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When all of the survivors have been moved to New Hope, the first stage of the game ends. This causes the enemy spacecraft to disappear. However, this also causes the volcano to erupt. Its lava encroaches on New Hope and destroys its buildings, along with anyone on them. The ending of the first stage
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The mission takes place on a single large side-scrolling map, several times wider than the physical display. Smooth scrolling is used to keep the player roughly centred as they fly. If the player's ship hits the ground, buildings or the enemy spacecraft, it tumbles to the ground before being pulled
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Potter met with
Crystalware's owners, John Bell and his wife Patty. Bell outlined a new game and gave Potter a $ 4,000 advance on its completion. This took seven sleepless nights, and after delivering it in May 1981, Potter delivered another eleven programs for Crystalware between May and October.
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has two stages. In the first, the player flies the "Needlefighter" over a city that is under attack by an indestructible enemy spaceship. The spaceship flies over the city, beaming its citizens up one at a time and then flying to a nearby volcano to drop them in. To save them from this threat, the
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represents a breakthrough of sorts. The music in the program is excellent, and remains constant throughout the game--with the result of adding much character to its play. When your ship is downed, an ambulance shoots out to drag you away. The overall result is humorous--at least until frustration
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274:, which at that time was being run from Wolosenko's apartment in Berkley. Wolosenko took the time to test and debug the program before putting it back on the market. Its re-launch received much better reviews. Over the next year, Potter released five games for Synapse:
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also opens a passage protected by "laser gates". The player now ferries the people from New Hope through the laser-guarded gauntlet to the entrance of an underground fortress. When the last survivor is deposited in the entrance, the game ends.
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near the start of the game. The player's spaceship has picked up a citizen and is in the process of carrying them to New Hope, offscreen to the right.
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Potter started programming on the Atari home computers in 1980, after graduating from high school. His first product was a set of four games,
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The player attempts to rescue the citizens of a city from an impending volcanic explosion. The design of the game is inspired by
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player must fly over each of the people to pick them up, then carries them past the volcano to the City of New Hope.
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That month Potter questioned his royalties, and in return received a letter firing him, but returning the rights to
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away by an ambulance. There are several levels with increasingly difficult enemies and terrain.
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s "animation is mirror smooth", praising its horizontally scrolling graphics.
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programmed by Mike Potter and distributed first by
Crystalware and then
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This article is about the 1981 video game. For the 1999 video game, see
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Years later a game with Bell and Potter's names surfaced with the
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from
Williams Electronics, though not a direct clone. The sequel,
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Anderson, John (January–February 1982). "Atari Arcade".
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In
November 1981, Potter met with Ihor Wolosenko of
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501:; Small, David; Wolcott, Eric F. (Spring 1983).
365:in 1983 stated that the Atari 8-bit version of
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536:can be played for free in the browser at the
426:"The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers"
507:Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games
487:. Vol. 1, no. 2. pp. 22, 36.
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468:Hague, James (January 17, 2000).
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444:Anderson, John (November 1981).
394:Indiana Jones - Pyramids of Giza
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568:Human Engineered Software games
563:Horizontally scrolling shooters
503:"Atari Personal Computer Games"
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1:
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21:Protector (Atari Jaguar game)
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558:Atari 8-bit computer games
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573:Single-player video games
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363:Video & Arcade Games
446:"Not Just Fun in Games"
578:Synapse Software games
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170:port was published by
485:Computer Gaming World
470:"Mike Potter's Story"
348:Computer Gaming World
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160:Atari 8-bit computers
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450:Creative Computing
361:Creative Computing
325:. You can help by
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499:Anderson, John J.
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156:scrolling shooter
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132:Scrolling shooter
89:Alick Dziabczenko
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553:1981 video games
538:Internet Archive
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299:Shadow World
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51:Crystalware
47:Publisher(s)
235:Development
116:Atari 8-bit
100:Atari 8-bit
95:Platform(s)
83:Mike Potter
80:Atari 8-bit
65:Designer(s)
547:Categories
404:References
356:sets in!"
253:Auto Racer
154:is a 1981
533:Protector
525:Protector
367:Protector
353:Protector
334:July 2019
306:Reception
276:Protector
265:Protector
257:Cupertino
249:Gun Fight
220:Protector
210:Protector
202:Protector
174:in 1983.
151:Protector
69:John Bell
32:Protector
293:Nautilus
214:Defender
193:Gameplay
180:Defender
127:Genre(s)
287:Chicken
172:HesWare
138:Mode(s)
110:Release
58:HesWare
296:, and
251:, and
168:VIC-20
121:VIC-20
104:VIC-20
86:VIC-20
376:Notes
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119:1983:
114:1981:
390:Epyx
166:. A
158:for
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245:Nim
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
