Net Yaroze part 9 - found games
Between the 2012 and 2014 Net Yaroze collections some games were found and made available to play.
Time to delve into the games that time almost claimed to be lost forever.
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Amateur Wars Special Edition
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Nick Ferguson
Released: 11/08/1998
Amateur Wars Special Edition is a Combat clone that is an updated release of the original Amateur Wars.
The gameplay is as simple as its objective: destroy the other player by wrecking their tank.
X moves you forward, [] moves you back, and R2 fires.
What a weird control scheme.
The game feels quite empty for a Special Edition. No sound effects, no music, no obstacles or customization... how is this a special edition again?
The game ends when a player is destroyed. It doesn't congratulate the winner; "Player _ has loses!" Talk about rubbing it in.
I guess you can get some entertainment out of turning it into a drinking game. You'll need the booze to make it tolerable after ten minutes.
Where are they now?:
Nick Ferguson has gone on to be a Designers and Producer of some games, working for Rare, Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive, and Microsoft.
https://twitter.com/ForensicGunk
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Ball Blaze
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Gareth Musgrove
Released: 19/06/1998
Ball Blaze is a 3D arcade-style game made for Middlesex University, which received Yaroze consoles from SCEE as part of the Net Yaroze program.
This game is kind of like Marble Madness but without the gravity and isometric view.
The goal is the same: guide a ball to the exit. This is hard.
The controls are retarded:
[], (), and X freeze the ball but not the timer.
Left and Right move the ball horizontally but halts the momentum.
/\ moves you forward at a blistering speed.
R2 jumps. The other shoulder buttons do nothing.
Start restarts the level.
Select crashes the game (probably returns to DOS or something).
There are holes scattered throughout the level. Obvious death pits.
Aliens too roam the level. You can jump over them but good luck.
You need to be holding down /\ and charging at SANIC speed, dodging everything like a ninja, just to make it to the end.
How does it end? It just... ends. No finish line texture, it just stops and says "level done". Then you can start all over with Start.
Where are they now?:
Gareth Musgrove is a senior software developer, working at BT for the past 18 years.
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Banjo Invaders
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Martin Keates
Released: 20/02/01
Banjo Invaders is as the name suggests: Space Invaders but with banjos. What could be better?
You start off by selecting your difficulty: easy, medium, hard, and impossible.
You play as a violinist shooting at banjos with musical notes. A take on high class music vs low class music?
You can also shoot the occasional accordion for bonus points.
Getting hit by banjo bullets or failing to stop the banjos makes you cry and lose a life. Art imitates life.
Impossible difficulty has the banjos fire long beams down as they move.
I thought you could squeeze in pixel-perfectly, like a vicious Touhou attack, but I think it really is impossible.
Props to the programmer for 'Impossible' difficulty to actually mean impossible, not just very hard.
No music, which is a tad upsetting. This game could have used some banjo music!
Where are they now?:
Martin Keates has been doing System Administrator for many years now, as well as a professional music gig.
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Break 3D
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Shaun Gibson
Released: 2000
Break 3D is a 3D version of Breakout. It is quite tricly.
Adding in a third dimensions creates the issue of perception; seeing where the ball will go.
This trouble is intensified by the sheer speed the ball moves. It moves too fast!
How can I hit my balls with the paddle if they move too fast?
If you miss the ball the spot is hit is marked by a round shattered glass effect.
If the ball hits shattered glass then the screen goes red. Game over.
The controls mentioned on screen are wrong.
"Press R1" means to launch the ball but it is R2 that launches it, not R1.
"Press R2" means to restart the game but it is R1 that restarts it, not R2.
Despite stating to being 3D the game uses a 2D engine. Such trickery!
Where are they now?:
I think Shaun Gibson is a senior programming executive for some company now.
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Bugz
Genre: Action
Program: Dean McCabe
Released: 22/11/1998
Bugz is an overhead bug squashing game where you collect crystal balls for points.
