Rescue on Fractalus!

Revision as of 20:27, 24 July 2011 (view source) Steve Rabin (Talk | contribs) m (Added genres.) ← Older edit		Revision as of 20:32, 24 July 2011 (view source) Steve Rabin (Talk | contribs) m (Added more details for how it was received.) Newer edit →
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	==Reception by Public==		==Reception by Public==
−	The game received great reviews in the press, such as Omni Magazine.	+	The game received great reviews in the press, such as Omni Magazine. On the Atari 5200, Rescue on Fractalus! is considered one of the most innovative games ever developed for the system ([http://www.giantbomb.com/rescue-on-fractalus/61-841/ Giant Bomb review]).
	==References==		==References==

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Revision as of 20:32, 24 July 2011

This page is part of the History Of Game AI project curated by the AI Game Programmers Guild. Game Index -- AI Architecture Index -- Game AI Eras

Rescue on Fractalus!
Developer:	Lucasfilm Games
Publisher:	Epyx, Atari, Activision
Year:	1984
Platforms:	Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, TRS-80 CoCo, ZX Spectrum
Genre:	Flight simulator, Action, Shooter
AI Era:	Simple Hard-coded Rules

Rescue on Fractalus! was a spaceship flight simulator in which the goal was rescue stranded pilots on an alien world.

Contents 1 Description of AI Behavior 2 Architectures 2.1 Procedural Terrain Generation 3 Post-Mortem 3.1 What Worked 3.2 What Didn't Work 4 Reception by Public 5 References 6 External Links

Description of AI Behavior

Rescue on Fractalus! featured procedural terrain generation using fractals, which visually set the game apart from others at the time.

Architectures

Procedural Terrain Generation

At the Lucasfilm Computer Division, Loren Carpenter was the primary creator of the fractal mountains in Star Trek 2's "Genesis effect" (video). Later he was asked by office mate David Fox if there might be a way to do similar fractal mountains on the Atari 800. Loren took home an Atari and within several weeks prototyped the fractal terrain for Rescue on Fractalus!.

Post-Mortem

What Worked

The fractal procedural terrain set the game apart with a unique visual look.

What Didn't Work

Due to the limited number of colors and processing power, the terrain was one color with jagged outlines. This made it a little difficult to make sense of the terrain depth when trying to land near a pilot. To help with navigation, an indicator in the top center gave additional information as to how close the ship was to the left and right mountains.

Reception by Public

The game received great reviews in the press, such as Omni Magazine. On the Atari 5200, Rescue on Fractalus! is considered one of the most innovative games ever developed for the system (Giant Bomb review).

References

Reminiscing: Rescue on Fractalus, June 1997

Wikipedia, 2011

BALLBLAZER and Rescue on Fractalus! A very brief personal history, Peter Langston, 2005

External Links

Gameplay video