Scarfman

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Scarfman
Scarfman (Cover).jpg
Publisher(s) The Cornsoft Group
Designer(s) Philip A. Oliver [1]
Platform(s) TRS-80, TRS-80 Color Computer
Release 1981: TRS-80
1982: CoCo
Genre(s) Maze

Scarfman is a clone of Pac-Man written by Philip A. Oliver for the TRS-80 computer and published by The Cornsoft Group in 1981. [2] [1] A version for the TRS-80 Color Computer followed in 1982 as Color Scarfman, which uses 64x64 low resolution graphics. [3]

Contents

Oliver also wrote the Enhanced BASIC Compiler for the TRS-80 Model III and 4. [4]

Gameplay

Scarfman is a game in which the player is Scarfman, trying to eat the dots in a maze filled with them along with five power capsules, avoiding the five monsters that roam the maze. [5] Unlike Pac-Man, there are five monsters instead of four. Eating a power pill causes monsters to lower their eyes, indicating that they're vulnerable. The eyes shift to the normal position when the pill's effect wears off. [6] [2] In Color Scarfman, eating a power pill causes the ghosts to remain vulnerableindicated by turning blueuntil eaten or the level ends. [3]

Reception

Dan Ekblaw reviewed Scarfman in The Space Gamer number 54. Ekblaw commented that "Overall, I would say that Scarfman's defects outweigh its good points by far. I've found that this game loses its novelty after a few weeks and will spend the rest of its days sitting on a shelf". [5]

In a 2012 retrospective, Gamasutra wrote that the "chirp-chirp-chirp chomping sound effect is maddening. But it does play like Pac-Man, more or less". [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. 1 2 3 Dobson, Dale (2012-11-26). "Games from the Trash: The History of the TRS-80". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
  3. 1 2 Boyle, L. Curis. "Color Scarfman". The Tandy Color Computers Game List.
  4. Reed, Matthew. "EnhComp". TRS-80.org.
  5. 1 2 Ekblaw, Dan (August 1982). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer (54). Steve Jackson Games: 30, 32.
  6. Reed, Matthew. "Scarfman". TRS-80.org.