You play as a blue shoe. Your goal is to get 10,000 points.
You don't get points for stepping on bugs, you get points from collecting crystals.
The ball graphic in the top right indicates what ball to look out for. 2 can in existence at any time and they pop in and out.
Collect a crystal ball by pressing () over it. Then place your hand cursor over the purple 'collector' for points.
Bugs zap crystals out of existence when they are near.
I say let the bugs zap away crystals you don't need and then crush them when a desired crystal spawns.
It is very awkward to move the game screen around:
L1 moves the screen up.
R1 moves the screen down.
L2 moves the screen left.
R2 moves the screen right.
Ever heard of a D-pad?
The ingame data is very simple text, sort of like a debug display.
Get it? Debug? Bug?
And the game misspells 'lose' in the context of "you lose".
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Come Baa
Genre: Action
Programmer: Nick Slaven
Released: 04/09/1998
Come Baa is a 3D sheep herding game, like a modern remake of Sheep for the Commodore PET/CBM.
This was released two years before PS1 remake of Sheep was released.
You play as a dog that looks like Laika and you must guide the sheepies back to the pen.
The sheep are repulsed by you and want to get away.
if you get too close to the herd you split them, unless you've set the option to off in the main menu.
Setting the sheep scatter to medium makes for a very hard game.
Sheep will split off from the herd and do their own thing, and the herd will be more difficult to control.
Poor dog.
Where are they now?:
Nick Slaven is currently the Head of Technology at Stainless Games.
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Connect 4
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: Martin Keates
Released: 20/02/01
Connect 4 is a 1 or 2 player Yaroze version of the classic board game.
The concept is simple: simply match four of your colour in a row.
Player 1 is red, player 2 or the CPU is blue.
The CPU difficulty comes in weak, normal, and strong, much like coffee does.
It's a pretty simple game. No music, nothing special.
Where are they now?:
Martin Keates has been doing System Administrator for many years now, as well as a professional music gig.
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Connect-4
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: James Shaughnessy
Released: 1998
Connect-4 is a 2 player Yaroze version of the classic board game.
Compared to the other game the graphics are a bit better, looking for like the actual Connect 4 peieces and frame.
Unfortunately it is lacking some things, like a congratulatory message, CPU play, and more than one sound effect.
One cool feature is that by hitting /\ the rack is dropped, restarting the game.
That's neat because it can be used to ragequit the game, just like real Connect 4.
Where are they now?:
James Shaughnessy has gone onto found DemonStudios, an indie game studio, after a good eleven years of working at Codemasters.
He has completed a sequel to Gravitation: Super Grav. It was released on 7/11/2016.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/509820/?snr=1_5_1100__1100
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Drone Wars
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Adrian Scoffield
Released: 19/06/1998
Drone Wars is a 3D arcade game made for the Middlesex University Yaroze course.
The aim of the game is to control a stationary turret and shoot at drones that drop mines that move towards the turret.
Your turret looks like a chrome dildo with R2D2's head on top.
You also control a blue sweeper that can destroy mines, as well as pick up pickups:
* the spanner repairs damage to your wall
* the ammunition is the yellow ball with the + sticking out. Looks like the Holy Hand Grenade.
The controls are awkward:
* the D-pad controls the blue drone
* L2 and R2 control the turret
I get the two confused in the heat of battle.
You can play on four difficulty settings: Practice, Easy, Normal, Suicide.
Suicide isn't that hard; I've beaten the first two levels. Then my hands hurt. That's my excuse.
Where are they now?:
I think Adrian Scoffield is the R & D Director of SG Gaming.
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Escape! From Earth
Genre: Shooter
Programmer: John Whitmore
Released: 23/07/1998
Escape! From Earth is a 2D vertical shmup set in space.
I'm not quite sure where the escaping from Earth part is.
The goal is to collect a high score.
Just one problem: the enemy ships keep firing! As such you keep taking damage! It's like this is a video game.
