|
Bill Williams (game Designer)
Bill Williams (May 29, 1960 – May 28, 1998) was an American video game designer, programmer, composer, and author born with cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disorder. According to a medical encyclopedia Williams consulted when he was 12, people with cystic fibrosis weren't expected to live past the age of 13. Williams created a string of computer games from 1982 through 1990 for the Atari 8-bit family and then the Amiga which are admired for their imaginative design concepts, innovative sound and music, and skillful implementation. ''Necromancer'' is a three-stage game about a wizard growing and controlling an army of trees. Scenarios in '' Alley Cat'' include stealthily drinking from the bowls of sleeping dogs, avoiding a sweeping broom to jump inside a fish bowl, and collecting ferns atop a bookcase protected by spiders. '' Mind Walker'', one of the first games released for the Amiga, places the player inside the head of a physics professor gone mad. Late in his ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontiac, Michigan
Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founded in 1818, Pontiac was the second European-American organized settlement in Michigan near Detroit, after Dearborn. It was named after Pontiac, a war chief of the Ottawa Tribe, who occupied the area before the European settlers. The city was best known for its General Motors automobile manufacturing plants of the 20th century, which were the basis of its economy and contributed to the wealth of the region. These included Fisher Body, Pontiac East Assembly (a.k.a. Truck & Coach/Bus), which manufactured GMC products, and the Pontiac Motor Division. In the city's heyday, it was the site of the primary automobile assembly plant for the production of the famed Pontiac cars, a brand that was named after the city. The Pontiac brand itself was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania, and 1993 in South America. In Japan, it is called the In South Korea, it is called the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. The system was released in Brazil on August 30, 1993, by Playtronic. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent cartridges for one version from being used in other versions. The Super NES is Nintendo's second programmable home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other systems at the time. It was designed to accommodate the ongoing development of a variety of enhancement chips integrated into game cartridges to be competitive into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monopoly (1991 Video Game)
''Monopoly'' is a video game based on the board game ''Monopoly'', released on Game Boy, Genesis, NES, and SNES. Developed by Sculptured Software and published by Parker Brothers (the Game Boy version was published by Majesco Sales), this title was one of many inspired by the property. It is not to be confused with the 1993 ''Monopoly'' game, which was released in Japan only. Gameplay The game contains very similar gameplay to the board game it is based on, with various physical tasks being replaced by automation and digital representations. Players choose among the eight classic characters: hat, wheelbarrow, iron, horse, car, boot, thimble, and dog. The goal is to buy as much property as possible when a player is working around the board. With properties, one can build houses and hotels on them and charge opponents rent. The winner sends others into bankruptcy. Critical reception Earl Green of AllGame deemed it "one of the better translations" of the ''Monopoly'' board ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hold-And-Modify
Hold-And-Modify, usually abbreviated as HAM, is a display mode of the Commodore Amiga computer. It uses a highly unusual technique to express the color of pixels, allowing many more colors to appear on screen than would otherwise be possible. HAM mode was commonly used to display digitized photographs or video frames, bitmap art and occasionally animation. At the time of the Amiga's launch in 1985, this near-photorealistic display was unprecedented for a home computer and it was widely used to demonstrate the Amiga's graphical capability. However, HAM has significant technical limitations which prevent it from being used as a general purpose display mode. Background The original Amiga chipset uses a planar display with a 12-bit RGB color space that produces 4096 possible colors. The bitmap of the playfield was held in a section of main memory known as '' chip RAM'', which was shared between the display system and the main CPU. The display system usually used an indexed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinbad And The Throne Of The Falcon
''Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon'' is a 1987 action-adventure game developed and published by Cinemaware. Set in an Arabian Nights-esque world, the player assumes the role of Sinbad the Sailor, and is commissioned by The Princess to rid the land of the Dark Prince. The game was designed and programmed by Bill Williams for the Amiga, who also wrote '' Mind Walker''. ''Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon'' was ported to the Atari ST, Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, and Commodore 64. ''Sinbad'' draws its inspiration from Hollywood, with a large influence from films such as '' Jason and the Argonauts'' as well as the seven other Sinbad films made throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Gameplay Gameplay alternates between an open-ended world map, action sequences, and dialog, where the player engages other characters and further conversations and relationships. Choice of dialogue alters the future of the game. Using the world map, the player can sail to any location, triggering dialogue or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drelbs
