Carrier Command, DOS - Second Impression

This is my second impression of Carrier Command, this time the DOS version which has improved AI and a much needed time warp function. I also talk about a recent comment I got from one of the original developers of the game, which was really cool.

Carrier Command on Moby Games:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/carrier-command

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• aircraft
• carrier
• 3d
• strategy
• flight
• simulator
• missile
• laser
• island
• conquer
• resource
• factory
• amphibious
• landing
• craft
• shape
• poke
• in
• the
• eye
• amiga
• let's
• play
• letsplay
• walkthrough
• retro
• classic
• vintage
• computer
• game
• games
• gaming
• gamer
• player
• playing
• demo
• demonstration
• narration
• commentary
• YTGAMINGREVIEWS

[Fireburnin21]

Do more?

[JimPlaysGames]

@Fireburnin21 might do :)

[Adropacrich2]

I'm fairly sure the Amiga version did have the warp function if you entered "the best is yet to be" cheat. Could be wrong of course but it's what i use on my 360 bio - being i remembered entering it often. The ST version didn't have it and was released earlier i believe?

[JimPlaysGames]

@Adropacrich2 sadly the time warp function was indeed missing from the Amiga and ST versions, due to the publishers pushing for a release date before it was ready. I discovered this when one of the original developers made a comment on my previous Carrier Command video (username: gadgetmind), which was really cool.

It's a shame that publishers will often force the release of a game before it's ready, especially when it cuts out a necessary feature to make it playable.

[Adropacrich2]

Certainly left an impression on me despite not fully grasping every strategy aspect I remember once when arriving at an island, that i witnessed what must have been a good 40 or more enemy craft buzzing around. I was astounded because the framerate was still holding up well - A500 - and frankly it shouldn't have. Never seen it since and just put it down to being a bug. Anyone else had this amazing event?

[slenkar]

@gadgetmind when programming with rem statements on the speccy, do you get any clue why a game crashes or do you just have to remember the last thing you typed in?

When im programming I can print out variables to a debug log , is there anyway of doing that with a speccy or old PC? you could print them out to the screen but when the game crashes you cant see them anymore :/

looking forward to 'story of carrier command' :)

[gadgetmind]

@slenkar Regards web page, I'm typing up "The Story of Carrier Command" and might put it up somewhere. Believe it or not, Tank Duel, Star Strike, and Star Strike 2 were coded on the Spectrum by typing Z80 assembler into REM statements. Bombs? I don't recall what we did if an exception went off, but the final stages on the ST version were tense beyond belief. A few bug fixes did get slipstreamed, but I don't recall many crashing bugs.

[slenkar]

@gadgetmind thanks for answering all my nerd questions,

if you created a webpage with all this information it would get thousands of people looking at it i bet,

I owned a speccy as a 10 year old, did you develop speccy games on the pc? did you use a cable to transfer the game to the speccy?

Did you get tired of seeing those bombs when the ST version crashed?? :)

[gadgetmind]

@slenkar Yes, initially using a commercial system called PDS, which was great for Z80 work but the 68k version was a bodge, however, we eventually switched to our own development tools. In 1989, we started a new company that specialised in dev/debug tools, and that's the company I still work for, though it was acquired by Sega in 1994 and Imagination Technologies in 2001.

And a year isn't bad when you're starting with zero existing code AND you're having to invent the game as you go along.

[slenkar]

@gadgetmind

a year?!? not bad at all, :)

Did you use a PC to make the ST version?