If you fire a shot and it misses, no penalty is incurred. For every bullet you fire afterwards missing deducts 100 points from your score. Destroying an enemy ship starts the meter.
That means that you can't just spam attacks and get dat high score.
This game is pretty unfinished:
* no sound effects or music
* the options screen does not work
* no collision detection between ships
* the end boss sometimes doesn't appear
Net Yaroze collection? More like Action 52! (just kidding)
Where are they now?:
John Whitmore has done a lot of work, being the VP of Content for many games. Lately it seems his work has slowed down.
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Gem Hunter
Genre: Driving
Programmer: Casper Nielsen
Released: 1998
Gem Hunter is a driving game, presumably made for the Middlesex University Yaroze programming course.
The idea is to drive around a course, avoiding the yellow car, and collect as many gems as you can within the time limit.
The car drives like a robotic vehicle: no momentum, instant deceleration and acceleration, very quick turns, and the tendency to stick to the walls.
Yes, one of the most aggravating parts of this game is that if you get stuck against the wall then you cannot driving out of it; you have to reverse.
If the dreaded yellow car of peril hits you then the section of the track that's under you both will collapse, sending you both to a hilarious death.
Three lives and game over.
Pressing R1 lets you see the POV of the yellow car. That's actually a neat feature but it has limited use.
There are two pits on the track. The game text mentiones a jump counter. I don't know how to jump. Can you jump? Maybe that feature wasn't coded in yet.
There is no music and sound effects. I don't think this would have gotten top marks in the course.
Where are they now?:
I think Casper Nielsen got a PhD in medical image processing in 2002.
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Invaders
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Richard Cutting
Released: 14/10/1998
Invaders is a Space Invaders clone where quality flew off into space.
Everything in this game screams unfinished:
* no music
* all the graphics in-game are monochrome
* very loud sound effects
* I don't think anything else is in the game other than what you see on the screen
As mentioned the sound effects are loud. The plural is generous as there is only two sound effects: your laser being fired and a laser hitting a ship or you.
You only have one life but you have five hit points.
Clearing a wave (500 points total) starts a new wave with no variation (I think).
There's not much more to it than this.
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Jeff
Genre: Action
Programmer: Alex Mole
Released: December 2002
Jeff is a very fun Arcadey game where you must control a textureless robot thing guy human being and collect purple objects without falling off the world.
The game is an autoscroller with no stopping. You can jump or use jump pads to aid you.
You can't strafe but pressing left or right tilts you 45 degrees in that direction.
The game is a clean-cut demo with no music or sound effects and just two levels.
This could be retooled to be one of those endless-run freemium games loaded with microtransactions.
Where are they now?:
Alex Mole is the Chief Technical Director at Criterion Games.
Website: http://alexmole.com
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Kamix
Genre: Puzzle
Programmer: Robert Jurziga
Released: 1999 (01/08/99 is for Kamix+)
Kamix is a Tetris clone that adds a few bells and whistles to the classic experience.
The first thing you experience is very loud music that doesn't loop right.
The game plays like regular Tetris but with added sound effects for distraction, I mean, immersion.
Just to spice things up you occasionally get pieces are have more or less than four pieces. Thrilling.
There's not much else to say about this, other than the familiar names that have given feedback to the game.
Where are they now?:
Robert Jurziga has made some Atari Jaguar demos but hasn't been seen or heard from in a decade.
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Lands of Midnight
Genre: Strategy
Programmer: Peter Armstrong
Released: 2001
Lands of Midnight is a port of the 1984 ZX Spectrum game The Lords of Midnight.
I'm going to be honest: I don't know how to play this game.
I've seen a few YouTube videos of how it plays on the Speccy but I can't replicate that on this Yaroze version.
All that works is the status screen (see the condition of you and your men) and end turn.
As such all I do is wander about in the dark, getting lost amid the forest and mountains.
Kind of like my actual life.
There is debug information on the screen.
Going into the status screen adds more relevant data.
