Ricochet is no match for Bustem (or Palm games are no match for PPC games)

[erobinson]

(Please bear in mind that I really do love my Clie regardless of the general attitude of the stuff below.)

I recently downloaded Ricochet for my Clie, expecting to play a game like Bustem (only on the PPC).

Boy was I disappointed. Maybe the gaming/graphics API's just aren't there yet for the Palm OS, but Ricochet is slow and graphically inferior to Bustem. While it is good as far Palm games go, it still falls short of what the competition is.

I think one of the things that hamstrings game developers for the Palm OS, is that there are so many OS/hardware variations on the Palm theme. While this is a strength for the Palm platform in general, it makes optimizing apps very tough. PPC is a set of hardware and software standards that is a lot less flexible than the Palm standards. Realizing that they only have to code to meet one set of standards, PPC game developers can spend more time tweaking their code to make really slick and solid games.

Processor power used to be an issue, but with the Tungsten and the NR/NX/NZ lines, that can't be an excuse any more. Maybe the Palm OS doesn't have the equivalent of the DirectX API's that are pared down into the PPC2002 OS. I'm hoping that OS 6, with its Be components, can change this.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter. I'm still sticking with Palm. I just wish we had better games.

[utahjazz85]

It is a crappy game. I mean, why the hell does anyone need 5 different companies versions of Block Ball for crying out loud????

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by erobinson
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter. I'm still sticking with Palm. I just wish we had better games.

Just try Kickoo's Breakout : http://www.kickoo.com and you may change your mind !

[boomer]

Originally posted by erobinson
(Please bear in mind that I really do love my Clie regardless of the general attitude of the stuff below.)

I recently downloaded Ricochet for my Clie, expecting to play a game like Bustem (only on the PPC).

Boy was I disappointed. Maybe the gaming/graphics API's just aren't there yet for the Palm OS, but Ricochet is slow and graphically inferior to Bustem. While it is good as far Palm games go, it still falls short of what the competition is. 


 

This is a PC game ported to the Palm, and it works almost exactly like the PC version.  If it is slow then that is because that is how the PC game works.

But the game is not slow or graphically inferior - maybe you didn't try the HiRes version or try the harder levels.  The game has plenty of speed for my overclocked N610.

 

 

 

[Lisianne]

Ditto for Kickoo's Breakout. Graphics are sophisticated as well as stunning while sounds take full advantage of Sony's polyphonic capabilities.

[gothicaleigh]

I will chime in with the rest and tell you to seriously try Breakout. The 320x480 version is great(improved feel and sound).

[erobinson]

I just tried Kickoo's Breakout, and I have to hang my head in shame. There really is a great Palm game out there. Thanks for alerting me to its existence.

I really hope that it's the first of many great OS 5 games.

[Lisianne]

The biggest problem with Kickoo's Breakout is that they *don't* get reviewed! And, to make mattters worse, people tend to think that if Astraware doesn't make a game, it simply doesn't exist!

I own two Astraware games so I do like their software, I just wish that other developers had the same "air time" on large online sites. Infosync.no, for example, recently did a review of Ricochet with nary a mention of Kickoo's Breakout while it did mention Ababall, precurser of Breakout but owned by Iambic, another big name developer.

Makes one wonder if Palm sites are paid to review certain software to the exclusion of others. If so, this does not bode well for the small, independent developer. :(

[Zork]

erobionson, the game market is the Palm market. There are hundreds of games avail (even from large companies as Ubisoft (Rayman), InfoGrames(V-Rally), Eidos (Who wants to be a millionaire), EA Sports(PGA Tour Golf) and Sega (Swirl) and whomever did Serious Sam) compared with the few dozens for the Pocket PC. And with the HiRes Clies and OS 5 Palms things becoming even better. So the game market never were a Pocket PC market. A clear indicator that the Pocket PC doesnt have too much games to offer is there emulation software offering. Only platforms which doesnt have too much own software have to concentrate (!) on emulation software.
And its clear that there arent too much PPC games avail. Noone buys PPCs (their market share is shrinking beside that its already horrible small) and with HiRes and HiRes+ and the ARM CPU at OS 5 there is no market for PPC games at all.

[Kickoo]

I unfortunately have to agree with Lisianne : we are a small team made of just 2 peoples ( the artist, Christian Robert, and I, programmer ), and having some audience is really very difficult !

Except on some friendly sites ( like ClieSource and CliePlanet ), where they talk about our new releases and updates, beeing mentionned by major Palm news sites is almost impossible...

Each time we make a new release or a major update, I send emails to *all* the webmasters but a very few of them accept to publish the new !

Makes me wonder if we have to pay some ads campaign ( which we never made as our budget is too low ) on these sites to be just considered...

So our only chance rely on "mouth to ear" ( french expression, not sure it has a meaning in english ), which is you, "guys" : spraid the words, say how great our games are !!!! ;-)

--
Daniel Morais
http://www.kickoo.com

[Lisianne]

Mouth to ear= word of mouth. ;)

Another concern. If indeed high profile, well-financed Palm sites consciously choose to limit their reviews to software developed by major companies, that might give one pause as to the supposed impartiality of their reviews. After all, it would be disadvantageous to these sites to pan a legitimately bad program by one of their major contributors. It certainly gives one pause...

Sorry to digress from the major topic here, games, but I am worried that one day my choices for software will be limited and I will be forced to pay big bucks for inferior programs because the independent developers will have all given up and gone home. Come to think of it, we should all be concerned.

[GoldenTiger]

I've found many small developers with great games that are never mentioned for the Palm through google... just have to look around!

