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Name this game thread

jothkijothki Registered User regular
edited October 2009 in Games and Technology
Because why the hell not.

I remember playing a game years ago that was sort of like a cross between The Incredible Machine and LabVIEW. Instead of placing physical parts, you placed pieces of a circuit, which would allow information to flow between those pieces, including not just on/off signals but also numbers and sounds. The game had a bunch of puzzles, and there was also a sandbox that let you design your own circuits from scratch.

That's probably enough to get an exact match given that it's the only game like it I've ever seen, but in case some additional memory jogging is needed, since I remember pretty much everything about the game besides the name:

There were a whole bunch of pieces that allowed a player to interact during runtime, including a plunger, a counter, and a button that could be mapped to the keyboard. Sounds could be generated through a part that could be set to several animals, including cows and dogs. There were a bunch of pieces to do arithmatic and logical operations. There were at least two types of text displays, one which just displayed a message on recieving a positive signal, and one that mapped numerical input to various messages. One piece, which looked like a train track, let you switch between two different inputs. One of the puzzles was a safe that hid all of the logic and made you guess at which buttons you needed to press, and another required you to rig up a bunch of buttons and spam them before a timer ran out, or just cheese it by not hooking up the timer in the first place.

jothki on
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Posts

  • GarthorGarthor Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Widget Workshop

    Garthor on
  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Yep, that's it, thanks.

    jothki on
  • DemiurgeDemiurge Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Hey lets get the ball rolling since there's a game I haven't been able to find ever since I played it.

    Its sort of a freeform space/fps hybrid. There's something attacking the galaxy and you need to stop it, there's a space combat mechanic and systems you travel through are connected by nodes you move through. You can walk around your spaceship in FPS mode, you have a glowing sword and the ship has teleporters and various areas with your modules in them. When you defeat enemies in space you can board their ships and steal their modules, like shield gens, targeting system, engines etc. You can also be boarded yourself and have to defend your own modules. The game looked built on the quake engine or similar, the graphics were not great.

    I played this maybe 6-7 years ago.

    Demiurge on
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  • DrakmathusDrakmathus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    sounds like deus ex to me

    Drakmathus on
  • ArjanNArjanN Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Drakmathus wrote: »
    sounds like deus ex to me

    Wut.

    Space combat doesn't sound like Deus Ex.

    ArjanN on
  • Dr. GeroDr. Gero Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Space Trader?

    Dr. Gero on
  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    ArcticMonkey on
    "You read it! You can't unread it!"
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  • Mr RayMr Ray Sarcasm sphereRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009

    Nope, no FPS mode in that, let alone swords of any kind.

    Mr Ray on
  • DemiurgeDemiurge Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    No none of those, it probably came out around the time of Starship Titanic. I think I'll go look through the mobygames list of RPG hybrids.

    Demiurge on
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  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Nice, someone referenced LabView to describe a game! :^:

    slash000 on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    So there was one PC game that I missed when it first came out. It had something to do with touching pages of a book and being absorbed into new worlds filled with eerie set pieces covered in mist. And the guy who authored the book you touched imprisoned his two sons in other books. I can't wait until this mystery game is in my midst. What was it called?

    emnmnme on
  • DekuStickDekuStick Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I don't know if I should say its Myst or just not erply at all.

    GOD DAMMIT

    DekuStick on
  • SatsumomoSatsumomo Rated PG! Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Mr Ray wrote: »

    Nope, no FPS mode in that, let alone swords of any kind.

    Someone mentioned that DUST 514 is a lot like Planetscape, would that be the game?

    Edit: I mean, Planetside.

    Satsumomo on
  • DoomninjaDoomninja Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    OK ok... so.

    Old NES or SNES game. View was top down, with I think 12 directions of movement. You played as a soldier, and could co-op with a buddy, green and blue players respectively. You could Ride in jeeps, get new guns and you had to go on missions, etc. Jungles and Deserts were the main terrains iirc. Big world map. I think you had grenades as well, which were like, stick grenades.

