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Polygon platformers are a dime a dozen today but back in 1990 they certainly were not. Infogrames' Alpha Waves(also published by Data East in North America as Continuum) was released for the PC, ST and Amiga. It was a simple action game where you had to bounce your way to the goal. I haven't played it in years but it was quite novel and addictive for its time. Fans?
I like it, but it pisses me off a bit too easily. Cool music.
I adored this game when I was younger, and a year or two ago I played it again on the PCs in the computer lab in my high school. Lots of fun to be had yet again. Tricky game to get the hang of, but I remember being amazed by it long ago. It still looks cool today.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
Same.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tain
It runs unassisted on today's computers, but much too fast to play. And it's just not the same without the really cool Adlib-powered music.
It's French in origin, IIRC.
I loved this game. One of the early infogrames classics. By the way, I bought my copy in the US, and it was called Alpha Waves, not continuum. I had a demo disk of it called Continuum, though. Did they change it for the final release perhaps, or did I somehow buy the European version?
The music in this game was great. Best part of the experience. It was challenging, too, with alot to explore. Unfortunately by the time I got my 486/66 the game ran too fast. I need to test it with some slowdown devices to see if I can get it right. The clock in the corner gives you a good idea for how fast it should be going.
Hey, Neo, have you played the Light Corridor? It was another old infogrames PC game released around the same time as this, that I also enjoyed quite a bit.
I'm pretty sure that Alpha Waves was released under both names in North America, one published by Infogrames and the other published by Data East. I think only the PC version had the two different names. I played it under the Alpha Waves name myself.
I haven't played The Light Corridor yet. Well, I did play the Spectrum version briefly through emulation but I don't think that's the ideal version to judge it on.
Mmm.. I just got a new Sound Card with legact Adlib/SB support so I decided to play some Alpha Waves. I had fun with it. The music is as good as I remember. Then I fired up DOS box to slow it down to its original speed and played for real for the first time in a long time. Good stuff.
You know, thinking back... I'm pretty sure this is the first 3D platformer, at least that I know of. Can anyone think of any other early attempts at the genre that predate it? That seems like a milestone worth noting.
A new card that supports Adlib? What card would that be? :)
I don't think it's exactly new, but it's a Diamond DT-688. It was like $6, and my on-board shit wasn't working with Win98 (and didn't have a joystick port to boot). But the legacy support is a nice bonus, and it seems to be real OPL3, too, or if not the accuracy is dead-on and alot better than creative labs emulated drivers.Quote:
Originally Posted by skelly
Played some Light Corridor also... that actually runs at proper speed, so no need for Dosbox or moslo. Good stuff.
EDIT: I just realized this game was co-developed by Fredrick Raynal, who I was a big fan of before ever knowing this (Yo might know him for having worked on Alone in the Dark, Toy Commander, and perhaps his best game Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure). Seems he worked on the first 3D platformer and the first Survival Horror. Go figure.
Wow, this takes me back. I seem to remember never being very good at this and I'm not sure if I even really figured out what I was supposed to be doing. Sure was interesting.
In action mode it was basically exploring all the rooms trying to find all the cubes and getting those little stars for extra time before the clock ran out.Quote:
Originally Posted by MechDeus
So it'd have both Soundblaster and Adlib support for DOS games? Very interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
I actually prefer Wolfenstein 3-D's Adlib sound to the digitized Soundblaster stuff.
SB is backward compatible with Adlib.Quote:
Originally Posted by skelly
I was thinking the same thing when I was making that Video Game Firsts thread but I decided I wasn't sure enough to include it. There are a good handful of polygonal action/adventure games(stuff by Incentive Software and Mindscape) made before Alpha Waves but I can't think of a single one that really meets the platformer criteria.Quote:
I'm pretty sure this is the first 3D platformer, at least that I know of.
Huh, never in my experience. I can never choose Adlib support in games like Wolf 3D.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
Ah well, don't mean to derail the thread.
I can. It could be that your card/drivers are only partially SB compatible. Which can often be the case, since most later cards don't have OPL3 chips any more.Quote:
Originally Posted by skelly
Anyway, try the game in DOSBox. I was very pleased with the results.
Good stuff, gotten off a BBS yonks ago. Jump mechanics similar to Jumping Flash.