Tempest (video game)

Last updated

Tempest
Tempest arcade.png
North American arcade flyer
Developer(s) Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc.
Designer(s) Dave Theurer [1]
Programmer(s) Dave Theurer
Platform(s) Arcade, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum
ReleaseOctober 1981 (1981-10): Arcade [2]
1985: Spectrum, BBC
1987: Amstrad
1989: Atari ST
Genre(s) Tube shooter
Mode(s)1-2 players alternating turns

Tempest is a 1981 arcade video game by Atari, Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface divided into lanes, sometimes as a closed tube, and viewed from one end. The player controls a claw-shaped "blaster" that sits on the edge of the surface, snapping from segment to segment as a rotary knob is turned, and can fire blaster shots to destroy enemies and obstacles by pressing a button.

Contents

Tempest was one of the first games to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first to let players choose their starting level (a system Atari called "SkillStep"). This feature increases the preferred starting level, which could also be used to let the player continue the previous game if they wished. Tempest was one of the first video games that had a progressive level design where the levels themselves varied rather than giving the player the same layout with increasing difficulty.

Gameplay

The arcade version with the player's lane in yellow and three red flippers moving along the rim Arcade-atari-tempest1.png
The arcade version with the player's lane in yellow and three red flippers moving along the rim

The goal in Tempest is to survive and score as many points as possible, by clearing the screen of enemies that appear on the playing field. The player controls an articulating, claw-shaped ship at the near end of the field (referred to as a "blaster", or in some sources as the "Live Wire"), moving it left and right using a rotary knob. The player can rapid-fire shots down individual lanes of the field, destroying any enemies or projectiles within the same lane. The blaster is also equipped with a "Superzapper" which, once per level, destroys all enemies currently on the field, a second use of the Superzapper in the same level destroys one random enemy. The Superzapper is recharged between each level.

The game features sixteen unique levels of different shapes, including geometric shapes, a flat line, and the symbol for infinity. Some levels are closed tubes that allow the player to loop throughout it continuously, while others have definite left and right endpoints. When all sixteen levels have been played, the sequence repeats with a different color scheme and higher difficulty. One set of levels (65 through 80) is "invisible" (black). After reaching Stage 99, the level counter stops increasing and each successive level shape is picked randomly.

Enemies first appear on the screen as swirling dots beyond the far end of the field, showing up one at a time at first but coming faster and in greater numbers the farther the game goes on. There are seven types of enemies in the game, each with their own behavior pattern. Flippers, shaped like pairs of linked chevrons, attempt to catch the player's blaster and drag it to the far end of the field, costing a life if successful. Pulsars, shaped like wavy lines, periodically electrify the lane which they occupy; if the player's ship is in the lane at that moment, it is destroyed. Fuseballs, white spheres with multiple tendrils, jump forward and back unpredictably along the edges of each lane, killing the player's ship on contact, moving slowly between them to give the player a brief opportunity to shoot them. Spikers are spirals that up and down a lane, leaving a line of "spikes" which may be worn down by shooting it. After the first few levels, each level has a short line of spikes at the far end of every lane. Tankers, rhomboid in shape, slowly advance up the field in a particular lane, splitting into two Flippers upon destruction or reaching the player's ring. Later levels also feature Fuseball and Pulsar Tankers, which split into two Fuseballs or two Pulsars when hit, respectively. Aside from the Fuseball and Pulsar, enemies can shoot destroyable projectiles up the lane they reside in, destroying the player's ship should they impact.

When all enemies on the field have been destroyed, the player "warps" to the next level by traveling down the field and into the space beyond it. The player must avoid or destroy any spikes that are in the way; hitting one will destroy the player's ship and force the player to try the warp again.

The player loses a life when their ship is destroyed or captured, and the game ends when all lives are lost. Extra lives (up to six at a time) are awarded at certain score intervals.

Development

The game was initially meant to be a first-person remake of Space Invaders , [3] but early versions had many problems, so a new design was used. Theurer says the design came from a nightmare where monsters crawled out of a hole in the ground. [3] [4] This led to him coming up with the design concept, stating he "basically just took Space Invaders and wrapped the surface into a circle," while monsters "come down the tunnel at you, out of the hole, and you [try] to kill them before they [get] out." [5] During the prototype stages the game was called Aliens, then Vortex, and finally Tempest. [4]

Three different cabinet designs exist for Tempest. The most common is an upright cabinet that, viewed from the side, is in the shape of a right triangle sitting on a rectangle. This cabinet sported colorful side art. A shorter, less flashy cabaret-style cabinet was also released with optional side art. A cocktail-style table cabinet allowed two players to play at opposite ends of the table; the screen automatically flipped for each player.

