my monitor back. I downloaded it after you mentioned it first time, but dang emulator screws with refresh rate.

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