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Post by Weasel on Nov 24, 2012 23:46:18 GMT -5
Thank you for the heads up about 3D Block, I'll be looking into it momentarily. As for the Block Out prototype, I have actually heard of it; I'm patiently awaiting the dump.
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Dec 11, 2012 9:50:22 GMT -5
So, the DOS version is the original one? I had it on a floppy many years ago, and it was really fun once you got used to the rotation on three axises. I also briefly saw the arcade version.
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Post by sogetsu on Jul 4, 2013 18:20:27 GMT -5
More info on history of Blockout and the company that made the game. In Polish, though. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqnf2SyBnvEHere's a summary: Blockout was made in 1989 in Warsaw. The company that made the game - "Karen" was founded in 1983 by Lucjan Daniel Wencel, a Polish immigrant from the US. He employed young, ambitious computer scientists and provided them with state of the art computers and necessary documentation. Wencel didn't want his company to make software for Polish market, because until 1994 in Poland there wasn't a law on copyright. You could legally copy music, films, games, etc. and most people would buy pirate software, which was cheaper. So, Wencel wanted his company to make software for the American market instead and he named his team "an export software department". Wencel realized that employing Polish programmers was cheaper than employing American ones, so he convinced companies such as EA and SSI that it's more profitable to order software form Poland than to pay American programmers. And so, the Karen company was specialized in making ports of games. They ported such games as: Phantasie, Panzer Grenadier and Realm of Impossibility. As for Blockout, Wencel decided to release the game using California Dreams as the company name. The game wasn't a commercial success because of the evaluation methods he decided to use. Before the game was released, Wencel showed Blockout to a group of kids, who didn't like the game much and thought it was too complicated. Therefore, predicting low sales, Wencel ordered a limited number of copies to release and put a weak anti-piracy protection in the game. However, to Wencel's surprise, Blockout became a hit. Due to high demand and limited number of legal copies, a lot of pirated copies were sold. The game was developed taking into account many different platforms, such as C-64, Amiga, PC, Apple II, Atari ST, Mac or Lynx. Other games by California Dreams were: Tunnels of Armageddon, Street Rod, Street Rod 2 and an unreleased strategy game Solidarność, and interesting title, set in the 80s presenting the conflict between Polish opposition and communist government. At the same time there was a film about Lech Wałęsa in making in Hollywood but the film was canceled and so was the finished game. However, the game leaked and was sold on the pirate market. The export software department was dissolved due to Wencel being discouraged by Blockout's poor financial results, rising costs of maintaining the company and declining dollar. He would still import Atari computers and then portable computers. The brand Karen exists until today ( www.karen.pl/ )
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Post by starscream on Jul 7, 2013 8:05:53 GMT -5
Was the Amiga version really ported by Rainbow Arts as the article says? They published the game in Europe for various platforms, that's true, but the Amiga port was still published in the US by California Dreams.
The article also still (wrongly) identifies the Atari ST sound chip as the "Pokey".
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Post by sogetsu on Jul 7, 2013 15:53:52 GMT -5
According to what the guy in the video says, all ports were programmed by Ustaszewski and Zabłocki.
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Post by derboo on Sept 1, 2013 13:21:32 GMT -5
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