Talk:Mercenary (video game)

Main image is of a loading screen?!
I apologise for inadvertantly removing content (that was a mistake, probably caused by editing the wrong version when I was comparing). However, the fact remains that when I load this page, the *only* picture visible in my browser window is this pointless picture of the loading screen.

It doesn't represent or resemble the cover art in *any* way; the lettering isn't the same as the logo on the cover, and there's no "wireframe" art. (The Atari version had a replica of the logo, but this version clearly doesn't).

Bearing that in mind, is it not preferable to have something that at least represents the game, and bears some resemblance to the cover art?

Why is the cover art getting precedence over screenshots of the game itself anyway?

Fourohfour 16:55, 3 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree about the pointlessness of the loading screen. Some games at least have one worth showing, but Mercenary isn't one of them!  I suggested the cover art because this is what most articles on games use.  I think I can get hold of it as well, and will try to do so over the next few days.  If I can't get it, I'll switch back to the screenshot.  Cheers, --Plumbago 17:03, 3 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Ah-ha. Just followed your link.  That's what I had in mind - maybe a slightly better quality image.  --Plumbago 17:04, 3 March 2006 (UTC)


 * The scan isn't mine, BTW; it was the one I linked to above. I figure that gb64 have no claim on it, as all they've done is scan it; had it been an original work obviously that would have been different. I've no problem with you replacing it with a higher quality one if you want to. Fourohfour 17:12, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Separate entries
These games really need separate entries, they're far too different and detailed to be clumped-together in one entry. --Zagrebo 00:36, 7 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I disagree. Beyond the scale of each environment (single planet vs. solar system), they boil down to the same thing: collecting objects, moving objects to appropriate places, and hence solving puzzles.  The games have narrative continuity, a common appearance and the same style of gameplay.  Separating this single article into three (or four) smaller ones will simply make the series lose coherence (unless each entry repetitively trots out the same intro text).  More importantly, unless these smaller articles get beefed up with all manner of FAQ-like information, they'll wind up being too small (only really Damocles is sizeable).  Far better, I feel, for their modest entries to be combined in a good-sized article.  Admittedly, I did write a lot of this article, so am somewhat wedded to it, but I really can't see splitting the series up improving its coverage in the Wikipedia.  In fact, I suspect that, on their own, re-merging or deletion would be their fate.  Cheers, --Plumbago 09:53, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Commodore 16
Hello. I have played Mercenary that time on a Commodore 16. I don't know without (16KB) or with (64KB) extra memory. Greetings --Heiko A (talk) 17:22, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

The complete game would never fit within 16KBytes of memory. It would have been with the extra memory option, as indicated for example in this review.

Fair use rationale for Image:Mercenary cover.gif
Image:Mercenary cover.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 00:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Damocles: changing geometry of the universe?
I played Damocles many years ago and loved it, and one thing I remember is that when you manage to get to the author's computer you get the capability to change various aspects of the game. One of these turned out to the be geometry of the universe. You could switch between spherical, hyperbolic and flat (the default). This was a weird and very cool effect that's probably unique in the world of the video games, and might be worth a mention. Somebody who's still got access to the game would need to check to confirm this, though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Agdraconis (talk • contribs) 18:53, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Parameter 2 of the author's computer is the binary logarithm value used in creating a focus effect in calculating the projection of the transformed 3D graphics points onto the 2D plane (i.e. display). Think of this value acting like the camera lens, and consider the difference between e.g. a 28mm and 135mm lens. Changing this value from the default value of 8 (=> value of 2^8 = 256) to other values causes differences as f in the equations x' = (x/z)*f and y' = (y/z)*f used in the projection algorithm. The particularly observant player may notice that the Gamma System uses a slightly "wider lens" value (8) than is used on the planet Targ (7), resulting in the Gamma System buildings seeming a little stockier than the narrower ones on Targ. More generally, smaller values result in more extreme projections (as if down a cylinder) whereas larger values (limited to 10 in the game) result in a wider and more shallower image. When displaying views in space, as opposed to on the planet surface, the star positions seem to take on unusual positions resulting in distortions such as the spherical / hyperbolic / flat phenomena you mention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.70.2.215 (talk) 21:09, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Google Ocean's anomalous seafloor topography resemblance to the city in the game
Near the Canary Islands, off the West African coast, lies an interesting area that resembles Mercenary's city. Although satellites cannot measure or photograph ocean floors, and hence the rectangular geometry shown by Google Ocean cannot be verified with actual topography, it remains possible that marine surveys conducted in this area have actually produced this anomaly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miqqo (talk • contribs) 22:12, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Screenshots
Further to the recent complete deletion of screenshots by Rettetast, on grounds of WP:NFCC rules #3 and #8, I've restored one image per title. I think fewer screenshots should satisfy #3 (at least #3a) and, given that this is a videogame, interpret #8 as permitting screenshots (a picture is worth a thousand words, etc.). When I've some more time, I will decrease the resolution of the screenshots to satisfy #3b. --P LUMBAGO 15:07, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Zzap! April fool joke (Mercenary 4): is it notable enough to be mentioned?
Between 1996 and 1999, the computer magazine Zzap! was revived as an Italian online magazine about PC games. In issue 101, which came out in April 1998, Zzap! issued a faux review about a fourth episode of the Mercenary series, titled The Eleventh Planet. According to the review, the plot was about a rogue planet returning into the Gamma system, allowing its inhabitants to try and conquer the whole system. I saved, mirrored and translated into English that review, and I also explained how the fake screenshots were obtained, both in Italian and English. Is this April fool joke notable enough to be mentioned in the article? Devil Master (talk) 11:50, 11 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Seems a not unreasonable addition. It could go in the reception section.  Do you have any sources re: this Italian version of Zzap?  It's not mentioned at the moment in the Zzap! article, so adding reference to it here may cause confusion unless there's something to explain the magazine's Italian incarnation.  Cheers, --P LUMBAGO  07:27, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I just checked at The Wayback Machine. Unfortunately, all they have is two pages that link to Zzap!, one of which also shows the logo ( and ) but the online magazine itself was never archived. Years ago I had asked Paolo Besser (who was the director of the resurrected Zzap!) if he had archived anything of it, and he answered: "Well, actually I don't know. I wonder where those files have gone..." It looks like what I archived is all that survived. Devil Master (talk) 20:29, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Origin of first Mercenary 1 screenshot
That comes from the Atari ST version, not the MDDClone. The difference is in the letters after the word "Benson". In the Atari ST version they are "G9-ST", in the Amiga version they are "G9-CA" and in the MDDClone they are "G9-PC".

