Hocus Pocus - Page 2

Viciarg · 06-22-2004, 05:33 PM

It was distributed by another company (1-5 by Apogee, 6 by Softdisk), but made by the same folks...

06-22-2004, 07:02 PM

My bad.

Frenkel · 06-23-2004, 06:19 AM

Quote:

It was distributed by another company (1-5 by Apogee, 6 by Softdisk), but made by the same folks...

1-5 by Apogee, 6 by FormGen, Keen Dreams by Softdisk

JR Ewing · 06-24-2004, 07:19 PM

Get's 'em every time

The authors/distributors thing seems to be a confusion to people all the time, lol.

Frenkel · 07-10-2004, 07:00 AM

Someone made a Hocus Pocus Remake Demo with a level editor.

Violet CLM · 07-10-2004, 07:17 PM

Oh, I remember that. So very incomplete and buggy.

X-human · 07-17-2004, 03:53 PM

Wasn't Keen Dreams made by Apogee to Softdisk for id Software to fullfill contract obligations or some such nonesense?

Frenkel · 07-18-2004, 10:02 AM

No, that was Scubaventure.

Strongsad · 12-11-2006, 07:55 PM

Sorry for bringing this old thread back, but someone make a Hocus Pocus level editor?!?!? That site doesn't appear to be working anymore... Does anyone have a copy of that? Was it any good?

Neo_b · 12-12-2006, 10:53 AM

Yeah, I played it when I was a kid.

Haven't played it for a long time, maybe it's time to come back to it?

doomjedi · 12-13-2006, 11:43 AM

I think that beside sound and nice backgrounds, overall it's a bad game. The jumping/moving engine is weird and not fun for a platformer, and really not "apogee" style. Also the game is veeeery repetative and graphically poor beside backgrounds.

Strongsad · 12-14-2006, 04:08 PM

My favorite part was the smart bombs that made big explosions when you shot them... and the penguins and little men with sticks running around in the snow level.

Joe Siegler · 12-15-2006, 05:53 PM

I don't remember ever seeing a level editor. Someone making one new NOW is rather unlikely to happen, I would think.

szevvy · 12-18-2006, 09:13 AM

Is that a challenge?

Frenkel · 12-19-2006, 05:30 AM

It would be a fun challenge that whoever makes the best Hocus Pocus level editor before Duke Nukem Forever is done, receives a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever from 3D Realms.

szevvy · 12-19-2006, 08:35 PM

Frenkel, I like the way you're thinking.

Strongsad · 12-21-2006, 07:29 PM

Who does the music for Hocus Pocus? They're pretty good.

szevvy · 12-21-2006, 10:02 PM

That would be Wallace Music & Sound, Inc.

The Cool One · 02-12-2007, 07:00 PM

do you guys still have the source code for it?

Flaose · 02-12-2007, 07:24 PM

Seeing as how Apogee didn't even develop the game (they just published it), I'm going for a big fat no here. If memory serves me right now, some Canadian company in Ontario did it.

Joe Siegler · 02-13-2007, 02:24 AM

It wasn't a company, it was a single guy. Most "companies" from back in that era were just one or two guys who came up with a name for themselves.

DOSGuy · 02-13-2007, 10:45 AM

For more information, read the Mike Voss Apogee Legacy interview.

Frenkel · 02-13-2007, 11:56 AM

DOSGuy, I think you should put Hocus Pocus on your Moonlite Software page and not only on your Apogee Software page, if that is possible.

The Cool One · 02-13-2007, 09:13 PM

well if anyone knows Mike's current location or can help me get in contact with him, I might be able to get him to release the source code. That way we can play Hocus Pocus on our modern operating systems as well as... mobile (cell) phones, GBA's ... (I'm not even gonna mention that black thing you are thinking of).... toasters?

Joe Siegler · 02-14-2007, 09:53 AM

It's not just as simple as "release the source code". Often code has external libraries which are licensed by the programmer, which means they're unreleasable. Plus he may not even have it anymore. When we released the ROTT code, we had to have Dose & Dochertmann go back into the code and extract some libraries - if I recall, wasn't the original Doom release without a sound library, too?

On the other hand it could all be bunk - but my point is simple. Don't assume it's as easy as just "Hey, release it". It's never as simple as that.

There's a lot of legal issues to deal with.

DOSGuy · 02-14-2007, 12:15 PM

Frenkel, I chose to sort the games on my site by publisher and genre for convenience sake. I'm rewriting my database to allow games to be sorted by other criteria (year, graphics mode, etc), so developer pages may be added eventually. Unfortunately my computer reboots every 30 to 60 seconds right now, so I can't do anything on the site until I figure out why that's happening. I can't afford a new one, so I'm stuck using this old hunk of junk that I'm typing on right now.

