Mission Thunderbolt
Encyclopedia
Mission: Thunderbolt is a roguelike
computer game
with a futuristic storyline. It was originally developed and released on DEC
mainframe
s as Doomsday 2000, a four-part game, and later ported to both Mac OS
and Windows
. Mission: Thunderbolt is part 1 of the Jaunt Trooper series and was released on both Mac OS and Windows. Part 2, Mission: Firestorm, was only released for Mac OS. The game was one of the first commercially released roguelikes. It put a graphical front end and a full set of sounds in place of the ASCII text traditional to roguelikes. It was also unique in the sheer number of actions/interactions possible. Being closed source, many mysteries of the game were never fully resolved.
operating system on a DEC VAX
mainframe computer; a VAX workstation
was used in later years. The first version was released after nearly a year of development and testing to DEC employees world wide over the Internet
in 1987
; the author kept a large world map on the wall of his office and had a pushpin placed where ever a DEC office was known to have employees playing the game (there were lots of pins). Although titled Doomsday 2000, within DEC the game was known simply as Doom.
Doomsday 2000 was modeled along the lines of other popular mainframe computer games at the time, such as Rogue
, Hack, and Larn, but was specifically designed to have much greater depth of game play and greater freedom with regard to interacting with the game world presented; these are aspects that set the game apart from all other mainframe games of that era. For example, you could bash down walls to gain access to otherwise seemingly inaccessible regions. One trick that was often used by players was to blow a hole in the floor above a particularly troublesome foe lurking on a lower level, then lob grenades through that hole to destroy the critter from relative safety, though some foes were clever enough to clamber up after the player character
.
Another notable feature that was provided, and which may very well have been a first such instance for mainframe games, was the inclusion of special loadable bitmap fonts for various models of DEC's VT series video computer terminals. These fonts enabled the game to present actual little pictures of the monsters, loot items, and terrain features found in the game, instead of the simplistic number/letter representations (ASCII characters) used by other games at that time. So a "bat" was shown with the image of a stylized bat, instead of the letter B.
Doomsday 2000 was initially conceived of as a four part-game with interlinked stories, each part being a special "mission" for the heroic character (Captain Hazard) whose role people assumed within the game. Mission: Thunderbolt was the first of the missions, and it was the only mission in the 1987 release. This initial game was later expanded over time to also include Mission: Firestorm and Mission: Quicksilver. The fourth mission (Tsunami) never left the concept stage.
Casady & Greene
published a version of the game's first mission as Mission: Thunderbolt for Mac OS in 1991
. Few copies were sold and so was not a commercial success for its author.
The second mission was subsequently released by the author himself for Mac OS as JauntTrooper, Mission: Firestorm by way of a hobby, rather than a commercial venture, as was a Windows version of the first mission, JauntTrooper, Mission: Thunderbolt.
[This section contributed by Dave S., Author of Mission: Thunderbolt, September 2007]
.
The aliens however get there first and bring a lot of nasty creatures along with them to try and stop the human resistance from getting the anti-matter bomb.
". Other items have a use but you must be creative in order to find their uses.
Example 1: Characters often find bone
s that are lying around the compound. If given to a wild dog
, they will become friendly and help by attacking enemies.
The player character starts the game with three items: a butcher knife
, a damaged and unreliable laser pistol (listed as "battered" in the inventory), and a black pill
.
A unique feature in Mission: Thunderbolt is that at the start of each new game, the chances of acquiring different items is randomized, resulting in an item being exceedingly rare in one game and very common in another. The various creatures in the game were similarly randomized.
or by discovering their nature through trial and error
. This can be done by trying different things with the devices, such as wearing, activating, firing the item, etc.
The Light Globe is the first "Strange Device" found, usually on Level 2. This item will need to be charged with a power cell and then activated. The light globe will then give off extra light and illuminate the maze for several squares, allowing the player character to see things long before directly encountered.
system as far as your stats go for the character's strength
, dexterity, constitution
, etc.
and was placed within the MacWorld
1992 Game Hall of Fame.
Mission: Thunderbolt was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon
#189 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
with a futuristic storyline. It was originally developed and released on DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
mainframe
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s as Doomsday 2000, a four-part game, and later ported to both Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. Mission: Thunderbolt is part 1 of the Jaunt Trooper series and was released on both Mac OS and Windows. Part 2, Mission: Firestorm, was only released for Mac OS. The game was one of the first commercially released roguelikes. It put a graphical front end and a full set of sounds in place of the ASCII text traditional to roguelikes. It was also unique in the sheer number of actions/interactions possible. Being closed source, many mysteries of the game were never fully resolved.
Historical background
The creation of this game began in late 1986 as a means for the author to learn the C programming language while working for DEC. It was developed under the VMSOpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
operating system on a DEC VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
mainframe computer; a VAX workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
was used in later years. The first version was released after nearly a year of development and testing to DEC employees world wide over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in 1987
1987 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
; the author kept a large world map on the wall of his office and had a pushpin placed where ever a DEC office was known to have employees playing the game (there were lots of pins). Although titled Doomsday 2000, within DEC the game was known simply as Doom.
Doomsday 2000 was modeled along the lines of other popular mainframe computer games at the time, such as Rogue
Rogue (computer game)
Rogue is a dungeon crawling video game first developed by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman around 1980. It was a favorite on college Unix systems in the early to mid-1980s, in part due to the procedural generation of game content. Rogue popularized dungeon crawling as a video game trope, leading...
