From: dpipes@spica.srg (Dave Pipes x4552)
Subject: Stunt Island
Organization: just me
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 14:58:48 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games

     Well, Stunt Island is out from Disney.  I found it at the local Egghead,
so it should be at other stores as well.  The game has two main focuses - 
one is a 32 stunt contest, in which you are rated while performing various
stunts involving aircraft in front of movie cameras, and then there is a 
full simulation of the process of setting up a stunt, running it, editing
the film and doing some basic special visual effects and foley work.

     The graphics on this game are...interesting.  It looks at first like
F117A triangle hills and the like.  However, object detail is very high -
there are a lot trees, buildings, power lines and the like, and the objects
you can add are highly detailled.  Various levels of detail are available
with Gouraud shading and dithering at the high end, resulting in some very
nive images of objects.  All in all, very impressive graphics, not sparse
but not totally new either.  Well done.

     The game runs smoothly on a '486 33 with 8 meg with all options on
at the highest setting.  I don't know what the low end is - sorry.  There
is some discussion in the manual that the use of an EMS manager will degrade
the sound on a Soundblaster.  I tried this, and found a slight "blurring"
of the sound - nothing awful, so don't let this stop you.  For once a 
company has overreacted to a bug!  However, the game will not detect my
joystick :-(.

     There are 45+ planes in the game.  The flight models are okay, but nothing
to write home about.  Easily controlled though, even with the keyboard.
There are only 5 different cockpits, an obvious attempt to save memory.  No
complaints from me, though - the aircraft do what they are supposed to.
Aircraft included range from a duck and a pteradactyl to early biplanes to
stunt racers to airliners and military planes from the whole century.  Even
a paraglider and hang glider.  Very nice selection.

     I haven't actually put together a stunt yet.  What you do is to select
a location  - there are cities, towns, military bases, jungles, mountains,
a dam, LAX, small airposts, a highway, ports, oil rigs, an aircraft carrier,
rivers, a medieval castle, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge, etc.  Then you
add up to 40 props.  The first 8 are camera postions - any object, for example
a fountain, will record the scene in one of these slots.  The others are
just props.

     Props can be programmed with a programming language to do various things
on command.  They can wait for events, or do something for a period of time.
They can be rotated and aligned in all three axes, even while moving.  They
can be slaved to follow other props, and can blow up on command, or be 
collision-proof.  You set all the props in motion, cover the correct angles
with cameras, then fly the stunt yourself.  Cameras can be set to zoom and
pan with you as needed.

     After flying the stunt, you go to the editting room to edit the film.
You can splice, cut, mark and otherwise mutilate your film.  After you have
a good scene, you can adjust color saturation and brightness, and use fade
to open and close scenes.  Titles and credits can be added.  Slow motion,
fast motion and freeze frame effects are available.

     After you have a good cut, you can go to the foley room and add sound
effects.  There is a library of them, which you can add to with .voc files
of your own creations.  Sound effects each occupy a channel on the device.
Very neat.

     You are allowed to distribute a few files which allow someone who does
not have the game itself to view your films.  This is a good touch.  Note
that there is a one-megabyte limit on film lengths - I would imagine that
the longest film will be a few minutes.  Don't know, however.

     There is a large database of props - ufos, mail trucks, buildings, 
vehicles, movie equipment, vegetation and animals, and the like.  All very
pretty and detailled.

     I am very impressed with this game, and expect to get a lot out of it.
I spent 2 hours last night flying around and playing with the set design
features.  The interface is very easy, and the sights were entertaining.

     Some of the canned stunts were: Pick a prisoner off of a tower at
Alcatraz with a biplane; fly through a (short) train tunnel with a train
apssing through at the same time; land a Cessna 172 on the Golden Gate bridge
in traffic; fly a hang glider around a castle, through the gate and onto
a catapult, which then launches you out of the castle; pilot a duck around
town to bomb a police car with eggs.  Some fairly wild stuff.

     Joe Bob says, Check it out!

	David Pipes

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games