ADG Episode 18 - Xargon

[@vidmaster7]

Thank you for reviewing Xargon. It was only the second project I ever did and I worked hard to bring a great game. Would I make some changes now - you bet I would. I'm glad so many people still enjoy this. I was just interviewed on Classic DOS Games if you want to check that out and comment: www.classicdosgames.com/interviews/allenpilgrim.html

[@Roobar_Plays]

What happened with Xargon for Android?

[@yellowblanka6058]

The game definitely has some rough edges, but it looks nice by 1994 shareware standards, plays solidly, and I'm a fan of the strange kind of psychedelic nature of the game/enemies. It's one of those games I go back to occasionally due to childhood nostalgia.

[@Maggerama]

It is a good, memorable game. Thank you so much for it! I didn't like it immediately when I first played it, but then it hooked me hard.

[@MetalAriel]

Unplayed this game as a kid in Poland. It will always remain a part of my childhood :)

[@vidmaster7]

@@Roobar_Plays That is a great idea. I would love it if someone would port it to Android.

[@lilwyvern4]

Also, a quick factoid regarding what you said about Xargon often being compared to Jill of the Jungle. Xargon and Jill run on the same engine. If you play both of them, you'll find more than a few similarities in gameplay. For instance, you characters control exactly the same, on the ground, in midair, and even when transformed. (Xargon's bee controls almost identically to Jill's Phoenix. The sub pod is similar to Jill's fish transformation.) It goes beyond that, as well. There's some small bugs and features they share, as well. Jill has a built-in level editor that is accessed through a simple key combination on the main menu. Xargon has it as well, but it's dummied out. With a simple hex edit, you can re-enable it. Finally, Jill and Xargon share two quirks in their character's run animation. In both games, when you move for a while, then stop, there's supposed to be a few frames where your character "digs in their heels" to stop their momentum. If running to the right, one of the frames was not mirrored, so it'll switch to the left-facing frame for that moment. Also, stopping moving on a certain frame of their run cycle will cause them to freeze in it instead of resetting to their default stance.

[@vidmaster7]

Torcularis Technically about 85% of the code is what I created. Tim shared his JoJ code with me and that's how I learned to program. Kiloblaster was my first attempt and even though it was built from scratch I did use some of his routines in that. The Board Editor was what I used to do all the game design. We debated about having it in the final but decided against it. Thanks for the comments. They are interesting.

[@lilwyvern4]

Allen Pilgrim One of the engineers of my childhood? Responding to my comment? I am not worthy!

[@vidmaster7]

Haha. Thanks. I appreciate the sentiment. I'm just glad that so many people enjoyed Xargon and have happy memories.

[@lilwyvern4]

"Makes me wonder if Apogee ever did such a thing against Epic." Play Monster Bash, read the story on the main menu, get your answer.

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Dare I say... _John_ of the Jungle?

[@vidmaster7]

No, much better. He's Malvineous Havershim of the Jungle. -Allen Pilgrim, Game Designer/Programmer of "Xargon"

[@Dagarvs]

you shoot lasers from your appendix, just like real life.

[@Nickelodeon81]

So that's what the appendix was for. I assumed it was a redundant appendage.

[@Disthron]

I remember being blown away by how good this game looked back in the day. Level backgrounds actually looked like things like dirt and water falls and ruins. As opposed to random boxes with patterns on them from games like Jill of the Jungle.

[@vidmaster7]

Disthron Thanks that means a lot.

[@Disthron]

Allen Pilgrim Cool ....sorry to ask but, did you have something to do with the making of this game?!

[@vidmaster7]

Disthron I was the one who programmed and designed it. I also did Kiloblaster.

[@Disthron]

Allen Pilgrim Wow, that's awesome. I'm studying games development at university now. Xargon was one of my earliest gaming memories. ^_^ Are you still active in game development?

[@vidmaster7]

Disthron For the past two decades I have been a Network/System Administrator. My son has been working on video games. We are actually working on three different games related to Xargon. What language(s) are you studying? Any platform that you've landed on: Unity? Unreal?

[@OnafetsEnovap]

You know what's funny? When I was growing up, all three parts of this game were sold individually, so I ended up buying Volume 1 (Beyond Reality), then Volume 2 (The Secret Chamber) and finally Volume 3 (Xargon's Fury) separately... put them all together and I had the complete game. By the way, there's a hidden cheat code which works in all three volumes - press *F7* 3 times and you get full health, all the keys and temporary invincibility (about 20-30 seconds).

