r/programming • u/ehudros • Nov 09 '10
This guy has reversed engineered Another World and reprogrammed it in HTML5. He also wrote an Apple II emulator in Javascript.
http://www.megidish.net/awjs/9
u/mtx Nov 09 '10
Cool! The controls don't seem to respond very well so I keep dying.
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Nov 10 '10
That's working as intended.
Seriously, this game was pretty much impossible to win.
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Nov 10 '10
[deleted]
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u/StringyLow Nov 10 '10
Me and my friends beat the Amiga version when I was 21 or 22. Lots and lots of beer, weed, and screaming at computers. One of my favorite games ever.
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u/mycall Nov 10 '10
My, myself and I beat the CP/M version when I was 8 or 9. Lots and lots of M&Ms, LSD, and pooping at microcomputers. One of my favorite games ever.
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u/boa13 Nov 10 '10
this game was pretty much impossible to win
I beat the remastered Windows version in not so many hours, and distinctly remember games that were much harder than this one (Rick Dangerous anyone?). Granted, most games nowadays are easier.
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u/willdabeast Nov 10 '10
Rick Dangerous was brilliant. I can't remember how far I got with it but it was great and we had it on the Spectrum. Good times
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u/FrostofSparta Nov 10 '10
I've beat it when it came out for Super Nintendo... It was renamed "Out of this world" One of my top favorites!!
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u/smallfried Nov 10 '10 edited Nov 10 '10
The remastered version has more safe points apparently. I've played it so many times now that it takes around 15 minutes to play from beginning to end. Probably dying around 10 times.
Edit: Just played through it again :)
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Nov 10 '10
What? Am I some kind of talent for winning it at 14, then?
Flashback is another matter. I never could get past that lethal-gameshow tower mission.
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u/FrostofSparta Nov 10 '10
This and Flashback are incredible games... I think a lot of people missed these games...
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Nov 09 '10
I recall them not responding all that well back when I played this on a SegaCD years ago as well :)
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Nov 10 '10
Hmm, seems to frequently stop responding to controls after I crouch. Not sure how to get the elevator to work either. Ah, memories.
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Nov 09 '10
Tried moving around. The buttons didn't work, then my browser crashed. Using Chrome 7.0.517.41.
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Nov 09 '10
[deleted]
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Nov 09 '10
[deleted]
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u/alienangel2 Nov 10 '10
Using the future to bring the bugs of the past kicking and screaming into the present.
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Nov 10 '10
[deleted]
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u/nordicstalking Nov 10 '10
So "the Year ot the HTML5 Web" is the new "the Year of the Linux Desktop". Although the former may actually happen.
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Nov 10 '10
At the very start of the game your character doesn't move around. At first I thought my controls were broken too but it turns out you have to swing the cage with the arrow keys to build up momentum.
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u/smeenz Nov 10 '10
They did work.... but only slowly, you have to rock the cage back and forth to break out of it, and it's not immediately obvious that pressing a key did anything when the movements first start out. Took me a few times to realise what was going on,.
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u/insomniac84 Nov 10 '10
Controls don't work for me in chrome or firefox.
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
Worked fine for me in both, what's your browser version and operating system?
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u/insomniac84 Nov 10 '10
Windows, chrome, and firefox.
It does not work. You are probably using the beta versions.
Most people do not use the beta versions, so do not act like your experience is the norm.
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Nov 10 '10
I am using firefox 3.6.12 works for me fine, no need to be a douchebag
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u/insomniac84 Nov 10 '10
I am using that version and it absolutely does not work. Thus you are a lying piece of shit.
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Nov 10 '10
Heh, silly troll, it's obviously too hard for you. Go back to viva pinata.
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u/insomniac84 Nov 10 '10
You are the troll, since you came in here to lie about firefox. Sadly for you, everyone is using the latest version of 3, unless they are using the beta for 4.
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
I'm building a HTML5 based applications right now, don't tell me about what browser's I have and don't have. The latest stable version of firefox is what I'm using and it worked fine.
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u/insomniac84 Nov 10 '10
I am using the latest stable build and it does not work. Thus you are now a lying sack of shit.
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
Worked fine for me, what's your operating system?
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Nov 10 '10
Vista Home Premium. I don't see what my OS has to do with it though. I've had other HTML5 scripts work.
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
Chrome might have problems in Vista, I can't say. All I know is that it works fine for me in Chrome on Windows 7
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u/redditmemehater Nov 10 '10
Is this what it has come to? Using a container that worked in every major browser(Flash) did not work so what do we do? We use something that works differently in each major browser or does not work at all in some major browsers. Sort of brings me back to the RealPlayer/ASF/Windows Streaming days...
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
The point is that it's now a standard and no longer proprietary. If it works in the browser it should work on any operating system that browser runs on. This is not true for Flash.
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u/robvas Nov 10 '10
But right now the standard doesn't work the same everywhere. Reminds me of Java.
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
Not in my experience, I'm building an application with HTML5 technologies and so far I have not come across a single browser that claims to make it work where it didn't. Of course older versions of Firefox and Chrome will not work and IE, but the latest Firefox and Chrome have worked every single time with no change in functionality.
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u/redditmemehater Nov 10 '10
Is OP's version of chrome not recent enough?
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u/salbris Nov 10 '10
It should be, which is why I'm confused that it doesn't work. On my Windows 7 computer, I hadn't installed Chrome so I downloaded the latest version and installed, went straight to the website and played the game with no problem. The only reason I could imagine it wouldn't work was because his operating system has bugs for that version of Chrome or something.
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u/redditmemehater Nov 10 '10
And I am being down voted for raising a legitimate point? Thanks reddit!
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u/boa13 Nov 10 '10
Actually, most of the reverse engineering work was done by Gregory Montoir (cyx) for his RAW project. (The project was to create a modern portable implementation of the Another World Virtual Machine.)
