Gridrunner

Last updated

Gridrunner
Llamasoft Gridrunner iOS Logo.png
Developer(s) Jeff Minter
Publisher(s)
Platform(s) VIC-20, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32
Remakes
Atari ST, Amiga, Pocket PC, Windows, iOS, Android
Release1982
Genre(s) Fixed shooter

Gridrunner is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels have followed, including versions for the Atari ST, Amiga, Pocket PC, Microsoft Windows, and iOS.

Contents

Gameplay

The game is similar to the Atari, Inc. arcade game Centipede , with long, segmented enemies that progress in a zig-zag fashion and can be broken apart. Players control a small ship that can fire upwards and move freely around the screen. The player must also avoid pulses emitted by the X-Y zappers which patrol the edges of the grid. The game has twenty waves of enemies to complete. [1]

Development

Llamasoft released Gridrunner in 1982 for the unexpanded VIC-20. The game was written over the course of a single week, which Minter refers to as "the best week of work I've ever done." [2] Although it draws its inspiration from the arcade game Centipede [3] [4] with the concept of a snake-like enemy descending the screen through a series of obstacles (mushrooms in centipede, pods in Gridrunner) it plays much faster. Versions of the game appeared for several of the home computers of the early 1980s.

The name of the game was inspired by posters advertising the film Blade Runner . [5]

Reception

In April 1983, the game topped the US computer game sales chart. [6] In 1984, The Commodore 64 Home Companion advised "forget the plot; fast action is the name of this game". [7]

Legacy

In 1983, Minter released Matrix: Gridrunner 2, which retained much of the original's gameplay, but introduced new enemy types and a scrolling background. It was first published on the Commodore 64, and ported to other platforms. This title was released in the US as Attack of the Mutant Camels, a title taken from an unrelated Llamasoft title released in the UK. A second sequel, Voidrunner, followed in 1987, which abandons the grid backgrounds, and features more colorful and elaborate graphics.

In 1991, Llamasoft released Super Gridrunner for the Atari ST. The first 32-bit title in the series, it added power-ups to the series for the first time, while retaining the basic elements of a single-screen shooter. This would be the last entry in the series for over a decade, during which time Jeff partnered with Atari on updates to the Tempest and Defender series.

Gridrunner was revived in 2002 with Gridrunner++ , a shareware downloadable title released on Llamasoft's website. Featuring retro sprite-based visuals and faster-paced gameplay on a scrolling field, it proved popular with fans. A sequel followed in 2009. Originally developed under the working title Gridrunner+++ it was released on Windows PCs as Gridrunner Revolution, after a newly introduced rotation mechanic. This version also made heavy use of Minter's "light synth" tech, with colorful, psychedelic visuals. It's also the only title in the series with a full musical soundtrack.

Later versions

In 2012, Llamasoft released a reimagined version for iOS, simply titled Gridrunner. This version pared the game back to a style reminiscent of early 1980s arcade games. Eurogamer called it "the best shooter on iOS," [8] and Touch Arcade described it as "a retro remake done right". [9] It was later ported to Android as shareware.

In 2018, Llamasoft released Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1 on PC and PS4. This compilation release features a new iteration of Gridrunner and GoatUp, using 3D voxel-based graphics. Like the iOS version before it, this version is simply titled Gridrunner, and features a retro-arcade aesthetic, but unlike its predecessor, it features changing 3D perspectives, new enemy types, and new power-ups.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Minter</span> British video game designer

Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants. Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including Trip-a-Tron.

<i>Centipede</i> (video game) 1981 video game

Centipede is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.

<i>Boulder Dash</i> (video game) 1984 video game

Boulder Dash is a 2D maze-puzzle video game released in 1984 by First Star Software for Atari 8-bit computers. It was created by Canadian developers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray. The player controls Rockford, who collects treasures while evading hazards.

<i>Llamatron</i> 1991 video game programmed by Jeff Minter

Llamatron is a multidirectional shooter video game programmed by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft and released in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga and in 1992 for MS-DOS. Based on Robotron: 2084, players of Llamatron control the eponymous creature in an attempt to stop an alien invasion of Earth and rescue animals—referred to as "Beasties"—for points. Players advance by destroying all of the enemies on each level using a laser that fires automatically in the direction that the Llamatron is moving. Various power-ups exist to aid the player in defeating the wide variety of enemies and obstacles they face along the way.

<i>Robotron: 2084</i> 1982 video game

Robotron: 2084 is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans in a cybernetic revolt. The aim is to defeat endless waves of robots, rescue surviving humans, and earn as many points as possible.

<i>Revenge of the Mutant Camels</i> 1984 video game

Revenge of the Mutant Camels is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Jeff Minter for the Commodore 64 and published by Llamasoft in 1984. Enhanced versions for the Atari ST, Amiga, and IBM PC were released in 1992 as shareware.

<i>Tempest 2000</i> 1994 video game

Tempest 2000 is a tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in North America on 13 April, 1994. It was released in Europe on 27 June and in Japan on 15 December of the same year, with the Japanese release being published by Mumin Corporation. Part of Atari Corp.'s 2000 series, it is a remake by Jeff Minter of Dave Theurer's 1981 arcade game Tempest, which used Atari's QuadraScan vector color display technology.

