Zarch
Encyclopedia
Zarch is a computer game written by David Braben
(better known as the co-author of Elite) in three months in , for the release of the Acorn Archimedes
computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost all releases of the Acorn Archimedes.
Zarch was released as Virus and in 1988 ported to the Atari ST
, Commodore Amiga (coded by Jez San
and his Argonaut
team), and IBM PC
(coded by Chris Sawyer
). It was later ported to the ZX Spectrum
by Steven Dunn - an impressive feat considering the inferior processing power and poor graphics of the Spectrum when compared to the Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST and PC. A few clones/games based on Zarch have also been created fairly recently, namely a version for Linux
, also called Zarch, a remake for Windows (written in Blitz BASIC
) called Z-Virus, and a version crossing Zarch with Pac-Man
called ZarchMan (see external Links below).
The game was groundbreaking for the time, featuring a three-dimensional mouse-controlled craft (the "lander") flying over a tile-rendered landscape that dazzled reviewers in a primarily 2D-dominated game industry - ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) magazine led with the headline "SOLID 3D - the future of games?" when it reviewed Zarch with a score of 979, the highest rating ACE had given at that time, only bettered by the later Amiga port Virus at 981.
Virus was one of the first solid 3D games and was also the first to have 3D lighting effects and shadowing, although these are less sophisticated than those of Zarch.
The plot of the game is reminiscent of the arcade game Defender, in that the player, piloting a lone craft with limited firepower, must defend a finite landscape against ever increasing waves of enemy craft. In Zarch, the landscape is being invaded by aliens who are spreading a virus
across the landscape. The seeder vessels are slow-moving, predictable, and easily destroyed, but as the game progresses they are supported by increasing numbers of flying support craft, which do not scatter virus but instead attack the player.
The seeder vessels scatter red virus particles across the landscape. As they land, they turn the green landscape to brown and red, and cause the trees to mutate. Some flying enemies shoot the mutated trees, to cause themselves to become much more aggressive and dangerous. To clear each attack wave, the player must destroy all enemy vessels.
At the conclusion of each attack wave the player is awarded bonus points for the amount of landscape which remains uninfected. After four attack waves have been successfully repelled, the player is awarded a new landscape; however, there is comparatively less land and more water, making complete infection more likely.
The lander has a single thruster pointing directly downwards beneath it. Firing the thruster causes the lander to fly straight upwards. The lander has a flight ceiling above which the thruster will not fire. To fly in any direction requires the lander to be tilted in that direction. The lander can only pitch and yaw; it cannot roll. Too much tilt can cause the lander to turn upside-down, a position which may be difficult to recover, and can cause the player to crash the lander by accidentally thrusting downwards. The lander, although agile, is extremely vulnerable, and may be destroyed by a single enemy shot.
The lander expends fuel and must occasionally return to the launchpad to refuel, with successful landings being extremely difficult. The lander must be completely level to land. While refuelling, it is extremely vulnerable to attack from the air.
Every round fired costs 1 point, and the lander is equipped with a rapid-fire autocannon. This makes it possible to achieve a negative final score if one doesn't actually hit anything. At such times the game dryly points out that slugs and dried up bits of lichen have been known to get better scores than that.
No powerups are available in the game, although the player has a limited number of smart missiles, and smart bomb
s and is awarded a new one of each with each extra life. Some enemy craft are so agile as to be able to out-manoeuvre the missiles, and the smart bombs have a very limited range.
screen", which provides a map of the whole landscape, with the position of the lander and enemy craft marked on it. Uninfected territory appears green; infected territory appears red. The radar detection is provided by rotating scanning-towers which are evenly spaced across the landscape; accidental destruction of these results in loss of detection in that area, and black squares appear on the map.
-like enemy can be seen patrolling randomly on the water. It does not directly threaten the player, nor is its destruction required to complete the level. It does not appear on radar. When destroyed it emits a puff of virus particles, and bonus points are awarded. Some players insist the fish enemy can be found on every level with diligent searching.