In the first games Atari shipped, there were glitches in one or more of the ROM chips. The problem code allowed the player to do unintended things when ending their score in certain two-digit combinations. According to Joystik magazine, which detailed these combinations, the most useful were the ones that earned the player 40 free credits (06, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18) and the "jump to green" trick (46). [6] Another useful combination mentioned was 05 which allowed the player to play the game in the attract mode. In this scenario, pausing at one the combinations would cause the effect to take place immediately without losing the balance of the player's lives. Also, in the attract mode, pausing at an end score of 48 gave the player 255 extra lives. After this issue was discovered, Atari corrected the problem so that further shipping machines were incapable of allowing the end score tricks. It was also noted in Joystik that Atari shipped updated chips to be replaced in the field.

Ports

An official port was released for the Atari ST. An official port that bears the Atari logo was released by Superior Software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1985, and another by Electric Dreams for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987.[ citation needed ] Versions for the Atari 2600 [7] and 5200 [8] were in the works in Atari, Inc. during 1984, and unfinished prototypes exist for both of them.[ citation needed ] The game was released for Microsoft Windows 3.x as part of the Microsoft Arcade package. It has 14 secret levels. [9] The original Tempest was included as part of Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Super NES. [10] In 2001, Infogrames and Digital Eclipse ported 12 Atari arcade games (one of them being the original Tempest) under the compilation title Atari Anniversary Edition , released for PC and Dreamcast. A PlayStation compilation titled Atari Anniversary Edition Redux was also released with the same number of games plus two exclusives to the Redux edition.[ citation needed ] A handheld compilation, titled Atari Anniversary Advance , was released in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance with half the games of the console compilation, including Tempest.[ citation needed ] In 2005, the original Tempest is part of Atari Anthology for the Xbox and PlayStation 2; the PC version also includes the Atari 2600 prototype. The 2600 port was also released as part of the Atari Greatest Hits compilation for Nintendo DS and iOS devices.[ citation needed ] Also in 2005, a port and graphical "remix" of the original Tempest was included as part of Retro Atari Classics for the Nintendo DS. This version deviates significantly from the basic rules and experience of the original game.[ citation needed ]Tempest was released for Xbox 360 on December 19, 2007, which was available for purchase through Xbox Live Arcade for 400 MS Points. This version includes the original arcade game (emulated) and an "evolved" version with updated graphics.[ citation needed ]

After the unfinished Atari 5200 prototype was found in 1999, its original programmer, Keithen Hayenga, resumed work on finishing the port. It was published by AtariAge in 2013 for US$50. [11]

Reception

Chris Crawford wrote in 1982 that unlike Pac-Man , Tempest "intimidates many beginners because it appears to be unwinnable"; its smoothly increasing difficulty, however, encourages players to continue playing. [13] In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 6th on their Top 100 Video Games. They lauded the game saying: "The best vector coin-up machine for white knuckle intensity, bar none, was Tempest." [14] In 1996, Next Generation listed the arcade version as number 74 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting "it's very fast, it has abstract, color vector graphics that remain unequaled to this day, and its novel 'paddle' controller makes playing Tempest effortless. The game's difficulty advances smoothly, and the play is extremely well balanced". [15] Tempest is #10 on the KLOV's list of most popular games, tied with Centipede .

The game has been cited as an influence on the careers of video game designers Jeff Minter and John O'Neill. [16] Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell has said it is his favorite game to be published by the company. [17]

Legacy

Shortly after the original game was released, an arcade owner named Duncan Brown hacked the level data and made an altered, more difficult version: Tempest Tubes. It was eventually included with Tempest in the Hasbro compilation Atari Arcade Hits: Volume 1 for Microsoft Windows in 1999.

Sequels

Jeff Minter created two authorized games, released long after the original: Tempest 2000 (1994) for the Atari Jaguar (renamed Tempest X3 for the PlayStation port), and Tempest 3000 (2000) for Nuon enhanced DVD players. In July 2018, Tempest 4000 was released for multiple platforms. [18] Minter also wrote two games inspired by Tempest: Space Giraffe (2007) and TxK (2014). After TxK was released for the PlayStation Vita, the current incarnation of Atari blocked release of the game for additional platforms [19] until it was reworked as Tempest 4000 some years later.