As for Mike Voss, what the heck, I'll brag. I tracked him down a few months before the Apogee Legacy interview series and gave his address to Joe so that he could be interviewed. <Bows to loud, imaginary applause> Then he did the interview for 3DR and didn't do the interview I wrote for him for my website.

Anyway, I'll ask him about the source code as soon as I get my address list back, but I can't promise a response. He passed up one kick ass interview, and I haven't heard from him ever since.

The Cool One · 02-14-2007, 09:13 PM

well I might as well try to help him with it

szevvy · 02-19-2007, 09:49 PM

DOSGuy, friend, pal. One of the greatest thorns in my side is Hocus Pocus sprite compression - should you ever engage in a conversation with said Mr Voss, would you mind asking if he remembers the basic gist of how it works?

DOSGuy · 02-19-2007, 11:31 PM

I've made the request.

Strongsad · 02-22-2007, 12:16 PM

Is there any way to buy or download the early build of Hocus Pocus from March 1993? There are screenshots of it in Mike Voss's Apogee Legacy page.

Joe Siegler · 02-22-2007, 01:58 PM

No there is not.

nova10 · 02-26-2007, 10:51 PM

Does anyone have a copy of the Christmas mod for Hocus Pocus? The copy I found was corrupted.

Strongsad · 02-28-2007, 09:05 PM

Here:

http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/xmaspocus.rar

I tried it, but after a while, I missed the old graphics.

DOSGuy · 03-31-2007, 01:14 PM

I know that no one has posted here for a while, but I'm still getting emails and private messages from people who have read this thread, asking me for Mike Voss' email address. Here's how it is.

I talked to Mike Voss on the phone in 2005 and asked him for his email address. He gave me an address assigned by a Canadian ISP. I have been unable to contact him at that address for about a year (since shortly after his Legacy interview), and I don't know anyone else who has gotten a response from him at that address. I suspect that he has changed ISPs. I have asked him about the source code, but I have not gotten a response. I do not currently have a valid email address for him. I'm sorry that I can't help you further. If I find a new email address for him in the future, I will ask him about the source code.

CyberRaptor · 03-31-2007, 03:51 PM

Ahh, Hocus Pocus. I remember playing that game with my friends in elementary school. Such fond memories. Too bad I only got to play the shareware version.

Violet CLM · 04-12-2007, 08:07 PM

I keep forgetting about this forum! *waves happily*
Umm, I have a Hocus Pocus level editor I've been working off and on (mostly off) for the last few years. It works great, mostly functional, honestly the main reason it's not done yet is that I've never been sure if people would actually use it. Also I haven't quite yet figured out some of the details of making blocks appear rather than disappear.

If people express an interest, I could speed up work.
Couple screenshots of stuff I've done in it:
http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/sand cave.png
http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/outdoors.png

DOSGuy · 04-12-2007, 10:37 PM

Perhaps you could share your code and combine efforts with nova10. He's been working on a level editor in another thread. http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26101

Travis · 04-28-2007, 04:45 AM

i really like hocus pocus, i remember thinking the graphics were awesome.

DOSGuy · 04-28-2007, 04:51 AM

They were awesome. The music was good, too. Combined with straightforward gameplay, lots of exploration and secret areas, and a decent amount of fighting, Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite games. The Pharaoh's Tomb level contest didn't receive any interest, but I'd like to try a Hocus Pocus level contest if a full-featured editor can be produced.

Strongsad · 04-28-2007, 11:16 AM

That would be pretty cool. I'm interested!

06-22-2004, 07:02 PM	#42
archagon Guest	Re: Hocus Pocus My bad.

12-15-2006, 05:53 PM	#53
Joe Siegler 3D Realms Staff	Re: Hocus Pocus I don't remember ever seeing a level editor. Someone making one new NOW is rather unlikely to happen, I would think. __________________ Apogee / 3D Realms Employee: Dec 14, 1992 - May 22, 2009, Oct 23, 2014 - current "Lifting up the Cross to the waiting lost" - Petra \| John 3:16

02-13-2007, 02:24 AM	#61
Joe Siegler 3D Realms Staff	Re: Hocus Pocus It wasn't a company, it was a single guy. Most "companies" from back in that era were just one or two guys who came up with a name for themselves. __________________ Apogee / 3D Realms Employee: Dec 14, 1992 - May 22, 2009, Oct 23, 2014 - current "Lifting up the Cross to the waiting lost" - Petra \| John 3:16