In advanced levels a high-altitude, fast-moving bomber
craft appears, dropping packets of virus particles in profusion. This craft is difficult to destroy, since the angle needed for the lander to match its speed is such that the cannon cannot easily be brought to bear. Meanwhile, it delivers huge amounts of virus to the landscape.
Braben had use of an Acorn A500 development machine for two weeks in January 1987. He had been working on 3D landscape algorithms on the BBC Micro
and then wrote Lander using ARM
code.
computers. It was completed in less than three months as an illustration of their capabilities. Although the graphical environment, controls and handling of the lander were similar to the released version of the game, neither enemies nor virus were present on the landscape. Points were awarded for destroying trees and buildings.
While the lander was stationary on the launchpad, moving the mouse (which would normally tilt the attitude of the craft) would cause it to immediately explode. This bug was fixed in Virus: the craft would not explode while sitting on the launchpad, but only if a landing were attempted while the craft was not level.
Depth sorting uses bin sorting because objects only need to be approximately in order. The buffering demands memory but does not have the same time overheads as bubble sorting or quicksort. Colour keying is implemented by varying levels of white according to depth.
Trees, buildings and enemies are drawn in filled light-sourced polygons. Shadows of the lander and enemies are projected vertically onto the ground, which does not cater for landscape curvature but is fast. Consequently, shadows are not shown on other scenery. The shadows allow the player to follow movements of enemy craft by their shadows, even when they are not visible on the screen. In Virus, there is no light-sourcing. The game also provides particle system
effects to depict the thrust from the lander, explosions, the virus spreading over the landscape, and assorted other phenomena such as splashes when shots strike water, and puffs of dust when they strike land. At altitude, when the ground cannot be seen, dust particles in the air give the impression of movement and speed.
Four major routines are used in the game's programming:
The hillside landscape is generated from a number of pseudorandom sequence sine waves.
The Amiga
game Zeewolf
(1994) and its sequel have a noticeably similar design and appearance to Zarch, although the game engine was independently developed by Binary Asylum.
In 1998, ten years after Zarch was released, a sequel, V2000 (also known as Virus 2000), was released for the PC
and PlayStation
.
More recently, a Windows remake called Z-Virus was created in Blitz BASIC
.
David Braben
David John Braben is a British computer programmer, best known for co-writing Elite, a hugely popular and influential space trading computer game, in the early 1980s.-Life and work:...
(better known as the co-author of Elite) in three months in , for the release of the Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost all releases of the Acorn Archimedes.
Zarch was released as Virus and in 1988 ported to the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Commodore Amiga (coded by Jez San
Jez San
Jeremy 'Jez' San OBE is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is also a writer and helped design the Super FX chip for the Super NES.-Biography:...
and his Argonaut
Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games plc was a British video game developer. Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982 the company name is a play on his name and the movie title Jason and the Argonauts. It had its head offices in Edgware, London....
team), and IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
(coded by Chris Sawyer
Chris Sawyer
Chris Sawyer is a Scottish computer game developer who is best known for designing and programming Transport Tycoon and the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.-Career:...
). It was later ported to the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
by Steven Dunn - an impressive feat considering the inferior processing power and poor graphics of the Spectrum when compared to the Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST and PC. A few clones/games based on Zarch have also been created fairly recently, namely a version for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, also called Zarch, a remake for Windows (written in Blitz BASIC
Blitz BASIC
Blitz BASIC refers to the programming language dialect that was interpreted by the first Blitz compilers, devised by New Zealand-based developer Mark Sibly. Being derived from BASIC, Blitz syntax was designed to be easy to pick-up for beginners first learning to program...
) called Z-Virus, and a version crossing Zarch with Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
called ZarchMan (see external Links below).
The game was groundbreaking for the time, featuring a three-dimensional mouse-controlled craft (the "lander") flying over a tile-rendered landscape that dazzled reviewers in a primarily 2D-dominated game industry - ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) magazine led with the headline "SOLID 3D - the future of games?" when it reviewed Zarch with a score of 979, the highest rating ACE had given at that time, only bettered by the later Amiga port Virus at 981.
