Cool J Charlie preview in Dreamzone demo by The Wild Boys

[powerman_twb]

Dreamzone by TWB had a preview of our game "Cool J Charlie", unfortunately I can't get it to work under STeem or SainT - the megademo itself works, just the game preview screen doesn't. I know there's a way becase there's a screenshot on the URL below, presumably taken from an emulator but it could be the real thing, can't really tell:

http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=15494

Does anyone know how to get the game preview working? Using STeem I can get to the "press space to play" screen but then nothing happens when I hit space. Under the latest version of SainT I can only get past the megademo intro, once the main menu appears it freezes.

Help!!!!

Powerman of TWB

[lotek_style]

Hm did you try different TOS versions?

As far as I can see KEOPS did the screenshot on pouet... maybe you ask him which emulator that he used.

[Stefan jL]

Maybe try Hatari, although i never tried it so does it seems be a good emulator.

You sound desperate to play the preview... is it nostalgia that hit you?

[Zorro 2]

Very hard to navigate inside the menu with Steem SSE 3.4.1 but it reveals some bugs with the space bar.
Some screens are frozen when you leave them or you don't escape from
Another bug : if you passe the first door and if press space bar, you load the screen from the door

If I see the date, maybe it's possible to test it on Pacifist or old version with Steem ?

[powerman_twb]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll give Hatari a try. I've tried various TOS but always get the same result. Yes nostalgia has hit me recently and I've been watching all the old classics like the Cuddly Demos etc, actually I'm working some Android game projects and thought I'd use some old ST demos as inspiration...

@Zorro 2
Haven't noticed any bugs with the space bar in the main menu on STeem, it's only the CJC preview screen that fails (I'm not using STeem SSE though, just the regular STeem version 3.2)

[Stefan jL]

Is not the Amiga version of Cool J Charlie (Charlie J Cool) a better version to be "inspired" by?

[powerman_twb]

Yes, the Amiga version is better, but I wasn't looking at my old game for inspiration, I just wanted to look at some old demos and I remembered I hadn't seen the ST version of CJC for a long time and then I couldn't get it to work!!! Very annoying...I might have to dig out my real ST and see if it still works

[lotek_style]

Dig out the sources and finish off the ST Version

[nativ]

Dig out the sources and finish off the ST Version

seconded

[powerman_twb]

Ha ha ha, the only sources I have are a stack of printed sheets about 2 inches thick, I don't have the floppies anymore...

[nativ]

Ha ha ha, the only sources I have are a stack of printed sheets about 2 inches thick, I don't have the floppies anymore...

OCR them ?

[powerman_twb]

It's 2 inches thick! Anyway, I don't think the ST version was very good from what I remember, technically it wasn't bad with sync scrolling and whatever that effect was called when you change the background colour on every scanline to create a gradient for the sky...but it only scrolled horizontally and the sprite count was limited to keep it at 50hz.

[lotek_style]

Sounds like a "lets type in the listing job"

[AtariZoll]

By me it works fine in Steem 3.2 . TOS version is not relevant, it seems. And there is vertical scroll too. But no enemies, no objects. So, only some run and jump around. Question is, would those things break timing, and causing slowdowns, screen errors. In any case, this is far from some playable version, and I would say that max 30% of job is done, considering some playable game. So, even with sources available lot of work.
Looking Amiga version - some Kid Gloves elements added, so basically nothing really new.

[Maartau]

Any news for the sources ? OCR scans ?

[powerman_twb]

@AtariZoll

I'm using Steem 3.2 also but the CJC preview won't go past the intro screen...I can't really remember much about the preview except it was a very early demo. The Amiga version had a lot of new stuff compared to the ST version, which is why we ceased development on it (even though it was fully playable). I wish we'd released it now

Are you sure you're not confusing the main menu with the game preview, as you mentioned vertically scrolling and the main menu scrolls in all directions, but the game preview only scrolls horizontally.

@Maartau

I have the complete source code for the final ST version of CJC...but I don't think I have all the graphics and sound files! They're probably in a box somewhere.

[lotek_style]

Powerman: would be worth to go trough your disks

[Stefan jL]

I have an old unlisted Youtube video showing parts of the Dreamzone Demo including the Cool J Charlie preview... but i don't play it well
Seen around 20:40 in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYNiEIj0zec

And also here is a new video showing the Amiga demo version, i play through the whole demo level
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMEAX1tqxwM

[Marcer]

Powerman

I second lotek image your floppys and put them here and see what happens

[powerman_twb]

I have an old unlisted Youtube video showing parts of the Dreamzone Demo including the Cool J Charlie preview... but i don't play it well
Seen around 20:40 in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYNiEIj0zec

And also here is a new video showing the Amiga demo version, i play through the whole demo level
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMEAX1tqxwM

That brings back some memories! I haven't seen that CJC preview since we released it, although the lack of inertia on Charlie really lets it down. Thankfully the game was much improved before we abandoned it. Also Charlie decided to start wearing shades and doing that white t-shirt, jeans and blazer thing after he left the ST, what a dick.

@Marcer
All my disks are at my parent's house in Spain where they've been for over 10 years, they've probably melted by now!

[lotek_style]

After watching the video ... it looks really nice Can somebody rip out the preview?

[Maartau]

All my disks are at my parent's house in Spain where they've been for over 10 years, they've probably melted by now!

No luck to have them back ? Will it possible to ask your parents if they at least kept them ?

(Just a question ).

Yeah, Cool J Charlie preview is really nice .

Edit :

"I know Spain is very warm, maybe your disks are dead too , but of course if that's possible, I'll pay the postage ."

[powerman_twb]

They still have my disks, and my ST, and my Amiga, but I haven't seen them for 10 years (the disks, not my parents!). One day if I have time I'll dig out the ST and see if they still work...

[Maartau]

They still have my disks, and my ST, and my Amiga, but I haven't seen them for 10 years (the disks, not my parents!). One day if I have time I'll dig out the ST and see if they still work...