You can see the Tolkien influences with the appearance of hobbit holes and familiar towers.
There's probably more but that's just what I saw.
So yeah, I could basically explain The Lords of Midnight to explain this game, but I won't.
Check out that game and you would have covered this game.
Where are they now?:
Peter Armstrong has been the Director of Product Development of many games throughout the 2000's. Current whereabouts unknown.
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Mud 'n' Blood
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Nick Ferguson
Developed in: 4 weeks
Released: 01/09/1998
Mud 'n'Blood is a 2 player arcade game made for the GDUK competition for Edge magazine.
In this game you and your opponent are locked in a square arena and must duke it out with rapid-fire guns and landmines.
Since resources are scarce you will have to run around collecting ammo and health from boxes that spawn.
All sounds are done by the programmer. That includes his magnificent screaming when someone dies.
The scrolling text on the start menu is funny. It mocks you for reading the drivel and then gives out a fake cheat code.
You have three ways to inflict damage:
* rifle - 25 bullets, does like 1% damage per bullet
* sniper - 10 bullets, does like 10% per bullet
* landmine - 5 mines, does like 25-50% per mine
You use rifle with X, sniper with L2, and landmine with /\
The death animations are funny:
* ripped clothes, exposing a ripped body and red undies
* decapitated torso with bleeding ripped limbs
* a twitching mass of blood with a Doom sound effect of squishy guts
* headless body
* bloody hole in chest
The winning player does a dance animation of victory.
The first person to three victories wins!
Where are they now?:
Nick Ferguson later went on to work Electronic Arts and Microsoft Studios, and now at Amazon App Store.
https://twitter.com/forensicgunk
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Obligator
Genre: Tech demo
Programmer: Jon Prestidge (Jon, not John)
Released: 10/10/2001
Obligator is a human body simulator that was abandoned as it got too much for the PlayStation to handle.
You can adjust the characteristics of the body, such as weight, height, articulation, but sadly you can't edit their look.
Once you have fiddled around with your uncanny mannequin you can play the game!
You and your opponent are in a square room and must knock a red ball about.
There's no goal or points or scoring, it's just two guys smacking balls around.
L1 and R1 fire jet streams of air from your feet and hands respectively
It is very difficult to go in a desired direction.
This is like QWOP in a way.
Where are they now?:
Jon Prestidge did work on some games, like Strike Force Hydra, and now makes App Store games like TraptionBakery.
Check out his website: http://www.properbostin.com
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Penguin X
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: David Worswick
Released: 17/11/1998
Penguin X is a clone of the 1982 arcade game Pengo.
The game starts up with very nice music. This is kickass, thanks Tony Longworth.
Waiting on the start screen will eventually bring up a wall of text that sums up the game's backstory.
The aim of the game is to kill all the enemies on screen to progress.
You kill them with blocks via shoving them with [].
The ingame music is kickass as well.
Who said that having to load the entire game into RAM meant small loops of music?
You can collect fruit for points.
Collecting all BONUS letters gives a juicy 5k points.
As you progress through the stages the number of mushroom mooks onscreen increase.
And then they start going super sugar caffeine fast.
Where are they now?:
David Worswick has been a programmer for mainly racing games through the 21th century.
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Prometheus Project
Genre: Shooter
Programmers: Jeff Lawton ('Zark Wizard') & Michael Hough
Released: 1998
Prometheus Project is a shooter clone of the 1982 arcade game Time Pilot.
The plot of the story is that you are a part of a elite alien race and one of your comrades has brough advanced flight technology with him. Your job is to test it out and shoot down everybody.
This game has very cool music by Elliot Lee.
It's a shame that the variety of music is quite limited.
You can fire weapons in a multitude of ways:
* X = single line of bullets
* [] = ring of bullets fired outward
* () = 3 bullet spread fire
* /\ = 4 bullet spread fire
* L1 = 6 homing rockets
* L2 = instant laser (exists for half a second)
Firing weapons heats up your ship, as seen via the green bar when you fire.
