Re: SimCity style of game for GS?

[Joe Kohn <joko@nospam.com>]

Toinet <antoine.vignau@laposte.net> wrote:

> With that kind of game, the heart of the program is its logic not the
> graphical part. I mean if you do not apply the same behaviour as the
> original program then it will be of poor interest.So, you either have
> the source code of another version and adapt to the IIgs or you use
> BB's one. With todays' emulators and other 10 MHz ZipGSx, you may get
> a decent program.

Anyone remember the contest that I conducted through inCider/A+ about 
completing an unfinished game from the FTA, with the result being Bouncin' 
Ferno?

No? 

Well, don't worry; neither could I. Barely. So below is the contest 
announcement from 17 years ago (!!). No, wait. Below is what I submitted 
to inCider/A+. The completed article in the actual magazine may have been 
different (and probably was, as 17 years after writing the following 
words, I can see that they could be improved upon grammatically.)

And yeah, there's an on-topic point to be made at the bottom...

---------------------------

FTA CONTEST
 
The French Free Tools Association, better known as The FTA, burst upon
the IIGS scene at the 1989 San Francisco AppleFest when their freeware
Nucleus demo stunned, dazzled, and astounded all who saw it during Jean
Louis Gassee's mind-blowing presentation.
 
The FTA, a small group of French programmers, graphic artists and
musicians continued to awe the IIGS community, releasing one smash hit
after another. Their demos, including ACS Demo, Modulae, California Demo,
Xmas Demo, Animaga, and Delta Demo pushed the IIGS to the limit with
their astounding 3 dimensional animations and rock n roll soundtracks.
The freeware FTA games of Easy Dead, Flobynoid, Star Wizard, and Mini
Prix have provided countless GS owners with innumerable hours of super hi
res fun. Their shareware disk copy program, Photonix, must be the only
copy program in existence that contains animation and music and
efficiently copies entire 3.5" disks in just one pass, using only a
single 3.5" disk drive. NoiseTracker, released in December of 1991, must
surely be the most talked about IIGS music program of 1992.
 
And then, as 1991 drew to a close, the FTA disbanded. According to FTA
founder and president, Olivier Goguel, "We stopped programming for the
IIGS for a lot of reasons, but we don't deny it and are still very proud
of what we've done, or tried to do on it".
 
The FTA may be gone, but they will surely never be forgotten. They have
left a legacy for the rest of us who remain with the IIGS. They showed us
what was possible, and they inspired and stimulated us by demonstrating
just how much fun it can be to own a IIGS. In our hearts and minds, the
FTA will live forever.
 
In late Spring, 1992, a package arrived in SillyKohn Valley with a
postmark of Dijon, France. The package contained a number of disks, and
they were described by Olivier Goguel as "the latest gifts from the
former FTA group to the IIGS community". 

Just as the FTA's software resulted in so much joy and fun and respect for 
the IIGS, we would like to use those gifts as a way to provide the IIGS 
community with a positive focus. We are pleased to announce the first ever 
"Shareware Solutions Contest". In an effort to double our pleasure and 
double our fun, we're actually going to institute 2 different contests; 
one for programmers, and one for non-programmers.
 
One of the programs provided by Olivier Goguel is Bouncin'Ferno. It's a
Marble Madness type game, with incredible graphics, sound effects and
music. 3 levels, each with 25 different play fields, are already defined,
and you can play the game with either a mouse or a joystick. On each
level, you'll try to roll over small objects and pick them up before
advancing on to the next level. Some objects are suspended high above the
ground, and you'll need to jump up to get them, while other objects are
hidden under 3 dimensional ramps. As it is, Bouncin'Ferno is a lot of
fun, but, it's not quite complete; there's no scoring module. But, the
complete Merlin 16+ Source Code is provided.
 
The programming contest rules are very straightforward: use the
Bouncin'Ferno source code to create a completed game. We don't care if
you make it a desktop program, or use the toolbox. We don't even care if
you translate it to run under Orca/M or APW. What we do care about is
game play, artistry, creativity, fun, sounds, animation, documentation,
user friendliness and compatibility with both ROM 01 and 03 machines. We
don't even care if you use the source code to create a totally different
game; just impress the judging panel of inCider/A+ editors. Make our eyes
bug out of our heads, and make our toes tap. In short, we suggest that
you let the FTA guide you in spirit, and that you create a program that
the FTA would be proud of.
 
Included with Bouncin'Ferno is a screen editor that will allow you to
create your own levels. So, the second contest is focused upon new
Bouncin'Ferno levels. Make them hard or make them easy, make them fun or
make them frustrating. Just submit your favorite new Bouncin'Ferno
levels, and you'll be eligible to win some valuable prizes.
 
As it is now, Bouncin'Ferno is hard drive installable; if copied to hard
drive, just double click on P8.LOADER to run the game. If run from floppy
disk, just boot the disk. If you have any problems booting the disk, just
run P8.LOADER from either ProDOS-8 or GS/OS. Documentation in both French
and English is also provided.
 
Bouncin'Ferno has been placed by the FTA into the public domain.
Therefore, all contest submissions, being derivative works, will also be
in the public domain. To enter the contests, just print out, complete and
sign the contest entry form that's provided on disk as a standard text
file, and send along with your disk to FTA Contest, c/o inCider/A+, 80
Elm St, Peterborough, NH 03458. All entries must be postmarked by
12/31/92.
 
We will be making the Bouncin'Ferno disk available, along with the
contest entry form, for downloading from the large online networks
(America Online, CompuServe, and GEnie). No restrictions of any kind are
placed on it, so please make sure your user group, and all your friends,
know about it. If you are unable to locate Bouncin'Ferno, send $5 (US
funds only) to: Joe Kohn, 166 Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901. Add $2
for shipping outside North America.
 
After the contest winners are announced, the winning entries will also be
uploaded to the online networks, and will spread from there. Of course,
if you just can't wait, you can always get Bouncin'Ferno now.

------------------------------

So, what's the point of this post, you're wondering...

Despite having the Source Code, the prize winning programmer (Dustin 
Mitchell) played the game, and took a series of screen shots, and used the 
resulting graphics as the basis for his completed program. As I seem to 
remember him explaining to me at the time is that it was just so much 
easier to start programming from scratch with just the graphics, than to 
try to figure out someone else's code. "Trying to figure out what another 
programmer was thinking was like trying to read that programmer's mind.

And, as anyone who remembers Bouncin'Ferno, that turned out to be the 
perfect solution to completing the FTA's Bouncin'Ferno.

And, just thinking about it, I'd be honored if some of you reading this 
who are relatively new to the IIGS downloaded a copy of Bouncin'Ferno and 
played it. And, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, I bet I 
haven't even seen the game in 15 years, so I'm going to find it on my 
Focus Hard Drive, and relive those wonderful years when the Apple IIGS 
reigned surpreme!

Sorry my memory is hazy on all this, but the completed game is probably 
online as Bouncin'Ferno 2, or just plain Ferno2.

Joe Kohn