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Program Announcements / Berzerk 3D (Retro Remakes compo entry)

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Binary Agents
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Posted: 7th Sep 2006 00:22 Edited at: 30th Sep 2006 14:21
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Here is our entry for the 2006 Retro Remakes Competition. Its a remake of the classic 1980 arcade game 'Berzerk' by Stern Electronics. It was later released for the Atari 2600, 5200 and the Vectrex.
It was chosen because of the important part in computer game history it played (see the readme for more info) and because it comes from the days where simple concepts and playability were THE most important things. The visuals have been suped up to 3D and the audio is now incredible, but I have hopefully still kept the frantic blasting fun of the original. It also keeps almost all of the original rules and features.
Here is a screenshot of the original for comparison:


And now the remake:




Its downloadable from the TGC mirror or from Retro Remakes themselves. This is our first Retro Remakes entry so all comments are welcome. There are 76 games in the compo in total and the results are said to be available December 1st.

Hope you all like it!

EDIT: Version 1.1 is now available! See my post below for a list of changes and download from here:
http://berzerk.binaryagents.com
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Jeku
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Posted: 7th Sep 2006 03:24
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Wow, can't wait to try this one! I love Berzerk!


"I understand creative people. After all, I worked with towel designers." - Ray Kassar, former head of Atari
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 8th Sep 2006 00:20
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I think the original has the best graphics out of the two.


Since the other one was scaring you guys so much...
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 8th Sep 2006 16:11
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For those other hardened fans of Berzerk, like Jeku (we are showing our ages there ) I should probably mention that the controls have been slightly updated too. The original game had the player instantly turn and shoot in the direction you were travelling. In line with the visual updating I have made this movement more lifelike, therefore the player rotates smoothly to the new direction of movement. You will see what I mean when you play it. Some people have mentioned that this makes it more difficult and delays your aiming but once you are used to it, it can really aid the player. In effect it gives you the ability to fire in 360 degrees while you turn rather than just the normal 8 directions.
Thought I would mention it as its probably the biggest change made to the gameplay.
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Jack
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Posted: 9th Sep 2006 00:53
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Just played it and I must say this is a nice remake

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Desert Dead Screenshots
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Sixty Squares
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Posted: 9th Sep 2006 13:26
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LOL that was sooo funny great game! I love how the robots kept on saying "Get the humanoid" and things like that as I was attempting to kill them lol. The music was awesome too. Overall great game!

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Freddix
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 02:42
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yeah!!! I remind of this game on old VECTREX console :p
did you add "OTO" in the game ???

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 10th Sep 2006 03:17
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Thanks Jack and Sixty Squares. Glad you like it.
Freddix, Evil Otto is certainly there. Here are some of the features carried over from the original versions:
>> Mazes/Rooms from both the Atari 2600 version and the more randomized arcade and Vectrex versions.
>> The speech is there, including "Get the humanoid. Get the intruder" and "Chicken. Fight like a robot" (although remade and much improved).
>> The invincible Evil Otto enters if you stay in a room more than 30 seconds.
>> Up to 11 robots per room.
>> Extra life at 10,000 points.
>> More than 64,000 rooms.
>> Hiscore table (auto saved) so you can prove to your friends how good you are.

Incidentally, the orignial Berzerk has the unfortunate crown of being the first computer game to be linked to a players death. See the included readme file for more info.
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 13th Sep 2006 01:40
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*** NEW VERSION AVAILABLE! ***
I thought I would do an update after listening to peoples comments about the game, and their suggestions for improvement. Here is a quick rundown of the changes made:

>> Player rotating is now much faster (by popular demand). Its a lot less lifelike than the original slower motion but it does improve gameplay a lot.
>> Shooting is now much more accurate. Originally I wrote in a slightly more lifelike spread of shots when you fired. I think this made people think that aiming was flawed by the roaming camera.
>> Floors are better, slightly uneven and now affected by the players torch. This adds to the lighting effect and atmosphere.
>> When you leave a room you will appear in the next room at the opposite end.
>> Explosions are 20% faster and are visible for the entire time they can kill you so there is less of a chance of accidentally walking into a fading one.
>> Player animation improved (less camp!).
>> Blocked exits now appear in red like in the original versions, rather than the same electrified fences as the walls.

