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The Icon Bar: Games: Best free RISC OS games!
 
  Best free RISC OS games!
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John Hoare Message #112929, posted by moss at 15:27, 19/1/2010

Posts: 9348
I'm currently writing an article for my blog about the best free RISC OS games. (Not writing it for TIB, because... well, most people reading this site know all about them, and I want to bring a bunch of fun games to a different audience.)

So far, I have Marsquake, Asylum, ArcElite, Hamsters, Pushy 2, and Gyrinus 2. That's just an initial brainstorm, but I know there are loads of others, some of which I'll never have played. So: anyone here got any suggestions?

They can be either PD games originally, or commercial software that was later released for free download - the main point is, people can download them and run them for free now. I want to steer clear of conversions (so Doom is out - but I think ArcElite is enough of a different game from other versions to allow), and focus on good, original RISC OS games.
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VinceH Message #112930, posted by VincceH at 15:36, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112929
VincceH
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time

Posts: 1600
Quicksand
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Jeffrey Lee Message #112931, posted by Phlamethrower at 15:37, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112930
PhlamethrowerHot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot stuff

Posts: 15100
DinoSaw!
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John Hoare Message #112932, posted by moss at 15:40, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112931

Posts: 9348
DinoSaw!
Yeah, I wondered about that. I thought having three Tom Cooper games in the list might be pushing it, but I suppose I should focus on what's fun, rather than the author...

Lemings isn't an official conversion, so that could count too, I guess tongue
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John Hoare Message #112933, posted by moss at 15:41, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112930

Posts: 9348
Quicksand
Never played it. But I will do now!
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Jeffrey Lee Message #112934, posted by Phlamethrower at 15:49, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112932
PhlamethrowerHot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot stuff

Posts: 15100
DinoSaw!
Yeah, I wondered about that. I thought having three Tom Cooper games in the list might be pushing it, but I suppose I should focus on what's fun, rather than the author...
The problem is that a lot of our good games have been ports from other platforms (Edit: Actually that's not fair, most of our home-grown stuff has been good too). And ex-commercial games are likely to be of higher quality than freeware games. So when you have one or two authors whose original commercial creations are now available for free, they're likely to take precedence over the freeware stuff.

Also: Big Bang.

[Edited by Phlamethrower at 15:54, 19/1/2010]
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John Hoare Message #112935, posted by moss at 16:17, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112934

Posts: 9348
The problem is that a lot of our good games have been ports from other platforms (Edit: Actually that's not fair, most of our home-grown stuff has been good too). And ex-commercial games are likely to be of higher quality than freeware games. So when you have one or two authors whose original commercial creations are now available for free, they're likely to take precedence over the freeware stuff.
Yeah, it'd be nice if more of the commercial games could be made freeware. Surely nobody's making money from them now?

Still, I'm sure there's some decent PD games I've forgotten about. (I remember really loving Hedz, for some reason.)

Also: Big Bang.
Loved the demo - haven't played the full game, but know it's on AA. Again, will have a go!
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Stephen Scott Message #112937, posted by sa_scott at 16:26, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112935
Member
Posts: 73
I could namedrop Cavern Duel, it does look ancient compared to more esteemed company such as anything Tom Cooper related.

But it does come with an editor to make your own levels.

www.sassquad.com/games
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Phil Mellor Message #112938, posted by monkeyson2 at 16:26, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112935
monkeyson2Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler

Posts: 12380
Bunny Race! tongue

I'm worried how many days I've clocked up playing Bloxed - a version of Tetris with bombs and lasers. Not sure where to find it these days. Phaethon is free now, too, and that was one of my absolute favourites.
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Peter Naulls Message #112942, posted by pnaulls at 17:04, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112929
Member
Posts: 317
Don't forget Neil White's stuff, who is one of the most recent RO games developers:

http://www.cloudsprinter.com/software/

His stuff was variously developed natively on RISC OS, or co-developed on other systems, so is not technically a conversion.
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Martin Bazley Message #112943, posted by swirlythingy at 17:18, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112938

Posts: 460
Phaethon is free now, too, and that was one of my absolute favourites.
Has anyone ever managed to get Phaethon working? The Iyonix hates it, the RiscPC won't have anything to do with it, and even A310emu rejected it.
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Michael Drake Message #112944, posted by tlsa at 17:21, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112929

Posts: 1097
Botkiller and Super Foul Egg.
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Jeffrey Lee Message #112945, posted by Phlamethrower at 17:26, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112944
PhlamethrowerHot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot stuff

Posts: 15100
Super Foul Egg
It was a port of an Amiga game.
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Phil Mellor Message #112946, posted by monkeyson2 at 17:54, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112943
monkeyson2Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler

Posts: 12380
Phaethon is free now, too, and that was one of my absolute favourites.
Has anyone ever managed to get Phaethon working? The Iyonix hates it, the RiscPC won't have anything to do with it, and even A310emu rejected it.
Does it work on VA5000 or Red Squirrel emulating an old Archimedes?
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John Hoare Message #112947, posted by moss at 19:23, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112946

Posts: 9348
Thanks for the ideas so far! Will look into all of them. Remember really enjoying Botkiller.

May make it into a Top 20.
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Jason Togneri Message #112948, posted by filecore at 19:28, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112943

Posts: 3868
Has anyone ever managed to get Phaethon working? The Iyonix hates it, the RiscPC won't have anything to do with it, and even A310emu rejected it.
I've played it many's a time on my rpc, without a single problem.
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VinceH Message #112949, posted by VincceH at 19:36, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112933
VincceH
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time

Posts: 1600
Quicksand
Never played it.
What? After the extensive discussions on these very forums while I was writing it? unhappy

But I will do now!
Okay.

