November 2020
•SPECIAL 2020 ELECTION EDITION•
SECRETARY’S REPORT
TECH TALK
By Steven Peck
By Steven Peck
HELLO WORLD!
Ever thought about what it would be like to create your own video game? Ever thought about what the characters would be and do, and what genre you want for your game? Well, there are applications waiting to be used and for free!
It’s Election Time! I thought that I would bring that up because we need to elect the next Officers for the Club. The titles to nominate are as follows: •President •Vice-President •Treasurer •Secretary
I am not talking about the new fandangled game design tools that are out there. I am also not talking about the new Minecraft, either.
But, since the pandemic, we may have to rethink this sort of thing. I hope that we can have a special meeting to have the Election and get this done and over with. I will be ready if it is necessary. I hope that everything is going well for everyone and that you are all healthy. This concludes the Secretary’s Report. See you soon. In the words of the late, great Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR!
I am talking about the retro Atari scene. I will give a few examples. You can try typing in a Google search, and eventually you will find something useful, plus it won’t take along to find tools either. There is for the Atari 8-bit the programming suite 8-bit Unity. It was developed to create games for the Oric, Atari, Apple, and Commodore 8-bit computers. This would be fun for any gaming hobbyist or fledgling programmer. You can design graphics for these machines using assembler programs and free graphics applications, including a portable version of GIMP. It even uses the original color schemes on GIMP for the machines you can program games for. There is also CC65, a cross-compiler that can be used to program games for the Atari Lynx handheld system. There is DASM, an assembler for computers that utilize the 6502 CPU, like Atari 8-bit game systems, including the Atari 2600. There is Batari BASIC, a BASIC language for the Atari 2600, 7800BASIC for the Atari 7800, and there is even Raptor BASIC+, the revered program for Atari Jaguar game programming. These applications are designed to be simple to learn, and easy to apply. There are other free tools as well, but they would be too numerous to list. This is a taste of what is truly out there. So, if you want to, you know that these tools are out there.
TRIVIA TIME! The game “Adventure” was the game that contained the world’s first digital easter egg, a message coded by its creator, J. Warren Robinett. The compact disc was created by Sony. It came out onto the market in 1982.
Well, that is the end of Tech Talk. I will present another episode of Tech Talk in December, just in time for Christmas. Have a Happy Thanksgiving in November, and I will be back soon. Take care of yourselves. Thanks for reading. ATARI MULTI-PLATFORM GAME REVIEW Today, we are going to review the game, “Primal Rage,” for the Atari Jaguar CD unit. You could consider this another God game, but along the lines of a tournament fighting game, and the gods are dinosaurs and giant apes! In this game, Earth has been decimated by an asteroid collision in the future. Earth is now Urth! The surviving humans worship a motley crew of dinosaurs and two giant apes. Each of the gods have unique fighting abilities.
Message from Captain Irata: “Far out! Space games will take you there!” HOO-RAH!
There is Blizzard, a giant ape that uses freeze powers and brawls. Chaos, who vomits and passes gas while brawling, Vertigo, a dinosaur who uses magic, also there is Armadon, a spiked Ankylosaurus that uses his spikes to impale others. There is also Talon, who is the smallest dinosaur and he can scrape, Then, there are Diablo and Sauron, two T-Rexs. Diablo can spit fire and Sauron attcks others with his deadly Primal Scream!
The graphics and gameplay are great. There is just one problem. The CD loading time is very slow. That is the only problem with it. It’s pretty balanced as a fighting game, and very close otherwise the the arcade version of the game. The graphics are superb and, once you get past the load times, it can be very fun to play. This is probably the best tournament fighting game for the Atari Jaguar, and you would not be disappointed. I will score the game accordingly SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:
10 9 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
39/40
So, there you have it. I will come back in December with another Game Review. If there is a virtual Election, I will be there. Again, stay healthy, and I will see you soon. Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians!
UNCLE A-MAN WANTS YOU TO VOTE!
SPACE SPECIAL ONLINE ELECTION FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020, AT 7:30 PM
DON’T GLOAT! JUST VOTE!
A Special Message From the SPACE Spokes-Ferrets, Angel and Bandit!
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