Star castle

Star Castle is a multi-directional shooter released in 1980. Its controls are similar to those of Asteroids, meaning, you control a ship that can thrust forward, rotate and fire. The objective of this game is to destroy a stationary turret that is guarded by three layers of defense in the middle of the map. The player does this by shooting away the panels while dodging homing mines. Should the the player succeed at stripping away the defenses and destroying the turret, he is granted an extra life and the game resets at a higher difficulty, effectively starting the next level.

- Published by: Cinematronics
- Developed by: Cinematronics
- Designer: Tim Skelly
- Platform: Arcade, Vectrex
- Year Released: 1980
- Significant Contributors to Game Development: Scott Boden
- Genre: Multi-directional shooter
- Other Games in Series: N/A

History

Star Castle was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden. It was released to the arcade in 1980 as a Cinematronics title. In 1983, Star castle was ported to the Vectrex video game console. While the game itself wasn't particularly well known, it was used to create Yars' Revenge, a popular game on the Atari 2600. It was also one of the first games to have artificial intelligence. Besides that and a few brief appearances in movies throughout the decade, Star Castle has very little historical significance.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

The player starts with three lives and controls a ship that can rotate, thrust forward and fire small projectiles at a set rate of fire. At the center is a stationary turret that is protected by three rings consisting of twelve panels. Each panel can take two hits before breaking, but if the outermost ring is completely destroyed, the middle ring (or what's left of it) takes its place and a new inner ring appears. Basically, the player needs to get through all of the rings, but avoid destroying one completely.

Mines appear on the inner shields randomly and progressively move through the rings until they reach the outer ring. Once this happens, they can detach themselves and chase down the players ship in an attempt to destroy it. The mines can be shot, but they make very small targets. However, if the play maneuvers around them so that the shield appears between the ship and the mine, it can attach itself back to the shields.

If the player manages to break through the turret's defenses, the turret begins to fire upon the player, sending fast bolts of energy across the map. It tracks the player quickly and forces him to keep moving. However, the turret is vulnerable at this point and can be destroyed if the player lands a shot, resulting in an explosion and a new ship. The next level begins with a new cannon that tracks the player's ship faster and mines that move more quickly. This cycle presumably repeats itself indefinitely. However, the points will not exceed 1,000,000.

Controls

The player controlled ship can turn, thrust forward and fire small projectiles at a set rate of fire. These movements were actually coordinated by four buttons, rather than a joystick. Two buttons turned the ship left or right and the other one basically moved the ship in what ever direction it was facing. The other two buttons were used to put it in one-player or two-player mode.

Plot

Star Castle doesn't really have a clear-cut story or plot. The player isn't given a reason to destroy the cannon, but neither is he given a particularly long time to ponder the pros and cons of interstellar violence, since he will quickly find himself dodging homing mines instead. The turret clearly does not have diplomacy in mind. I guess you could say that it's a matter of survival--if the player does not destroy the turret, the turret will destroy him, and that's really the only motivation the player needs.

Characters

There are only two characters in the game: The player ship and the turret that sits in the middle of the map. They are born enemies in a world that harbors... nay, feeds on their enmity. One cannot live while the other survives, but neither can exist without the other. The player-controlled ship is the Neo to the Turret's Agent Smith, locked in a perpetual epic melee for power.

Art

Visual

Star Castle is entirely 2D and uses vector graphics and only projects the color white. It requires a plastic color overlay for the full experience. The colors indicated the levels of the turret's defenses. There is an explosion animation when the player's ship gets destroyed and an even bigger explosion animation when the enemy turret is destroyed.

It had very colorful box art and an eye-catching design that attempted to render the game's world in a psuedo-realistic style. The box also had an intricate frame around the screen that seemed to be trying to mimic a futuristic cockpit or a control station.

Sound

There is a constant pulsing sound when the game starts. It is probably referring to the constantly spinning shields that the turret has. There is a high pitch sound when the ship fires and when the projectile is reflected off of the shield, there is a slightly duller sound. There is also an explosion sound when the panels are destroyed, when the turret is defeated and when the player's ship dies. If the player destroys a mine, a sound with a medium pitch is executed.

References

- "Star Castle - Digital Press Online." Classic Video Games - Digital Press. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/starcast.htm>.
- "Star Castle -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Castle>.
- "Star Castle Arcade Machine Restoration." Biltronix Home. Web. 23 Feb. 2010. <http://www.biltronix.com/star_castle.html>.