The Tail of Beta Lyrae
Encyclopedia
The Tail of Beta Lyrae is a 1983 computer game for the Atari
family of computers, created by Philip Price
with music by Gary Gilbertson
, and published by Datamost
.
binary star system
, and it's up to you to pilot your fighter through the fields, destroying the alien invaders and their installations.
Creator Philip Price states that the "tail" in the game's name "came from a play on telling a tale and the setting of a binary star system which only had fragments of rock orbiting it because of the tidal forces brought on by the two suns; these fragments are the tail of the system's creation." http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/PRICE.HTM
arcade game and its successors. As the landscape scrolls past, the player uses a joystick to move the ship around the screen, avoiding attacks from laser and missile emplacements and destroying buildings, power generators, vessels and alien miners. The landscape and configuration of objects is generated pseudo-randomly (within both design and game play difficulty constraints), adding a degree of unpredictability to the game. Game design also added new objects to levels already played after the user had owned the game for a time in order to add new excitement to experienced areas.
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
family of computers, created by Philip Price
Philip Price
Philip Price is best known for computer game designs and creative programming done using the Atari 8-bit family of home computers, and was one of the founders of Paradise Programming...
with music by Gary Gilbertson
Gary Gilbertson
Gary Gilbertson was a music composer for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. His music made use of the AMP engine for the Atari POKEY chip which was programmed by Philip Price...
, and published by Datamost
Datamost
Datamost was a software design company founded by David Gordon and based in Chatsworth, California. Datamost operated in the early 1980s producing games and other software mainly for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari platforms, with some for the IBM PC...
.
Premise
The Tail of Beta Lyrae is a side-scrolling combat game that puts you in the role of "a Wing Commander assigned to the Beta Quadrant." Alien forces have occupied the mining colonies in the asteroid fields of the Beta LyraeBeta Lyrae
Beta Lyrae is a binary star system approximately 882 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. Beta Lyrae has the traditional name Sheliak , from الشلياق šiliyāq, the Arabic name of the constellation Lyra.Beta Lyrae is an eclipsing semi-detached binary system made up of a B7II primary star and...
binary star system
Binary star
A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The brighter star is called the primary and the other is its companion star, comes, or secondary...
, and it's up to you to pilot your fighter through the fields, destroying the alien invaders and their installations.
Creator Philip Price states that the "tail" in the game's name "came from a play on telling a tale and the setting of a binary star system which only had fragments of rock orbiting it because of the tidal forces brought on by the two suns; these fragments are the tail of the system's creation." http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/PRICE.HTM
Gameplay
Though not strictly a clone, The Tail of Beta Lyrae closely parallels the concept and feel of 1981's popular ScrambleScramble (arcade game)
Scramble is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up, arcade game. It was developed by Konami, and manufactured and distributed by Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels...
arcade game and its successors. As the landscape scrolls past, the player uses a joystick to move the ship around the screen, avoiding attacks from laser and missile emplacements and destroying buildings, power generators, vessels and alien miners. The landscape and configuration of objects is generated pseudo-randomly (within both design and game play difficulty constraints), adding a degree of unpredictability to the game. Game design also added new objects to levels already played after the user had owned the game for a time in order to add new excitement to experienced areas.