02-14-2007, 09:53 AM	#65
Joe Siegler 3D Realms Staff	Re: Hocus Pocus It's not just as simple as "release the source code". Often code has external libraries which are licensed by the programmer, which means they're unreleasable. Plus he may not even have it anymore. When we released the ROTT code, we had to have Dose & Dochertmann go back into the code and extract some libraries - if I recall, wasn't the original Doom release without a sound library, too? On the other hand it could all be bunk - but my point is simple. Don't assume it's as easy as just "Hey, release it". It's never as simple as that. There's a lot of legal issues to deal with. __________________ Apogee / 3D Realms Employee: Dec 14, 1992 - May 22, 2009, Oct 23, 2014 - current "Lifting up the Cross to the waiting lost" - Petra \| John 3:16

02-22-2007, 01:58 PM	#71
Joe Siegler 3D Realms Staff	Re: Hocus Pocus No there is not. __________________ Apogee / 3D Realms Employee: Dec 14, 1992 - May 22, 2009, Oct 23, 2014 - current "Lifting up the Cross to the waiting lost" - Petra \| John 3:16

06-22-2004, 05:33 PM	#41
Viciarg	Re: Hocus Pocus It was distributed by another company (1-5 by Apogee, 6 by Softdisk), but made by the same folks... __________________ Humanas actiones non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari; sed intellegere curavi.

06-24-2004, 07:19 PM	#44
JR Ewing	Re: Hocus Pocus Get's 'em every time The authors/distributors thing seems to be a confusion to people all the time, lol. __________________ JR Ewing "Always keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." "No I don't give a damn about your happiness!" "Never tell the truth when a good lie'll do!" "I was told that dust is a killer for motherboards, so I ran mine through the dishwasher. Now it won't start." - Drazula

07-10-2004, 07:00 AM	#45
Frenkel	Re: Hocus Pocus Someone made a Hocus Pocus Remake Demo with a level editor. __________________ Groeten van Frenkel Visit us at the Official S&F Prod. Homepage

07-10-2004, 07:17 PM	#46
Violet CLM	Re: Hocus Pocus Oh, I remember that. So very incomplete and buggy. __________________ Free Jazz games Downloads for Jazz Discussion of Jazz

07-17-2004, 03:53 PM	#47
X-human	Re: Hocus Pocus Wasn't Keen Dreams made by Apogee to Softdisk for id Software to fullfill contract obligations or some such nonesense? __________________ "Ah, so now he [sic] have silly Ivory Tower nonsense." - Draco

07-18-2004, 10:02 AM	#48
Frenkel	Re: Hocus Pocus No, that was Scubaventure. __________________ Groeten van Frenkel Visit us at the Official S&F Prod. Homepage

12-11-2006, 07:55 PM	#49
Strongsad	Re: Hocus Pocus Sorry for bringing this old thread back, but someone make a Hocus Pocus level editor?!?!? That site doesn't appear to be working anymore... Does anyone have a copy of that? Was it any good?

12-12-2006, 10:53 AM	#50
Neo_b	Re: Hocus Pocus Yeah, I played it when I was a kid. Haven't played it for a long time, maybe it's time to come back to it? __________________ Neo_b - http://neo_b.go.pl

12-13-2006, 11:43 AM	#51
doomjedi	Re: Hocus Pocus I think that beside sound and nice backgrounds, overall it's a bad game. The jumping/moving engine is weird and not fun for a platformer, and really not "apogee" style. Also the game is veeeery repetative and graphically poor beside backgrounds. __________________ If it moves - it's a frag, gib it!

12-14-2006, 04:08 PM	#52
Strongsad	Re: Hocus Pocus My favorite part was the smart bombs that made big explosions when you shot them... and the penguins and little men with sticks running around in the snow level.

12-18-2006, 09:13 AM	#54
szevvy	Re: Hocus Pocus Is that a challenge?

12-19-2006, 05:30 AM	#55
Frenkel	Re: Hocus Pocus It would be a fun challenge that whoever makes the best Hocus Pocus level editor before Duke Nukem Forever is done, receives a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever from 3D Realms. __________________ Groeten van Frenkel Visit us at the Official S&F Prod. Homepage

12-19-2006, 08:35 PM	#56
szevvy	Re: Hocus Pocus Frenkel, I like the way you're thinking.

12-21-2006, 07:29 PM	#57
Strongsad	Re: Hocus Pocus Who does the music for Hocus Pocus? They're pretty good.

12-21-2006, 10:02 PM	#58
szevvy	Re: Hocus Pocus That would be Wallace Music & Sound, Inc.

02-12-2007, 07:00 PM	#59
The Cool One	Re: Hocus Pocus do you guys still have the source code for it? __________________ It's time to kick ass and compile KDE and I'm all out of swap

02-12-2007, 07:24 PM	#60
Flaose	Re: Hocus Pocus Seeing as how Apogee didn't even develop the game (they just published it), I'm going for a big fat no here. If memory serves me right now, some Canadian company in Ontario did it.

