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EVERYTHING I KNEW ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN I LEARNED FROM ULTIMATE PLAY THE GAME

23/8/2016

15 Comments

 
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Do you know what's most weird about Ultimate Play The Game - arguably the most important British games company of the 1980s? There were a mere three years between its first and last games. In that time, the company had essentially defined the ZX Spectrum, cementing itself among the most iconic gaming brands of all time. They were, it's fair to say, The Beatles of Spectrum development.

Though there's no doubt that Ultimate would have achieved little had its games not been great... somehow their magic went beyond the games themselves.

Everything about Ultimate Play The Game was kind of mysterious and seductive. The company's name itself didn't really make a lot of sense in and of itself, but that merely added to the mystique. An Ultimate game felt like a coherent package. The company had an identity. 

Even before you got to play an Ultimate game the artwork was selling you on the promise; they had a distinct visual style that was unlike anything else. The chrome airbrushing of the company logo, the box artwork - later, the games came packaged in special custom boxes, which made them feel even more special  - which was usually reflected in the loading screens... Potentially, I loved all of that more than I did playing the games.

Here's a selection of their best loading screen work, and how it influenced me.
JET PAC
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Ultimate's first game wasn't the first I played. In fact, it was the sequel - Lunar Jetman - that I played first, having borrowed a copy off a mate.

I later got most of the previous Ultimate games in one swoop, after another friend gave me a C60 full of evil, pirated software. Yes, I know. I'm a monster. At the same time... my conscience is semi-clear. Any time I could actually afford to buy the games I wanted to play, I bought them. It's like with music; a pirated cassette watered down the magic of unfolding a gatefold sleeve.

I always wanted the full experience - the opening up the cassette box, reading the instructions, studying the inlay artwork. Pirated games just weren't the same. But... as a stopgap, while I saved my pocket money... they did a decent job. Yeah, I know. That's scarcely convincing as a moral justification.

Fact is, Jetpac - and the relatively recent Xbox 360 remake - remains my favourite Ultimate game. It was my gateway drug. Because I played Jetpac, I wanted to play everything Ultimate did. There's an arcade simplicity to it, a lovely sense of weight to your character. This, coupled to basic, but gorgeous, visuals - the stuttering, rainbow, blast of your laser in particular - keeps it focused. 

And it all began with that title screen; I hadn't realised until right now that it's rendered in the same seven or eight colours I had to play with when editing teletext pages.
PSSST
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Also on that same C60 bootleg were the other early Ultimate games. Pssst is perhaps the least-loved of Ultimate's canon, despite featuring a tiny robot that looks like a cartoon version of the droids in Silent Running. I don't recall ever playing it for long.

​When I became a graphic designer in 1987 - I got a part-time job at Ladbrokes head office, courtesy of my cousin - the Ultimate style was a big influence. Though the Ladbrokes Electronic Service - or "Les" as everyone called it - had more colours and pixels than teletext, I attempted to replicate the boldness of what Ultimate did.

It's easy for me to draw a line between the fluffy "insects" in Psst and the Turner the Worm cartoon I created for Teletext. Not least because my initial attempt at creating a teletext cartoon character was a sort of fluffy insect thing called Rascal. 
TRANS AM
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Graphically, the most stripped back of Ultimate's games, Trans Am also has the distinction of being the only one of their early games not to feature a cartoon-y lead character. You controlled a car, in a sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland. It was a direct homage to Mad Max. 

I played it a lot at the time - it was simple, easy to control, yet it lacked the specialness of their other games. It didn't feel as unique, or part of the rest of their catalogue.
COOKIE
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Cookie just felt to me like a remix of Jetpac, but without all the cool sci-fi stuff. It nevertheless displayed the hallmarks of the company; sound effects that would become increasingly familiar, the random path of the floating, abstract enemies - and that, unique, sort of loose control system.

