Gunfright
''Gunfright'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player takes the role of a sheriff in the town of Black Rock and is tasked with eliminating outlaws who are scattered throughout the settlement. The game was developed directly after '' Nightshade'', and re-uses the latter game's Filmation II game engine that allows images to be rendered without overlapping each other. The game received mostly positive reviews upon release; praise was directed at the graphics and presentation, but criticism was directed at the game's similarity to ''Nightshade''. It was later included in '' Rare Replay'', Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation. Gameplay The game is presented in an isometric format and set in the fictional town of Black Rock. The player takes on the role of Sheriff Quickdraw, whose main ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gunfright 1
''Gunfright'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player takes the role of a sheriff in the town of Black Rock and is tasked with eliminating outlaws who are scattered throughout the settlement. The game was developed directly after '' Nightshade'', and re-uses the latter game's Filmation II game engine that allows images to be rendered without overlapping each other. The game received mostly positive reviews upon release; praise was directed at the graphics and presentation, but criticism was directed at the game's similarity to ''Nightshade''. It was later included in '' Rare Replay'', Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation. Gameplay The game is presented in an isometric format and set in the fictional town of Black Rock. The player takes on the role of Sheriff Quickdraw, whose main ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ultimate Play The Game
Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, MSX and Commodore 64 computers from 1983 until 1987. Ultimate are perhaps best remembered for the big-selling titles ''Jetpac'' and ''Sabre Wulf'', each of which sold over 300,000 copies in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and their groundbreaking series of isometric arcade adventures using a technique termed Filmation. ''Knight Lore'', the first of the Filmation games, has been retrospectively described in the press as "seminal ... revolutionary" ('' GamesTM''), "one of the most successful and influential games of all time" ('' X360''), and "probably ... the greatest single advance in the history of computer games" (''Edge''). By the time of the label's last use in 1988 on a retrospective compilation, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Filmation (game Engine)
Filmation is the trademark name of the isometric graphics engine employed in a series of games developed by Ultimate Play the Game during the 1980s, primarily on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum platform, though various titles also appeared on the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64 platforms. The Filmation engine allowed the creation of 3D flip-screen environments and was designed to be used for platform-based arcade adventures. Player characters could move in four diagonal (from the player's perspective) directions, were able to jump over or onto obstacles, and could even push objects around the game environment. Precursors A handful of games had used an isometric perspective before Filmation's first appearance in 1984, such as the arcade games ''Q*bert'' (1982) from Gottlieb, and ''Zaxxon'' (1982) and ''Congo Bongo'' (1983) from Sega, as well as the ZX Spectrum title ''Ant Attack'' (1983) by Sandy White. ''Q*bert'' and ''Zaxxon'' have little else in common with Filmatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Filmation Engine
Filmation is the trademark name of the Isometric projection, isometric graphics engine employed in a series of games developed by Ultimate Play the Game during the 1980s#Video games, 1980s, primarily on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum platform, though various titles also appeared on the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64 platforms. The Filmation engine allowed the creation of 3D flip-screen environments and was designed to be used for platform game, platform-based arcade adventures. Player character#Computer and video games, Player characters could move in four diagonal (from the player's perspective) directions, were able to jump over or onto obstacles, and could even push objects around the game environment. Precursors A handful of games had used an isometric perspective before Filmation's first appearance in 1984, such as the arcade games ''Q*bert'' (1982) from Gottlieb, and ''Zaxxon'' (1982) and ''Congo Bongo'' (1983) from Sega, as well as the ZX Spectrum title ''Ant A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Knight Lore
