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Archon to be Revived

Posted by Zonk on from the p4wn3d! dept.

Phoenix-IT writes "How many of you remember the classic strategy game Archon? Curve Software is remaking the original game for DirectX with support for network play. Distribution details are undetermined. There are long term plans to port to Macintosh and UNIX environments, but no details at the moment. The game is not open source because it contains some of the original 8-bit code, which was donated to the project, but a public beta might be on the way!"

10 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. POWER OVERWHELMING by mmkkbb · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where'd they get the Templar Archives? As far as I know, humanity has not yet made contact with the Protoss.

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    -mkb
  2. 8 bit propritary code ... hm ... by ArmorFiend · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The game is not open source because it contains some of the original 8-bit code

    So, let me get this straight, they want to develop a new archon, but gosh darn it, we can't because we've got this legacy 8 bit code?!

    Gentlemen, this game is mind-numbingly straightforward to code. We're talking IJKL controls moving sprites around the screen. Throw out the 20 year old code. Then open it up. Do or do not, there is no try!

    1. Re:8 bit propritary code ... hm ... by Godeke · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I had the same thought.. the board cycle and the character attributes are really quite straightforward to understand, and I'm sure *somebody* could draw new pictures for the handful of pieces, weapons and "terrain" such as it was. I loved Archon, but it was basically a chessboard with a sprite on sprite battle on each capture attempt.

      --
      Sig under construction since 1998.
    2. Re:8 bit propritary code ... hm ... by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That leaves core game logic, which is probably copyrighted.

      Right on the front page, they brag: "Improved computer AI". That's a change. And once you make one change to the gameplay experience (aside from just prettier graphics and sound), there is no reason to keep on with the old code.

      The only possible explanation to keep the original code in there is if it produced very subtle effects that old-time players could remember with instinctive muscle-memory.

      That explanation just doesn't stand up to scrutiny: the game logic of Archon is hardly any more complex than that of Tetris. It would certainly be less work to re-implement it from the basic design than to deal with creating an 8-bit execution environment on a 32-bit PC.

    3. Re:8 bit propritary code ... hm ... by LordOfYourPants · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah man, the code is protected in a hardcore way too. They did a poke 775,171 and EVERYTHING!

    4. Re:8 bit propritary code ... hm ... by Phoenix-IT · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because classic gaming is übergeek, of course!

  3. Wahay, nostalgia-tastic by chihiro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Brings a tear to the eye... brings back memories of my youth, playing it on my trusty. Back when in the age of proper computer games...

    "When I were a lad we only had 48K to play with on my spectrum"

    "48K! luxury! My ZX81 had 1K and a 16K RAM pack that crashed as soon as you breathed on it"

    --
    Memes don't exist. Spread the Word.
  4. While you're waiting for this... by ZipR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Check out this Quake 3 Archon mod. Pretty cool! http://www.planetquake.com/brazen/arq/images.shtml

  5. DirectX vs. OpenGL by White+Roses · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a legit question, because, frankly, I wonder. Why can't this particular program use OpenGL rather than DirectX? OpenGL would most likely make the porting efforts less time-consuming, as Linux, most *nix and Mac OS X all support OpenGL, but DirectX is Windows only. OpenGL also works on Windows does it not? Is DirectX so much easier that it's worth the porting time? If you start from the get-go with porting in mind, why use DirectX? Someone please educate me.

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    Do not touch -Willie
  6. Why is this in the Apple section? by John+Harrison · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Also, while Archon is great, somebody needs to do a faithful rendition of MULE.

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    Lasers Controlled Games!