3 ms·

Would love to hear about the other Apogee and Epic games, like Epic Pinball, Tyrain, Halloween Harry, Jill of the Jungle, Duke Nukem...

to11mtm 3mo ago
> Tyrain ... Well, we do at least have OpenTyrian... (Edited to add; And OpenTyrian2000) > Epic Pinball Best I can find for Epic Pinball is an old thread on Pinball Fantasies [0] but I think it almost counts cause there was shared dev work between the two... > Halloween Harry TBH that one would be fairly interesting, especially compared to Duke Nukem 2 (Part of me thinks they might be similar/same engine) > Jill of the Jungle That one honestly WOULD be a fun one to look at... Best I can find is Xargon [1] but part of me always got a vibe that Xargon was some semi-upgraded Jill engine... > Duke Nukem TBH Duke Nukem '1' would not be that exciting to me. AFAIR it's mostly an adapted CK1-3 engine, letter-boxed with status window to make it easier to calc the redraw. Duke Nukem 2, is far more interesting since it's a different, more powerful engine (VGA, digital audio support, but AFAIR only required a 286). [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28667945 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28667945 [1] - https://github.com/dos-games/vanilla-xargon https://github.com/dos-games/vanilla-xargon
- kridsdale1 3mo ago
  IIRC (from being a kid) Harry was 256 color and DN2 wasn’t quite. Also it felt like it had much better frame rate. But I’m sure that could be engine evolution too. Interesting, I hadn’t ever thought of the connection before. Though the “hot babes stuck in alien pods” from Harry showed up as a central plot point in DN3D.
  - to11mtm 3mo ago
    I mean, I could be wrong as far as Harry and DN2 sharing an engine, OTOH Apogee did a -lot- of engine reuse (Bio-Menace used a CK4 variant, Monster Bash using an evolved FAST..) Although, mea culpa, DN1 engine is not necessarily CK but the programmer has credited Carmack in helping with the drawing assembly...
    - bananaboy 3mo ago
      Harry was written by an Australia, John Passfield, on his own and published by apogee (I forget but apogee might have provided some art support). John is still making games today!
- vunderba 3mo ago
  I also think the story of Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and the development of the BUILD engine by Ken Silverman would also be a really interesting technical read.

to11mtm 3mo ago

> Tyrain ... Well, we do at least have OpenTyrian... (Edited to add; And OpenTyrian2000) > Epic Pinball Best I can find for Epic Pinball is an old thread on Pinball Fantasies [0] but I think it almost counts cause there was shared dev work between the two... > Halloween Harry TBH that one would be fairly interesting, especially compared to Duke Nukem 2 (Part of me thinks they might be similar/same engine) > Jill of the Jungle That one honestly WOULD be a fun one to look at... Best I can find is Xargon [1] but part of me always got a vibe that Xargon was some semi-upgraded Jill engine... > Duke Nukem TBH Duke Nukem '1' would not be that exciting to me. AFAIR it's mostly an adapted CK1-3 engine, letter-boxed with status window to make it easier to calc the redraw. Duke Nukem 2, is far more interesting since it's a different, more powerful engine (VGA, digital audio support, but AFAIR only required a 286). [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28667945 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28667945 [1] - https://github.com/dos-games/vanilla-xargon https://github.com/dos-games/vanilla-xargon

kridsdale1 3mo ago
IIRC (from being a kid) Harry was 256 color and DN2 wasn’t quite. Also it felt like it had much better frame rate. But I’m sure that could be engine evolution too. Interesting, I hadn’t ever thought of the connection before. Though the “hot babes stuck in alien pods” from Harry showed up as a central plot point in DN3D.
- to11mtm 3mo ago
  I mean, I could be wrong as far as Harry and DN2 sharing an engine, OTOH Apogee did a -lot- of engine reuse (Bio-Menace used a CK4 variant, Monster Bash using an evolved FAST..) Although, mea culpa, DN1 engine is not necessarily CK but the programmer has credited Carmack in helping with the drawing assembly...
  - bananaboy 3mo ago
    Harry was written by an Australia, John Passfield, on his own and published by apogee (I forget but apogee might have provided some art support). John is still making games today!
vunderba 3mo ago
I also think the story of Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and the development of the BUILD engine by Ken Silverman would also be a really interesting technical read.