[@StephanS]

Wow... it feels weird, going back to such an old ADG episode, but i have the urgent need to play Xargon now

[@vidmaster7]

Always a great idea. -Allen Pilgrim, Game Designer/Programmer of "Xargon"

[@yellowblanka6058]

Reminds me of the cheatcode in Jazz Jackrabbit (at least in earlier builds) where inputting "APOGEE" would change the game to a slow 16 color mode. They were pretty dickish (they, or maybe Tim) with their digs at their competitors. EGS foreshadowing perhaps?

[@OnafetsEnovap]

"Apology Mode" - I remember that. Apogee were not amused.

[@andrewdupuis1151]

this game so fun to play

[@vidmaster7]

So glad to hear that. -Allen Pilgrim, Game Designer/Programmer of "Xargon"

[@TheZombiePimpernel]

Played this years ago and loved it. It's aged all right, still a fun game to play once in a while. And yeah, it was gorgeous for its time. But Malvineous?

[@devblue510]

damn I always wanted to get into this game when I got a computer

[@jossysanchez4104]

i love this game i did play xargon long time ago

[@sryx]

One Must Fall 2097? I actually downloaded a shareware copy of a martial arts focused One Must Fall game before 2097 from a BBS back in the day

[@AlyxxTheRat]

Epic might have made fun of Apogee and later on released Unreal Tournament when id released Quake 3, both of the games being arena FPS's, but they won out in the end since the Unreal engine has become the new idtech engine nowadays, being used by pretty much everyone.

[@simovihinen875]

Music is dope.

[@vidmaster7]

Dan Froelich did a fantastic job. -Allen Pilgrim, Game Designer/Programmer of "Xargon"

[@je3f0o74]

funny shooting style :P

[@nemtudom5074]

7:13 Also, Epic's games didnt get good until Jazz jackrabbit. Apogee > Epic any day of the week, and even when jazz came out, both apogee and ID were working on much more interesting, and complex games, so jazz being on par with keen, is pathetic. By that time ID and apogee had moved on to more impressive projects. It wasnt until unreal that epic was on par, at the same time, and even then quake > unreal

[@Pixelmusement]

No... no I wouldn't say Apogee was better than Epic. They were quite equal to each other in terms of game quality pretty much every step of the way as they both made good games and they both made bad ones. Both of them had some games which pushed the limits of their hardware, both had some games which were repetitious as heck. Apogee got more 3D stuff out there for sure, even before becoming 3D Realms, but Epic had higher graphical and audio quality sooner. All that said, one thing Apogee did way better than Epic was preserve their old software going forward into the new millennium as I've been able to cover most of Apogee's catalogue up to this point but am still struggling to acquire some of Epic's old stuff. :P

[@thewhyzer]

Jazz had great tech, but I'd pick Duke Nukem 1 over it for gameplay any day. I'd also pick Jill of the Jungle over it. My favorite Epic Megagames titles bar none though are Tyrian and One Must Fall 2097.

[@DFuxaPlays]

Video Game hostility is nothing new - heck, EA is hostile to Activision in the Battlefield vs Modern Warfare battle.

[@Disthron]

DFuxa Plays .... but do they make direct diggs at one and other within there games?

[@DFuxaPlays]

Disthron No, just in advertising and other devices outside of it.

[@Disthron]

DFuxa Plays I thought so, it would be pretty brazen to take a direct dig at a rival company in this day and age. Since the competition are now big enough that they might sue over something like that.

[@aaronbuffalo7769]

i trying to findd full version of this but yea, as good as apogee games were, Epic did have vastly better looking games for that era

[@Pixelmusement]

+Aaron Babyblue The "RGB Classic Games" website has a download of the full version of this game. It's been freeware for quite some time now so you should be able to find it on many websites which have legit downloads of DOS games. :B

[@aaronbuffalo7769]

yeah i use RGB a lot, i only saw shareware on there iirc.

[@Pixelmusement]

Aaron Babyblue They have both. ;)

[@yellowblanka6058]

With exceptions like Xargon and Jazz Jacrkabbit (and even in Jazz Jackrabbit, a lot of the art/tiles tended too look pretty basic/monochromatic), I think Apogee had better graphic design in their games, even when limited to EGA - hard to believe games like Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Bio-Menace and Monster Bash were all EGA.