Heartlight (video game)

Last updated
Heartlight
Heartlight (video game).jpg
Developer(s) X LanD Computer Games, Janusz Pelc
Publisher(s)
Platform(s) Amiga, Atari 8-bit, MS-DOS, Android, iOS, Browser
Release
  • POL: 1990 (Atari 8-bit)
  • NA: 1994 (MS-DOS)
  • WW: 1993 (Amiga)
  • WW: March 21, 2012 (iOS, Android)
  • WW: 2020 (Browser)
Genre(s) Puzzle
Mode(s) Single-player

Heartlight is a puzzle video game originally developed by Janusz Pelc for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1990. [1] In 1994, an MS-DOS port (Heartlight PC) was published by Epic MegaGames along with two other games by Janusz Pelc in the Epic Puzzle Pack. The shareware version has 20 levels and the full version (Heartlight Deluxe) has 70 levels. In 2006, Maciej Miąsik, co-author of the MS-DOS version, released it under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.5 license [2] [3] as freeware. The source code became available too. [4] In 2020, a web browser remake was released with updated graphics. [5]

Contents

Gameplay

The game is set on a 12×20 square grid, with similar game mechanics to Boulder Dash and Supaplex . The object of the game is to help the elf Percival collect all the hearts on each level and get to the exit door. Different objects with unique characteristics aim to make reaching this goal more complex. The game is neither timed nor limited to a certain number of lives, but there is no Save feature. Objects in the levels include bombs, rocks, and hearts. While hearts are one of the goals, they can also fall on and kill Percival. Bombs blow up when squashed or dropped on a hard surface. Rocks squash Percival and can blow up bombs.

Reception

Computer Gaming World 's Chuck Miller in June 1994 praised Heartlight as "a delightful logic-based game offering a good mix of arcade action and conundrums". "Game play is so addictive", he said, that the "just average" graphics and sound were not noticeable. Miller concluded that "this is one diversion that will keep you coming back for more". [6] The game was later released as part of the Epic Puzzle Pack (with Robbo and Electro ) which was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon #206 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the compilation 3 out of 5 stars. [7]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<i>Wolfenstein 3D</i> 1992 video game

Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series. In Wolfenstein 3D, the player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis. The player traverses each of the game's levels to find an elevator to the next level or kill a final boss, fighting Nazi soldiers, dogs, and other enemies with a knife and a variety of guns.

<i>Oxyd</i> 1990 video game

Oxyd is a 1990 puzzle video game developed for the Atari ST and ported to the Amiga, Macintosh, MS-DOS, and NeXT by Dongleware Verlags GmbH. It is a game of puzzles and tests to restart all the oxygen generators on the player's home planet. The Oxyds must be restarted by opening them in pairs of matching patterns, and matching colours.

<i>Eye of the Beholder</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game for personal computers and video game consoles developed by Westwood Associates. It was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991, for the MS-DOS operating system and later ported to the Amiga, the Sega CD and the SNES. The Sega CD version features a soundtrack composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. A port to the Atari Lynx handheld was developed by NuFX in 1993, but was not released. In 2002, an adaptation of the same name was developed by Pronto Games for the Game Boy Advance.

<i>ZZT</i> 1991 video game

ZZT is a 1991 action-adventure puzzle video game and game creation system developed and published by Potomac Computer Systems for MS-DOS. It was later released as freeware in 1997. It is an early game allowing user-generated content using object-oriented programming. Players control a smiley face to battle various creatures and solve puzzles in different grid-based boards in a chosen world. It has four worlds where players explore different boards and interact with objects such as ammo, bombs, and scrolls to reach the end of the game. It includes an in-game editor, allowing players to develop worlds using the game's scripting language, ZZT-OOP.

<i>Chips Challenge</i> 1989 video game

Chip's Challenge is a top-down tile-based puzzle video game originally published in 1989 by Epyx as a launch title for the Atari Lynx. It was later ported to several other systems and was included in the Windows 3.1 bundle Microsoft Entertainment Pack 4 (1992), and the Windows version of the Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack (1995), where it found a much larger audience.

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

Boulder Dash is a maze-based 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 tunnels through dirt to collect diamonds. Boulders and other objects remain fixed until the dirt beneath them is removed, then they fall and become a hazard. Puzzles are designed around collecting diamonds without being crushed and exploiting the interactions between objects. The game's name is a pun on balderdash.

<i>Companions of Xanth</i> 1993 video game

Companions of Xanth is an adventure game published in 1993 by Legend Entertainment.

