Unpublished Ocean France Amiga games

Bernd · 26 June 2002, 22:07

I thought I write about an unreleased Amiga game by Ocean France here. Here is the whole story. Unfortunatately there is not yet a happy end, but perhaps this may change:

In January 2002 I contacted the coder David Peres to ask him for free distribution of his game "The Cartoons". Of course he agreed. It's now on BTTR... While chatting with him about Amiga related things he also told me he programmed a completed (!) Amiga game which had to be published by the French division of Ocean. The game is called "Teddy Bear" and according to the author it is even better than "Mr. Nutz" and one of the best Amiga games of all time. Teddy was not published, because it became too expensive for Ocean. They published Mr. Nutz instead...
Well, the coder had the sources and other stuff related to the game on his PC-HD (but no executables). He shew much
interest to release this Amiga game by the sites BTTR and ASO I maintain, but he could not handle Amiga emulators. In long e-mails I explained him UAE and sent him all Amiga ASM compilers I had (the game source was in 68k Assembly). Finally we found the right program and he reported me enormous progress. He even said the first level ran on WinUAE, but then crashed. There was also another problem with a missing bitmap. He needed another programming tool I sent him too to convert that graphic... He also
wanted to include an additional screen to promote his new company (I do not have more info). But then suddenlty silence. I wroto to him several times to enquiry about the status: First
in April then again on 18th June. But no more a reply (before he always replied very quick...).

These are the most important facts. It would be sad if that game would be lost

There was a similar case with Putty Squad. I think the developer promised to publish it too, but nothing happened. Why the hell is this the case? Neither is it time
intensive for them nor does it cost money. I don't think real-life issues are responsible, just disinterest and apathy.

Any ideas what could be done to "save" this game from a PC-HD crash? Maybe some French speaking could contact him again? But before doing anything get in contact with me first:
bernd.gmeineder@landshut.org or post something here. Please don't do anything on your own. This would only cause confusion.

Thanks and sorry for any grammatical mistakes. I wrote very fast...

RCK · 26 June 2002, 23:12

as native speaker, I can speak with him in french if you want

Drake1009 · 26 June 2002, 23:41

Maybe he was getting settled in to watch the soccer games?

Bernd · 27 June 2002, 19:15

Quote:

as native speaker, I can speak with him in french if you want

Great. I just contacted you by e-mail with some additional information.

Quote:

Maybe he was getting settled in to watch the soccer games?

Don't think so. He had several months time to reply...

Quote:

How about a HD-recovery program?

I meant the HD on which the source is *could* get corrupted...
---
FYI: Also Galahad contacted me and offered to take the project over if the original author has lost interest, but provides the sources. Greatly appreciated.

Drake1009 · 28 June 2002, 08:52

Burning a CD for a bit of source would seem like a bit of a waste.

Twistin'Ghost · 28 June 2002, 11:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Drake1009
Burning a CD for a bit of source would seem like a bit of a waste.

Surely you are kidding! It's far more than just "a bit of source"! It's a long lost, never-heard-of-before Amiga game that is alleged to be one of the best. Even if it's complete garbage, I can buy blank CD's for about .20 cents! A floppy disk costs more money.

@Bernd
You are excellent, man. I applaud your efforts on this. I really hope it all pans out and gets moving again. Hopefully, this new direction will bring this project back to life and it won't be another disappearance off the face of the earth like the Rockie thing.

Drake1009 · 28 June 2002, 15:20

I know twist. But to the programmer it might just be a bit of source which is largely unimportant to him.

Bernd · 28 June 2002, 17:48

@Kodoichi, Drake1009
Sorry, but your comments are quite useless and don't contribute anything to get the binary game or the source.

Instead of writing such comments please make some *rational* suggestions what to write in that French e-mail, which will be sent off to D. Peres next week. For instance some templates would be nice.

jmmijo · 28 June 2002, 18:03

Indeed, I think it would be a loss as well if the source was gone forever

As for something constructive, how about letting the author know about this fine forum and those that are interested in it. Perhaps this and the fact that maybe he would like to sell/license it for a small fee or something of this nature would help persuade him. Hell I'd even send him a CD-RW drive and blanks if that would help

7-Zark-7 · 29 June 2002, 19:06

That wouldn't be the first unpublished Ocean France game. Although I've mentioned it before,years ago I recall seeing a magazine preview in CU Amiga,(I think),previewing the amiga version of Snow Bros.,& how it was being done by Ocean France.
I don't know what happened, but a while later Pang came out from Ocean France,but Snow Bros. never saw the light of day.
I can't recall who it was here,but someone said Snow Bros. was finished,but just never published. (or for that matter leaked/cracked).

