Sheep in Space
Encyclopedia
Sheep in Space is a surrealist computer game released for the Commodore 64
computer in the 1980s by Jeff Minter
's Llamasoft. It is a horizontally-scrolling shooter.
Like Llamasoft's 1984 release "Ancipital", the game makes use of multiple gravitational fields - there is a landscape across the bottom of the screen as per a normal shoot 'em up, but also an inverted one across the top. If the player is in the centre of the screen, the projectiles the sheep fires fly straight. Getting closer to the land at the top or the bottom of the screen will cause the projectiles to curve up or down respectively, allowing the shooting of aliens close to the surface.
The player can land the sheep on areas of grass on either the top or bottom of the screen, in order to reduce its hunger. A stomach meter shows the player's current state of hunger - overfeeding or allowing the sheep to starve will result in the loss of a life.
Destroying all of the aliens advances the player to the next level
, which has different topography and is slightly more difficult.
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
computer in the 1980s by Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter
Jeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
's Llamasoft. It is a horizontally-scrolling shooter.
Summary
The player controls a small flying sheep and has the task of defending the planet by shooting down aliens, and preventing them from charging up their "planet buster" gun.Like Llamasoft's 1984 release "Ancipital", the game makes use of multiple gravitational fields - there is a landscape across the bottom of the screen as per a normal shoot 'em up, but also an inverted one across the top. If the player is in the centre of the screen, the projectiles the sheep fires fly straight. Getting closer to the land at the top or the bottom of the screen will cause the projectiles to curve up or down respectively, allowing the shooting of aliens close to the surface.
The player can land the sheep on areas of grass on either the top or bottom of the screen, in order to reduce its hunger. A stomach meter shows the player's current state of hunger - overfeeding or allowing the sheep to starve will result in the loss of a life.
Destroying all of the aliens advances the player to the next level
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
, which has different topography and is slightly more difficult.