Day 232 - any time is a good time for a High Noon showdown!

I'm going to do more posts about single games from now on... otherwise there's a danger of me only writing one post a month!  That doesn't guarantee the game I write about will be included in the book, so if that happens with any of them you can consider these bonus features!

One of the first Commodore 64 games I ever played, well before I even owned a machine of my own, was Ocean Software's High Noon.  I used to go to a mate's house and he had loads of games for his, even at that early stage.  Some of them might be considered quite obscure by now... for instance, I now distinctly remember playing Jason Perkins' Blue Moon, which I'd completely forgotten about until I started researching Jason Perkins!

Yee-haw, ya rootin'-tootin- varmint!

One game I never forgot was High Noon.  Back in those early days, the prospect of any new game loading was exciting.  This was a fairly typical early Ocean game, with the Novaload squeaking into life and then a basic loading screen, short repetitive tune and scrolling message popping up.  For some reason, even though I was used to the instant access of the Atari VCS' cartridges, the nervous anticipation of seeing a new game was there every time.

Once it loaded, High Noon was one of the best things I'd ever seen.  It may have had really chunky sprites, but it gave them charm and character.  And you could walk into and out of the screen!  This made the play area bigger, although you had to learn a whole new method of bullet dodging as a result!

You can never die with dignity in the Old West.

Speaking of charm and character, for a game where the focus is purely on gunning down as many bad guys as possible, High Noon has a nice sense of humour.  This is evidenced by the undertakers, "Rig + Mortis", who wander out after each kill and drags the still-warm bodies into their lair!  Oh, and this even includes your good self, so try not to get hit if you can...

Later levels ramp up the difficulty, with bandits on horseback throwing you off guard, and then there are the robbers with dynamite to keep a close eye on...

Ah.  So that's what that hissing thing does.

You have to keep your trigger finger warm and active if these guys aren't going to make off with all the bank's money or worse, all the saloon's women!  And while it does get repetitive, the difficulty curve is well-judged and the gameplay remains frantic enough to entertain.  I don't know who wrote High Noon... there is no in-game credit other than "Ocean Software Presents".  But it's a game I've enjoyed for almost thirty years now, and still well worth a little blast today.

Day 150 - 10,000!

I'm now five months into this project, and today I hit 10,000 page views.  I'll be honest, I'm pretty happy with that.  It's not like I've got any major backing from big websites or anything... there's just me spamming Facebook and Twitter, and website message boards that I was already a member of.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll ramp things up when there's more to talk about.

That said, I'll always appreciate any efforts my readers might want to make in plugging this.  The whole point of doing it is to attract readers, so the more I have the better.  I might even dish out rewards for anyone that gets me some good publicity... I've got about a dozen games on Steam, just waiting to be gifted (I will state that they're not current releases!).

Is there a more recognisable 80s' software house logo?

I will give a shout out to ex-Ocean graphics wiz Mark Jones, who's support of this project is much appreciated.  It's great to have people I intend to write about being so enthusiastic about this book, and quite important to me, too... it helps to validate what I'm doing, and lends it an air of authenticity.

Actually, if you're any kind of 8-bit computer fan, you ought to check out what Mark is doing to showcase Ocean's contribution to computer gaming.  The Ocean Software Facebook page constantly has new material posted, as does the Ocean Software website.  You'll find tons of fascinating pictures, storyboards and background there... it's really interesting.

Questions, questions... but who will I be questioning next?

What comes next, then?  What would you like to see?  I'm conscious of the fact that behind the scenes work isn't terribly interesting.  I'm trying hard to get a pool of stock questions for people, because I intend to send out a big batch of requests soon, but it's pointless doing that if I get a load of positive replies, only to sit there for ages trying to think of good questions!

Anyway, here's to the next 10,000 page views, the next 100 posts, and the next people who jump on board with me.  We're still looking at a great book here, the like of which is just not out there.  Let's get as many people on board as we can!

Day 48 - an Ocean of gaming goodness

Not much to this post (sorry!), but I would like to draw your attention to a new Ocean website set up by one of their former employees, Mark R. Jones.


Ocean was a massive name in the games industry in the period I'm writing about, and naturally I'd like to speak to a fair number of their ex-employees (and indeed, have already done so!).  Mark was one of the graphic artists, creating loading screens, title screens and in-game graphics for a fair number of Spectrum games, and more besides.  As such, he's well qualified to run such a website.  Not only that, he has access to some amazing resources from the day, which he's now sharing with the world!

MEDIIIIIIC!

One of the latest features to go up on the site looks at the development of the Ocean classic, Platoon.  It features design notes and storyboards, and is a fascinating insight into the development of a game.  Having loved the Commodore 64 version of the game, I can say that I feel the end product surpassed the vision!


You can find the new site here: Ocean Software Ltd.  It's well worth saving in your favourites, as there are likely to be regular updates.  I can't wait to see them!  There's also a Facebook page you can "Like": Facebook/Ocean Software Ltd.  Check it out, and like my page while you're there!

Day 31 - dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner...

Another rough day today, with work getting in the way.  I really need to get some questions fired off, because at this rate, people will tell me not to bother as I'm taking so long!  Hope not...


Anyway, what little time I have had has been spent playing games for research purposes.  Sometimes, you think you know what questions you want to ask someone, only to draw a blank when you're trying to put them down.  It's ridiculous, really... these are people I've wanted to speak to for 25 years, and now that I'm getting the chances, I'm drying up!

Now, why would I be playing this game, in particular...?

It's no great hardship, playing some of the classics of yesteryear.  Some of them, I'll be playing for the first time.  Some are treasured favourites that I still play today, out of choice.  I might even find the odd stinker... not everybody made an excellent game with every effort, after all!


Still, once I've got the rest of the week out of the way at work, I'll have five days where I can concentrate mostly on this.  I'll be hunting for more contacts then, but I think I'll mostly be writing, and knocking some things into shape.  I might even experiment with some layouts... that could be fun.