Parsec (computer game)

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Parsec
Parsec-refueling.png
Screenshot of the game
Studio Texas Instruments
Publisher Texas Instruments
platform TI-99 / 4A
genre Shoot 'em up
Game mode Single player
control Joystick , keyboard
medium Cartridge
language English

Parsec is a 1982 published computer game for the home computer TI-99 / 4A of the manufacturer Texas Instruments . The player must shoot his way through rows of enemy ships and obstacles without being destroyed too often. In its day, Parsec was considered advanced on the TI-99 / 4A. Its smooth, high-resolution graphics and the support of an optional module for speech synthesis contributed to this. The game was developed by Jim Dramis and intern Paul Urbanus.

target

In Parsec the player controls a spaceship through 16 different colored levels (game levels). The game scene is determined by a futuristic planetary landscape in front of a starry sky, which moves past the player from right to left. The choice of a scene based on space travel and science fiction is typical of the 1970s and 80s, which were still shaped by the early successes of space travel. The aim of the game is to avoid being shot down by enemy spaceships or other flying objects for as long as possible. The player's small ship defends itself with a laser beam, which can only be used sparingly to protect against overheating.

Course of the game

The player's spaceship is threatened by three different passive and three active opponents, each of whom appear alternately. The player can only shoot opposing pawns to protect himself and to continue in the game.

The passive opponents are referred to as alien ships, saucers and asteroids and can only collide with the player's ship. The active opponents are called Urbites , Dramites and Bynites , can shoot themselves and chase the player. The names were derived from the names of the game developers Dramis and Urbanus and the head of the computer department Don Bynum . Paul Urbanus signed articles on the Internet with "urbite" until 2005. In later levels a random number of killer satellites appear , which behave similarly to the other active opponents, but react even faster. Bynites become invisible after a hit, but continue to fire at the player until they hit repeatedly. During the flight the player loses fuel, which has to be refueled in a narrow tunnel. In order not to crash into the angular ledges, the player can use the computer keyboard to set three speed levels (LIFT 1 to LIFT 3) to make navigation easier.

Details

Compared to other early games for the TI-99 / 4A, which composed their game scenes only from special characters, Parsec was considered graphically advanced because it uses the 'graphics-2' mode of the TMS9918A graphics chip built into the computer. This allowed a soft, pixel-by-pixel scrolling over an endlessly continuing, randomly generated landscape. In this landscape, in which stylized rocks, enemy ships and the Texas Instruments company logo can be found, the developers immortalized themselves by incorporating their initials.

Another special feature was the software support of an optionally available hardware speech synthesizer, which supports the player with announcements and comments, which, however, are not absolutely necessary for the course of the game. What was particularly special was that Parsec was the first to use the voice output with the usual male voice, but with a female voice.

The fact that different levels differ essentially only in terms of color and level of difficulty must be seen against the background that a game, together with the game logic, graphics and audio effects, had to fit into the memory of a module. Like the available main memory of the computer itself, this was only a few kilobytes in size.

Announcements of the (optional) speech synthesizer

  • "Press fire to begin."
  • "Alert! Alien craft advancing!"
  • "Alert! Ships attacking!"
  • "Nice shooting."
  • "Great shot, pilot!"
  • "Laser on target."
  • "Enemy destroyed."
  • "Extra ship"
  • "Warning! Time to refuel."
  • "Congratulations" (when refueling)
  • "Nice flying." (After leaving the tank tunnel)
  • "Caution! Asteroid belt"
  • "Countdown… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Advance to the next level."

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Text of the game instructions http://www.videogamehouse.net/parsec.txt
  2. ↑ http://xona.com/ti994a/parsec.html
  3. ↑ http://www.mcse.ms/archive195-2005-10-1879653.html