Still, playing it now you can see how the company was establishing itself, defining its style. It was already setting itself apart. See the cartoon eyes on an otherwise faceless character?
LUNAR JETMAN
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I liked Lunar Jetman, but I didn't love it. It was only after playing Jetpac that I realised why; I mostly just enjoyed the flying around stuff, but the driving elements - as cool as that lunar rover was - were a chore.

The bulk of the game had you driving across a moonscape building bridges across craters. That, to me, was tedium incarnate. I just wanted to play with the laser cannon.

Nevertheless, the design of the technology was cool, albeit apparently heavily influenced by Big Trak - a popular 80s toy tank, with programmable controls. Unfortunately, unlike Big Trak - which had an optional trailer accessory - the "Mole" trailer promised in the title screen somehow never made it into the finished game.
ATIC ATAC
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This was the first Ultimate game I heard about - though not the first I played. Friends would talk about it at school. I admit... when I first played it, I was slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, like so many Ultimate games, what I loved was the art design, especially on the loading screen.

I think what their artwork really gave me was how to suggest a lot with just a few colours. Being able to compare the box artwork with the loading screen - created with limited resources - taught me many useful lessons.

Having a black background, and just seven colours, it was a case of deciding which would stand in for other shades. Wood was generally yellow or red. Red typically took the place of brown. Magenta, yellow or white were white skin tones, and red was usually black skin. Cyan was steel or stone.

​A mix of blue and black - as in the Atic Atac loading screen - were used to create a sense of depth in a design. Bright colours in the foreground, blue in the middle distance, black beyond.
SABRE WULF (BBC Version)
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I never got along with Sabre Wulf, though I loved the design of its jungle levels. The screen above is from the Commodore 64 version.

​Somehow, learning that Ultimate games were becoming available increasingly on other formats made me feel a bit funny. It was like learning that your dad occasionally went to have tea with another family. 

When I saw Sabre Wulf running on a C64 I was disappointed; the colours were muted, like on most C64 games. It was as if, in the process of betraying its Spectrum roots, the game had lost its vibrancy out of sheer guilt.

​Commodore 64 owners might not have had colour clash, but they were missing out on the neon thrill of Ultimate at their best.
UNDERWURLDE
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This was the Ultimate game I played the most. My mum bought it to give to me for Christmas 1984, having chosen it on a shopping trip to the Brent Cross centre - the same day I bought the Band Aid single. I couldn't wait to play it, though. Literally.

I knew where she kept the Christmas presents, and spent the next few weeks sneaking into her wardrobe and loading up the game. I never finished it - never came close to finishing it. But I played the first dozen or so caverns so many times that I started to see them burned onto the insides of my eyelids. By the time Christmas Day came around I was already a bit bored of it.

What makes me jealous about the above image are the demon's wings; if only we could've achieved an effect like that on teletext. Mixing pixels in such a way (in the above case it's black and red), in a chessboard pattern, was how I achieved an increased colour palette at Ladbrokes.

We had the same seven basic colours, but you could mix - say - red and white pixels next to each other, creating a sort of pink hue from a distance. That would, however, only really work with solid 2x3 blocks (Ladbrokes' system, like teletext, broke each page down into 2x3 character rectangles, which could be individually edited to build up a picture). You couldn't then have black in there to create definition on a background of a different colour. But as a cheat, it sort of worked.
KNIGHT LORE
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It goes without saying that Knight Lore changed everything. It's one of the most influential games of all time.

Curiously, it's also one of the few Ultimate games whose loading screen doesn't really reflect the box artwork. Instead of mysterious demon-head stone carvings, you get this neon wizard seemingly enjoying Holi Day by flinging a load of marbles into the air.

Knight Lore, at the time, blew the minds of everyone who saw it. What is less talked about is how monstrously difficult it was. I bought it, played it, loved the graphics. Didn't really get along with the uncompromising gameplay.
ALIEN 8
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I got Alien 8, hoping for a game that moved things forward as much as Knight Lore did. Instead, we basically got a sci-fi Knight Lore. Though the aesthetics were just about a step up from its predecessor, everything else felt painfully familiar. Just a couple of years after falling in love with Ultimate, I was starting to get bored.