When the meter becomes full it becomes red and you cannot fire until the brain drains dry.
* R1 = boost
* R2 = boost backwards (reverse)
After you clear the level of 'Cills' you have to fight a boss.
They start off easy but gradually get harder, as in they fight back (horrors!).
This a fun game and should have been a commercial game.
Where are they now?:
Jeff Lawton is currently a Chief Software Architect and does WiiU coding.
His ancient website: http://yaroze-world.org/
Michael Hough got employed by Shaba Games to work on their sports games. Current whereabouts unknown.
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PS-ZX
Genre: Emulator
Programmer: 'Majik' Andrew Langstaff
Released: 03/02/1998
PS-ZX is a ZX Spectrum 48K emulator that only plays Hungry Horace.
Hungry Horace is a classic speccy game that got bundled with most ZX Spectrums sold in the '80s.
I like old school emulators on old school consoles. ZX Spectrum on PlayStation? Yes, please.
A shame that this emulator is a bit shit.
The emulator lacks sound, is slow as balls, and lacks features like saving or loading.
Pressing the Start button crashes the game!
For an attempt at an emulator it isn't bad but I'm sure it can be rewritten from scratch to be much better.
Where are they now?:
Andrew Langstaff is currently a freelance mobile software consultant.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cowboycoder
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Quickdraw
Genre: Action
Programmer: Mike Frayn
Released: 24/02/2003
Quickdraw is a 1 or 2 player game where you must perform button prompts to shoot your opponent before he shoots you.
This game was made by the author's Computer Games Technolgoy module for his university course.
First you get into the box and 10 paces commences. After the 10 count a series of button prompts appear at the bottom of the screen. Tap them fast!
It's a pretty basic program. No music, no sound, no whimsically imaginative backstory, just two dudes duking it out in a ghost town.
Included in the .zip file is a .doc report file that explains the game in detail to his professor.
Every part of the source code is explained and the author reasons that although Quickdraw isn't particularly impressive or pretty but it is fun, and that is the core function of a game, to which I agree.
Where are they now:
Michael Frayn went on to work at Realtime Worlds before the company's collapse.
Now he is (probably still) a lab manager of the Carpendale Development Lab at Simon Fraser University.
Current website: http://plasticthoughts.ca/
Ancient website: redcrocodile.net
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Rolling Ball Game
Genre: Racing
Programmer: Steve Randerson
Released: 28/08/1998
Rolling Ball Game is a downhill racing game where gravity gives you acceleration and you must avoid the obstacles.
The camera faces to you so you cannot see what is coming until your ball smacks into it. It come down to memory and reflexes to win.
You play as a ball that looks a bit like the advisor from Theme Park World.
Every 3 levels completed unlocks a new skin.
There are numerous obstacles to contend with:
* rocks and tree - stationary
* water - slows you down
* mushrooms - bounce you off them, can be used as a speed boost if hit right
* stone arches - must go through them
* fans - push you around
* teleporters - these purple jelly objects warp you to blue jelly blocks
A great boost of speed can be achieved if you get your opponent to barge you from behind.
You will flung forward at such a velocity that it seems that you clip through corners and little things that would ordinarily snag you.
This game is pretty damn ambitious: a load and save feature (not working but present), and the author planned to have a random level generator. Neat.
Where are they now?:
Steve Randerson is a Technical Director at IIZUKA Software Technologies Ltd (I think).
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Sandstorm
Genre: Action
Programmer: Omar Nabil Metwally
Developed in: 93 days
Released: 19/08/2001
Sandstorm is a 3D action game where you control a green cube and must destroy the other coloured blocks Twisted Metal style.
Dash around the flat arena (with no visible walls) and collect powerups that you can fire.
These powerups can't be aimed and thus travel in a weird way.
The powerups themselves look weird. The rockets look like dildos. One of them is flesh coloured. Yes...