The download link is:
http://berzerk.binaryagents.com
If I make any other updates in the future they will always be available from this URL. This version is obviously too late for the Retro Remakes competition but I still appreciate any comments and suggestions anyone here has. Thanks.
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Valle
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Posted: 14th Sep 2006 23:05 Edited at: 14th Sep 2006 23:07
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liked it too
The Sounds are really good

i dont know if you can call it a bug, but you can just go thru a dor and when you appear in the next room instantly go back. So you can reach every room you want.

hm, i reached 2750

btw. i found it a bit hard to dodge the bullets with that speed, but otherwise, it makes it challenging


http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=78784&b=5
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 15th Sep 2006 01:29
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Quote: "i dont know if you can call it a bug, but you can just go thru a dor and when you appear in the next room instantly go back. So you can reach every room you want."
Yeah, its not a bug - its by design. There is really no point in keep jumping from one room to the next as you get no extra points for it. You only get points for robots that are killed. This includes them being shot by you, shot by other robots, walking into each other, walking into the electrified fences or being squished by Otto. Part of the skill on the later levels is to try and get the robots to kill each other so you are less at risk, or getting otto to kill them for you.
Exiting while still invincible (first 3 seconds after entering a room) is also quite a handy escape method if you find yourself surrounded by lots of robots. If you think you don't stand a chance you can make a quick exit and hope that the next room will be easier.
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Freddix
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Posted: 15th Sep 2006 12:24
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erg ! I get a weird problem.
When I open your link .. a new explorer window appear and, after 2 or 3 seconds ... the window close ... (with no error ... nothing)

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 16th Sep 2006 23:57 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 00:01
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I tested it in Netscape, Internet Explorer and Firefox without any download problems. When you click on the link it should just start downloading automatically (or ask you where to save the file or how you want to open it - depending upon your browser).
There are a few possibilities you could try...
1) Check that you are not blocked from downloading ZIP files (e.g. school, work or library proxies often do this)
2) Check that a popup blocker doesn't think that the new browser window is a popup, or some other 'netnanny' type blocker.
3) Try a different browser in case the one you are using has got its file associations screwed up. I recommend Firefox.

Not sure what else to suggest. Nobody else has reported any problems.

EDIT: If you still have problems, try getting it from here instead.
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Freddix
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Posted: 18th Sep 2006 11:14
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I managed to DL it ... in fact it's a pb with my IE that block DL so, it open the new window, block the DL and close the window. Except that theorically, the DL may start if it was not blocked.
Will try the game this week

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 30th Sep 2006 14:20
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Wow! For those you who missed it, Berzerk 3D is featured in the October 2006 TGC newsletter (issue 45). Big thanks to Rich!
Please feel free to comment on the game. I am hoping to use the engine to create something new in the future (rather than a remake) so let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for playing
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Diggsey
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Posted: 30th Sep 2006 20:01
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Haha! They spelt it wrongly in the newsletter!
Good game anyway!

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Xenocythe
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Posted: 30th Sep 2006 22:52
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Quote: "wrongly"


*Incorrectly





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Diggsey
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Posted: 1st Oct 2006 15:56
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Haha, you found the deliberate mistake

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Binary Agents
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Posted: 24th Oct 2006 04:20
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BIG thanks for making this a sticky! Its much appreciated.

I was hoping it would lead to some more comments about the game and some improvments. My download counter for Berzerk 3D v1.1 has surpassed my wildest dreams so I am sure some of you must have played it
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Aten8
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Posted: 29th Oct 2006 18:20
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Hi Binary Agents , please get in touch with us about this game at - http://www.alten8.com , we would like to talk to you about it thanks - Paul
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Sinistar
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Posted: 5th Dec 2006 22:47 Edited at: 5th Dec 2006 22:49
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Hey have you seen mine? it looks very similar. I used my own algorythm for random mazes. How do you do the mazes?

http://darkbasicpro.thegamecreators.com/?gf=retro_view&i=31

My version crashes inexplicably once in a while but take a look at it anyhow.

I think I could fix mine by just re-doing the models and animations now that I know how to model better but I don't have time.

I love Berzerk! It's the grand daddy of all shooters and one of my favorite games ever.

Maybe I could have a site just dedicated to remakes of Berzerk. If there's interest, I'll fix up my version too. I'm especially proud of the electric walls.
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Binary Agents
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Posted: 8th Dec 2006 15:33
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Aten8 (Alten8):
I think your message has only just appeared here for some reason - certainly wasn't here last time I checked! Anyway, I have mailed you my contact details.

Sinister:
Just downloaded yours but couldn't get it to run. Crashed every time while the loading screen was on. Tried to recompile it from the source too but still wouldn't work (even after fixing line 1741 which reads 'for i = to 360 step 3'). Sorry I couldn't try it out. Berzerk is a personal favourite of mine too and I believe it played a big part in the evolution of computer games.
I wrote the maze routines myself so they can emulate those in the original Berzerk, both the arcade/Vectrex mazes and the simpler Atari 2600 mazes. I have written maze creation routines in the past for other projects and am a fan of Eller's algorithm. Of course, the mazes in this game are waaaay to simple to use methods like that but its worth researching if you want to do it properly.
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uber droid
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Posted: 8th Dec 2006 19:58
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I think the new version of DX doesn't like my guy model or robot models. It ran in older versions. I'm going to re-do the models because the game was really fun to play. I used particles so the robots could "pop" like they do in the Atari version.

I did the random maze by

1 make the walls with 4 exits open
2 add random walls in the middle.
3 run a check to see if you can get to every exit from 1 exit on the left. If not then back to step 2.

It worked very well and made a wide veriety of mazes similar to those in the arcade version.
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