I don't care what anyone says, this is the peak era of graphics in games
It's amazing how much they've achieved since I wrote about ScummVM's history in an Ars feature 11 years ago, when they were at a then-incredible 34 supported engines. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/01/maniac-tentacle-mindbenders-of-atlantis-how-scummvm-kept-adventure-gaming-alive/
A new engine lands in ScummVM.
An engine for "Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess" also known as "KULT: The Temple of Flying Saucers" has landed ScummVM master.
It is a small and pretty unique game. So far, we support only DOS CGA rendering, but Hercules and EGA graphics support is in the works.
The engine is small, just 9.5k lines of code, the original was even a .COM file.
What makes this engine a bit special is it is our engine #100!
For this month's issue of Retro Gamer magazine, I spoke with the team who worked on SimCopter. We went over several topics, like the infamous easter egg, the cancelled SimMars and the troubles in Maxis before Electronic Arts came in to save the day (at least, at the time...).
Activision Blizzard's CEO has said he "rewards profit and nothing else," so it didn't go over well when Blizzard devs were rewarded for a banner quarter by having their bonuses slashed. I wrote about it a bit in the latest This Week in Business column:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/blizzard-president-sends-a-message-this-week-in-business
Who made the best 'About...' screens in the vintage Mac era? I present: ICOM Simulations, Inc. Theirs went above and beyond the usual boring text box while employing animation and ... music! I show them here in this video #MARCHintosh #MARCHintosh2023
How the Finnish demoscene turned Helsinki into "The mobile gaming capital of the world."
There is one crucial line in this article, "We know we have the social security network to fall back on, so you don't have to mortgage your own house to set-up a company."
In other words, a good benefits system is the basis of an innovative population. People with a safety net are likely to take more risks in their businesses.
Governments take note.
But for low effort you could package them all into an ebook and get it included in a StoryBundle; that'll likely net you several hundred dollars or more, which isn't much but depending on the state of your transcripts may be worthwhile. (I'm sitting on many hundreds of thousands of mostly-unpublished words in interview transcripts with notable people, too, so I know the feeling well of wondering how to publish it in a format that earns money.)
I covered its development and reception in my Shareware Heroes book, along with creator Richard Carr's other excellent games (and the work of many other shareware creators).
Old-school Mac (and maybe some Amiga and Apple IIgs) people will know what a special game this was in its original form, and how incredible its 1-bit dithered graphics were for the time. The rest of you, get informed (but stay away from the console ports; instead, read my Mac gaming book or find some videos and retrospective articles by people who knew the game back when it was new).
#DevWorld ticket sales are open! Join us in #Melbourne for the #conference! Early bird discount now available! Follow @auc for updates! #iOSdev #AppleDev #macOS #Apple https://auc.edu.au/devworld/registration/
Well folks, I can finally announce my secret project...
I'm writing a book about the history of Maxis Software for Limited Run Games. Stay tuned for info about the book currently known as SIMEVERYTHING!
They made a business out of doing licensed football games for professional clubs (not even just top-tier ones, either) in England, Scotland, and sometimes across Europe. They never did regular action stuff (Codemasters had that market cornered), but they also did loads of club management sims from around 2003-5. I have a QPR one in my office.