Approaching the pyramid makes the camera go funny, like you're going underneath it.
The author states in the accompanying text file that he made them in his 3D modeller.
Pressing the Select button turns them off and on.
There is some bizarre music in this game. It's doesn't quite fit the theme of the game. It's also quite loud and drills into the eardrums.
Where are they now?:
Omar Metwally is now a physician, writing software for healthcare and healthcare accessories.
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Solar Stars
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Harvey Cotton
Developed in: 2-3 weeks
Released: 20/11/1998
Solar Stars is a sidescrolling Asteroids, made by the programmer for his 2D course.
You can play in three different modes:
* Training - take on training missions
* Arcade - classic Asteroids action
* Campaign - proper missions with tasks
You fly about with /\ and shoot with X.
L1 and R1 adjust the angle of fire. () switches between automatic and manual aim.
The controls are finicky. The momentum of your ship will have you constantly barraging into asteroids.
Aiming is off-putting. It seems alright but switching from auto to manual aim and vice versa messes me up.
This is one of those great Yaroze games that makes me wonder why it never made it onto a demo disk.
It should have. This is quality.
Where are they now?:
Harvey Cotton has made some games/software for the TI-85 calculator.
I think he's done some programming on other games.
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Stars Wars
Genre: fighting
Programmers: Marc & Paul Lambert
Developed in: 5 weeks
Released: 01/08/1999
Stars Wars is a fighting game between two celebrities, possibly inspired by Celebrity Deathmatch.
Their are two celebrities to play as:
* Kirk Nopain
* Jimmini Spandex
No prizes for guessing who they are based on.
You will need to consult the text file for the move list, because button mashing will get your ass kicked, even on easy difficulty.
You can kick, punch, jump, smash each other with guitars; it's like ozzfest.
This game has some voice acting, with the characters ripping on each other.
The voices are delightfully performed by Marc and Paul.
According to the credits scroll, the background characters are based on the game designers and some of the play testers. Neat.
This game is like Celebrity Deathmatch mixed with Shaq Fu.
It's pretty good for a two man effort but Tekken 3 this ain't.
Where are they now?:
Marc Lambert joined Ignition London and worked on Strike Force Hydra with Jon Prestidge.
Paul Lambert I am not sure of.
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Tank
Genre: FPS
Programmer: Paul Wightmore
Released: 1998
Tank is an unfinished FPS made to test the first person functionalities the Yaroze can produce.
This is presumably made for the 1998 Middlesex University computing course.
You are situated in a maze, running about like that old screensaver.
All you have is stone walls; no entities, objects, objective, nothing.
The controls are quite floaty, with lots of momentum and inertia.
Seeing as you are invisible you will find yourself bouncing off the walls as you crash into them.
It would have been interesting to see this idea fully fleshed out.
Would there be a tank in it? Or is this a placeholder name for a Doom/Quake type of game? We may never know.
Where are they now?:
Paul Whitemore is a software engineer for WPM Education.
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Tanx 2
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Stuart MacDonald
Released: 1999 (12/02/2000?)
Tanx 2 is the futuristic sequel to Tanx.
The game looks more refined than the original but the texture are murkier and evoke less cheer.
Rather than a small arena you get a great big arena.
It is easy to get fatigued from all the driving you have to do.
The map system appears to be helpful but without an ingame compass you can't tell which way you are heading without moving about,
This version is only 0.7 alpha, so I reckon the potential updates would really ramp up the fun.
Much like the original, this is some mindless fun between friends. Drinking game may be required to sustain interest.
Where are they now?:
Stuart Macdonald was employed at Rockstar Games for a good time.
Now he is the Art Director at Remedy Entertainment.
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Time Commando
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Adrian Scoffield
Released: 1998
Time Commando is a 3D arcade game where you travel along a chess board in space shooting at angry bumblebee barrels. Yes...
This game was made for the 1998 Middlesex University computer course.