''Knight Lore'' is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of isometric graphics, which it further popularized in video games. In ''Knight Lore'', the player character Sabreman has forty days to collect objects throughout a castle and brew a cure to his werewolf curse. Each castle room is depicted in monochrome on its own screen and consists of blocks to climb, obstacles to avoid, and puzzles to solve. Ultimate released ''Knight Lore'' third in the Sabreman series despite having completed it first. The Stamper brothers withheld its release for a year to position the company advantageously in anticipation of the game's effect on the market. ''Knight Lore'' novel image masking technique, Filmation, let images appear to pass atop and behind each other without their contents colliding. This created the illusion of depth priority, which the computer did no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe. The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The ''CPC464'', ''CPC664'', and ''CPC6128'' were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later ''464plus'' and ''6128plus'', intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the ''plus'' hardware into a game console as the ''GX4000''. The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 KB of RAM. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in the late 18th century in England, duels were more commonly fought using pistols. Fencing and shooting continued to co-exist throughout the 19th century. The duel was based on a Code of conduct, code of honor. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of dueling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility; however, in the modern era, it extended to those of the upper classes generally. On occasion, duels with swords or pistols were fought between women. Legislation against dueling goes back to the medieval period. The Fourth Co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dragon Skulle
''Dragon Skulle'' is an action-adventure game for the Commodore 64 published by Ultimate Play the Game in January 1986. It is a sequel to ''The Staff of Karnath'', '' Entombed'' and '' Blackwyche'', and the final title to feature the aristocrat adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ..., . The game was created by brothers Dave and Bob Thomas. Gameplay ''Dragon Skulle'' is an arcade adventure in isometric perspective pseudo-3D set on the fictional island of Dragon Skulle, where you must find and destroy the Skull of Souls. The gameplay is more about exploring than puzzle solving when compared with its predecessors. Reception The game received a 53% rating from ''Zzap!64'' who criticised the game on the basis of poor 3D, weak sound and lack of originality. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blackwyche
''Blackwyche'' is an action-adventure video game published by Ultimate Play the Game for the Commodore 64 in 1985. The game is the third instalment of the ''Pendragon'' series and sequel to '' Entombed''. In the game, aristocrat adventurer Sir Arthur Pendragon is trapped on board a haunted galleon and must free the soul of its captain. The game is presented in a 3D isometric format. The ''Pendragon'' series was created and designed by brothers Dave and Bob Thomas, with Ultimate founders Tim and Chris Stamper otherwise being uninvolved in development. The game's setting and graphics were heavily inspired by and the surrounding city of Portsmouth. The game was met with mixed reviews upon release. Critics were divided over the game's graphics and re-usage of sprites, but criticised the game for its vast similarities to its predecessors. It was followed by a final instalment to the series, ''Dragon Skulle'', which was released later in 1985. Gameplay The game is presented in an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Centre For Computing History
The Centre for Computing History is a museum in Cambridge, England, established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the Information Age. Overview The museum acts as a repository for vintage computers and related artefacts. The museum is open Wednesdays through to Sundays from 10am to 5pm in term time and 7 days a week during school holidays. On display are key items from the early era of computers (and even before) from ageing comptometers through the Altair 8800 to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Apple II series. The museum also holds vintage games consoles, peripherals, software and an extensive collection of computer manuals, magazines and other literature. It is home to the Megaprocessor, an enormous version of a computer chip designed by James Newman. History and status The centre is a registered educational charity. It is funded by a combination of sponsors from local businesses and private individuals. Venture capitalist and entrepreneur Hermann H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Image Masking
In computer science, a mask or bitmask is data that is used for bitwise operations, particularly in a bit field. Using a mask, multiple bits in a byte, nibble, word, etc. can be set either on or off, or inverted from on to off (or vice versa) in a single bitwise operation. An additional use of masking involves predication in vector processing, where the bitmask is used to select which element operations in the vector are to be executed (mask bit is enabled) and which are not (mask bit is clear). Common bitmask functions Masking bits to 1 To turn certain bits on, the bitwise OR operation can be used, following the principle that Y OR 1 = 1 and Y OR 0 = Y. Therefore, to make sure a bit is on, OR can be used with a 1. To leave a bit unchanged, OR is used with a 0. Example: Masking ''on'' the higher nibble (bits 4, 5, 6, 7) while leaving the lower nibble (bits 0, 1, 2, 3) unchanged. 10010101 10100101 OR 11110000 11110000 = 11110101 11110101 Masking bits to 0 Mo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |