Apple and New Amiga OS4 Compatibility?

[AndrewKorn]

bbrv wrote:
Many main characters of the Greek epics and myths were involved in the siege of Troy.  Achilles and Odysseus were only a couple (there was also Ralph, Gerald, Thomas, Frank, Thierry, Nicolas, Bertrand, Sebastien, Nicholas and even Rakesh and Sharwin just to name a few!).

So who gets to be Achilles and die of an arrow in the foot*, and who gets to be Odysseus and spend the next ten years imprisoned in Ogygia? You need to pick a different legend!

Nice story though ;-)

Cheers,

Andrew

*There's some debate as to Achilles' downfall amongst the ancient Greek historians. Whilst most claim that he was killed by an arrow shot by Paris that (with a little help from the god Apollo) pierced his heel, the only part of his body not magically protected from harm, some prefer to claim Achilles took his own life. Given Achilles' aforementioned small area of vulnerability, this would presumably be the earliest historical account of someone fatally shooting themselves in the foot. This may make Achilles a candidate for an extremely posthumous Darwin Award.

[AndrewKorn]

bbrv wrote:

Terms of Disclosure:

1.  You must assist us at GameTeam@phinixi.com and help us bring Sensible Soccer to MorphOS (and the STB).

Oh well, little chance of the disclosure then! Shame, I wanted to hear what happens next -  I always thought that where Homer was concerned the sequel was more fun than episode 1. ;-)

Alas, all Sensible Software's properties were sold on to Codemasters, who seem to have little enough interest developing Sensi Soccer for GBA, let alone any platform that *hasn't* sold 25m or so units. Jon Hare pretty much declared Sensi Soccer dead after the failure of the 3D version and I suspect it would be pretty hard to persuade him otherwise. Besides, he has other fish to fry now...

[AndrewKorn]

bbrv wrote:

Odysseus was one of the main suitors of Helen (maybe we will change her name to Raquel  ;-) )  

Oh? So who gets to play Odysseus' wife Penelope? Raquel may get jealous!

Anyway, with this newly acquired knowledge, he steered them past the perils of the Sirens and of Scylla and Charybdis. Unfortunately, he could not save them from their final folly, however, when they violated divine commandments by slaughtering and eating the cattle of the sun-god (oh no, bad hair day coming!). As a result of this rash act, Odysseus' ship was destroyed by a thunderbolt, and only Odysseus himself survived (whew, I was thinking of playing this role!).  Of course, in our story the good ship Lollypop does not get destroyed if the right choices are made!

Ah but Odysseus had angered Poseidon by poking the sea-god's son in the eye with a sharp stick (a particularly mean trick as said individual, being a cyclops, was rather under-endowed in the eye department). Thus Poseidon felt it necessary to shipwreck Odysseus at every opportunity. This sort of thing is of course very bad for gameplay. Fortunately for Odysseus Athene, having little else to do, thought it would be fun to help him get home, and with Zeus' agreement sets about helping him.

Thus we are introduced to the fundamental Homeric notion that we miserable mortals are no more than the playthings of gods - yes, the high score table is rigged.

Odysseus does indeed get home, but not without losing his entire crew - twice over, to boot. What's more, the poor Phaeacians, who out of the goodness of their hearts give him a ship to get home, have thier magnificent city encircled by a ring of tall mountains for their pains.  Yes, it's our old friend Poseidon up to his tricks again.

 If we can learn anything from the Odyssey, it's that if you ever see Odysseus coming ashore on your Island,  pretend you're not at home. Don't even lend him some sugar if he asks in a neighbourly fashion, you're liable to seriously piss off a major deity.

All in all,  I think you should look for another role to play, Bill.  ;-)

[AndrewKorn]

bbrv wrote:
Hummm, perhaps Andrew you are right.  And, what you said about Penelope was true.  The difference of course was that Odysseus had a twenty-year absence from his wife, Penelope (and I am ALWAYS with Raquel  :-D  ).  Penelope had remained faithful to him, but she was under enormous pressure to re-marry.  A whole host of suitors were occupying her palace, drinking and eating and behaving insolently to Penelope and her son, Telemachus.  Odysseus arrived at the palace, disguised as a ragged beggar, and observed their behavior and his wife's fidelity (like Raquel's by the way ;-)  ).

Careful Bill. Remember the suitors were Penelope's guests - she refused to choose one OR to send them away. Telemachus certainly resented them, but Penelope kept them around. Let's face it, Odysseus could hardly make a fuss about it though -- he had just spent 7 years shacked up with a nymph, and you notice he didn't even START building a ship until Hermes came along to give him a prod.  

My advice: drop the Odysseus / Penelope thing or you may end up sleeping on the sofa tonight. ;-)

Anyway, we have not figured this part of the game out...want to help us? Andrew, you know the story... :-)

Sounds like fun -- a reverse god-game, an anti-Populous! Instead of ordering mortals around, you get messed about by a demented deity with an Olympian-sized chip on his shoulder. Conceptually innovative! I can imagine it winning awards for high concept, but alas in these days of ISS and GTA franchises, there's little room for art-house computer games on the shelves.

On the other hand, a Monkey Island style graphical adventure based on the Odyssey with a few comic twists and complete with a "Favour of the Gods" gauge might just work....

Serious question: wooden horses have to be big and impressive or they're unlikely to get dragged through the gates of Troy. Do the much Billed Bucks stretch far enough to develop a triple-A title? Sure a bit of clever thinking and a touch of Amiga community industry could bring the costs way down from the typical $3m+, but we're still talking BIG cash here.

Now a short word about the real Darwin...

Evolution occurs in three ways:

1. The strong get stronger!
2. The weak die.
3. Mutation occurs! (Hallelujah!)

That sounds more like a combination of a fascist dictatorship and radiation poisoning, not evolution! ;-)

Survival of the fittest does not imply the strong get stronger and the weak die, or sharks wouldn't have stopped evolving 90 million years ago and the world would be devoid of bunny rabbits.

Evolution is about developing a niche that you can be sucessful in. That niche might involve taking over the world by making fields, roads and mobile phones, or breeding so fast the predators don't drop your numbers too far, or it might mean finding a nice secure niche in a deep-sea vent where nobody tries to bother you.

I'd say our approach is certainly more interesting, but you've got to give it to those sulpher-fixing algae, they're a hardy bunch. Which species will last longest and therefore demonstrate that thiers is the superior evolutionary model? My money's on the Algae!

Still, one thing about evolution - it certainly throws up a lot of surprises. Looking forwards to seeing the next one.

Cheers,

Andrew