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Dark Star

RetrobrothersRetrobrothers
edited March 2012 in Games
Been playing Dark Star again and added it to my blog at
Dark Star

If anyone fancies a read :smile:

For me it's a real classic vector graphics game that still plays very nicely today.
Any thoughts?

Cheers all!
Post edited by Retrobrothers on

Comments

  • Matt_BMatt_B
    edited March 2012
    I'm rather fond of it, but I'd have to say that it never quite lived up to my initial impressions. The graphics are nice, if not quite as detailed as Starstrike, but the speed at which they move more than makes up for it; it's rare for a vector graphics game on the Spectrum to be on the borderline of unplayably fast but Dark Star somehow manges it.

    Alas, the gameplay doesn't really have that much depth. The deep space dog fights are over in seconds and once you've seen one hyperspace tunnel you've seen them all. Then, when you realize that all the cities have exactly the same layout, it's just one long slog until you finish it.

    Forbidden Planet ought to have offered a bit more variety, but unfortunately it's a bit of an impenetrable mess.
  • Rebelstar without a causeRebelstar without a cause
    edited March 2012
    I found it to be dark and starry.
  • spectrumlinuxspectrumlinux
    edited March 2012
    Dark Star was a great game in IMHO.
    Showed what the Spectrum was capable of if some thought went into the programming.
    Interestingly, the games author, Simon Brattel, created his own development machines based on the Z80 CPU. This at a time when most development houses went out and bought extremely expensive Sage's or IBM PC's to code on.
  • Maroc's Astral ProjectionMaroc's Astral Projection
    edited March 2012
    Good read.

    Vector graphic games generally leave me quite cold but then again I haven't given them much time.
  • Alessandro GrussuAlessandro Grussu
    edited March 2012
    Great game, really loved it and still fancy it. Check also its sequel, Forbidden Planet.
    Spectrumpedia, the most comprehensive book ever written about the Spectrum - Zankle Soft - Corrections for games incompatible with the +2A/+3 - TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC - SetoLOAD fast tape loading scheme
  • RetrobrothersRetrobrothers
    edited March 2012
    Maroc's Astral Projection wrote: »
    Good read.

    Vector graphic games generally leave me quite cold but then again I haven't given them much time.

    Thanks.

    As far as vector games go on the Speccy this one is up there with the best of em imho
  • rich_chandlerrich_chandler
    edited March 2012
    Dark Star is rapid, it was considered too fast at times.
    Simply excellent coding.
    I wanna tell you a story 'bout a woman I know...
  • csmithcsmith
    edited March 2012
    Yeah excellent coding. I was pretty much in awe of it at the time. Still one of my favourites, and not really being a game player, that fact I played it a lot has got to mean something......
  • RobeeeJayRobeeeJay
    edited March 2012
    Aye, such a great well coded game, so fast, something quite rare when vector graphics come into play on the speccy.
  • fogfog
    edited March 2012
    Retrobrothers wrote: »
    Any thoughts?

    Cheers all!

    some bloke called jon ritman did the loading screen for it, wonder what happened to him ;-)

    joking aside if you email Simon Brattel he's approachable / replies, if you had any questions. (thats how I found out who did the loading screen)
  • thx1138thx1138
    edited March 2012
    no smart bombs.....
  • takapatakapa
    edited March 2012
    Your blog is great. I often read it with a tear in my eye.
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    edited March 2012
    I had Dark Star and Forbidden Planets, but I never really liked either of them.

    What's so fun about a game where towers would randomly appear out the ground, flash at you and kill you before you could do anything about it?

