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Starquake (game)
Encyclopedia
Starquake is an arcade adventure, platform
and maze
game written by Dave Collins and Stephen Crow
and published by Bubble Bus software in 1985. It was released for Commodore 64
, MSX
, ZX Spectrum
, Amstrad CPC
, Atari XL, Tatung Einstein
(all 1985), the BBC Micro
(1987) and IBM Compatible and Atari ST
(both 1988). An Amiga
version was planned for 1991 but was never released.
arrangement. Some of the items encountered will be useful to repair the core, while others will need to be exchanged using a Cheops Pyramid for something more useful. There is also an Access card, which can fill in for any of the numbered chips needed to get through some doors, and for using the aforementioned Pyramid.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
and maze
Maze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
game written by Dave Collins and Stephen Crow
Stephen Crow
Stephen Crow is a game programmer who worked in the 1980s on the ZX Spectrum platform, programming for companies such as Hewson Consultants and Bubble Bus Software. He also worked with members of the Graftgold team...
and published by Bubble Bus software in 1985. It was released for Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Atari XL, Tatung Einstein
Tatung Einstein
The Tatung Einstein was an eight-bit home/personal computer produced by Taiwanese corporation Tatung, designed in Bradford, England at Tatung's research laboratories and assembled in Bridgnorth and Telford, England. It was aimed primarily at small businesses....
(all 1985), the BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
(1987) and IBM Compatible and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
(both 1988). An Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
version was planned for 1991 but was never released.
Plot
The player controls BLOB (Bio-Logically Operated Being), whose starship has crashed on a planet. The crash destabilised the core of this planet, and you have to find its parts which are scattered all through the planet and fix it before it explodes. The natural inhabitants of the planet don't like your presence and keep trying to kill you.Gameplay
There are several features of Starquake which help it stand out from other platform games of the era.Transportation
Within the game, there are many ways to get around;- Running is the default, and Blob can move pretty quickly.
- Hover platforms can be used to fly. Items can't be picked up while on a hover platform, though.
- Blob can build his own short-lived platforms to reach high places.
- There are also multiple teleportTeleportationTeleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
booths scattered around the play area, each with its own destination code.
Inventory
Blob is able to carry up to four items at once, using a FIFOFIFO
FIFO is an acronym for First In, First Out, an abstraction related to ways of organizing and manipulation of data relative to time and prioritization...
arrangement. Some of the items encountered will be useful to repair the core, while others will need to be exchanged using a Cheops Pyramid for something more useful. There is also an Access card, which can fill in for any of the numbered chips needed to get through some doors, and for using the aforementioned Pyramid.
Play Area
The game features a large and varied play area, with 512 screens. The placement of the objects, and the identities of those needed to fix the core are never the same.Trivia
- The game contains visual references to Alien 8Alien 8Alien 8 is a ZX Spectrum video game. It was written by Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper of Ultimate Play The Game, and was released by the company in 1985. The game was also ported to the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC and MSX platforms. It is the follow-up to Ultimate's Knight Lore, which had been released...
by UltimateUltimate Play the GameUltimate Play The Game was a critically acclaimed video game developer of the early home computer era. "Ultimate Play The Game" was the trading name of Ashby Computers & Graphics Ltd. , a software company founded in 1982 by two ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper...
which was very popular at the time of release. - The game contains references to the "Jetman" cartoon strip by John Richardson published in CrashCRASH (magazine)Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
magazine.