Space Ace

Space Ace is the second of games made by Advanced Microcomputer systems and ex-disney animator. Don Bluth. It was released in 1984 as a standalone Arcade cabinet. Space Ace is an interactive movie in which gameplay consists of reactionary button pushes, or Quick Time Events. The game centers around Dexter, a young space traveler that goes by the name of "Ace". The Evil commander Borf has a gun, called "the Infantoray" which he intends to use on the earth to turn its population into babies so they are easy to conquer and has captured Dexter's heartthrob/girlfriend Kimberly. At the beginning of the game Dexter get his with the ray but for some reason it only turns him into a prepubescent boy and not a baby. His special watch allows him, at certain points, to transform back into his older, stronger, and faster self. The goal of the game is to save Kimberly and stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the earth. The game is actually a Disney-esque animated short film that progresses if you perform the correct sequence of buttons. However if one of the buttons is missed Dexter will die or lose a life. If all the buttons are input correctly the game can last as little as eight and a half minutes (guesstimate).

Published by: Cinematronics
Developed by: Advanced Microcomputer Systems
Designer: Victor Penman (??? unsure, worked on Dragons Lair and the same team worked on Space Ace)
Platform: Upright Arcade
Year Released: 1984
Significant Contributors to Game Development: Early Example of Quick Time Events (QTE), High Production quality, movie like gameplay (or animated short).
Genre: Action Interactive Movie
Other Games in Series: Space Ace (animated series 12 episodes) but no other games.

History

This game was developed Advanced Microcomputer Systems (AMS), and published by Cinematronics in 1984. Space Ace was not the original in its genre of Action Interactive movie. In 1983 AMS produced a "Dragons Lair" with the same development team and ex-Disney Animator Don Bluth. Its style and content was similar, with the exact same style of gameplay. However, Dragons Lair lacked the audio mixing quality of its spiritual successor Space Ace. The original idea was Rick Dyer. As a way to save money many of those on the production team did the voices for the characters, including Don Bluth as the voice of Borf. Other voices included: Jeff Etter as Ace, Will Flinn as Dexter, and Lorna Pomeroy as Kimberly. The only outside voice actor they hired was Michael Rye who played the voice of the narrator. Space Ace was developed for the console and also the Laser Disc player. Eventually it was ported to PC and all other manner of devices. including the Iphone. At the time this game was a visual marvel. A game with the production/animation quality of a full length animated movie. Space Ace, like Dragons Lair, introduced branching paths and variations on play. Moments when you could choose to become Ace and go on the offensive, or stay as Dexter and play more defensively. There are also sections in which you are given multiple paths from which to chose leading you to different areas to play. The developers created the game with 3 seperate gameplay modes: "Cadet", "Captian" or "Ace" depending on the difficulty you select you would get to see more of the game. for example Cadet mode would have much less content to play then Ace mode.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

Space Ace has basically only 4 buttons. A joystick (up, Down, Left, Right) and a single joystick button. All gameplay is based upon reactionary/Quick Time Events. For example, a platform you are standing on is crumbling, and to the left is a platform that is not crumbling. Your only option is to push left on the joystick. any other button would cause you to simply stand and fall to your death. Also you had to defend yourself if attacked, which is what the single button is for. Dexter has a single laser pistol which he uses

Controls

As previously stated the controls consist of basically five buttons. up, down, left, right, and Attack/Transform. Every time an action is required it is indicated by a yellow flash hinting at what button might be the correct one, as well as a sound alerting the player both visually and with audio. The Player does not directly control the character (ie, walking around) but reacts to situations presented in order to survive the game. The game is basically one long Quick Time Event.

for defense and offense but only when the game prompts you to use it. For example a monster grabs your leg and looks as though he wants to eat you. Trying to run by pushing up, down, left, or right, will not do anything and you will be eaten, however hitting the attack button will trigger a sequence in which you shoot the monster and can then escape. This time given varies upon the situation and progress through the game and is usually (in the easier modes) by a flashing light onscreen. The game is very linear only giving you a few choices of where to go but really no variation on how the game plays out.

Dexter/Ace has a space ship that is simply an extension of the story and the gameplay. it controls no

different then the main game, only being controlled by button pushes in reaction to onscreen action. youcannot fly or direct the ship or even aim. When the shoot signal appears you simply hit the single joystick button to execute a kill. At certain points you can tell it where to go but only by pushing up, down, left, or right. However it only activates an animation showing the ship flying in the direction you chose. Gameplay mechanics do not change at all during the course of the game, sticking with the 5 button control scheme and providing no variation. The only exceptions are when you become Ace, but the same control scheme applies, Ace simply is just more aggressive.

