
Chopper Commando Revisited - loadzero
https://blog.loadzero.com/blog/chopper258/
======
loadzero
Author here.

I used to play this 2D flick-screen CGA DOS helicopter game as a kid, and I
remember enjoying the simple presentation combined with what would now be
called sandbox elements.

I thought it was really cool that you could eject from the helicopter and
still run around and do things as a little sprite dude, and then get back in
and fly off.

When I saw that the source was available, and had a poke around, I decided it
wouldn't take (too) much effort to do a modern port, and make the game
natively playable on today's machines.

It was a fun little project, certainly easier than my previous game
restoration (Space Invaders in C), and it was interesting to explore the
creation of a young Mark Currie, cranking out a bedroom coded game in Turbo
Pascal.

So, here it is, a modern port of "Chopper Commando" from early 90s Turbo
Pascal on DOS, to C and SDL running on modern unix (linux/mac) and the web.

Enjoy.

~~~
loadzero
As a postscript,

For the web hackers out there - the lossless animation at the start of the
article is not a <video> or a gif.

I got annoyed with how video codecs destroy pixel art, and other things, so I
wrote my own.

This was almost more fun than doing the port.

~~~
frou_dh
Incidentally, that's why I'm not interested in playing any games using a
streaming service like OnLive, Google Stadia, etc.

Ever since PCs have had DVI and consoles have had HDMI, gaming has been
pristine lossless imagery. Go to IP video streaming and have compression
artefacts taking a dump on every single frame? No thanks!

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olliej
I always liked the wonderful game “sopwith” which I believe has been
rewritten/updated over the years

~~~
loadzero
I have not played it, but it does look to likely be an early inspiration for
Chopper Commando.

It would be nice if someone made a web version of 'Sopwith', too.

~~~
mark_currie
Yes Sopwith was an inspiration so was F-15 Strike Eagle and F-19 Stealth
Fighter by Microprose.

~~~
loadzero
Ah, it does have a Microprose feel with the campaign, mission structure, and
ejecting.

Thanks for giving me permission to publish the port, and cheers for writing a
game that has given people some fun memories.

It's great also to see that you're still making games, 30 years on from this.

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transitorykris
Ah yes. The Mark Currie zone. Going all the screens to the right and shooting
a hole in the hill and flying through it got you re-armed. And don’t hit the
text, it’s quite solid.

~~~
RhysU
Aaaaahhhhh my head!

Also, the slowdowns on partially off-screen explosions.

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sbuttgereit
I never played this one... but the article did take me back to a game I
greatly loved: Choplifter, which I played on the c64.

I remember being impressed that the helicopter in the game could pitch and yaw
and such... at the time it seemed so polished.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choplifter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choplifter)

