Faster - An arcade quality modern racer for the Atari STE...?
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Faster is brand new 1980’s style arcade racer for the Atari STE developed by a guy called Jonathan Thomas, that's been built from the ground up using modern tools, techniques and knowledge, to create a super-fast racing experience. Let's put it through it's paces....
Check out Jonathan's @gridleaderretro own video with tips on how to play well:
• FASTER for Atari STE -...
Video clips from:
Out Run - Atari ST (Full Playthrough)
Village Monk's Gaming Memories
• Out Run - Atari ST (Fu...
Out-Run Comparison / Atari ST vs STE Version
World of RetroGaming
• Out-Run Comparison / A...
#retrogaming #atari #arcaderacer
Sort of somewhere between WEC LeMans and Burnin' Rubber on the GX4000.
@@Larry I actually saw a video of Burnin' Rubber awhile back and thought it actually looked pretty decent.
Look's like it's the same car sprite as Konami's EWC le mans , same thought came into my head !
Always thought Vroom looked lovely and fast on the Atari ST and Amiga . This game looks even better.
3:39 Yes my thoughts exactly I didn't know about frame rate as a kid but I knew the Arcade game was better.
Definitely a WEC Le Mans cover version
I'm surprised you didn't bring Lotus & Top Gear into the mix. The speed looks very cool but the lack of hills... It just makes me want to play Burnin Rubber on Amstrad GX4000 lol. Burnin Rubber might look choppy and slow but given a chance you'll discover it's a very good version of Wec Lemans. The more you get a feel for it the more it's speed comes through!
I bought a GX4000 around 2009 just to try it as I love ZX Spectrum Wec Lemans, I was not disappointed! 😂
@@MIKandJEAN I did think about them, but I guess I was coming into this more from the perspective of a Sega Master System/Megadrive owner (and I didn't want to make the video overly long). Lotus Turbo on the Amiga is something I've talked about in a big OutRun documentary I made a few years back, specifically how good it looked compared to Amiga OutRun. I actually bought the Top Gear tabletop awhile back:
ruclips.net/video/7xt109a4G9k/видео.html
Looks damned good fun to play! Reminds me a bit of Outrun 20-whatever year it was because that could be quite fast feeling at times!
Good comparison mate, the two are aesthetically quite similar. It was OutRun 2019 (also the same year Blade Runner was set).
@MrThunderwing that was it. I couldn't remember the blasted year 😂
Lots of technical achievements here but I feel the way the engine handles bends really compromises the gameplay. Ideally need to be able to see the bends on the track up ahead not have the bend only appear under your car. There are a few other games that do it in the same manner and they do not agree with me. This why the bends are such an issue when playing.
Any clue why the bends are like that? Was it an aesthetic choice or a technical necessity?
@ some cuts needed to be made to get to 60fps, same reason there are no Hills.
It's both a technical limitations (fitting this into a 1mb STE hitting 50fps was an unmissable target) there are basically zero cycles left for the poor 68k to handle! And also Jonathan wanted it to be like the very early 80s arcade racers. If memory constraints were removed, a more advanced road routine / hills would certainly be achievable (maybe with a slight drop in FPS..)
@@scottelkington7661 This bend like null hills race games belong on a C64. With 1MB I would have no problem to make it more realistic. Out Run arcade source code is not that big, but that arcade system has two CPUs running 2 MHz more!
@ArneChristianRosenfeldt it's a technical decision, having a more advanced road routine would have reqd more memory, taking it over the 1mb limit. If you know otherwise, perhaps you should tell @gridleaderretro as I'm sure he'd be all ears.
Needs more variety in the background to make the player feel like going or being somewhere.One thing that keeps me playing Outrun or Top Gear is the landmark you see along the way.
I wonder if doing that might've compromised the performance a bit?
@@MrThunderwing For me, it's all about overall package, as long as it's playable and pleasant to look at.
Oh my word. I know the actual arcade game from where this actually comes from...
And it actually looks better -albeit the hills are far far less pronounced (if at all) - but hopefully the handling is improved as the arcade feels like you need to go to a crawl to get through a gentle right hander as example...
Yeah, it's called WEC Le Mans, I talk about it briefly in the video.
ok but there is NO comparison to the Outrun arcade ..not even close
Agree with this compared... but see my comment
Fatarister
This whole "Atari STe" with the new game Faster is a deceptive trick...and just comes off rather scam like.
First of all the Atari ST computer was originally released in 1985... meanwhile the Atari STe computer with it's ADDITIONAL enhancements or newer spec... one of which can dramatically increase RAM four times is a massive red flag as to what this Faster game is using and why it appears so "impressive" and that is because the Atari STe, not only being a 1989 hardware release is at it's maxed out specifications so OF COURSE IT LOOKS IMPRESSIVE...but it's a trick because back in the day the Atari STe user base did not have the same spec and never had the advanced game programmer tools.
This is why Final Fight MD for Sega MegaDrive is far more impressive in comparison because it's the same 1988 hardware and only advanced development tools and a really dedicated game programmer could make such a game possible.
It's cool that it draws attention to the Atari STe but seriously when even the RAM specifications are "variable" that is a red flag right there as not everyone in 1989 had access to the maxed out specs.
Also Atari Corp canceled the Atari STe which left a sour taste in the fanbase back then in the early 90s.
Hello, author/programmer of Faster here.
I'm not sure I understand what point you're trying to make. I have made no secret of the fact that this game targets 1989 STE-class hardware rather than 1985 STFM-class hardware. No secret is made either of the fact that the game requires 1 meg of RAM, which incidentally is only one upgrade increment above the stock 512K machine and far from the "maxed out" configuration of 4 megs of RAM. I have made it very clear in numerous comments that I do not believe this game could be made to run at the same framerate on stock 1985 STFM-class hardware.
At no point have I been particularly keen to claim that there is anything particularly "impressive" or revolutionary about the game - I merely set out to create a 50fps arcade racing game targeting the Atari STE with 1 meg of RAM. I have left it to the community to pass judgement on the game, and the feedback is predominantly positive.
The development tools (both hardware and software) available to programmers in the modern age are of course far more sophisticated than those that were available in the late 1980s and early-mid 1990s. We have optimising compilers, scripting languages, graphics editors and almost instantaneous compilation/assembly. We also have access to the Internet which provides a great deal of scanned reference books along with accumulated wisdom from like-minded folk. There are therefore less barriers in the way when programming for retro systems in the modern age, and you can accomplish more in a shorter space of time.
But make no mistake - this game makes no use of any "advanced game programmer tools" - all of the 68k, C and PHP code supporting this game (with the exception of a small amount of heavily modified sprite code originally taken from Lotus 1 for convenience) is built from the ground up by me, Junosix and Masteries.
So enlighten me please, exactly what is the "deceptive trick" here? What do you perceive that makes it "rather scam like"?
@@gridleaderretro I hope that parent is tongue in cheek and not serious. Also I don't see why a C compiler would not produce fast code if we follow some simple rules (basically: Clean Code runs faster than premature optimization). I read that the "register" keyword was thrown out already in the 70s because C-compilers were already that good at register allocation. 68k has many registers and was the favorite CPU for UNIX workstations before RISC. Also 68k assembly is nice for humans. It certainly is not the puzzle work as on 6502. And Z80 I will never understand. It is so complex that it has instructions which duplicate faster instructions or so? 8088 is so starved on registers that you have to access the stack all the time or use a lot of 8bit values, which really does not help with (pseudo) 3d.