List of print sources
Found a list of print sources here, for those interested czar ♔  23:09, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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I have just modified 16 external links on Mercenary (video game). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071103175441/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena1.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena1.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added tag to http://www.commodore16.com/index.php/software/47-games/393-mercenary-compendium-.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071103175441/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena1.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena1.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070603142332/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070525111356/http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm to http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm

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Source

 * https://archive.org/details/edgeuk153/page/n93

Program internals
Someone wrote the following: "The 8-bit versions used log and antilog tables to perform the matrix multiplication which used 3 × 3 16:8 fixed-point arithmetic.[citation needed] Since the viewpoint could not be rotated, some operations used 2 × 2 matricies. The line-draw was optimized by using symmetrical lines so the line was drawn from the centre outwards, simple logic operations allowed 2 pixels to be drawn from a single vector calculation."

There are a few issues raised here: the mathematical calculations, the graphics model and the line draw operations.

There is a mathematical "module" in each version that provides binary floating point operations e.g. multiply/divide, add, sin/cos, sqr/sqrt and so on. The representation depends on the version e.g. the ZX Spectrum version uses 16-bit values of the form eeeeee?s mmmmmmmm i.e. a 6 bit 2s complement exponent value, an unused bit, a sign bit, and an 8-bit mantissa. The multiply/divide is achieved using logarithms. There is a log table - 256 values calculated using ROUND((LOG(1+(x/256),2)*256,0) - and an exponent ("antilog") table - 256 values calculated as ROUND((POWER(2,(x/256))-1)*256,0). There is also a table of 1 quadrant of SIN(x), which is reflected/inverted to provide all quadrants and offset for COS(x).

The viewpoint can actually be rotated. The camera position is represented in 3D space as an (X,Y,Z) position with roll (alpha), pitch (beta), and heading (gamma) angles. On each game loop, the view is updated depending on the mode e.g. flying around outside, walking outside or walking underground. The rotation matrix is calculated, and applied to the various visible vertices. The nearest that the system comes to 2 x 2 matrices is that some structures are animated e.g. the tetrahedron at 08-08: in this case, the X and Z vertices are rotated around the structure center.

Edges are drawn during scene rendering using the Bresenham's line algorithm, which is self-modified for a subset of the vertices to plot every other pixel giving a hashed effect. Each edge has a variety of properties e.g. start vertex is clipped, end vertex is clipped, and draw to up/down/left/right. This enables the software to use a highly optimized block of code for each line, rather than trying to provide a general Draw(x0,y0,x1,y1) routine.

Source: I am a computer scientist who has disassembled the 8 and 16-bit versions of Mercenary, as well as the 16-bit sequels. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.160.246.146 (talk) 20:30, 7 February 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi there. Thanks for this. It'd be nice to have a short paragraph in the main body describing this - is there a source we could use for this? I appreciate that what you deleted from the article was - as well as inaccurate - unsourced, so it would be good to replace it with something sourced. Possible? Cheers, —P LUMBAGO 09:25, 12 February 2020 (UTC)


 * What exactly do you mean by "this" e.g. the graphics pipeline, the game engine or something else? As for a source, the ultimate reference would really be the games themselves - although that does seem somewhat obscure. Novagen Software is defunct, and the lead programmer Paul Woakes died in 2017. Paul didn't exactly do interviews, and Bruce Jordan didn't want the source code to the PC port (MDDClone) released because some of the algorithms were still being used in a commercial product (Lighting Reality) with which they were - and, at least at the time of writing, Tim Boscher is still - associated.


 * I think I meant any or all of the technical information that you added earlier. It seems more thorough than what the article previously carried about the games' technical details. Regarding a source, the games themselves can't be that (because these details are "hidden"; in part for the commercial reasons you note), but articles about the games in which these were reproduced would be good. Anyway, while it would be nice to reference the techniques used in the games, if there's no such source, such is life. In any case, thanks for pointing this out here! Cheers, —P LUMBAGO 14:30, 17 February 2020 (UTC)