    Man I suck at this I'm sorry, but there's some major nostalgia surrounding this tittle. I used to play with an old childhood buddy. I'd totally appreciate if anyone even ventured a guess!

    Doomninja on
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  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    So there was one PC game that I missed when it first came out. It had something to do with touching pages of a book and being absorbed into new worlds filled with eerie set pieces covered in mist. And the guy who authored the book you touched imprisoned his two sons in other books. I can't wait until this mystery game is in my midst. What was it called?

    I'm tempted to report you for those awful puns...

    e: Also it's not planetside, no space or boarding or swords in that.

    Morkath on
  • DoomninjaDoomninja Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    So there was one PC game that I missed when it first came out. It had something to do with touching pages of a book and being absorbed into new worlds filled with eerie set pieces covered in mist. And the guy who authored the book you touched imprisoned his two sons in other books. I can't wait until this mystery game is in my midst. What was it called?

    Did you play a female protagonist?

    Doomninja on
    1154825-1.png
  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    Doomninja wrote: »
    OK ok... so.

    Old NES or SNES game. View was top down, with I think 12 directions of movement. You played as a soldier, and could co-op with a buddy, green and blue players respectively. You could Ride in jeeps, get new guns and you had to go on missions, etc. Jungles and Deserts were the main terrains iirc. Big world map. I think you had grenades as well, which were like, stick grenades.

    Man I suck at this I'm sorry, but there's some major nostalgia surrounding this tittle. I used to play with an old childhood buddy. I'd totally appreciate if anyone even ventured a guess!

    Jackal?

    Morkath on
  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Doomninja wrote: »
    OK ok... so.

    Old NES or SNES game. View was top down, with I think 12 directions of movement. You played as a soldier, and could co-op with a buddy, green and blue players respectively. You could Ride in jeeps, get new guns and you had to go on missions, etc. Jungles and Deserts were the main terrains iirc. Big world map. I think you had grenades as well, which were like, stick grenades.

    Man I suck at this I'm sorry, but there's some major nostalgia surrounding this tittle. I used to play with an old childhood buddy. I'd totally appreciate if anyone even ventured a guess!

    12 directions of movement? Don't you mean 8?

    slash000 on
  • ScabiesScabies The InternetRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Doomninja wrote: »
    OK ok... so.

    Old NES or SNES game. View was top down, with I think 12 directions of movement. You played as a soldier, and could co-op with a buddy, green and blue players respectively. You could Ride in jeeps, get new guns and you had to go on missions, etc. Jungles and Deserts were the main terrains iirc. Big world map. I think you had grenades as well, which were like, stick grenades.

    Man I suck at this I'm sorry, but there's some major nostalgia surrounding this tittle. I used to play with an old childhood buddy. I'd totally appreciate if anyone even ventured a guess!
    Twelve directions? 0.0

    Scabies on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DoomninjaDoomninja Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Shut up all of you, 8 is the same as 12. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE.

    it was Jackal OMG! Thanks so much, that's been killing me!

    Doomninja on
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  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Doomninja wrote: »
    emnmnme wrote: »
    So there was one PC game that I missed when it first came out. It had something to do with touching pages of a book and being absorbed into new worlds filled with eerie set pieces covered in mist. And the guy who authored the book you touched imprisoned his two sons in other books. I can't wait until this mystery game is in my midst. What was it called?

    Did you play a female protagonist?

    Hermaphrodite.

    emnmnme on
  • washoutwashout Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    There was a game for the Sega Genesis that was a top down strategy game where each little dude you controlled had a small army that she/he controlled with archers, mages, cavalry, or soldiers (depending on the class of each commander). The game began when the king was attacked by elementals and you had to take the princess and escape from the initial battle where the castle was destroyed. Played kind of like shining force except your little dudes represented each commanders life, and you did less damage when you had less dudes.