Virus was one of the first solid 3D games and was also the first to have 3D lighting effects and shadowing, although these are less sophisticated than those of Zarch.
Plot
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
across the landscape. The seeder vessels are slow-moving, predictable, and easily destroyed, but as the game progresses they are supported by increasing numbers of flying support craft, which do not scatter virus but instead attack the player.
The seeder vessels scatter red virus particles across the landscape. As they land, they turn the green landscape to brown and red, and cause the trees to mutate. Some flying enemies shoot the mutated trees, to cause themselves to become much more aggressive and dangerous. To clear each attack wave, the player must destroy all enemy vessels.
At the conclusion of each attack wave the player is awarded bonus points for the amount of landscape which remains uninfected. After four attack waves have been successfully repelled, the player is awarded a new landscape; however, there is comparatively less land and more water, making complete infection more likely.
Gameplay
Zarch is a notoriously difficult game for beginners. Controls are extremely sensitive; simply moving the mouse while taking off can cause the lander to explode on the launchpad.The lander has a single thruster pointing directly downwards beneath it. Firing the thruster causes the lander to fly straight upwards. The lander has a flight ceiling above which the thruster will not fire. To fly in any direction requires the lander to be tilted in that direction. The lander can only pitch and yaw; it cannot roll. Too much tilt can cause the lander to turn upside-down, a position which may be difficult to recover, and can cause the player to crash the lander by accidentally thrusting downwards. The lander, although agile, is extremely vulnerable, and may be destroyed by a single enemy shot.
The lander expends fuel and must occasionally return to the launchpad to refuel, with successful landings being extremely difficult. The lander must be completely level to land. While refuelling, it is extremely vulnerable to attack from the air.
Every round fired costs 1 point, and the lander is equipped with a rapid-fire autocannon. This makes it possible to achieve a negative final score if one doesn't actually hit anything. At such times the game dryly points out that slugs and dried up bits of lichen have been known to get better scores than that.
No powerups are available in the game, although the player has a limited number of smart missiles, and smart bomb
Smart bomb
Smart bomb has several meanings:* In weapons, a smart bomb is a precision-guided munition* Smart Bomb Interactive, a video game development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah...
s and is awarded a new one of each with each extra life. Some enemy craft are so agile as to be able to out-manoeuvre the missiles, and the smart bombs have a very limited range.
Radar screen
In the top left of the screen is displayed a "radarRadar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
screen", which provides a map of the whole landscape, with the position of the lander and enemy craft marked on it. Uninfected territory appears green; infected territory appears red. The radar detection is provided by rotating scanning-towers which are evenly spaced across the landscape; accidental destruction of these results in loss of detection in that area, and black squares appear on the map.
Notable enemies
In some levels a fishFish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
-like enemy can be seen patrolling randomly on the water. It does not directly threaten the player, nor is its destruction required to complete the level. It does not appear on radar. When destroyed it emits a puff of virus particles, and bonus points are awarded. Some players insist the fish enemy can be found on every level with diligent searching.
In advanced levels a high-altitude, fast-moving bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
craft appears, dropping packets of virus particles in profusion. This craft is difficult to destroy, since the angle needed for the lander to match its speed is such that the cannon cannot easily be brought to bear. Meanwhile, it delivers huge amounts of virus to the landscape.
Development
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
and then wrote Lander using ARM
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
code.
Lander
Lander was a demo version of Zarch bundled with new Acorn ArchimedesAcorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
computers. It was completed in less than three months as an illustration of their capabilities. Although the graphical environment, controls and handling of the lander were similar to the released version of the game, neither enemies nor virus were present on the landscape. Points were awarded for destroying trees and buildings.
While the lander was stationary on the launchpad, moving the mouse (which would normally tilt the attitude of the craft) would cause it to immediately explode. This bug was fixed in Virus: the craft would not explode while sitting on the launchpad, but only if a landing were attempted while the craft was not level.