<i>Monster Bash</i> 1993 video game

Monster Bash is a side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Apogee Software on 9 April 1993 for DOS. The game features 16-color EGA graphics and IMF AdLib compatible music. It was developed by Frank Maddin and Gerald Lindsly.

<i>Raptor: Call of the Shadows</i> 1994 video game

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Mercenary 2029". It was released on April 1, 1994 for MS-DOS compatible systems. The first episode of the game, "Bravo Sector", was distributed as shareware. The other two episodes were sold commercially.

Artworx was a Naples, Florida software company that produced and supported a line of computer games from 1981 to 2015. It is named after the founder's given name. At first the company published a variety of games, including titles in adventure and arcade-action genres, but were later best known for a strip poker series.

<i>Xargon</i> 1994 video game

Xargon: The Mystery of the Blue Builders is a video game trilogy produced by Epic MegaGames for DOS. The game is a side-scrolling platform game. The main character, Malvineous Havershim, must journey through strange landscapes as he seeks to destroy the evil Xargon.

<i>Chuck Rock</i> 1991 video game

Chuck Rock is a 1991 slapstick side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Core Design for the Atari ST and Amiga computers. A Commodore 64 port followed in 1992 and an Amiga CD32 version in 1994. The game was subsequently published by Krisalis Software for the Acorn Archimedes. Virgin Interactive published the game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and the Game Gear. Sony Imagesoft published the game for the Sega Mega-CD, Super NES, and Game Boy.

The Sango Fighter games are a series of fighting game for DOS made by the Taiwanese Panda Entertainment. Set in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, it is very similar to Street Fighter and Samurai Shodown, but with historical context.

<i>Epic Pinball</i> 1993 video game

Epic Pinball is a 1993 pinball video game developed by James Schmalz and published by Epic MegaGames. The initial release pre-dated Schmalz' Digital Extremes name. The game is played seen from a 2D top-down view within a scrollable window with plain raster graphics in 320x240. It was noted for being programmed entirely in x86 assembly language for MS-DOS systems.

<i>Zone 66</i> 1993 video game

Zone 66 is a top down, multidirectional shooter released in 1993 for IBM PC compatibles as shareware. The game was created by a North American demoscene group called Renaissance, and was published by Epic MegaGames. The game shipped on a self-booting disk, so it could bypass MS-DOS and load into a custom protected mode environment.

Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon, abbreviated LK Avalon, was a Polish software developer and distributor, with product range encompassing video games, educational software and other applications.

<i>Robbo</i> (video game) 1989 video game

Robbo is a puzzle video game designed by Janusz Pelc and published by LK Avalon in 1989 for Atari 8-bit computers. A success on the Polish domestic market, it was later ported to other computer platforms and released in the United States as The Adventures of Robbo.

<i>Electro Man</i> 1992 video game

Electro Man, originally distributed in Poland under the title Electro Body, is an MS-DOS platform game developed by the Polish company X LanD Computer Games. It was originally released in Poland by xLand in 1992, and later published by Epic MegaGames in the United States in 1993; apart from the changed title, the Electro Man release contains some changes, such as upgraded graphics. Though initially offered under a shareware license, the game was released as freeware by the developer on June 25, 2006, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license. The player controls a cyborg named "Jacek", who must get through all the areas of a space base while destroying enemies.

Depth Dwellers is a first-person shooter released in 1994 by TriSoft for MS-DOS. The game was designed to work with 3D glasses. It was also included with the Woobo Electronics CyberBoy unit. Being released in June for the first time as a shareware product, it predated Raven Software's Heretic by six months in being possibly the first game to feature a pseudo-3D engine that allowed players to look up and down freely. The game also permitted ducking and jumping, which were still uncommon abilities in most first-person video games of that era.

References

  1. "HEARTLIGHT: Fascynacja BOULDER DASHem". Tajemnice ATARI (in Polish). Poland. January 1991. includes program listing, available online
  2. "RGB Classic Games - Heartlight PC". www.classicdosgames.com. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  3. Miasik.net » Moje gry dla każdego (in Polish)
  4. Atari source code archive on pigwa.net
  5. "Heartlight". www.playheartlight.online. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  6. Miller, Chuck (June 1994). "Shareware Showcase". Best of the Rest. Computer Gaming World. pp. 112, 114.
  7. Petersen, Sandy (June 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (206): 57–60.
  8. "Kultboy.com - DIE Kult-Seite über die alten Spiele-Magazine und Retro-Games!". www.kultboy.com. Retrieved 9 April 2023.