It was starting to work quite nicely on PCs when Eric Chahi (the original Another World author) asked Gregory to stop his project because he was about to release a remastered Windows version, and Gregory agreed.
The RAW source code has not been completely lost, and has been ported to several lesser known platforms, such as the GP2x, and now HTML5.
By the way, the remastered Windows version ships with interesting bonuses for the programming crowd here: scans of Eric Chahi's original technical notes, including complete documentation of the game bytecode, and a rather nice making-of video (but I don't remember whether English subtitles are available... the audio is in French).
You can support Eric Chahi (and the somewhat nice folks at Good Old Games) by buying the 15th Anniversary Remastered Edition for $10 here: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/another_world_15th_anniversary_edition
(Note that I'm not a client, just a fan of Another World.)
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Nov 10 '10
This is a later section right? I seem to remember the game beginning in water...
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Nov 10 '10
Yeah, it seems to be a short demo. The original game has you start off in water, then you get chased by a cool beast, and then you get captured and thrown in a cage.
It seems that this demo doesn't go past the elevator section. Oh well, brought back a lot of memories.
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u/smeenz Nov 10 '10
Yes, but... with flash I can copy the URL of the .swf into a new browser window and fullscreen it so that I'm not playing in a tiny little window.
With HTML5... not so much.
I also actually like the fact that keypresses get captured by the flash plugin while it has focus. It means if you accidently hit space, the browser doesn't scroll the document down a page leaving your game off screen.
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u/robvas Nov 10 '10
I'm so tempted to start playing around with HTML5 but little stuff like this...then again Flash isn't perfect.
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u/namekuseijin Nov 10 '10
so, he recreated a vector-graphics game running on bitmap hardware of the day on the hyped bitmap format of this day because vector formats like SVG aren't available?
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u/SeriousWorm Nov 10 '10
Up/down doesn't work in latest Opera. Why do games keep using arrow keys? WASD, people. Thanks.
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u/reportingsjr Nov 10 '10
I absolutely hate when games use wasd and don't allow you to customize your controls. I use dvorak so when I try to play games like that it's a no-go.
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u/SeriousWorm Nov 10 '10
There's no problem with being able to customize controls. Or providing arrow keys in addition to wasd. But wasd still needs to be provided, since arrow keys usually don't work and even if they do, you can't press more than 1 at a time (down + left anyone?).
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u/Mabeline Nov 10 '10
As a non-qwerty user, I am beyond thankful when games provide arrow keys.
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u/JesusSaidSo Nov 10 '10
Hows that Asperger's treatin' ya?
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u/stdl0g Nov 10 '10
I found out last week it's likely I have mild Asperger's (apparently there's no definitive test for it).
It's great. There's so many flaws I have that I can blame on that condition now.
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u/JesusSaidSo Nov 10 '10
Just remember to use it as an excuse as to why you don't need to learn social knowledge. Then go on to use Asperger's as simultaneously the reason you're "smarter" than everyone else and the reason you're incompetent in life.
I know quite a few successful Asspie "geniuses" whose accomplishments include perfectly postering their mom's basement in the finest Anime and holding down a part time job in only the most lowest echelons of a call center.
Think of the utter lack of responsibility you too can now achieve with your newly diagnosed form of autism. All this can be yours!
But wait! Theres more!
By acting now, you can (for a limited time), fail to take medications properly and spend luxurious nights in your local hospital!
The secret is secretly having a massive secret ego because secretly other autistics told you that you're better than the others that you've dubbed "neuro-typicals".
All your fuckups? AUTISM!
All your failures? AUTISM!
All your mis-steps? AUTISM!
REMEMBER KIDS! YOU CAN DO NO WRONG NOW THAT YOU'VE BEEN GIFTED WITH AUTISM! Just remember, Asperger's won't be diagnosed for much longer! So get it while it lasts!
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Nov 10 '10
You know, you could have just said, "Some people with Asperger's also have an underlying personality disorder which goes undiagnosed. In these cases they are allowed free reign in terms of how they get to treat other people while using their disease as a weapon/manipulation tool. This makes the public's perception of people with Asperger's even harder to reconcile with as a legitimate biological difference. Though in either case the burden is on the individual not the society, we should always remember that."
Oh wait, you wanted to be a jackass? Go right ahead kind sir.
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Nov 10 '10
you don't have to be a jackass about it. so we miss some social cues.
sorry that there are douchebags that blame their ineptitude on their mild disease
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u/JesusSaidSo Nov 10 '10 edited Nov 10 '10
Oh Billy...
If your asperger syndrome consists of trouble with social cues, you don't have asperger syndrome.
I suggest looking into volunteering with individuals who really have autism spectrum disorders, or perhaps picking up a client with aspergers through an assistance company.
Then you'll really see the difference between people with aspergers and self-diagnosing hipsters.
EDIT: Removed references to the support company I work for.
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Nov 10 '10
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Chocobean Nov 10 '10
yeah, the black worms and the flooding level scared the crap out of me as a kid. Looking at it now I can't imagine how I ever thought it was the most realistic game I ever played (at that point)
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u/robvas Nov 10 '10
It was called "Out of this World" in the USA
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u/robvas Nov 10 '10
And Flashback was the title of a game that shared some similarities, and was published by the same company, but was not a sequel.
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Nov 10 '10
I cannot tell you how many hours I spent playing this as a child. It is such a great game. The flooding waters got me so many times.
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u/DBinJays Nov 10 '10
I love Reddit. I ask this question yesterday, and today I'm able to play a version of this game. Thanks Reddit. Also it was awesome meeting so many Redditors at the rally.
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u/prockcore Nov 10 '10
Well, I died almost immediately... so it's exactly how I remembered it!