Game engine
The player flies the lander over an undulating landscape of square tiles. The landscape routine uses fixed tile sizes, meaning that the depth of view is dictated by the frame rate. In development, a greater depth of view reduced the frame rate to only one or two per second. Bank switching is used, with the display being in 256-color . The higher resolution was not used because that leaves less available memory and the required VIDC bandwidth also slows down the processor.Depth sorting uses bin sorting because objects only need to be approximately in order. The buffering demands memory but does not have the same time overheads as bubble sorting or quicksort. Colour keying is implemented by varying levels of white according to depth.
Trees, buildings and enemies are drawn in filled light-sourced polygons. Shadows of the lander and enemies are projected vertically onto the ground, which does not cater for landscape curvature but is fast. Consequently, shadows are not shown on other scenery. The shadows allow the player to follow movements of enemy craft by their shadows, even when they are not visible on the screen. In Virus, there is no light-sourcing. The game also provides particle system
Particle system
The term particle system refers to a computer graphics technique to simulate certain fuzzy phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to reproduce with conventional rendering techniques...
effects to depict the thrust from the lander, explosions, the virus spreading over the landscape, and assorted other phenomena such as splashes when shots strike water, and puffs of dust when they strike land. At altitude, when the ground cannot be seen, dust particles in the air give the impression of movement and speed.
Four major routines are used in the game's programming:
- Animate object (nasties, player, missiles);
- General particle (bullets, debris, parachutes, spray);
- Landscape; and
- Scenery (trees, houses, radar).
The hillside landscape is generated from a number of pseudorandom sequence sine waves.
Legacy
The followup to Zarch was a game using the same landscape engine, called Conqueror. In this game, the player controls a tank, and fights enemy tanks in a realistic manner. It was coded by Jonathan Griffiths and released on the Archimedes, Atari ST and Amiga.The Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
game Zeewolf
Zeewolf
Zeewolf is a single-player 3D shoot 'em up computer game released for the Amiga platform in November 1994 by Binary Asylum. The player is tasked with flying a helicopter gunship over 32 combat missions. The game has a similar design and appearance to the earlier Zarch created by David Braben...
(1994) and its sequel have a noticeably similar design and appearance to Zarch, although the game engine was independently developed by Binary Asylum.
In 1998, ten years after Zarch was released, a sequel, V2000 (also known as Virus 2000), was released for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
.
More recently, a Windows remake called Z-Virus was created in Blitz BASIC
Blitz BASIC
Blitz BASIC refers to the programming language dialect that was interpreted by the first Blitz compilers, devised by New Zealand-based developer Mark Sibly. Being derived from BASIC, Blitz syntax was designed to be easy to pick-up for beginners first learning to program...
.
See also
- Lunar Lander (video game)
- Lunar Lander (arcade game)Lunar Lander (arcade game)Lunar Lander is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1979, which uses a vector monitor to display vector graphics. Although not particularly successful, a vector-graphics generator was the impetus of Atari's most successful coin-operated game: Asteroids. The object of the game is to pilot a...
- Thrust
- Lander (video game)Lander (video game)Lander is an action shooter game developed in-house at the Manchester office of Psygnosis. It was released for Microsoft Windows in Spring 1999 and published under the Psygnosis label shortly before the Manchester office was closed and the Psygnosis label was fully absorbed into Sony...
External links
- A cross browser implementation using the HTML 5 canvas tag.
- Frontier (Edge Magazine)
- Linux version
- Windows (Blitz Basic) version 1 and version 2
- Windows/OpenGL remake
- ZarchMan - A cross between Zarch and Pac-Man
- Play Experience article
- Frontier Developments official site
- Information and screenshots at The Bird Sanctuary
- V2000 at the Frontier DevelopmentsFrontier DevelopmentsFrontier Developments is a video game developer based in Cambridge, England. It is a private limited company and was incorporated in January 1994. The company is still headed by David Braben, in the position of Chairman....
website - Virus vs. Zarch at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....