The player acts as the ruler of a "weyr", a mountaintop redoubt where the people of the planet Pern raise dragons in order to protect against periodic invasions of deadly "thread" that falls from a nearby planet. The game is primarily a strategic one, in which the user attempts to form alliances, but it also includes an action portion where the player controls a dragon in an attempt to destroy falling thread.
The game was considered a forerunner of similar games based on novels.[1] A sequel for the Commodore 64, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, was cancelled and not completed.[2]
Plot
In the novels, the world of Pern is in a semi-feudal state of development. The majority of the population belongs to one of many Holds, which are similar to principalities or duchies.
Pern is at the mercy of the Thread, a deadly microorganism native to another planet in the Pern solar system. When the two planets periodically approach each other in orbit every few hundred years, the organisms form into long strings of thread that cross the gap through space.
The Weyrs are dedicated to the raising and training of dragons, whose fiery breath is the only effective weapon against the Thread. Only the combined forces of many Weyrs could hope to deal with the Thread on a global basis, but internecine political battles between the Holds, Weyrs, and powerful Guilds prevent any sort of global response.
The first book, Dragonflight, is primarily focused on the efforts of Benden Weyr's new dragon master to form an alliance to fight the soon-to-arrive Thread. It has been hundreds of years since the last approach of the two planets, and the planet is ill-prepared for its return.
Gameplay
A thread fight. The dragon is in the upper right corner of the screen in the frontmost of three "depths". Thread is falling on two of these depths; the larger Threads (like those lower on the screen) at the front, and smaller Threads (examples at the top) in the middle depth.
Like the books, Dragonriders focuses on the strategic need to form alliances between the Holds, Weyrs, and Guilds. It also had the option of periodic action sequences in which the player has to fight the Thread directly.
The game is divided into turns, each representing one 240-day year. The player can select any game length from 1 to 99 turns when the game is being set up. Game setup also allows the player to select the speed of the game which affects how long messages are displayed. Gameplay can stretch into hours, depending on the number of turns selected. The player is offered a chance to save the game to disk at the end of every turn.[1] The game could also be played by between one and four players on the Atari, and one or two players on the C64, each using separate joysticks. The Commodore 64 could have up to 4 players if the paddle (game controller) and keyboard were used.
During each turn, the user is initially presented with a screen showing ongoing negotiations between the various factions in the game, as the date continues to increase in real time. At any time, the player can decide to start negotiations of his own, which may be the formation of an alliance, or a more mundane attempt to influence future negotiations through invitations to a wedding or hatching. Watching the ongoing negotiations between the computer-controlled Holds is important, as it often provides clues to the next Holds to contact.[1]
While negotiations are taking place, a map of Pern periodically appears, highlighting a Hold where Thread is falling. Any of the Weyrs can choose to send dragons to fight the Thread, and how many to send. The outcome of these battles has a major influence on the Weyr's perception among the Holds, so sending dragons to allies, or potential allies, has a major outcome during the next turn. When the turn ends, thread is fought.[1]
If the player has chosen to send dragons to a Hold, this launches an action sequence, with the player controlling one of the Dragonriders, maneuvering the dragon and firing its breath to destroy the Thread falling from the top of the screen. Thread that touches the dragon injures and eventually kills it, and the player attempts to survive to the end of the sequence with the number of dragons he decided to send.[1]
One twist to the action sequence was the inclusion of a 3-D capability known as "depths". Each "depth" was a separate 2-D side-view play field on which the Thread was falling, stacked onscreen, and indicated by scaling the size of the Thread and dragon. Selecting one depth produced a simple 2-D playfield, but this could be increased up to three, allowing the user to move "into" the screen among the layers.[1] Adding layers made the gameplay more complex, but spread the Thread across the layers, and thereby provided more room to maneuver.
The game is score-based, with points being awarded for successful negotiations and alliances. Games end when the pre-selected number of turns expire, a certain number of points are reached, or a certain number of Holds become Thread-infested.[1]
The Atari version had some bugs in which Holds you were allied with would suddenly become unallied and thread would be grounded even though you had kept all the thread off the ground during the arcade sequence.