On the title screen you see an orange blob with big eyes with a bazooka. Looks like Clyde from Pac-Man in a Worms game.
The goal - if you can generously call it that - is to travel along the checkered grid and fire at the enemies, which are yellow and black barrels.
The spinning angry Marvin the Martian head on the pole hurts you when its stern gaze falls upon you.
You don't have to worry about dying because that part isn't coded in.
The game is largely conceptual and proof of concept.
There is no music, sound effects, dying, or winning.
Where are they now?:
I think Adrian Scoffield is the R & D Director of SG Gaming.
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Tokui Waza
Genre: Fighting
Programmer: Omar Metwally
Developed in: 2 months
Released: 18/02/2001
Tokui Waza is a 3D fighting game that is top down and resembles Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
Tokui Waza translates to 'Unique Technique'.
The music is great but it sounds like it comes from a SNES game.
It sounds more for RPGs than fighting games.
The intro is slow but it shows you the characters. They look like goofy disco club attendees with jack'o lantern heads.
You cannot choose who you play as.
There are only two models.
Winning is hard due to the stamina meter. I've had to resort to hit and run tactics to wins. Kind of like a Dark Souls game.
Where are they now?:
Omar Metwally is now a physician, writing software for healthcare and healthcare accessories.
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Tokui Waza 2
Genre: Fighting
Programmer: Omar Metwally
Released: 04/05/2001
Tokui Waza 2 is the sequel to the original that update the formula.
The character models have been changed to look more human and less like scarecrows.
Unfortunately the choice of colours for the clothing make them look more like clowns.
The perspective of the game has been changed from top-down to fixed behind your character but you can change the perspective with L2 and R2.
In this game you can now fire energy blasts.
They drain lots of stamina and are slow and easily dodged but do lots of damage.
It's even harder to win in this game!
If you try to keep your distance you just get fired at with beach balls, I mean energy blasts.
The music is very loud and even less appropriate for a fighting game.
It should be an upgrade but to me this sequel is a downgrade.
Where are they now?:
Omar Metwally is now a physician, writing software for healthcare and healthcare accessories.
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Track n No Field
Genre: Sports
Programmer: Steven Lewis
Released: 07/01/2000
Track n No Field is an unfinished sports game featuring only one event: 100 meter dash.
The game is based on the classic Track & Field and features a similar playing function: button mashing!
You have to mash left and right on the D-pad to move, and it requires so much mashing that I fear for my controller's lifespan.
There are three game types:
* Championship - you versus seven opponents
* Time Travel - you by yourself
* Challenge Game - same as Championship (likely unfinished)
The author of the game has stated that he wishes to flesh out the game with music, sound effects, a two player mode, better AI, and more.
The fastest time record is 13:69 seconds.
My personal best is 20:22 seconds.
Where are they now?:
Steven Lewis is currently a Design Director at Crytek UK,
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Up
Genre: Platformer
Programmers: David Johnston & Mike Goatly
Released: 28/09/1999
Up, the unofficial sequel to Down (by Team Parc) is a platformer with the opposite premise.
Instead of continuously heading down, you have to head up.
You control a dodo that can't fly but can jump good.
Hold down the button to charge up the jump meter on the right and release to jump.
Playing with just yourself leads to a no-win situation (just like life).
The level seems to end and I can only get 187 points.
Playing against the computer opponents results in another no-win situation.
The platforms are two short to charge your jump meter enough to progress. Even the computer can't do much!
This game can be remade as a mobile game. I suspect this concept has been used in some OS games already.
David Johnston and Mike Goatly also worked on Time Slip.
You can tell that straight away as the title screen looks a lot like the Time Screen screen.
Where are they now?:
David Johnston went onto to found Smudged Cat Games, which specialises in 2D sidescrollers.
Mike Goatly is now a .NET software developer.
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Vegetable Rally
Genre: Racing
Programmer: Adrian Scoffield
Released: 1998
Vegetable Rally is a racing game wherein you race as a carrot against an apple (which isn't a vegetable).