    There was another shining force type game (also for sega genesis) that had a much more detailed system where you could purchase different types of monsters, classes of warriors, mages, buy them equipment etc. You could even choose to follow the good or evil path of the game and that would influence how you leveled the guys with classes, death knights etc. I remember the graphics on this game being fairly bad. And the movement etc was all turn based, but the actual combat scenes were very similar to shining force if I remember correctly. This game was fairly unique since it didn't have set characters, you could buy as many dudes as you wanted to try and level.

    washout on
  • BillmaanBillmaan Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    washout wrote: »
    There was a game for the Sega Genesis that was a top down strategy game where each little dude you controlled had a small army that she/he controlled with archers, mages, cavalry, or soldiers (depending on the class of each commander). The game began when the king was attacked by elementals and you had to take the princess and escape from the initial battle where the castle was destroyed. Played kind of like shining force except your little dudes represented each commanders life, and you did less damage when you had less dudes.
    Sounds like Langrisser (released in the US as "Warsong"). Great series. It's a shame they never localized any of the other games.

    Billmaan on
  • evilmrhenryevilmrhenry Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    King's Bounty? Warsong?

    evilmrhenry on
  • kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Billmaan wrote: »
    washout wrote: »
    There was a game for the Sega Genesis that was a top down strategy game where each little dude you controlled had a small army that she/he controlled with archers, mages, cavalry, or soldiers (depending on the class of each commander). The game began when the king was attacked by elementals and you had to take the princess and escape from the initial battle where the castle was destroyed. Played kind of like shining force except your little dudes represented each commanders life, and you did less damage when you had less dudes.
    Sounds like Langrisser (released in the US as "Warsong"). Great series. It's a shame they never localized any of the other games.

    Yep! It's my favorite game of all time. My friend had a ROM for an english version of another game in the series, which makes me think more were released - in europe or something maybe?

    kaliyama on
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  • Mr RayMr Ray Sarcasm sphereRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Satsumomo wrote: »
    Mr Ray wrote: »

    Nope, no FPS mode in that, let alone swords of any kind.

    Someone mentioned that DUST 514 is a lot like Planetscape, would that be the game?

    Edit: I mean, Planetside.

    DUST 514 was only announced yesterday... any "information" at this point is entirely conjecture, as all they've really said is that it will feature "ground combat" and they'll announce more in October.

    But if its anything like Planetside I will eat my own cock to own it.

    Mr Ray on
  • BillmaanBillmaan Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    kaliyama wrote: »
    Billmaan wrote: »
    washout wrote: »
    There was a game for the Sega Genesis that was a top down strategy game where each little dude you controlled had a small army that she/he controlled with archers, mages, cavalry, or soldiers (depending on the class of each commander). The game began when the king was attacked by elementals and you had to take the princess and escape from the initial battle where the castle was destroyed. Played kind of like shining force except your little dudes represented each commanders life, and you did less damage when you had less dudes.
    Sounds like Langrisser (released in the US as "Warsong"). Great series. It's a shame they never localized any of the other games.

    Yep! It's my favorite game of all time. My friend had a ROM for an english version of another game in the series, which makes me think more were released - in europe or something maybe?

    There are fan translations of Langrisser 2, the SNES remake of Langrisser 2, and the PC port of Langrisser (1), but no official English releases.

    Billmaan on
  • ZZ9 Plural Z AlphaZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I played a Sega game a million years ago when I was a wee lad. Pretty sure it was on the Genesis.
    I'll try to remember everything I can about it.
    It was a Beat-em up game but it looked...well, I think it looked like Vectorman type graphics. (Again, this was a long time ago) You played as a robot or robots because I recall playing this with my dad. And you could have like saw arms and stuff and you chop up other robots. When you get close to dying the top half of your body blows up and either you are then dead, or you could walk around as a set of legs until someone killed you. I know this is very vague but throw some games at me, and I'll Image search that crap. I can't even remember what it might be called.