Clones

1980s home computer clones include Web War for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro published by Artic Computing in 1985, [20] Tubeway (1982) for the Apple II, Storm (1984) for the Tandy Color Computer, [21] and Livewire!, a type-in game for Atari 8-bit computers printed in ANALOG Computing in 1983. [22] The Tempest-inspired Axis Assassin (1983) was one of the first five releases from Electronic Arts. [23]

Arashi is a 1992 freeware clone for classic Mac OS. [24] Whirlwind (1994) is a commercial game that Computer Gaming World described as "a clone of Tempest". [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Asteroids</i> (video game) 1979 video game

Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.

<i>Millipede</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Millipede is a fixed shooter video game released in arcades by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The sequel to 1981's Centipede, it has more gameplay variety and a wider array of insects than the original. The objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying all segments of the millipede as it moves toward the bottom of the screen, as well as eliminating or avoiding other enemies. The game is played with a trackball and a single fire button which can be held down for rapid-fire.

<i>Star Raiders</i> 1980 video game

Star Raiders is a space combat simulator video game created by Doug Neubauer and published in 1980 by Atari, Inc. Originally released for the Atari 400/800 computers, Star Raiders was later ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST. The player assumes the role of a starship fighter pilot, who must protect starbases from invading forces called Zylons. Piloting and combat are shown in the 3D cockpit view, while a 2D galactic map shows the state of the Zylon invasion. Neubauer made the game in his spare time at Atari, inspired by contemporary media such as Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars, as well as the 1971 mainframe game Star Trek.

<i>Missile Command</i> 1980 video game

Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and later licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. The game was released during the Cold War, and the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases.

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

Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released as an arcade video game in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980 and was released in March 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.

<i>Gyruss</i> 1983 video game

Gyruss is shoot 'em up arcade video game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. Gyruss was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion kits for the game. Parker Brothers released contemporary ports for home systems. An enhanced version for the Family Computer Disk System was released in 1988, which was released to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in early 1989.

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

Stargate is a horizontally scrolling shooter released as an arcade video game in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar. Some home ports of Stargate were renamed to Defender II for legal reasons.

<i>Gorf</i> 1981 video game

Gorf is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing, whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a fixed shooter with five distinct levels, the first of which is based on Space Invaders and another on Galaxian. The game makes use of synthesized speech for the Gorfian robot which taunts the player, powered by the Votrax speech chip. Gorf allows the player to buy two additional lives per quarter before starting the game, for a maximum of seven lives.

<i>Warlords</i> (1980 video game) 1980 video game

Warlords is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong. Up to four players are able to play the game at the same time and the "castles" in the four corners of the screen are brick walls that can be destroyed with a flaming ball.

<i>Xevious</i> Vertical scrolling shooter arcade game released in 1983

Xevious is a vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco in 1982. It was released in Japan by Namco and in North America by Atari, Inc. Controlling the Solvalou starship, the player attacks Xevious forces before they destroy all of mankind. The Solvalou has two weapons at its disposal: a zapper to destroy flying craft, and a blaster to bomb ground installations and enemies. It runs on the Namco Galaga arcade system.

<i>Jungle Hunt</i> 1982 video game

Jungle Hunt, is a side-scrolling action game developed by Taito for arcades. It was originally distributed in 1982 as Jungle King, then quickly modified and re-released as Jungle Hunt following a copyright dispute over the player character's likeness to Tarzan. Taito also distributed a less successful rebranding of the game as Pirate Pete in 1982. Jungle King, along with Moon Patrol released a month earlier, is one of the first video games which has parallax scrolling.

<i>Phoenix</i> (1980 video game) 1980 video game

Phoenix is a fixed shooter video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The player controls a space ship shooting at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the player's ship. There are five stages which repeat endlessly. The fifth is a fight against a large enemy spaceship, making Phoenix one of the first shooters with a boss battle, an element that would become common for the genre.

<i>I, Robot</i> (video game) 1984 video game

I, Robot is an arcade shooter game developed and released in 1984 by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dave Theurer, only a total of 750–1000 arcade cabinets were produced. The arcade machine comes with two games. The first is I, Robot, a multi-directional shooter that has the player assume the role of "Unhappy Interface Robot #1984", a servant bot that rebels against Big Brother. The object of the game involves the servant bot going through 126 levels, turning red squares to blue to destroy Big Brother's shield and eye. The player can switch to the second game, Doodle City, a drawing tool that lasts for three minutes.

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

Tempest 2000 is a 1994 tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar. Part of Atari Corp.'s 2000 series, it is a remake of the 1981 arcade game Tempest.