Plot

Space Ace revolves around its main character, Dexter/Ace, and his hearthrob/love interest/damsel in distress, Kimberly. The short intro for the game sets up the game. Dexter and Kimberly are attacked by a blue man named (presumably an alien) Borf and his Infanto ray. Dexter is hit by the ray and is transformed into a younger version of himself, yet not to an infant as the ray gun is supposed to do. It is implied that somehow his watch can control his transformation from youth to adult Dexter. It is revealed that Borf desires to use the Infanto ray on earth and enslave its populous. Dexter and Ace go to his space ship to try and stop him but Kimberly slips off the cliff they are standing and a young Dexter watches her get taken into the ship. Dexter tries to save her but Borf and his robots attack forcing him to flee in his triangular ship. After running, flying, and shooting his way through many obstacles Dexter ends up at Borfs

base and has to Fight an Evil version of himself that appears to be Kimberly. All this time having the ability at certain intervals to transform to his older self and go on the offensive. Dexter fights, giant eels, alien dogs, robots, monsters, snakes, and even evil alien bikers. Eventually you find Kimberly, inexplicably standing around without any guards in the middle of Borfs complex. She joins you and you try to escape on a motorcycle. This is where much of the Dialogue of the game takes place. Kimberly calls the young Dexter by his real name, but he interjects, "Call me ACE!"

Eventually you make your way, by rocket powered roller skates, to the center of Borfs complex and eventual engage in a fight with the Evil blue Menace. But not after you fight two eels that look eerily like the eels from the Little Mermaid. (which is weird because Little mermaid hadn't been released yet) Before the fight kimberly, playing the damsel in distress gets caught again and is being lowered into a vat of lava while you fight Borf gladiator style with a staff. After a while Dexter/Ace throws the staff away and jumps on Borf's back and begins punching his head. Ace then jumps to a rope and sings to save Kimberly moments before falling into the lava pit.

Borf then jumps back to his infanto ray platform and begins to shoot at Ace again, destroying platforms all over the base. Eventually Ace grabs a mirror and reflects a beam back at Borf. nothing seems to happen, however after Borf realizes this and tries to attack again he transforms into a baby and falls into Ace's arms. Kimberly rushes over and scoops him in her arms and exclaims. "Oh Dexter, isn't he adorable!? Can we keep him?" to which Ace retorts "Call me Ace huh?" Kimberly, Ace, and the baby Borf fly into space. THE END.

Characters

Commander Borf:

The antagonist and villain of the game, his skin is light blue and is well built. He wears mostly black with orange accents and early on he has a cape. Borf has sharp teeth and looks like he could be either an alien or a monster. Borf sports a a medium thickness beard and mustache that run into some intense sideburns. he has bags under his eyes and always sports an aggressive stance. He desires to kill Ace and conquer the planet earth by using his Infanto Ray to turn everyone into infants.

Ace/Dexter:

The main protagonist of the game. He represents the quintessential Space age hero. He has his own laser pistol, space ship, and a hot space girlfriend. He is basically two different characters, the Space Hero, and the awkward nerd teenager or preteen. You spend most of the time as the Nerdy Dexter. Dexter is the pure good

character in the game and his goal is to rescue his love interest Kimberly, and save the universe. For some reason when he gets hit with the infanto ray he is not fully transformed into a child. and for another unexplained reason it appears that his watch allows him to change which Dexter he is.

Kimberly:

Kimberly is very reminiscent of a disney princess. She is elegant, beautiful, innocent, and completely helpless. Her voice is very princess like but it is never explained exactly who she is. She is the damsel in distress and the motivator for Dexter to go after Borf. She sports a blue dress and orange hair. Her clothes are reminiscent of something from "The Jetsons" Tv show.

Art

Visual

There is little doubt about it. Space Ace is in every aspect a work of art. The art ranges from decoration to functional and

switches. the Environments are beautifully rendered and switch from being art to being a functional gameplay element as some aspects fo the environment are destroyed and you must react. The art style, concept, and rendering of the world is VERY 80's. From the depiction of space, to the robots, and even to the characters themselves. The color scheme also screams the style of the 80's. I was unable to find the bit depth for the arcade version but since later version ran off a laser disk i assume it was very high for its time. It was not an innovation in gaming especially since its predecessor Dragons Lair was the first really successful Action interactive Movie game. however it did take these elements to the next level adding a better layer of sound production in music and sound effects then its predecessor. The graphics were basically that of a laser disc which was being developed around that time. Better then VHS but not quite the quality of DVD.

Sound

The music is very basic in the game. It mostly consists of subtle 80's techno. The music also abruptly changes when Dexter transforms into Ace. However the games sound effects really drown out the music so that the music is very hard to distinguish through all the noise. The sound effects for the game resemble those that you would typically hear from an 80's movie or even a saturday morning cartoon. Very characteristic and cartoony laser blast sounds are a repetitive audio element of the game. The audio quality, as far as arcades go is very high sporting voice acting, sound effects, and music all simultaneously. There are environmental sounds mostly consisting of sounds when the surrounding area cracks, crumbles, or is destroyed.

There are a couple of sounds that key the player to upcoming events that must be interacted with. First of all, in the easier modes, when an immediate action is required a high pitched sound is played that corresponds with a yellow light on the screen signaling to the player something must be done, and suggesting what it might be. Also when Dexter is able to become Ace, which is at predetermined points in the game, a repeating sound plays which sounds like a laser charging. This indicates to the player along with onscreen visuals that you are able to transform.

References

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/spaceacehd/tech_info.html?tag=tabs;summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ace
http://www.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/data/583877.html
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9637
http://www.mobygames.com/game/space-ace
http://www.cataroo.com/DBspace.html
http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage6.php
http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/sa.asp