I put up a little history type article about a month ago, as well.
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Jeffrey Lee Message #112951, posted by Phlamethrower at 20:51, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112949
PhlamethrowerHot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot stuff

Posts: 15100
DeathBall.

I think it may have only been available on one of the Arc World cover discs - around June '96, judging by the date of the !Help file.
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John Hoare Message #112953, posted by moss at 21:50, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112949

Posts: 9348
What? After the extensive discussions on these very forums while I was writing it? unhappy
Sorry! Always meant to catch up with that thread, but never did.
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John Hoare Message #112954, posted by moss at 21:53, 19/1/2010, in reply to message #112951

Posts: 9348
DeathBall.

I think it may have only been available on one of the Arc World cover discs - around June '96, judging by the date of the !Help file.
Noted.

There were some fantastic games on the Acorn User/Acorn Computing/Arc World cover discs - it'd be nice to unearth some of those for a wider audience. I remember a *fantastic* multiplayer version of Tanks (overhead perspective - like the Wii Play version) - we played it constantly at lunchtimes at school. Simple graphics, but some of the best multiplayer gaming I've ever had.
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Stephen Scott Message #112970, posted by sa_scott at 21:32, 20/1/2010, in reply to message #112954
Member
Posts: 73
Either the Acorn User Dec 97 and Nov 98 cover CD ROMs had the Acorn Computing cover and subs discs archives on them.

Copyright of these discs resides with Finnybank I guess. Let's get them online please, for one week only, or something :-p
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Jason Togneri Message #112971, posted by filecore at 22:14, 20/1/2010, in reply to message #112970

Posts: 3868
Either the Acorn User Dec 97 and Nov 98 cover CD ROMs had the Acorn Computing cover and subs discs archives on them.
You might be thinking of AUCD10, which was supposed to have them - and indeed had folders in place for them - but which instead contained a note saying something along the lines of "sorry, but we couldn't put these on". I forget the exact reason but they're not where they're supposed to be. Perhaps one of the other AUCDs did, but I refer to them by issue number, so I'm not sure which one corresponds with which date.
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Phil Mellor Message #112973, posted by monkeyson2 at 01:06, 21/1/2010, in reply to message #112971
monkeyson2Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler

Posts: 12380
The first Acorn User CD had all the Acorn Computing megadisks and subscriber disks on. I think it was published in around April 1994.
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John Hoare Message #112974, posted by moss at 02:19, 21/1/2010, in reply to message #112973

Posts: 9348
Of course, if Qercus still owns the copyright, then they can't count as free games, annoyingly.
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Trevor Johnson Message #112975, posted by trevj at 08:09, 21/1/2010, in reply to message #112938
Member
Posts: 660

I'm worried how many days I've clocked up playing Bloxed - a version of Tetris with bombs and lasers. Not sure where to find it these days.
The Bloxed site is still available. For those who don't know the game, it includes a 2- and 3-player option. Completed line(s) get forced to the bottom of opponents' stacks (minus the odd block, of course). Great fun!
N.B. I exchanged emails with the author a while ago about an updated version. Not unexpectedly, he doesn't have time to develop it now. And for any major updating by others, he'd prefer a rewrite from scratch.

[Edited by trevj at 10:56, 22/1/2010]
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Martin Bazley Message #112993, posted by swirlythingy at 19:27, 22/1/2010, in reply to message #112975

Posts: 460
The thing I remember about Bloxed is that, very occasionally, when you died, instead of an explosion a recording would play of "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!" big grin

Never did figure out a way to reliably trigger it - it may be completely random.
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Phil Mellor Message #112997, posted by monkeyson2 at 19:34, 22/1/2010, in reply to message #112993
monkeyson2Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler

Posts: 12380
The thing I remember about Bloxed is that, very occasionally, when you died, instead of an explosion a recording would play of "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!" big grin

Never did figure out a way to reliably trigger it - it may be completely random.
I don't remember that - but then again the sound was quite limited and I think I mostly played it whilst listening to cassettes on my Walkman. tongue

Wasn't there a minesweeper game that played sounds like "If that was a real bomb you'd be just a squidey mess on the floor by now?"
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VinceH Message #112999, posted by VincceH at 19:39, 22/1/2010, in reply to message #112997
VincceH
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time

Posts: 1600
Wasn't there a minesweeper game that played sounds like "If that was a real bomb you'd be just a squidey mess on the floor by now?"
I think it was the one that came with RISC OS 3.5 (and possibly other RISC OS versions).
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Andrew Poole Message #113001, posted by andypoole at 21:34, 22/1/2010, in reply to message #112999
andypoole
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Wasn't there a minesweeper game that played sounds like "If that was a real bomb you'd be just a squidey mess on the floor by now?"
I think it was the one that came with RISC OS 3.5 (and possibly other RISC OS versions).
I think I've got that version somewhere... smile
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John Hoare Message #113002, posted by moss at 00:51, 23/1/2010, in reply to message #113001

Posts: 9348
Wasn't there a minesweeper game that played sounds like "If that was a real bomb you'd be just a squidey mess on the floor by now?"
I think it was the one that came with RISC OS 3.5 (and possibly other RISC OS versions).
I think I've got that version somewhere... smile
Wonder who did the voices...
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The Icon Bar: Games: Best free RISC OS games!