I guess we have to remember that these programmers are people too. I'd like to think that one day John Twiddy will dig up his back collection of CD's & find that source code for Putty,(& failing that I'm sure he'd get some voluteers here!

). But they may have other projects/work/real-life hassles & just simply don't have the time to devote to these things.

But thank you for enlightening us Bernd. It makes you wonder how many other completed Amiga games,(the non-crap ones preferably!), have also ended in limboland,never being realesed & sitting on an old HD/CD somewhere??

Bernd · 29 June 2002, 22:55

Quote:

As for something constructive, how about letting the author know about this fine forum and those that are interested in it. Perhaps this and the fact that maybe he would like to sell/license it for a small fee or something of this nature would help persuade him. Hell I'd even send him a CD-RW drive and blanks if that would help

In my previous mails to him I said that 1000s of Amiga and Amiga emulator users would play the game and thereby also see the "ad" for his new company or coming game he wanted to include as addiditional title screen.
Forum: Yes, this should be mentioned in that French mail. So he can see there are already 200+ thread views only on this forum.
As for licencing: I do not know if he is after money. No clue if it is appropriate or could offence him.

Quote:

years ago I recall seeing a magazine preview in CU Amiga(I think),previewing the amiga version of Snow Bros.,& how it was being done by Ocean France.

Snow Brothers is from another French author called Pierre Adane. He now is boss of a company called PAM Development - http://www.pamdev.com/ . I already tried to contact him many months ago, but did not receive a reply. I can try again... Perhaps RCK can take over this job too by writing a French mail.

Quote:

But they may have other projects/work/real-life hassles & just simply don't have the time to devote to these things.

Real life issues... I've also taken it in consideration he could be very sick or something. But usually after one month there is a message that user X has not checked his mailbox and your message has not arrived. I did not get such an mail. Therefore he probably read it. Still optimistic

Quote:

It makes you wonder how many other completed Amiga games,(the non-crap ones preferably!), have also ended in limboland,never being realesed & sitting on an old HD/CD somewhere??

Probably there is still quite a lot of never-seen stuff in attics, cellars or whereever... BUT: Virtually nobody will release this stuff voluntarily because of no interest... IMO only thing can be done is tracking down the folks who were involved in Amiga games. This is certainly the only chance to get the real rare pearls. For instance Rainer Bopf would not likely have released the JU-52 Flight Sim if I hadn't contacted him and asked to do so....

RCK · 30 June 2002, 18:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Bernd
Perhaps RCK can take over this job too by writing a French mail.

I will also be able to write him, as soon as I will have enough time

Enverex · 03 July 2002, 01:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Bernd
@Kodoichi, Drake1009
Sorry, but your comments are quite useless and don't contribute anything to get the binary game or the source.

Bernd, thats quite harsh,

You are saying that it would be a waste if the game is lost, and they are talking about a way to make sure that that doesn't happen, that is on topic............

Anyway, when you get back in touch make sure he makes a copy of the source on something that isnt easily loseable so it wont get lost forever if the worst ever happenes to his Drive.

Bernd · 03 July 2002, 18:42

Quote:

Bernd, thats quite harsh,

You are saying that it would be a waste if the game is lost, and they are talking about a way to make sure that that doesn't happen, that is on topic............

Agreed. It would have been possible to say this in a "nicer way". I hope nobody feels offended. But David Peres is certainly clever enough to keep backups of the source if he is *really* interested in keeping it up. In my previous e-mails I already told him to make some sort of backup, but these were not replied (as mentioned in my previous postings). It was also only a thought that the HD could crash sometime. I NEVER got any information that this happened. Nobody knows the reasons why he has not replied.

Quote:

Anyway, when you get back in touch make sure he makes a copy of the source on something that isnt easily loseable so it wont get lost forever if the worst ever happenes to his Drive.

For sure... I will get back to RCK in some days who offered to contact him in French. So far no new e-mail has been sent off to D. Peres.

Galahad/FLT · 17 August 2002, 10:51

Anything happening on this game or not then?

Bernd · 17 August 2002, 11:04

Quote:

Anything happening on this game or not then?

About two weeks ago I was e-mailed by RCK and he told me he would contact D. Peres (the coder of the game) soon. I've not heard from him since then. It seems RCK is quite busy...

RCK · 17 August 2002, 12:45

it's summer holidays here, most of the guys are in vacation until the end of the month, expect news in early september

Galahad/FLT · 22 August 2002, 00:28

Wouldn't want to miss out on maybe getting this game released... it sounds nice!

Amiga1992 · 22 August 2002, 04:06

How about "cracking" it and all liek in thr good old days! "Cracked by Galahad", and with a WICKED Virtual Dreams intro.

I'd love that

Twistin'Ghost · 22 August 2002, 05:48

Yeah, and make sure to include Twistin' Ghost in the greetz scroller!