    Ooh Help I'm dying I've just been attacked by a big square flashing lighthouse, that was nowhere near me oooooh! :D
    Every night is curry night!
  • SardSard
    edited March 2012
    Dark Star.. great stuff !! Loved it to bits. The sequel was looking good too, if it wasn't for the fact that I went and bought myself a bugged copy that would crash at random points and give you a telephone number to call to report it. Got exchanged for Starstrike 2 in the end. :)
  • fogfog
    edited March 2012
    takapa wrote: »
    Your blog is great. I often read it with a tear in my eye.

    well run a tap when your choppin onions then :)
  • ccowleyccowley
    edited March 2012
    Sard wrote: »
    Dark Star.. great stuff !! Loved it to bits. The sequel was looking good too, if it wasn't for the fact that I went and bought myself a bugged copy that would crash at random points and give you a telephone number to call to report it. Got exchanged for Starstrike 2 in the end. :)
    Well you should have called the number and reported it. I did, and spoke to Simon Brattel (the equivalent of phoning a rock star to this awe-struck 15-year-old). I must have told the story here before I guess, but he sent me out the bug-fixed version, with a special recorded audio message on the end of the tape. A genuinely decent fellow. Sadly, I no longer have my copy :(

    Have to agree with most other people here about Dark Star, and Forbidden Planet; both immense technological achievements and both massive games considering the hardware they had to run on. Not just the games themselves, but the UIs with their large menu systems, the hidden sub-games, the hi-score table that would answer you back and so on.

    Amazingly, I actually bought Halls of the Things, Dark Star, and Forbidden Planet... quite surprising when you consider the number of C90s full of games I had. :)
  • FikeeFikee
    edited March 2012
    karingal wrote: »
    Dark Star is rapid, it was considered too fast at times.
    Simply excellent coding.

    Not excellent coding but excellent design: most of lines are vertical or horizontal which can be drawn much faster than general line.
  • RetrobrothersRetrobrothers
    edited March 2012
    dm_boozefreek wrote: »
    I had Dark Star and Forbidden Planets, but I never really liked either of them.

    What's so fun about a game where towers would randomly appear out the ground, flash at you and kill you before you could do anything about it?

    Ooh Help I'm dying I've just been attacked by a big square flashing lighthouse, that was nowhere near me oooooh! :D

    Aaahhh but that's the thing! You can customise the game to make it very easy or impossibly hard

    Try it again and make it easy - it will become really playable :smile:
  • SardSard
    edited March 2012
    ccowley wrote: »
    Well you should have called the number and reported it. I did, and spoke to Simon Brattel (the equivalent of phoning a rock star to this awe-struck 15-year-old). I must have told the story here before I guess, but he sent me out the bug-fixed version, with a special recorded audio message on the end of the tape. A genuinely decent fellow. Sadly, I no longer have my copy :(

    Oh I did :)

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1380
  • ccowleyccowley
    edited March 2012
    Sard wrote: »
    Oh I did :)

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1380
    Heheh! Great description of the guy at the other end of the phone :lol: Sounds like they perfected their after-market care tecnique by the time I called, then. Or I just got lucky and caught them while they were awake/not stoned/feeling a bit more with it!
  • XTM of TMGXTM of TMG
    edited March 2012
    Dark Star? Great game ... even though playing it as a kid I had no idea what to do, but I loved the super-fast graphics.

    Shame Simon Brattel didn't stay on WoS for very long, I remember a thread (which I could find with ease but I simply won't bother) which started off nicely but turned into a debate about SPIN, resulting in him getting the hell out of this "chicken**** outfit". Considering a few WoSsers also recently succeeded in driving off the likes of Bob Pape, I hope this won't be a trend ...
  • ccowleyccowley
    edited March 2012
    XTM of TMG wrote: »
    Dark Star? Great game ... even though playing it as a kid I had no idea what to do, but I loved the super-fast graphics.

    Shame Simon Brattel didn't stay on WoS for very long, I remember a thread (which I could find with ease but I simply won't bother) which started off nicely but turned into a debate about SPIN, resulting in him getting the hell out of this "chicken**** outfit". Considering a few WoSsers also recently succeeded in driving off the likes of Bob Pape, I hope this won't be a trend ...
    *shrug* WoSF is not for everybody. It's a pity that more of the great and the good from the 80s don't come here, but it is what it is (Yes, a chickensh*t outfit. Ed). Never say never though, perhaps these people will return one day.
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