Group Dynamic Loading Screen

[druellan]

Hi!
As discussed on this other post, I want to start adding new titles on the Dynamic Loading Screen group: The thing is: I'm not 100% sure WHAT I might consider a Dynamic Loading Screen: the easy ones are the ones that have interactive or animated elements in the screen while loading, but others just have a small counter on the corner, or just load the screen on a particular non-standard way.

For now, I'm considering "Dynamic" anything that alters the screen while loading, but I'm creating a spreadsheet to categorize the games, so we can have a better idea about how many are out there and if worth to have two or more groups. The categories are:

Dynamic Screen Loader -- games that have clear moving elements on the screen that are not counters. Ex: The Trap Door
Custom Screen Loader -- games that load the screen in a particular non-standard way. Ex: Bravestarr
Has Counter -- games that load with a counter or a progress bar. Ex: Gunrunner

Check the "totals" tabs for a rough total on any category. Let me know about any game that is not in the list. Thanks!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

✓ Reviewed

[XTM]

Zanthrax from the Crash Power Tape has various things on the loading screen.

[Stu]

I've gone through the first page of Alkatraz games and found the following (missing out any games already in the table, with the exception of Bobby Bearing where my findings disagree):

720: Counter, custom screen
Acro Jet: Counter, custom screen
Alien Syndrome: Counter, custom screen
Bedlam: Counter, custom screen
Black Beard: counter, custom screen*
Bobby Bearing: Counter, custom screen, dynamic screen (scrolling message)
Break Thru: Counter, custom screen
Butcher Hill: Counter, custom screen
California Games: Counter, custom screen
Captain America: Counter, custom screen
Chicago 30's: Counter, custom screen
Colosseum: Counter, customer screen
Crack Down: Counter, custom screen
Crystal Castles: Counter, custom screen**
Cybex: Dynamic screen (loading stripes in screen)
E-Motion: Counter, custom screen
Echelon: Counter, custom screen
Express Raider: Counter, custom screen
Fairlight: Counter, custom screen***

* - The original release does not have a counter and custom loader, just the Kixx re-release
** - Interesting to note that the Kixx re-release has a totally different method of loading the screen to the original release
*** - Interesting to note that the 128k version has a totally different method of loading the screen to the 48k version

I'm happy to convert my findings over to the format in the table but thought I'd log them in the thread now to avoid anyone duplicating the effort

[Pobulous]

Is it worth also noting which dynamic loaders feature an interactive game? eg Astro Marine Corps plays Mastermind.

Not really familiar with all the loading system names - but the loader used by Matchday II has an onscreen counter with minutes and seconds, but doesn't do a fancy load of the loading screen.

[zup]

Comando Tracer (Dinamic): Unusual loading screen + counter
L'Abbaye des Morts: An hourglass showing how much time is left.

I remember one (post 2000) game that had a progress bar on the bottom...

Also, I don't know if Quazatron qualifies... between every load block, the screen changes to show instructions.

[Stu]

Ultimate Play The Game: The Collected Works

The versions of the games in this compilation have all been mastered using Alkatraz so have a counter and custom screen loader -- afaik they're the only versions of the Ultimate games like this. I wouldn't normally expect compilations to be marked with counter or customer screen loader, but this seems like a unique enough situation to be worth noting!

[druellan]

Thanks everyone!

* - The original release does not have a counter and custom loader, just the Kixx re-release
** - Interesting to note that the Kixx re-release has a totally different method of loading the screen to the original release
*** - Interesting to note that the 128k version has a totally different method of loading the screen to the 48k version

I'm inclined not to pay too much attention to re-releases, just for our own sanity, but I can mark them to discuss later.

I'm happy to convert my findings over to the format in the table but thought I'd log them in the thread now to avoid anyone duplicating the effort

Already did! But if you want access to the sheet, just fire a request.

Is it worth also noting which dynamic loaders feature an interactive game? eg Astro Marine Corps plays Mastermind.

I was not paying attention to that, just because I think there are no more than 4 o 5 games with that, but I added them, we might be surprised.

Not really familiar with all the loading system names - but the loader used by Matchday II has an onscreen counter with minutes and seconds, but doesn't do a fancy load of the loading screen.

Anything with a counter, I'm adding to the list, later we can decide how to sort them.

[druellan]

Also, I don't know if Quazatron qualifies... between every load block, the screen changes to show instructions.

No, we are looking for games that change the content of the screen while they keep loading normally.

[Stu]

I've gone through the rest of the Alkatraz games. They all have counter (timer) and custom screen unless otherwise noted.