''Drelbs'' is a maze game written by Kelly Jones for the Atari 8-bit family and published by Synapse Software in 1983. An Apple II port by Jonathan Tifft was released the same year. A Commodore 64 version followed in 1984 implemented by Miriam Nathan and William Mandel. The core objective is to move the walls of the maze to make boxes. Some reviewers found the overall collection of elements to be eccentric and unique. Jones later teamed with fellow Synapse designer Bill Williams on the biofeedback game suite, ''Relax''. Gameplay The playfield is a maze of gates, similar to the '' Lady Bug'' arcade game, which can be rotated 90 degrees by walking into them. The player controls a walking eyeball called a drelb, with the goal of flipping the gates so they create closed boxes. Pursuing the drelb are square trollaboars who can also use the gates, but can't seal them into boxes. There is an empty border on the outside the maze patrolled by screwhead tanks which shoot at the drel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relax (video Game)
''Relax'' is a suite of self-improvement software written by Kelly Jones and Bill Williams for the Atari 8-bit family and published by Synapse Software in 1984. Subtitled "The Stress Reduction System", ''Relax'' uses a headband containing sensors attached to electromyograph hardware to provide audio/visual feedback in three interactive programs. It also includes a 25-minute cassette tape of guided relaxation. Gameplay ''Relax'' is a package of three programs: a continuous graph of the user's level of tension; a program that produces kaleidoscopic patterns and tones that change color; and a game which requires the player to use tension and relaxation by changing the level of tension to win using a headband that monitors the player's muscle tension. Reception Roy Wagner reviewed the game for '' Computer Gaming World'', and stated that "Next time you've played a stressful game or have too many hours at the joystick, before you shot off your computer, load this program and r-e-l-a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VIC-20
The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units. It was described as "one of the first anti-spectatorial, non-esoteric computers by design...no longer relegated to hobbyist/enthusiasts or those with money, the computer Commodore developed was the computer of the future." The VIC-20 was called ''VC-20'' in Germany because the pronunciation of ''VIC'' with a German accent sounds like the German expletives "fick" or "wichsen". The term ''VC'' was marketed as though it were an abbreviation of ''VolksComputer'' ("people's computer," similar to Volkswagen and Volksempfänger). History Origin and marketing The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer. It was equipped with 5 KB of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Harris (software Developer)
__NOTOC__ John D. Harris is a computer programmer, hacker and author of several 1980s Atari computer games. His impact on the early years of the video game industry are chronicled in the book '' Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution''. His love for the Atari 8-bit computers led him to creating several popular games, perhaps most of all Frogger, which by the end of development had been written from scratch, twice. The reason for this is that his entire back catalogue of development tools and libraries he had developed were stolen at a game developer conference at which he was presenting. The delay in writing the game also led to complications between Harris and his employer, Ken Williams (Director of Sierra On-Line). During John's time at Sierra, he became one of the most influential young developers in America, at 24 years of age he was earning a 6 figure income off the back of royalties for games which Sierra were marketing for him. As time went on, John's increasingly worr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synapse Software
Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. It initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for the Commodore 64 and other systems. The company was purchased by Broderbund in late 1984, and the Synapse label retired in 1985. After some initial releases directly based on existing games, such as clones of Sega's '' Head On'' and a variant of Atari Inc's ''Avalanche'', 1982's '' Shamus'' established Synapse as a creator of high quality action games. It was followed by additional well-received games including '' Rainbow Walker'', ''Blue Max'', and '' The Pharaoh's Curse'', and some others based on unusual concepts, like '' Necromancer'' and '' Alley Cat''. First-person game '' Dimension X'' was promoted for its "altered perspective scrolling" technology, then released in a cut-down form over nine months later to disappointing reviews. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Program Exchange
Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not just professionals, to submit software for commercial distribution. If selected, a program was added to the catalog, with credit given to the programmer. The top submissions in each category were awarded, and several popular APX titles, such as '' Caverns of Mars'', were moved to Atari's official product line. The brainchild of Dale Yocum, the Atari Program Exchange started in February 1981. In 1982 its management was taken over by Fred Thorlin, who operated it until it closed. APX published quarterly catalogs until 1984, when new Atari CEO James J. Morgan closed down the mail-order division. History When Atari first launched the Atari 8-bit family in late 1979, the company kept most of the hardware details secret. It intended to be the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salmon Run (video Game)
''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their oddball concepts. The player takes the role of Sam the Salmon, swimming upriver to mate. Along the way he encounters waterfalls, a bear, fishermen, and seagulls. In 1983, ''Salmon Run'' was released for the VIC-20 by Synapse Software Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. It initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for th ... under the name Showcase Software. Gameplay ''Salmon Run'' is an overhead view, vertically scrolling game. As the river scrolls, the player primarily movesside-to-side to avoid obstacles. Each player starts with one life and gains another for each success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