<i>Attack of the Mutant Camels</i> 1983 video game

Attack of the Mutant Camels is a surrealist computer game written by Jeff Minter and released for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family in 1983 by Minter's Llamasoft. The horizontally scrolling shooter is similar to the Atari 2600 game The Empire Strikes Back (1982), with AT-AT walkers replaced by giant camels. Confusingly, a very different game from Jeff Minter's Gridrunner series was also released in the US under the name Attack of the Mutant Camels.

Trip-a-Tron is a light synthesizer written by Jeff Minter and published through his Llamasoft company in 1988. It was originally written for the Atari ST and later ported to the Amiga in 1990 by Andy Fowler.

<i>Gridrunner++</i> 2002 video game

Gridrunner++ is a shoot 'em up written by Jeff Minter for Pocket PC, then for Windows. It has since been ported to Mac OS X and iOS. It was only available as shareware for download from the Llamasoft website, with a registration fee of £5. It was followed-up by Gridrunner Revolution (2009) and Gridrunner iOS (2012).

<i>Double Dragon</i> (video game) 1987 arcade game

Double Dragon is a 1987 beat 'em up video game developed by Technōs Japan and distributed by Taito for arcades across Asia, North America and Europe. It is the first title in the Double Dragon franchise. The game's development was led by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, and it is a spiritual and technological successor to Technos' earlier beat 'em up, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (1986), released outside of Japan by Taito as Renegade; Kishimoto originally envisioned it as a direct sequel and part of the Kunio-kun series, before making it a new game with a different cast and setting.

<i>Repton</i> (1983 video game) 1983 video game

Repton is a Defender-inspired game written by Dan Thompson and Andy Kaluzniacki for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, and Commodore 64.

<i>Hover Bovver</i> 1983 video game

Hover Bovver is a 1983 maze game written by Jeff Minter released for the Commodore 64. The Atari 8-bit port written by Aaron Liddiment followed in 1984. Like many of Minter's other games, it has an offbeat sense of humour. The background music is based on the folk tune "Country Gardens" by Percy Grainger, arranged by James Lisney.

<i>Arcticfox</i> 1986 video game

Arcticfox is a science fiction tank simulation video game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. It was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. A sequel to Dynamix's Stellar 7, Arcticfox was developed for the Amiga as one of the platform's first titles but was quickly ported to other platforms including the Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS and Apple II. A third game was released in the series in 1991 titled Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon.

<i>Encounter!</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Encounter! is a first person shoot 'em up video game released in 1983 for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 programmed by Paul Woakes for Novagen Software. It was published by Novagen in the UK and Europe and by Synapse Software in North America. The gameplay is similar to that of Atari, Inc.'s 1980 arcade game Battlezone, but with large, sometimes screen-filling, scaled bitmaps instead of wireframe models.

<i>Minotron: 2112</i> 2011 video game

Minotron: 2112 is a video game for iOS written by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft. It is a remade mobile version of Llamatron for the Atari ST and Amiga, which itself is an updated version of the 1982 arcade game Robotron: 2084. It is the Minotaur Project game representing the Mattel Intellivision.

<i>Minotaur Rescue</i> 2011 mobile video game

Solar Minotaur Rescue Frenzy, shortened to Minotaur Rescue for the iOS App Store, is a multidirectional shooter for iOS developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft and released in January 2011. It was Llamasoft's first iOS game. On the iPhone, the game supports up to two players at the same time. On an iPad, it supports up to four.

<i>Ninja</i> (1986 video game) 1986 video game

Ninja is a beat 'em up game developed by Sculptured Software and released by Mastertronic in 1986 for the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum, then in 1987 for the Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. An arcade version of the game was released in 1987 for Mastertronic's Arcadia Systems which is based on Amiga hardware. The Amiga, Atari ST, and Arcade versions were released as Ninja Mission. As a Ninja, the player attacks a fortress made of individual fixed screens which can be explored non-linearly.

<i>Tempest 4000</i> 2018 video game

Tempest 4000 is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari, SA. It is a modern reimagining of the classic arcade game Tempest, which was released in 1981. In Tempest 4000, players control a spaceship and navigate through a series of increasingly challenging levels while fighting off waves of enemies. Tempest 4000 was released for Atari VCS, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch.

References

  1. ↑ "The Goatbuster".
  2. ↑ "B3Ta : Interviews : Jeff Minter".
  3. ↑ Cowan, Danny. Jeff Minter Readies Updated Gridrunner For iOS Archived 20 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine . IndieGames. 22 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Cowan, Danny. Best of iOS news: From Midway Arcade to Ziggurat . Gamasutra. 28 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "Llamasoft History".
  6. ↑ "Special Feature: Happy Birthday!". Popular Computing Weekly . 1 May 1987. pp. 14–8.
  7. ↑ Beekman, George (1984). "Human Engineered Software (HesWare)". The Commodore 64 Home Companion. pp. 171–172. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2 March 2012). "App of the Day: Gridrunner". EuroGamer.net.
  9. ↑ "Touch Arcade Gridrunner review". 29 February 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.