    And I have another one. I think this one was also Genesis. I'm not sure if this would classify as a beat-em up or a side scrolling shooter. But I can only really remember one level.
    The level I remember had you running to the right and there were like these hangars. Every so often when you'd pass one a ship would fly out of it and start attacking you. and when you got to the last hangar a ship flew out of it and I think it was a boss fight. And I think the next level involved you flying over a forest or you started over a forest or something. That is really all I can remember about that game.

    If anyone can tell me what either of these games were called, I'd love you!

    ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha on
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  • Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    First one sounds like Cyborg Justice - not sure on the second one though.

    Lindsay Lohan on
  • KomplexKomplex Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I'm glad this thread popped up.

    I have been trying to figure out what this game is but all I have are vague memories of it. I remember playing it on the macs at my school some time around 1996-1998. It was a side scroller that involved exploring temples and solving puzzles. I seem to remeber the character had a red hat and had to shot light at a series of rotating crystals to solve some of the said puzzles.

    Komplex on
  • ZZ9 Plural Z AlphaZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    First one sounds like Cyborg Justice - not sure on the second one though.

    OH GOD I LOVE YOU!
    Now if anyone can help with the second one, I'd really really be happy.

    ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha on
    Blaklabel.png
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Great, was hoping a thread like this would pop up.
    The game was an RTS set in medieval Japan, main resources where rice, water and peasents. Peasents where sent to 1 of three buildings to be trained into tier 1 units, then trained in the other buildings for tier 2 and 3 units. I remember it had 4 factions; Good Japanese guys, Bad Japaneses guys, Undead creepy guys, and guys who hit stuff with rocks (had a native-american kind of flavor, but mostle I remember big rocks and hitting people with them). Also had 2 campaign lines, depending on your actions in the first mission, killing the peasents set you on the bad japanese guys path, or protect them to go on the good japanese guys path.

    Damned thing is, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the game. I do remember thinking it was pretty cool that the archers would smack people with their bows in melee combat rather then continue shooting arrows at pointblank range.

    see317 on
  • BorysBorys Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    So there was one PC game that I missed when it first came out. It had something to do with touching pages of a book and being absorbed into new worlds filled with eerie set pieces covered in mist. And the guy who authored the book you touched imprisoned his two sons in other books. I can't wait until this mystery game is in my midst. What was it called?

    Quake 2

    Borys on
  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Komplex wrote: »
    I'm glad this thread popped up.

    I have been trying to figure out what this game is but all I have are vague memories of it. I remember playing it on the macs at my school some time around 1996-1998. It was a side scroller that involved exploring temples and solving puzzles. I seem to remeber the character had a red hat and had to shot light at a series of rotating crystals to solve some of the said puzzles.

    Super Solvers: Challenge of the Ancient Empires

    gjaustin on
  • ArikadoArikado Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I was talking to a friend who went to high school with me. There was a (now closed) burger joint near the school with some really old arcades. We both used to hang out there during our junior year to play the arcades. I need help identifying these two arcades:

    #1) You play a high school kid. First stage starts in a classroom. It has you rapidly hitting the joystick left or right to push students out of their chairs with your ass as you make your way up to the door to leave the class. You have to wait for the teacher to write on the chalkboard so he doesn't catch you otherwise he'll come down and kick your ass. Overheard view. I don't remember the other levels.

