Carrier Command, Amiga - Part 1 - Overlooked Oldies

[troublehoff]

think manta 2 might have had no fuel - you maybe could've kamikaze that enemy base after two missile hits

such a perfect game

[troublehoff]

wicked video matey

[JimPlaysGames]

@troublehoff thanks :)

[Dach101]

found myself shouting "press the land button" at the screen lol , this was a great game and the enemy carrier was hard to kill

[JimPlaysGames]

@Dach101 hehe I've done that sort of thing too when watching someone play a game I know well.

[TheUngulable]

I didn't have a clue what I was doing when I played this game as a kid and now I see why. :D

[JimPlaysGames]

@TheUngulable yeah I would have been totally lost if I hadn't found that review/tutorial I mentioned. Back in those days reading the instruction manual was not optional.

[gadgetmind]

The lack of timewarp in the ST and Amiga versions was a big mistake. We actually had it mostly coded up but Rainbird couldn't hold back release any longer, as we were already "a bit " late, so it had to go without it. The PC and Mac versions have it, and improved enemy carrier tactics (OK, totally rewritten!) but I really do regret it not being in the 68000 versions. Sorry!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind wow I never got a comment from a developer of one of the games I've made videos about before. That's so cool! I'm honoured :D

No need to apologise for the actions of the publishers. Sounds like an all too familiar story. It's not like you could just release a patch in those days. As I said it is a brilliant game. I had a go with the PC version and the first thing I noticed was the more aggressive AI. It really changed the game. I'll be doing another video about that version.

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames I was actually hunting around for videos of the remake that Bohemia are making, and found your video. It really took me back, so thanks!

I recently managed to recover the source for CC from some 22 year old floppies. Sadly, while I have everything to rebuild the PC version, the disk routines and a few others bits are missing from the 68000 versions. Still, the PC was better, other than the sound.

For more info on the CC remake, see the "Carrier Command" facebook page.

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind you're welcome, thanks for Carrier Command :)

I read the first article linked to on the facebook. Looks promising, but the resource management aspect is what puts the caution in my optimism. Some games seem to have an ineffable quality that proves very hard to reproduce, like X-Com or Elite. This might be true for Carrier Command too.

Have you or any of the other original developers been involved at all in the remake? I feel like they should be taking a look at that source code.

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames The Bohemia guys do seem to have done a very good job, and I feel that looking at our source would have hindered rather than helped. There were just two of us working on the 16-bit versions, we were both only 25, it was our first game other than on a spectrum, and we'd signed up to a contract that didn't offer much time or (in retrospect) much money. As a result, the source isn't exactly what you'd call elegant! Tight, yes, fast, yes, even inspired in places, but not elegant!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind ah right. Yeah I can imagine such code would be hard to read. Especially since it's very probably in a lower level language than what the current developers are using or are even familiar with. You did an incredible job considering the constraints you were under.

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames All assembler, about 50,000 lines of it for ST and Amiga, and even more for PC. To make life interesting, we were on 8086 CPUs, so really slow multiplies and divides, and no acceleration of anything. Happy days!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind blimey. I have a hard enough time with high level object oriented programming languages. Just thinking about trying to make a game like this in assembly code makes my head spin. By the way, are you still developing games? If so, what language(s) do you use?

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames I'm now a "Director of Development" at Imagination Technologies. Sadly, I'm not very hands-on regards coding, and I'm still happier with gates and op codes than high lever fancy stuff, however, I did write a few k lines of Python to get the CC source off those rotting floppies!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind I had a look at the site for Imagination Technologies. Took me a while just to figure out what they actually produce. Seems pretty far removed from game development. Do you miss working on games?

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames Well, our technology is used in the iPhone, iPad, loads of Android 'phones and a portable that Sony have just announced, so I'm kind of still in games. But to answer your question, yes!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind that's cool. As I understand it those kind of platforms are making it possible for small teams or even individuals to become games programmers again, which is great for fostering innovation in these days of countless cloned FPS games. So thanks again for your part in making that possible. As someone who is trying to get back into coding in the hopes of maybe developing games for a living, those new possibilities are encouraging.

[gadgetmind]

@JimPlaysGames I think the "barrier to entry" is now down as low as it was for us in the early 80s. Of course, there is now more competition, but the market is also *much\* bigger. Good luck!

[JimPlaysGames]

@gadgetmind thanks! :D

[kakabixlis]

Yo Jim i checked the trailer for Carrier Command,the concept is the same.. i i am curious about it though...there is apparently a likely 60 percent to be a remake mate..but time will tell!heheh hope you are well :) cheers!!

[kakabixlis]

well no never made it as as you stated the time was needed was too much and besides back at the day i was going to school so i didnt had much time to finish this bugger up never :( but i wish they could do it a nice remake with a time accelerator :)!!good to hear from you mate!hope you have a good day so far :)!!

[JimPlaysGames]

@kakabixlis yeah a remake would be great. I'd like to see it done by an indie studio rather than a big company though, since I think an indie studio would be better at recapturing the essence of this. Apparently there is a new game being worked on called Carrier Command: Gaea Mission. Who knows if it will be any good though. Good day to you too :)

[kakabixlis]

wow Jim!! what you reminded me!!Hours and :hours trying to take over the islands and many amphibians and jets lost lol!!!hope you are fine and well!!was nice talking to you yesterday :)!!Cheers!!

[JimPlaysGames]

@kakabixlis likewise :)

Yeah it definitely seems like a game that could eat up a lot of time. How far did you get with it? Did you ever destroy the enemy carrier?

I had a go with the DOS version and apart from it having a "time warp" function which is very handy, it was also a lot more difficult. The island sent out planes to attack my carrier immediately. I think I may do more of this game with that version sometime since it was quite a bit more exciting with the enemy actually attacking.

[Trusteft]

You can manufacture more, the strategic part of the game allows you to set islands as resource gathering, factories or defensive outposts. A support island where all the requested equipment will be send when manufactured. You then go there and ask for resupplies, a supply ship then is sent to you, make sure you are near the island and stopped. :) To land the Manta, click on the left bottom icon while looking at the deck (the opposite icon you click to launch one :p

[JimPlaysGames]

@Trusteft thanks for the tips. Games like these are why I need tutorials :)

[Trusteft]

You can stop the laser from moving by clicking on the centre of the arrows in the bottom of the screen. The Walrus are tanks which can "swim". There are many ways to capture an island. The slow way is to destroy everything, start with the turrets on the island and the robots which repair stuff. Of course whenever you see enemy planes, destroy them with your manta. The quickest way, if you can make it, is to take a Manta with a virus bomb and throw it inside the CC through it's "mouth".

[lilacfloyd]

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission based on the original Carrier Command released in 1988 is under development by Bohemia Interactive and Black Element Software.

[JimPlaysGames]

@lilacfloyd sweet! I just watched the teaser. Kinda cheesy but I hope it turns out well. Thanks for letting me know.

[slenkar]

I played this a lot, I didnt have the manual so I didnt achieve anything in the game.

[JimPlaysGames]

@slenkar yeah I would have been lost if I hadn't watched the review/tutorial I mention in the video. That's why I haven't made as many videos of the requested games which are fairly complex, like Midwinter.

[pacbilly]

On Manta 4 your missiles said air-to-air.

[JimPlaysGames]

@pacbilly yeah I noticed that when I was editing. I think maybe the bombs or the ground attack laser might be a better choice.

[pacbilly]

@JimPlaysGames Don't you mean ground attack lazer?

[JimPlaysGames]

@pacbilly NOOOOOOOOO!

I mean... no.