, Hack, and Larn, but was specifically designed to have much greater depth of game play and greater freedom with regard to interacting with the game world presented; these are aspects that set the game apart from all other mainframe games of that era. For example, you could bash down walls to gain access to otherwise seemingly inaccessible regions. One trick that was often used by players was to blow a hole in the floor above a particularly troublesome foe lurking on a lower level, then lob grenades through that hole to destroy the critter from relative safety, though some foes were clever enough to clamber up after the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
.
Another notable feature that was provided, and which may very well have been a first such instance for mainframe games, was the inclusion of special loadable bitmap fonts for various models of DEC's VT series video computer terminals. These fonts enabled the game to present actual little pictures of the monsters, loot items, and terrain features found in the game, instead of the simplistic number/letter representations (ASCII characters) used by other games at that time. So a "bat" was shown with the image of a stylized bat, instead of the letter B.
Doomsday 2000 was initially conceived of as a four part-game with interlinked stories, each part being a special "mission" for the heroic character (Captain Hazard) whose role people assumed within the game. Mission: Thunderbolt was the first of the missions, and it was the only mission in the 1987 release. This initial game was later expanded over time to also include Mission: Firestorm and Mission: Quicksilver. The fourth mission (Tsunami) never left the concept stage.
Casady & Greene
Casady & Greene
Casady & Greene, founded in 1984 by Robin Casady, was a software publisher of shareware products, primarily for the Macintosh. C&G published fonts in the earlier days of desktop publishing; founder Casady partnered with Michael Greene, founder of Greene Inc who developed QuickDex. An expansion into...
published a version of the game's first mission as Mission: Thunderbolt for Mac OS in 1991
1991 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....
. Few copies were sold and so was not a commercial success for its author.
The second mission was subsequently released by the author himself for Mac OS as JauntTrooper, Mission: Firestorm by way of a hobby, rather than a commercial venture, as was a Windows version of the first mission, JauntTrooper, Mission: Thunderbolt.
[This section contributed by Dave S., Author of Mission: Thunderbolt, September 2007]
Storyline
The world has been invaded by the alien race of the Zytts, and humans have created an underground resistance to overthrow them. In order to strike a vital blow against the invaders, the protagonist is sent to recover an anti-matter bomb that was stored in a military installation under the Appalachian MountainsAppalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
.
The aliens however get there first and bring a lot of nasty creatures along with them to try and stop the human resistance from getting the anti-matter bomb.
Gameplay
There are sixteen regions in the game, plus twelve side levels called "Warrens" and two detention levels. Each time a new game was created, most of the levels are randomly generated, allowing for replayability.Items
During the game the player finds many different items that have various functions, such as wield, wear, throw, eat, open, close, activate, deactivate, etc. Some items have a use and some are completely useless, such as the "pile of entrails" and the "pile of rubbleRubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture. This word is closely connected in derivation with "rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble". Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as brash...
". Other items have a use but you must be creative in order to find their uses.
Example 1: Characters often find bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
s that are lying around the compound. If given to a wild dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
, they will become friendly and help by attacking enemies.
The player character starts the game with three items: a butcher knife
Butcher knife
A butcher knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering and/or dressing of animals.During the late 18th century to mid 1840s, the butcher knife was a key tool for mountain men. Simple, useful and cheap to produce, they were used for everything from skinning beaver, cutting food,...
, a damaged and unreliable laser pistol (listed as "battered" in the inventory), and a black pill
Pill (pharmacy)
A pill is a small, round, solid pharmaceutical oral dosage form that was in use before the advent of tablets and capsules. Pills were made by mixing the active ingredients with an excipient such as glucose syrup in a mortar and pestle to form a paste, then rolling the mass into a long cylindrical...
.
A unique feature in Mission: Thunderbolt is that at the start of each new game, the chances of acquiring different items is randomized, resulting in an item being exceedingly rare in one game and very common in another. The various creatures in the game were similarly randomized.
Strange Devices
Throughout the adventure, the player character will find many devices that are originally called, "Strange Devices." These devices are identified later on as one discovers their uses. These items can be identified at a libraryLibrary
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
or by discovering their nature through trial and error
Trial and error
Trial and error, or trial by error, is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge."Learning doesn't happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again."...
. This can be done by trying different things with the devices, such as wearing, activating, firing the item, etc.
The Light Globe is the first "Strange Device" found, usually on Level 2. This item will need to be charged with a power cell and then activated. The light globe will then give off extra light and illuminate the maze for several squares, allowing the player character to see things long before directly encountered.
Primary Stats
The game is loosely based on the Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
system as far as your stats go for the character's strength
Physical strength
Physical strength is the ability of a person or animal to exert force on physical objects using muscles. Increasing physical strength is the goal of strength training.-Overview:...
, dexterity, constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, etc.
Miscellaneous
Throughout the game one finds several other weapons and items to use in defense or to assist in progress through the levels of the game toward the goal at level 16.Future Missions
Characters that complete the original mission can be imported into Mission: Firestorm, only available for Mac OS, despite Thunderbolts release for the Windows platform as well.Reception
Mission: Thunderbolt was awarded "4 Mice" by MacUser MagazineMacUser
MacUser is a biweekly computer magazine published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. and licensed by Felden in the UK.In 1985 Felix Dennis’ Dennis Publishing, the creators of MacUser in the UK, licensed the name and “mouse-rating” symbol for MacUser to Ziff-Davis Publishing for use in the rest of the world....
and was placed within the MacWorld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
1992 Game Hall of Fame.
Mission: Thunderbolt was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#189 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.