I really want to see graphics like this though for a racing game with more than 2 cars (there are no 3d racing games for the palm os 5 aside from 2-player pilotmicrorace :():

http://www.pdarcade.com/modules.php?name=Reviews2&rop=showcontent2&id=201

and games like this:

http://www.pdarcade.com/modules.php?name=Reviews2&rop=showcontent2&id=202   http://www.gameloft.com/pub/ray.html

 

Does anyone know how to get the PocketRayman game by another developer to work with the NX? I can't find the "nr fixed file" that I heard you need anywhere.

[Zork]

GoldenTiger, Rayman is avail on the Palm since a few years. Its limited to 8 bit (cause of the graphx limits then), but its the same game.
And bout Racing Days R : Be happy that it isnt avail for the Clie. Tried it on the PPC and the steering is horrible. Even more then horrible :) .
If you wanna see nice racing games for the Clie try RaceFever (with a little more then just 2 cars on screen ;) ) or V-Rally. Both are really addictive.

[Massman82]

Rayman works perfectly on my NX!

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Zork
erobionson, the game market is the Palm market. There are hundreds of games avail (even from large companies as Ubisoft (Rayman), InfoGrames(V-Rally), Eidos (Who wants to be a millionaire), EA Sports(PGA Tour Golf) and Sega (Swirl) and whomever did Serious Sam) compared with the few dozens for the Pocket PC. And with the HiRes Clies and OS 5 Palms things becoming even better. So the game market never were a Pocket PC market. A clear indicator that the Pocket PC doesnt have too much games to offer is there emulation software offering. Only platforms which doesnt have too much own software have to concentrate (!) on emulation software.
And its clear that there arent too much PPC games avail. Noone buys PPCs (their market share is shrinking beside that its already horrible small) and with HiRes and HiRes+ and the ARM CPU at OS 5 there is no market for PPC games at all.


OK, if I have to be the unpopular one, I still have to tell my side of the story;-)

I write game reviews for PDABuyersGuide.com. First of all, no developer had ever paid me a dime. Of all the Palm games I've reviewed, there are a good number of them were developed by one or two people shops.

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/games/index.htm

When you say that you've sent your new games to everyone, we've never received any info about great games you've developed. So some times, the reviewers are not the only ones to blame?:-)

Anyway, I just want to tell the truth with this game reviewer.

So, you all don't think Ricochet not worth of being reviewed?

Jade Dragon

[GoldenTiger]

Originally posted by Zork
GoldenTiger, Rayman is avail on the Palm since a few years. Its limited to 8 bit (cause of the graphx limits then), but its the same game.
And bout Racing Days R : Be happy that it isnt avail for the Clie. Tried it on the PPC and the steering is horrible. Even more then horrible :) .
If you wanna see nice racing games for the Clie try RaceFever (with a little more then just 2 cars on screen ;) ) or V-Rally. Both are really addictive.

 

Neither of those work on my NX. They appear in the topleft corner of the screen squished, same as Aldon's Crossing.

I also can't get rayman to work... what files do I need and where do I get them?

[GoldenTiger]

And why do we gert shafted graphics-wise...

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/games/rayman_ultimate.htm

Those shots are from the PPC version.

 

These are from the Palm version:

http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=7CCX684BBF35238X66B8X348944633B7&productId=19980&optionId=1_1_2&productType=2&catalog=1&txtSearch=rayman&sectionId=0&platformId=1

 

They were released concurrently, to boot! I can't get the Palm version to work on my NX, either.


Here's another example, shots on the same page even:

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/games/tennis_addict.htm

 

P.S. good site :)!

[Lisianne]

Jade Dragon,

First of all, you're NOT the "unpopular one" for you just gave me a great gaming site I never knew existed. Score one for you! :)

Secondly, it appears that you were also responding to an aspect of *my* post since I questioned the "impartiality" of the reviews on some of the sites. Nonetheless, I felt I made a clear distinction between PDA sites in general & "high profile, well-financed Palm sites." It is the latter which advertises and reviews every single update or new release, bar none, from the big names like Astraware.

So, do I think that Ricochet is not worthy of being reviewed? Actually I'm really saying that releases from these major companies *should* be reviewed but not at the expense of superior games by other, less well-known companies; those games should get airtime/fair time as well!

Thanks for weighing in.

[Zork]

GoldenTiger, turn off HiRes for this games at the Prefs. Second Rayman for the Palm were released way before the PPC version. The 16 bit version you talkin bout were released almost a year later.
And finally Tennis Addict is avail for both platforms. So wheres the prob ?

[pdagal]

Tennis Addict looks much nicer on the Pocket PC, that's the problem. Not that it's bad on the Palm, but it's drop-dead gorgeous on the PPC. :(

Originally posted by Zork
...
And finally Tennis Addict is avail for both platforms. So wheres the prob ?

[Massman82]

-PDArcade does not get paid for reviews either.

[Eric S]

Originally posted by Zork
GoldenTiger, turn off HiRes for this games at the Prefs.

No such option for NX owners. Not sure there was for NR owners, but I think it was. If you reference the Sony OS5 SDKs, they say that compatibility mode is no longer available.

[Berto2112]

Originally posted by pdagal
Tennis Addict looks much nicer on the Pocket PC, that's the problem. Not that it's bad on the Palm, but it's drop-dead gorgeous on the PPC. :(



Yeah, they also pay $10 more for the same program.....suckers....

[Zork]

pdagal, Tennis Addict is made for the 160 * 160 8 bit Palms. That way it doenst look as good, but you play the game appr. 3-4 as long with the Palm version as with the PPC version. That again shows the prob with PPC. They are complete useless outside their cradle.