Development
Dragonriders was developed during a key period of the development of Epyx, what amounted to a "battle for the creative vision of Epyx".[2]
Originally formed as Automated Simulations in 1978 as a partnership between Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, the company had initially concentrated on wargame titles like Starfleet Orion. The release of the famed Temple of Apshai in 1979 took the company away from its hardcore market into a more action-oriented space. Concerned about brand dilution, the company introduced the Epyx brand to cover these titles. As these were very successful, the Epyx brand became more widely used than its parent company's name.[2]
By 1982 the company had grown very large and Freeman left to work on his own (forming Free Fall Associates). Although Connelley was ostensibly in control of the company, in effect he had removed himself from the day-to-day operations to focus on development. This led to the formation of an internal development team under his direction, known as "The Connelley Group".[2] During this period, the company continued moving its focus from simulations and wargames to action titles. By 1983 the company's management was focusing on the Epyx brand, and changed the name of the company to match.[2]
Dragonriders was one of the last games designed to the original vision of the thinking man's game company. Although Dragonriders garnered critical praise, its release was overshadowed by the pure-action game Jumpman, a huge success. Connelley left with his team soon after, and this was his last game at Epyx.[2]
A board game based on the same basic premise was also released in 1983 by Mayfair Games. Like the Epyx game, the board game concentrated on the diplomatic efforts of one to seven players, with the same basic victory conditions. Unlike the Epyx version, there was no action sequence.[3] The parallels between the gameplay dynamics of the two games are striking, but existing sources do not record whether or not this was due to a collaborative effort.
Reception
Pern received mixed reviews when it arrived. Compute! granted it a lengthy review, calling it "offbeat" and suggesting it to players looking for something different than "shooting up the same retreaded space ships" or typing "look under rock".[4]Computer Gaming World was even more hesitant, suggesting that those looking for action would be better off elsewhere, while those looking for complex strategy would find the game would "appeal to you".[5] In a 1992 survey of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two stars out of five, stating that "it offers some interesting features, but it is dated and primitive" and mentioning DragonStrike as a superior clone.[6]
Related Research Articles
Dragonflight is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. First published by Ballantine Books in July 1968, it was a fix-up of two novellas which between them had made McCaffrey the first woman writer to win a Hugo and a Nebula Award.
Dragonriders of Pern is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 24 novels and two collections of short stories. The two novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight, made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for writing fiction as well as the first to win a Nebula Award.
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983. Epyx published a long series of games through the 1980s. The company is currently owned by Bridgestone Multimedia Group Global.
Dragonsong is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Released by Atheneum Books in March 1976, it was the third to appear set on the world Pern of the Dragonriders of Pern. In its time, however, Dragonsong brought the fictional planet Pern to a new publisher, editor, and target audience of young adults, and soon became the first book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy. The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy with Ballantine Books was not completed until after the publication of Dragonsong and its sequel.
Temple of Apshai is a dungeon crawl role-playing video game developed and published by Automated Simulations in 1979. Originating on the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, it was followed by several updated versions for other computers between 1980 and 1986.
The Dragons of Pern are a fictional race created by Anne McCaffrey as an integral part of the science fiction world depicted in her Dragonriders of Pern novels.
Jon Freeman is a game designer and co-founder of software developer Automated Simulations, which was later renamed to Epyx and became a major company during the 8-bit era of home computing. He is married to game programmer Anne Westfall, and they work together as Free Fall Associates. Free Fall is best known for Archon: The Light and the Dark, one of the earliest titles from Electronic Arts.
Winter Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx, based on sports featured in the Winter Olympic Games.
The White Dragon is a science fantasy novel by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It completes the original Dragonriders trilogy in the Dragonriders of Pern series, seven years after the second book. It was first published by Del Rey Books in June 1978.
All the Weyrs of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published in 1991, it was the eleventh book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Dragonsblood is a science fiction novel by Todd McCaffrey in the Dragonriders of Pern series that his mother Anne McCaffrey initiated in 1967. Published in 2005, this was the first with Todd as sole author and the nineteenth in the series.
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the seventh book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series.
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall is a 1993 collection of short fiction by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. All five stories are set on the fictional planet Pern; First Fall is one of two collections in the science fiction series Dragonriders of Pern.
Red Star Rising or Dragonseye is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the fourteenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.
Dragon Harper is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey, part of the Dragonriders of Pern series that she initiated in 1967. Published forty years later, it was the twenty-first in the series.
A Gift Of Dragons is a 2002 collection of short fiction by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. All four stories are set on the fictional planet Pern; the book is one of two collections in the science fiction series Dragonriders of Pern by Anne and her son Todd McCaffrey.
Dragonheart is a science fiction novel by Todd McCaffrey in the Dragonriders of Pern series that his mother Anne McCaffrey initiated in 1967. Published by Del Rey Books in 2008, it was the second for Todd as sole author and the twenty-second in the series. Written after his first book, Dragonsblood, it is a concurrent-time book as opposed to a prequel or sequel.
Pitstop is a 1983 racing video game developed and published by Epyx for the Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Coleco Adam, and Commodore 64. A sequel, Pitstop II, was released in 1984.
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