26 June 2002, 22:07	#1
Bernd Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 164	Unpublished Ocean France Amiga game I thought I write about an unreleased Amiga game by Ocean France here. Here is the whole story. Unfortunatately there is not yet a happy end, but perhaps this may change: In January 2002 I contacted the coder David Peres to ask him for free distribution of his game "The Cartoons". Of course he agreed. It's now on BTTR... While chatting with him about Amiga related things he also told me he programmed a completed (!) Amiga game which had to be published by the French division of Ocean. The game is called "Teddy Bear" and according to the author it is even better than "Mr. Nutz" and one of the best Amiga games of all time. Teddy was not published, because it became too expensive for Ocean. They published Mr. Nutz instead... Well, the coder had the sources and other stuff related to the game on his PC-HD (but no executables). He shew much interest to release this Amiga game by the sites BTTR and ASO I maintain, but he could not handle Amiga emulators. In long e-mails I explained him UAE and sent him all Amiga ASM compilers I had (the game source was in 68k Assembly). Finally we found the right program and he reported me enormous progress. He even said the first level ran on WinUAE, but then crashed. There was also another problem with a missing bitmap. He needed another programming tool I sent him too to convert that graphic... He also wanted to include an additional screen to promote his new company (I do not have more info). But then suddenlty silence. I wroto to him several times to enquiry about the status: First in April then again on 18th June. But no more a reply (before he always replied very quick...). These are the most important facts. It would be sad if that game would be lost There was a similar case with Putty Squad. I think the developer promised to publish it too, but nothing happened. Why the hell is this the case? Neither is it time intensive for them nor does it cost money. I don't think real-life issues are responsible, just disinterest and apathy. Any ideas what could be done to "save" this game from a PC-HD crash? Maybe some French speaking could contact him again? But before doing anything get in contact with me first: bernd.gmeineder@landshut.org or post something here. Please don't do anything on your own. This would only cause confusion. Thanks and sorry for any grammatical mistakes. I wrote very fast...

17 August 2002, 10:51	#15
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	So? Anything happening on this game or not then?

22 August 2002, 00:28	#18
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	Super Wouldn't want to miss out on maybe getting this game released... it sounds nice!

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26 June 2002, 23:12	#2
RCK Administrator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Paris / France Age: 45 Posts: 3,084	as native speaker, I can speak with him in french if you want

26 June 2002, 23:41	#3
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Maybe he was getting settled in to watch the soccer games?

28 June 2002, 08:52	#5
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Burning a CD for a bit of source would seem like a bit of a waste.

28 June 2002, 15:20	#7
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	I know twist. But to the programmer it might just be a bit of source which is largely unimportant to him.

28 June 2002, 17:48	#8
Bernd Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 164	@Kodoichi, Drake1009 Sorry, but your comments are quite useless and don't contribute anything to get the binary game or the source. Instead of writing such comments please make some rational suggestions what to write in that French e-mail, which will be sent off to D. Peres next week. For instance some templates would be nice.

28 June 2002, 18:03	#9
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,395	Indeed, I think it would be a loss as well if the source was gone forever As for something constructive, how about letting the author know about this fine forum and those that are interested in it. Perhaps this and the fact that maybe he would like to sell/license it for a small fee or something of this nature would help persuade him. Hell I'd even send him a CD-RW drive and blanks if that would help

29 June 2002, 19:06	#10
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	That wouldn't be the first unpublished Ocean France game. Although I've mentioned it before,years ago I recall seeing a magazine preview in CU Amiga,(I think),previewing the amiga version of Snow Bros.,& how it was being done by Ocean France. I don't know what happened, but a while later Pang came out from Ocean France,but Snow Bros. never saw the light of day. I can't recall who it was here,but someone said Snow Bros. was finished,but just never published. (or for that matter leaked/cracked). I guess we have to remember that these programmers are people too. I'd like to think that one day John Twiddy will dig up his back collection of CD's & find that source code for Putty,(& failing that I'm sure he'd get some voluteers here! ). But they may have other projects/work/real-life hassles & just simply don't have the time to devote to these things. But thank you for enlightening us Bernd. It makes you wonder how many other completed Amiga games,(the non-crap ones preferably!), have also ended in limboland,never being realesed & sitting on an old HD/CD somewhere??

17 August 2002, 12:45	#17
RCK Administrator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Paris / France Age: 45 Posts: 3,084	it's summer holidays here, most of the guys are in vacation until the end of the month, expect news in early september

22 August 2002, 04:06	#19
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	How about "cracking" it and all liek in thr good old days! "Cracked by Galahad", and with a WICKED Virtual Dreams intro. I'd love that

22 August 2002, 05:48	#20
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	Yeah, and make sure to include Twistin' Ghost in the greetz scroller!

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