.gif)
Sundance (arcade game)
Encyclopedia
Sundance is a puzzle arcade game
using vector graphics
released by Cinematronics
in 1979
. The game consists of two grids floating in a pseudo-3D
space with small suns
bouncing between them. The player scored points by capturing the suns as they made contact with the grids. The player also had a limited-use "smart bomb" button which would eliminate all of the suns currently bouncing between the grids. As the suns bounced, the grids would move closer and closer, making gameplay more difficult. The game ended when the grids fully converged.
The game itself had only a small production run and was plagued with hardware failures due to its unconventional design. According to Tim Skelly
, the game's designer, Sundance used an additional daughterboard
that controlled the intensity of certain vectors. This board and its connections were rather fragile and prone to failure. Also, the monitor used a defective carbon coating spray which tended to cause the monitor's tube to arc if it was left in a certain position, destroying the monitor.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
using vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
released by Cinematronics
Cinematronics
Cinematronics Incorporated was a pioneering arcade game developer that had its heyday in the era of vector display games. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and Atari released vector-display games, which offered a distinctive look...
in 1979
1979 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* Richard Garriott creates Akalabeth, a computer role-playing game for the Apple IIe. It launches Garriott's career and is a precursor to his highly successful Ultima series....
. The game consists of two grids floating in a pseudo-3D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
space with small suns
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
bouncing between them. The player scored points by capturing the suns as they made contact with the grids. The player also had a limited-use "smart bomb" button which would eliminate all of the suns currently bouncing between the grids. As the suns bounced, the grids would move closer and closer, making gameplay more difficult. The game ended when the grids fully converged.
The game itself had only a small production run and was plagued with hardware failures due to its unconventional design. According to Tim Skelly
Tim Skelly
Tim Skelly is an arcade game designer and programmer who worked for Cinematronics from 1978 until 1981. He designed a series of pure action games using black and white vector graphics...
, the game's designer, Sundance used an additional daughterboard
Daughterboard
A daughterboard, daughtercard or piggyback board is a circuit board meant to be an extension or "daughter" of a motherboard , or occasionally of another card...
that controlled the intensity of certain vectors. This board and its connections were rather fragile and prone to failure. Also, the monitor used a defective carbon coating spray which tended to cause the monitor's tube to arc if it was left in a certain position, destroying the monitor.