RED LEADER: FOUR WORLDS AND A FORTRESS ON EACH
We have a new game on the workbench for the Commodore 64. It's called Red Leader, it's a vertical scrolling shooter, and four of its worlds can already be flown from the first dune to the last gun.
Where it came from
A little while ago we wrote about Rebellion, a fast side-scrolling shooter, and the arcade kit we built under it. We finished Rebellion, sat down and played it, and it wasn't the game we wanted. So it went on the shelf.
The kit didn't. Everything a fast 64 game needs was already there: the interrupts, the sprite sharing, the sound, the scores. It needed one more part, a scroller that moves the whole screen down a pixel at a time, and then it could do the game we should have made in the first place. The ground comes down the screen, you fly up it, and everything on it is trying to stop you.
You are Red Leader
The Dominion has taken four worlds of the Outer Reach and built a fortress on each. The Rebellion has one squadron left, and the squadron has one pilot left. That's you, and the call sign comes with the ship.
The plan is to break all four fortresses, one world after another. Command says that should get the Dominion's attention.
Four worlds
Each world has its own ground and its own trouble.
On the sand planet it's skiffs, sliding across the dunes from one side of the screen to the other and shooting as they go. On the snow planet it's walkers, coming down the screen on foot, four hits each and not in any hurry.
The forest moon has a trail up the middle between the trees, and speeder bikes come down it in single file a good deal faster than you'd like.
And the cloud city has cloud cars that patrol from side to side over the landing pads and the towers, and don't leave until you make them.
Everywhere there are fighters in formation, gun turrets on the ground, and tower turrets tall enough to fly into.
The fortress
Every world ends at a wall you can't fly past. Behind it are four guns and a core. The core stays shut, and laughs at your bolts, until the last gun is gone. Then it opens, and it shoots back.
Break the core and the whole thing goes up, you get a bonus for every ship you still have, and it's on to the next world. Clear all four and you go round again, harder.
Nowhere to hide
One thing we found out by playing it: the first version had a safe corner. Park at the top of the screen and nothing could touch you, because the enemies only knew how to shoot downward. They know better now. Shots are aimed, and they come from any direction, including from a gun you've just flown past.
So keep moving.
Where it is
It runs on any Commodore 64, PAL or NTSC, from one disk image, and the top ten saves to the disk with your initials. Still to come: the star cruiser, the run down its trench, and the music.
There's more on the Red Leader page: the story, how to play, and what everything is worth. We'll say here when it's ready.