02-13-2007, 10:45 AM	#62
DOSGuy	Re: Hocus Pocus For more information, read the Mike Voss Apogee Legacy interview. __________________ "Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free DOS games at www.classicdosgames.com

02-13-2007, 11:56 AM	#63
Frenkel	Re: Hocus Pocus DOSGuy, I think you should put Hocus Pocus on your Moonlite Software page and not only on your Apogee Software page, if that is possible. __________________ Groeten van Frenkel Visit us at the Official S&F Prod. Homepage

02-13-2007, 09:13 PM	#64
The Cool One	Re: Hocus Pocus well if anyone knows Mike's current location or can help me get in contact with him, I might be able to get him to release the source code. That way we can play Hocus Pocus on our modern operating systems as well as... mobile (cell) phones, GBA's ... (I'm not even gonna mention that black thing you are thinking of).... toasters? __________________ It's time to kick ass and compile KDE and I'm all out of swap

02-14-2007, 12:15 PM	#66
DOSGuy	Re: Hocus Pocus Frenkel, I chose to sort the games on my site by publisher and genre for convenience sake. I'm rewriting my database to allow games to be sorted by other criteria (year, graphics mode, etc), so developer pages may be added eventually. Unfortunately my computer reboots every 30 to 60 seconds right now, so I can't do anything on the site until I figure out why that's happening. I can't afford a new one, so I'm stuck using this old hunk of junk that I'm typing on right now. As for Mike Voss, what the heck, I'll brag. I tracked him down a few months before the Apogee Legacy interview series and gave his address to Joe so that he could be interviewed. <Bows to loud, imaginary applause> Then he did the interview for 3DR and didn't do the interview I wrote for him for my website. Anyway, I'll ask him about the source code as soon as I get my address list back, but I can't promise a response. He passed up one kick ass interview, and I haven't heard from him ever since. __________________ "Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free DOS games at www.classicdosgames.com

02-14-2007, 09:13 PM	#67
The Cool One	Re: Hocus Pocus well I might as well try to help him with it __________________ It's time to kick ass and compile KDE and I'm all out of swap

02-19-2007, 09:49 PM	#68
szevvy	Re: Hocus Pocus DOSGuy, friend, pal. One of the greatest thorns in my side is Hocus Pocus sprite compression - should you ever engage in a conversation with said Mr Voss, would you mind asking if he remembers the basic gist of how it works?

02-19-2007, 11:31 PM	#69
DOSGuy	Re: Hocus Pocus I've made the request. __________________ "Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free DOS games at www.classicdosgames.com

02-22-2007, 12:16 PM	#70
Strongsad	Re: Hocus Pocus Is there any way to buy or download the early build of Hocus Pocus from March 1993? There are screenshots of it in Mike Voss's Apogee Legacy page.

02-26-2007, 10:51 PM	#72
nova10	Re: Hocus Pocus Does anyone have a copy of the Christmas mod for Hocus Pocus? The copy I found was corrupted.

02-28-2007, 09:05 PM	#73
Strongsad	Re: Hocus Pocus Here: http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/xmaspocus.rar I tried it, but after a while, I missed the old graphics.

03-31-2007, 01:14 PM	#74
DOSGuy	Re: Hocus Pocus I know that no one has posted here for a while, but I'm still getting emails and private messages from people who have read this thread, asking me for Mike Voss' email address. Here's how it is. I talked to Mike Voss on the phone in 2005 and asked him for his email address. He gave me an address assigned by a Canadian ISP. I have been unable to contact him at that address for about a year (since shortly after his Legacy interview), and I don't know anyone else who has gotten a response from him at that address. I suspect that he has changed ISPs. I have asked him about the source code, but I have not gotten a response. I do not currently have a valid email address for him. I'm sorry that I can't help you further. If I find a new email address for him in the future, I will ask him about the source code. __________________ "Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article." Get free DOS games at www.classicdosgames.com

03-31-2007, 03:51 PM	#75
CyberRaptor	Re: Hocus Pocus Ahh, Hocus Pocus. I remember playing that game with my friends in elementary school. Such fond memories. Too bad I only got to play the shareware version.

04-12-2007, 08:07 PM	#76
Violet CLM	Re: Hocus Pocus I keep forgetting about this forum! waves happily Umm, I have a Hocus Pocus level editor I've been working off and on (mostly off) for the last few years. It works great, mostly functional, honestly the main reason it's not done yet is that I've never been sure if people would actually use it. Also I haven't quite yet figured out some of the details of making blocks appear rather than disappear. If people express an interest, I could speed up work. Couple screenshots of stuff I've done in it: http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/sand cave.png http://www.tachyonlabs.com/sam/outdoors.png __________________ Free Jazz games Downloads for Jazz Discussion of Jazz