    #2) This is the tough one since it might very well be a Chinese rip off of Shinobi. You play as a ninja (white and black costume). It is a side scroller. The landscape is limited to rooftop or ground. I remember the first stage being day time with some dudes with swords running from the right to the left, not really stopping to attack you. On the rooftop there were some archers who always shot straight. You could shoot ninja stars but they had a limited range. Graphics wise it looked like something that would be played on an NES. I distinctly remember not figuring out how to jump after I got stuck on a tiny rock while walking forward on the ground. You have to move the joystick up to jump. Also, there was a clock and you die if time runs out. Inserting a coin adds time, not lives. The basic sword attack reminded me of the way Ryu swung his in Ninja Gaiden 1. I do believe there was a chick you had to rescue. Also, there was a button that you pressed to do his special attack, which had him pray and a bunch of japanese/chinese symbols circle around him and then the screen turned black and red and killed everything.

    Arikado on
    BNet: Arikado#1153 | Steam | LoL: Anzen
  • CherrnCherrn Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    see317 wrote: »
    Great, was hoping a thread like this would pop up.
    The game was an RTS set in medieval Japan, main resources where rice, water and peasents. Peasents where sent to 1 of three buildings to be trained into tier 1 units, then trained in the other buildings for tier 2 and 3 units. I remember it had 4 factions; Good Japanese guys, Bad Japaneses guys, Undead creepy guys, and guys who hit stuff with rocks (had a native-american kind of flavor, but mostle I remember big rocks and hitting people with them). Also had 2 campaign lines, depending on your actions in the first mission, killing the peasents set you on the bad japanese guys path, or protect them to go on the good japanese guys path.

    Damned thing is, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the game. I do remember thinking it was pretty cool that the archers would smack people with their bows in melee combat rather then continue shooting arrows at pointblank range.

    Sounds like Battle Realms, but it's been a while.

    Cherrn on
    All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai.
  • KomplexKomplex Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    gjaustin wrote: »
    Komplex wrote: »
    I'm glad this thread popped up.

    I have been trying to figure out what this game is but all I have are vague memories of it. I remember playing it on the macs at my school some time around 1996-1998. It was a side scroller that involved exploring temples and solving puzzles. I seem to remeber the character had a red hat and had to shot light at a series of rotating crystals to solve some of the said puzzles.

    Super Solvers: Challenge of the Ancient Empires


    Thats the game. The nostalgia hit me the second I looked at some screen shots off of google.

    I'm going to download it when I get home.

    Thanks gjaustin!

    Komplex on
  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    So, there was this game I used to play all the time when I was a kid. I think it was an NES game. It was a top-down shmup, where you were a dragon.

    I recall the first (I think) level had lots of greenery and rivers and shit. And I think maybe you could change forms with powerups? Maybe grow additional heads? Not sure about that though.

    Anyone know of top-down dragon shmups on the NES?

    Seeks on
    userbar.jpg
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  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Cherrn wrote: »
    see317 wrote: »
    Great, was hoping a thread like this would pop up.
    The game was an RTS set in medieval Japan, main resources where rice, water and peasents. Peasents where sent to 1 of three buildings to be trained into tier 1 units, then trained in the other buildings for tier 2 and 3 units. I remember it had 4 factions; Good Japanese guys, Bad Japaneses guys, Undead creepy guys, and guys who hit stuff with rocks (had a native-american kind of flavor, but mostle I remember big rocks and hitting people with them). Also had 2 campaign lines, depending on your actions in the first mission, killing the peasents set you on the bad japanese guys path, or protect them to go on the good japanese guys path.

    Damned thing is, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the game. I do remember thinking it was pretty cool that the archers would smack people with their bows in melee combat rather then continue shooting arrows at pointblank range.

    Sounds like Battle Realms, but it's been a while.
    Yeah, that was it. Thanks.

    see317 on
  • Bruce ForsythBruce Forsyth Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Seeks wrote: »
    So, there was this game I used to play all the time when I was a kid. I think it was an NES game. It was a top-down shmup, where you were a dragon.

    I recall the first (I think) level had lots of greenery and rivers and shit. And I think maybe you could change forms with powerups? Maybe grow additional heads? Not sure about that though.

    Anyone know of top-down dragon shmups on the NES?

    Dragon Spirit.

    Bruce Forsyth on
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