Fairlight II
Fast N Furious
Final Assault
The Games - Summer Edition
The Games - Winter Edition
Garfield - Big, Fat, Hairy Deal
Gary Lineker's Hot-Shot!
Go For Gold
The Goonies
Gunslinger
H.A.T.E.
Hardball!
Heavy Metal
Heroes of the Lance
Human Killing Machine
Impossible Mission II
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Infiltrator
Inside Outing
Jackal
Kayleth
Killed Until Dead
Last Mission
Lazer Tag
Leader Board Tournament
Mad Mix Game*
Mailstrom
Masters of the Universe - The Super Adventure
Metro-Cross
Mindstone
Mission Elevator
Motor Massacre
Out Run Europa
Psi Chess
Psi-5 Trading Company
Psycho Pigs U.X.B.
Ramparts
Return to Oz
Rolling Thunder
Rygar
Salamander**
Saracen
Scott Adams Scoops***
Shackled
Shadow Skimmer
Shao-Lin's Road**
Silent Service
Silent Shadow*
Soldier of Light
Solomon's Key
Starring Charlie Chaplin
Street Sports Basketball
Summer Games
Summer Games II
Super Cycle
Super Scramble Simulator
Survivor*
Techno Cop
Temple of Terror
Thingy and the Doodahs
Thunder Blade
Thunderceptor
Titanic*
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper
Troll
Turbo Out Run
Vigilante
Wizard Warz
World Games
X-Out
Xecutor
Xevious

* US Gold/Kixx re-releases only
** Original has screen and counter; Imagine/Hit Squad re-releases have Speedlock 7 which I can't currently load in Fuse for macOS but I assume are counter only
*** Counter only. Note that these versions are unique to this compilation

[TMD2003]

Something else to mention: I've got the Ultimate: Collected Works box set, all of which have been Alkatrazed, where the originals weren't.

Seeing as it's "Distribution Denied" I tried to TZX it myself. The attempt failed, mainly because even when I switched MakeTZX to Alkatraz mode, it still spat out errors for half of them.

[Stu]

Been through all the Bleepload games. They all indicate loading progress by showing which numbered block it's loading (so technically a Counter unless we want to call it something different). I've indicated where the original doesn't have a counter, just a re-release. I should note that I haven't been indicating cases where the original does have a counter (or animated loading screen or whatever) and a re-release doesn't! I felt that would be way too much info for the time being.

Beach Buggy Simulator
Black Lamp
Brainstorm
Bubble Bobble
The Centurions
Challenge of the Gobots
Chaos (Firebird re-release only)
Cholo
Crosswize
Dark Sceptre
Deactivators (Firebird re-release only)
Demon's Revenge
Droidz
Druid
Dynamic Duo
Earthlight
Empire!
European 5-A-Side
Exploding Fist+
Flying Shark
G.I. Hero
Gothik
Gunstar
High Steel
Hive
Hybrid
I Ball II
I, Ball
Imagination
Intensity
International Speedway
Jaws
Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager
Kickboxing
Kinetik
King's Keep
Mad Nurse
Magnetron
Merlin
Muggins the Spaceman
Ninja Scooter Simulator
Parabola
Park Patrol
The Pawn
The Plot
Pneumatic Hammers
Pogostick Olympics
3D Pool
Rick Dangerous
Rock 'n Wrestle (Firebird & MCM re-releases only)
Samurai Warrior
Savage
Scrabble DeLuxe
Sidewize
Sir Loin
Skateboard Kidz
Soldier of Fortune
Spaced Out
Sports Hero (Firebird re-release only)
Starfox
Starglider
Starglider 2
3D Stock Car Championship
Stunt Bike Simulator
Thrust II
Time Flies
Tubaruba
Ultima Ratio
Virus
Xarax
Zolyx

[Stu]

Something else to mention: I've got the Ultimate: Collected Works box set, all of which have been Alkatrazed, where the originals weren't.

Seeing as it's "Distribution Denied" I tried to TZX it myself. The attempt failed, mainly because even when I switched MakeTZX to Alkatraz mode, it still spat out errors for half of them.

Ah, there's already a TZX version "out there" but thanks anyway

[druellan]

Been through all the Bleepload games.

Thanks! This starts to look bad for counters, since Beepload is technically not a "dynamic screen loader", it works using microblocks, so, it is kind of settled we need to create at least two groups if we want to include counters.

[druellan]

Hi! I want to start implementing this. Based on the findings, I'm willing to discard counters, because can be a Pandora's box with multiblock loaders and such. So based on that, we can:

Include only loaders that move or change pixels on the screen while loading (not counters) and also loaders that have some kind of game or interactive code while loading.
Total: 24 titles (so far).

OR

Include loaders that implement any kind of attribute or graphic effect while loading (not counters). This way we can also add custom screen loaders and other interesting pieces like Dynamite Dan II.
Total: 130 titles (so far)

I like the second option: give us space to add loaders that are not as spectacular as the dynamic ones, but interesting and representative of the system, while discarding simple and boring counters.

What you guys think?