Still... nice packaging once again. I can still recall the texture of those jet-black Ultimate boxes.
THE STAFF OF KARNATH
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This was the point at which Ultimate broke my heart.

The idea of brand new Ultimate games on the supposedly more powerful Commodore 64 was intriguing... but screenshots in magazines looked underwhelming.

I finally played one of them - I think it was either The Staff of Karnath or Entombed - round at my friend Steve's house (you might know him as Horsenburger), and was proved right. The bold, chunky, cartoon visuals - the signature Ultimate style - was almost entirely absent. Why eat out of a public lavatory when you can have steak at home, right?

What's more, there was an undeniable sense of feeling betrayed. Ultimate, to many of us, was all about the ZX Spectrum. The fact they were making games for rival systems - which wouldn't be available on our own - was beyond the pale...

It's oddly appropriate that I ended up working as a graphic designer for companies which had no time for colours such as brown and grey. When I played with Level 2 teletext graphics - intended as a successor to the familiar seven-colour teletext technology - it felt wrong. I drew a full Turner the Worm strip full of golds, and browns, and a more realistic wormy-pink for Turner. Yet something was lacking. It was no longer the authentic experience.
NIGHTSHADE
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Nightshade was when I pretty much checked out of what Ultimate were doing. Though the game featured an upgraded version of its Filmation engine, to allow for scrolling isometric visuals, somehow it felt like the genre was stagnating. 

Everything felt too familiar - the font on the menu screen, the walking sound effect, and plip-plop of your enemies. Plus the gameplay was more just wandering around while avoiding floating, abstract, shapes. The world felt empty next to Knight Lore and Alien 8.

Its successor, Gunfright, was somewhat improved - adding a very simple first-person shooting element - but it was much of a muchness. Ultimate appeared to be running out of inspiration.

From there the games continued their decline - to the bewilderment of the company's fans. What most of us didn't know is that the Stampers had sold the Ultimate brand to US Gold. The team which had made those initial games had evolved into Rare. Which is another story altogether. 

The final game to come out on the Ultimate Play The Game label was Bubbler - released in 1987. As far as final statements go, if Ultimate were The Beatles of gaming, the equivalent would be if John, Paul, George and Ringo had been replaced with a bunch of session musicians, and released a disappointing soundalike album called Corporal Salt's Jilted Lover Society. Sad!
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
THE LIFE OF NOTCH: CREATOR OF MINECRAFT
5 FORGOTTEN VIDEO GAME MAGS

REVIEW: LUMO (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC, MAC, PSVITA - PS4 VERSION TESTED)
15 Comments
Darren link
23/8/2016 12:32:30 pm

Yup!

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Jabberwoc
23/8/2016 12:41:32 pm

Ultimate made our lives more colo(u)rful. The packaging and adverts were so full of promise. I misspent my youth and I don't care.

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favus
23/8/2016 12:48:50 pm

Underwurlde was my favourite still, If i had the time I would definitely remake it - and if someone remade it I would definitely play it but keep the original style (something that the Skooldaze remake has totally failed to do)

When the Spectrum Next comes out I will complete Underwurlde and Starquake (without cheating)

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David W
23/8/2016 01:08:56 pm

Have you played Klass of 99? It might be the Skool Daze remake you are are looking for. Available for free, here:

http://retrospec.sgn.net/game/ko99

Retrospec also host

Reply
favus
24/8/2016 01:54:09 pm

I have not, but I am sure i will

Kendall9000
23/8/2016 08:28:29 pm

They're one 8bit era company that really passed me by. Looking online, most of those games were available for my BBC Micro, but I think the only one I played at the time was Nightshade. I guess the guy at work who supplied my dad with illicit 5.25" disks full of goodies just wasn't a fan.

