Ladies and gentlemen, let me direct your attention to our center ring. In a few moments, high above your heads, you will see a performance that will chill and thrill you. You will see that great trapeze artist, Sammy Lightfoot, do things you wouldn't thought possible! Sammy will leap huge circus balls and fly through the air over scorching flames. With incredible balance and agility he will dodge lethal plungers to cross huge chasms. Finally to amaze and delight you, Sammy will swing on a trick rope, challenge the man-eating pumpkin and soar on a flying carpet! And now, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you that death-defying daredevil, Sammy Lightfoot!
Developed by Warren Schwader in 1983, this one-or-two-player game captures the cartoon spirit and graphic style of Donkey Kong without being a simple clone. Sammy is an acrobat who maneuvers his way through three different screens full of trampolines, rope swings, fire pits, giant circus balls, moving platforms, and flying carpets, among other things. If he makes it through all three screens, he starts over with more obstacles than before.
With Sammy Lightfoot, Warren Schwader discovered a way to do page flipping so that while viewing a static display on one of the pages, the other page was being modified, and then in an instant the pages were flipped so that the next screen was displayed without flicker. Sammy Lightfoot also employed a crude priority scheme where objects passed behind other objects instead of in front, which would produced an undesirable x-ray type of effect. Warren's knowledge of the Apple II and assembly language improved so much during that time that he could animate a hundred objects simultaneously without a noticeable slowdown.
Warren also wrote "Sammy's Icehouse" which was to be Sammy Lightfoot's sequel. It was a lot like the original Mario Brothers game. However even though Sierra was impressed with the Apple's capabilities when he showed them the sequel, they turned it down as the marketplace had changed drastically and there was little room left for Apple games.
Sammy Lightfoot was also converted for the Atari 400/800, ColecoVision and Commodore 64.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me direct your attention to our center ring. In a few moments, high above your heads, you will see a performance that will chill and thrill you. You will see that great trapeze artist, Sammy Lightfoot, do things you wouldn't thought possible! Sammy will leap huge circus balls and fly through the air over scorching flames. With incredible balance and agility he will dodge lethal plungers to cross huge chasms. Finally to amaze and delight you, Sammy will swing on a trick rope, challenge the man-eating pumpkin and soar on a flying carpet! And now, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you that death-defying daredevil, Sammy Lightfoot!
With Sammy Lightfoot, Warren Schwader discovered a way to do page flipping so that while viewing a static display on one of the pages, the other page was being modified, and then in an instant the pages were flipped so that the next screen was displayed without flicker. Sammy Lightfoot also employed a crude priority scheme where objects passed behind other objects instead of in front, which would produced an undesirable x-ray type of effect. Warren's knowledge of the Apple II and assembly language improved so much during that time that he could animate a hundred objects simultaneously without a noticeable slowdown.
