kevin@voder.UUCP (The Last Bugfighter) (05/30/85)
Several of the programmers of Lucasfilm's Entertainment Game Division
were at BAYCON `85 (the bay area science fiction-fantasy convention held
in San Jose over Memorial day weekend) and in addition to showing two of
their current games they also displayed two new games currently under
developement which were shown at BAYCON for the first time anywhere.
Rescue at Fractalus:
In this game you are piloting a rescue ship whose mission is to save
stranded pilots from the Jaggies (their real name is impossible to spell
let alone pronounce). You cruise between mountain ranges and down canyons
while being atacked by the Jaggies laser canons which you can destroy or
avoid, all the while watching your radar to find grounded ships.
Once a stranded ship is found you must land and rescue the pilot. You
better not wait too long before opening your airlock though, because the
atmosphere is corrosive and will destroy the pilot's suit. Better not
open it too soon as Jaggies like to hide in empty ships and you might let
one aboard if you're not carefull.
The terrain is mappable and uses fractal mathamatics to generate
realistic mountains and valleys. All the instruments in your complex
control panel serve a purpose and when night falls (every five minutes)
you're going to have to fly by instrument.
Not only is this game impressive but the opening graphics alone are
better than many other games!
Ballblazer:
Here you control a pod across a checkerboard-like grid, the object is
to blast the ball into your opponents goal posts which are moving back and
forth across one side. Your opponent is of course trying to do the same
thing by stealing the ball from you or using his repulsor field to blow
it out of your grasp. The screen is split in two with one pod's view on
top and the other on the bottom.
This game is incredibly fast and the resolution of the game grid as it
scrolls past (for both upper and lower screens) is amazing. The sound
effects and music are also excellent.
Pirate copies of both these games exist in profusion, however these
copies are apparently of the original 16k ROM games Lucasfilm was doing
for Atari Inc. They were prototypes and did not have all the bugs worked
out or all the features of the final versions which are 48k disks sold by
Epyx.
Eidolon:
This is one of the games Lucasfilm has under developement. While
searching through an old mansion you find a somewhat victorian-looking
device hidden in the basement (sort of like an H.G. Wells time machine).
Even though the machine is old it appears to be working, and when you
enter it you find yourself suddenly traveling through an underground
cavern filled with fireballs and an assortment of nasty and unusual mon-
sters. The monsters are all fully animated at 60 frames per second
(faster than movie film) and both the smoothness and the resolution of
the animation is excellent. Although full sound effects were not avialable
yet this game will undoubtedly represent state-of-the-art for micro-computer
games. This game also requires strategy in order to get past the guardian
to descend to lower levels.
Kronos Rift:
An ancient race, now long vanished, once used the planet you're on as
an advanced weapons testing grounds. Many of the old systems remain and
it's your job to patrol the surface in your tank and recover them for
your government's use. But be careful, not all of the old weapons left
worked properly and they can destroy you! Also watch out for the guardian
saucers that patrol the planet to prevent the unathorized from stealing
the weapons.
Your crew consists of a robot (whose name has to be changed to avoid
copyright problems) who controls most of the systems onboard your tank.
This game uses such tricks as having mountains in the background slowly
fade into view as you approach them as if they're appearing through the
clouds.
This was the least developed of the two new games but shows a lot of
promise. All of the games use such techniques as pixel averaging (anti-
aliasing) and several shades of grey scale to give the impression of much
higher resolution than normal.
Both Rescue and Ballblazer are currently available for Atari Computers,
Commodore versions should be available soon with Apple sometime later this
year. Responding to a question from the audience one programmer said that
they design for Atari computers first as they have the best graphic
capabilities. Then they modify for Commodore, then Apple, and if possible
IBM.
---
Kevin Thompson {ucbvax,ihnp4!nsc}!voder!kevin
"It's sort of a threat, you see. I've never been very good at them
myself but I'm told they can be very effective."cem@intelca.UUCP (Chuck McManis) (06/03/85)
Last I heard "Rescue on Fractalus" and "Ballblazer" were to be released
with the mythical atari "7800" that electronic games did a spread on.
I didn't ever see the machine or the games. What were they running on
at BAYCON?
--Chuck
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