By the time I got a C64, late on in its lifespan, I don't think they were still available to buy (and I don't remember them ending up on Zzap!64 covertapes like a lot of mid 80s 'classics' eventually did).

Maybe I'll fire up an emulator and finally give them a go (and probably give up after 5 minutes of dying repeatedly before I leave the first room).

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Scott C
23/8/2016 09:50:11 pm

Some of those title screens made the hair stand up on the back of my neck due retro-memory-excitement.

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Penyrolewen
23/8/2016 10:36:53 pm

I had very similar feelings to you over those years, Biffo. I too bought Alien 8 (in that slightly bobbly black box) and felt let down by my heroes. It was indeed just a dressed up knight lore- not as charming either.
I did love jet pac but I loved the emptiness, and length of game, plus the lack of frantic intensity, in Trans Am- the best of the early games for me. You're so right too about some magic that made us all love the games despite them not actually playing that well. Ah, happy days.

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nicholas taylor
24/8/2016 12:18:16 am

I love the spectrum, but I dont love the colours. Well, that's not entirely true. I do love them, but they are crap compared to the c64. It's love in the sense of loving a crazy aunt, even though she thinks her spit will clean your sticky bun face or that a mucky lettuce is somehow preferable to washed lettuce, "a bit of muck does you good!" It's like you can disagree so much with something, yet not only love it in spite of the faults, but actually love it including the faults. A Spectrum without its full on palette just wouldn't be the same. Saying that, complain about the 64 all you like, but the colours only looked 'washed out' because the Spectrum had damaged your eyes and brain. The palette was a step up from the Spectrum, as was the sound. Didn't stop the Spectrum being totally ruddy amazing though.

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Paulvw
24/8/2016 05:38:27 am

Great seeing those loading screens again. Although I hadn't seen most of them in colour before now as my Spectrum was set up at my parent's house on a 14 inch black and white portable TV...kids today eh....got better phones than that.... pah!

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FancyPants
24/8/2016 02:03:58 pm

I read this yesterday, went away, came back and STILL nobody has mentioned that the Sabrewulf screen is the BBC version (as hinted at by the title). Oh, if you want a garish clash ridden alternative to the Spectrum version, check it out on the Amstrad. Wow.

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Retroresolution link
24/8/2016 02:15:18 pm

Ultimate were technical innovators on the humble Spectrum, and definitely raised the bar for games on the rubber-keyed wonder.
Jetpac really felt like a true arcade game magically running on a comparatively underpowered system.

Atic Atac - probably my favourite Ultimate title - showed how home gaming could offer a deeper experience than the insert-coin-repeat design required of arcade machines; I recently completed this on my phone, running the Marvin emulator - a somewhat surreal experience!

Unfortunately, many of the Ultimate titles were just too hard for me to find satisfying - even after spending a morning typing an extended Poke routine, and using the impressive competition winning map in Crash, Alien8 still defeated me. Not that I'm bitter 30 years later. No, not bitter...

Lunar Jetman could have been a blast, but instead felt like a preciscent post-2008-economic-crash local council pot-hole simulator...

I hesitate to label Ultimate as style-over-substance, because the games were by no means shallow, but I found the artwork and presentation more alluring than the gameplay all too often.

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FancyPants
24/8/2016 03:23:12 pm

Agree with that. I think very few of their games nailed it, playability wise. Underwurlde was probably the most playable. It felt great.

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Starbuck
24/8/2016 09:16:23 pm

Had all these Spectrum ones. In terms of loading screens Trans Am always felt the most awesome. Conversely I barely remember the Knightlore screen. I think the rush of tha games new technology probably overwhelmed it's impact. Plus the wolf human transformation bit!

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Gaming Mill link
11/8/2017 04:22:10 pm

I much preferred the Amstrad CPC loading screen for Knight Lore. You can see it yourself! Where? Here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/cpc/knight-lore/screenshots/gameShotId,205376/

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