There game is a conceptual game that doesn't have the hallmarks of a game worth finishing:
* no lap counter
* no win or lose condition
* can't choose car
* only two vehicles in the game
* no music
* no walls or barriers to keep you within the map
The controls are weird:
* [] is acceleration
* X is brake
* () and /\ is handbrake - freezes your vehicle instantly
The sound effects are loud.
Veering into the grass or taking sharp turns makes this loud sound of rubber squeaking.
Smacking into the opponent car makes a clunky thud.
The game doesn't have a good check of proper lap competition.
You can turn a wide 180 degrees and cross the finish lne for a ten second lap.
One thing I've noticed is that there is no draw distance limitation on the enemy vehicle.
You can sit around and watch him go through the track on parts of the course you can't see due to draw distance.
Where are they now?:
I think Adrian Scoffield is the R & D Director of SG Gaming.
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Wabbiiiiit!
Genre: Action
Programmer: Antony Hilton
Released: 21/06/1998
Wabbiiiiit! is a 3D action game based on a ZX Spectrum game (Super Bunny?),
It was made for the 1998 Middlesex University computing course.
You play as a grey bunny that looks metallic.
Once you press Start the game starts and becomes alive.
To obtain the glorious giant carrot in the middle of the area you must dispose of the critters around it.
You have to contend with slugs, bees, and other bunnies (that rhymes).
* Bees - swat them with a stick
* slugs - stomp on them with boots
* bunnies - shoot them
Unfortunately I can only get the stick to work. I guess the others aren't coded in.
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Yaroid
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Dennis Payne
Released: 27/12/1998
Yaroid is a Yaroze version of Asteroids, based on a version the author made for the 286.
This is a simple game: no music, sound effects, weird plot, just classic arcade style gameplay.
[] shoots. You don't have much range.
The D-pad moves you about,
The Down button warps you randomly. Holding it down makes you teleport like crazy but quickly spells death.
The programmer had more to do, as evidenced by the game's page on his website:
* Clean up source code
* Improve difficulty and game play.
* Improve some of the graphics such as the ship
* Add sound
* Add shield and flip capabilities
* Add two players
* Add ufo
Where are they now?:
Dennis Payne did some programming for some games and then was a Senior Software Designer for Softscape, Inc.
Check out his (still working) website: http://www.identicalsoftware.com
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Zeltic
Genre: Action
Programmer: Olaf Siebert
Released: 19/06/1998
Zeltic is a 3D action game involving a tank, droids, and dumb controls.
This game was made for the 1998 Middlesex University computer course.
You can choose between four difficulty levels: Easy, Medium,. Hard, and Suicidal.
This is basically a tank game where you drive around killing all the droids.
It sure does feel like a tank game: the controls are as well rounded as bismuth!
Controls:
* X - forward
* [] - backward
* () - shoot
* /\ - crashes the game
* L1 and R1 - rotates the turrent counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively
* R2 - perspective change between top-down and close up third person
Yes, /\ crashes the game.
The goal is to clear the area of the blue droids.
You have limited ammo and the difficulties in aiming only adds to the difficulty.
One thing I've noticed is that when you bounce off walls you gain a bit of speed, so by going forward into a wall and then backwards into another wall and then repeat you can get some crazy speed going.
Another thing to notice is that the game has boarders on both horizontal sides of the screen. I guess it was made with that resolution.
Where are they now?:
Olaf Siebart has been the webmaster for many game's websites during the 2000's, mainly for SCi Games Ltd (now Eidos LTD).
Now he is the Web Developer/Director at Biff New Media.
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Found a missing game? Have updates or news?
Send me a comment down below!
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That's the current crop of recently found games covered.
I will be happy to make a sequel page for more found games when they are released in playable form.
Hopefully updated version of the Yaroze games and demo collection.
Click here for the links page, for links to archived Yaroze websites, game downloads, and videos.
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