<i>River Raid</i> 1982 video game

River Raid is a video game developed by Carol Shaw for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls a fighter jet over the River of No Return in a raid behind enemy lines. The goal is to navigate the flight by destroying enemy tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges without running out of fuel or crashing.

<i>Super Cobra</i> 1981 video game

Super Cobra is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Konami, originally released as an arcade video game in 1981. It was published by Konami in Japan in March 1981 and manufactured and distributed by Stern in North America on June 22. It is the spiritual sequel to the Scramble arcade game released earlier in 1981. Super Cobra contains eleven distinct sections, versus six in Scramble, and is significantly more difficult, requiring maneuvering through tight spaces early in the game.

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

Vanguard is a scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by TOSE. It was released by SNK in Japan and Europe 1981, and licensed to Centuri for manufacture in North America in October and to Zaccaria in Italy the same year. Cinematronics converted the game to cocktail arcade cabinets in North America.

<i>Astro Chase</i> 1982 video game

Astro Chase is a multidirectional shooter written by Fernando Herrera for Atari 8-bit computers. It was published by First Star Software in 1982 as the company's first game. Parker Brothers licensed it, releasing cartridge versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200 console in 1983 and a Commodore 64 version in 1984. Exidy licensed it for arcade use with its Max-A-Flex cabinet.

<i>Megamania</i> 1982 video game

Megamania is a fixed shooter video game developed by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600. It was published by Activision in 1982. In the game, a pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser has a nightmare where his ship is being attacked by food and household objects. Using the missile launcher from their space cruiser, the pilot fends off the attackers. The game was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.

References

  1. ↑ Hague, James (1992). "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers" . Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ Vendel, Curt (1980–1982). "ATARI Coin-Op/Arcade Systems". Atari Museum. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Bad Dreams, Man". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 103. Ziff Davis. February 1998. p. 86.
  4. 1 2 Tempest - Videogame by Atari, The International Arcade Museum
  5. ↑ "The Creation of Missile Command and the haunting of its creator, Dave Theurer". polygon.com. August 15, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Tricks of the Trade". Joystik. Vol. 2, no. 1. Skokie, IL: Publications International, Ltd. September 1983. p. 60.
  7. ↑ Reichert, Matt. "Tempest (Atari 2600)". AtariProtos.com. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  8. ↑ Reichert, Matt. "Tempest (Atari 5200)". AtariProtos.com. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Microsoft Security Leak!". Read.Me. Computer Gaming World. June 1994. p. 15.
  10. ↑ "Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Greatest Hits of the '80s on WEGM". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 91. Ziff Davis. February 1997. pp. 132–3.
  11. ↑ Yarusso, Albert (February 7, 2013). "Tempest - Atari 5200". AtariAge.com. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Tempest". Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  13. ↑ Crawford, Chris (December 1982). "Design Techniques and Ideas for Computer Games". BYTE. p. 96. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Top 100 Video Games". Flux (4). Harris Publications: 26. April 1995.
  15. ↑ "Top 100 Games of All Time". Next Generation . No. 21. Imagine Media. September 1996. p. 44.
  16. ↑ Forman, Tracie. "Inside Gaming - John O'Neill: The Dali of Computer Gaming." Electronic Games . Vol.2, No.13. Pp.64-65. July 1984. ISSN   0730-6687.
  17. ↑ ""Atari Was Very, Very Hard" Nolan Bushnell on Atari, 50 Years Later". June 27, 2022.
  18. ↑ Machkovech, Sam (July 17, 2018). "Tempest 4000 finally lives after delays, legal threats—but what's up on PC?". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  19. ↑ Parfitt, Ben (March 18, 2015). "Atari blocks Jeff Minter from releasing new versions of TxK". MCV/Develop . NewBay Media. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  20. ↑ ""Web War" review, A&B Computing". Acorn Electron World.
  21. ↑ Boyle, L. Curtis. "Storm". Tandy Color Computer Games.
  22. ↑ "Atari 400 800 XL XE Livewire!". Atari Mania.
  23. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (May 21, 2013). "30 years ago Electronic Arts shipped its first batch of five games". Polygon.
  24. ↑ "Arashi Source Code". GitHub . October 14, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Taking A Peek". Computer Gaming World. May 1994. pp. 174–180.
  26. ↑ Wright, Rob (April 11, 2007). "The Top Video Game Scenes in Movie History - 12. Night of the Comet (1984): Hot Tempest Nights". Tom's Games. Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
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.