Lode Runner

Lode Runner is a platform puzzle game written by Douglas E. Smith in 1983, it is extremely challenging and requires quick reflexes and fast decision making skills. The player controls a stick figure and the objective is to collect all the gold on each level. In each level, it is basically a vertical maze with ladders, suspended hand to hand bars and bad guys(guards). While collecting the gold, the player has to avoid being contacted by the guards. The player can dig holes aside to the character but not below himself, the guards will fall into the holes. These holes eventually will regenerate and if a guard is killed in it, it will respawn immediately on the top of the screen.

Lode Runner is also one of the first games that included a level builder

- Published by: Brøderbund
- Developed by: Douglas E. Smith
- Designer: Douglas E. Smith
- Platform: Prime Computer 550
- Year Released: 1983
- Significant Contributors to Game Development: None
- Genre: Platform, Puzzle

Other Games in Series:
- - - Championship Lode Runner (1984) for Apple II
    - Lode Runner's Rescue (~1985) for Commodore 64
    - Hyper Lode Runner (1989) for the original Game Boy.

- - Lode Runner board game (1986) designed by Donal Carlston, published by Tsukuda
  - Lode Runner (Arcade) (1984) developed by Irem
    - Lode Runner: The Bungeling Strikes Back (1984)
    - Lode Runner: Majin No Fukkatsu (1985)
    - Lode Runner: Teikoku Karano Dasshutsu (1986)
    - Lode Runner: The Dig Fight (2000)
    - Lode Runner: The Legend Returns (1994) by Sierra
    - Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge, (1995)
    - Lode Runner 2 (1998)
    - Lode Runner 3-D (1999) for the Nintendo 64.
    - Lode Runner (2008) for Xbox LIVE Arcade
    - Lode Runner (2008) for iPod

History

Lode Runner was developed by Douglas E. Smith of Renton, Washington, who at the time was an architecture student at the University of Washington. This prototype, initially called Kong, was written for a Prime Computer 550 minicomputer limited to one building on the UW campus. Kong was ported to VAX minicomputers, as there were more terminals available on campus. The game was programmed in Fortran and used ASCII character graphics. When Kong was ported to the VAX, some Pascal sections were mixed into the original Fortran code.

In a weekend, Smith was able to build a crude, playable version in 6502 assembly language on an Apple II+ and renamed the game Miner. Through the end of the year, Smith refined that version, which was black-and-white with no joystick support. He submitted a rough version to Brøderbund around October 1982 but was rejected.

Smith then borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game, now renamed Lode Runner, to four publishers and quickly received offers from all four: Sierra, Sirius, Synergistic, and Brøderbund. He took the deal with Brøderbund.

The game was released in mid-1983. The original microcomputer versions included the Apple II series, the Atari 8-bit family, the Commodore 64 and a Konami version licensed for the MSX computer named "King's Valley". Later versions include those for the Atari ST, Sinclair Spectrum 48K/128K, NES, Windows 3.1, Macintosh, and the original Game Boy.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

The player controls a stick figure who must collect all the gold in a level while avoiding guards who try to catch the player. After collecting all the gold, the player must travel to the top of the screen to reach the next level. There are 150 levels in the game which progressively challenge players' problem-solving abilities or reaction times.

The level consists of brick platforms, with ladders and suspended hand to hand bars that offer multiple ways to travel. The player can dig holes into floors to temporarily trap guards and may safely walk atop trapped guards. Overtime, floors dug into will regenerate, filling in these holes. A trapped guard who cannot escape a hole before it fills is consumed, immediately respawning in a random location at the top of the level. Floors may also contain trap doors, through which the player and guards will fall, and bedrock, through which the player cannot dig.

The Player starts with 5 lives, each level awards an extra life. When a guard catches the player, one life is lost and the current level restarts. The player's character can fall from arbitary heights without injury but cannot jump. Players can also trap themselves in pits from which the only escape is to abort the level, costing a life, and begin again.

Controls

The player uses the joystick to control the character to go left or right, climb up or down or dig holes aside to the character but not below himself.

Plot

Does this game have narrative content? What is it? What is the situation, setting, etc. Who is the player? Do they have a team? Where are they? What do they want? What gets in their way? What can they do it about it?

Characters

White Stick Figure (Player)

Guards in other color(CPU)

Players will lose a life when a guard comes in contact with the player

Art

Visual

Sprites are used, and they create the illusion of the characters moving. When the player digs a hole, another sprite is used, the FX is like an swirly explosion.

Sound

There are no sound effects in the game, including sound effects would greatly enhance the player's experience.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lode_Runner