Firebug (computer game)
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Firebug is a 1982 computer game by MUSE Software for the Apple II computer. The game was released on cassette tape and on floppy disk. It was written by Silas Warner, whose most famous accomplishment was Castle Wolfenstein.
The player controls a "firebug", a 3-by-3-pixel square with a tail stretching behind it. The player picks up gas cans—each represented by a single pixel on the screen—and drops a can by pressing the joystick button. The end of the player's tail glows white, and will ignite any gas can that it comes adjacent to, including cans the player had dropped. Once a gas can ignites, it bursts into colorful flames, which ignite any walls they touch.
The goal is to burn down the highest possible percentage of the walls on the level, and escape down the stairs to the next level without touching any flames with the body of the firebug. Tail collisions with fire are expected and ignored. As the game progresses, each level features tighter mazes of walls, increasing the penalty for player mistakes; and the player's tail shortens, causing player-dropped gas cans to explode sooner.
Firebug uses the Apple II's lo-res graphics mode, which displays 16 colors but which has a pixel resolution of only 40 wide by 48 high. Hence, the game looks remarkably crude, even by the standards of Apple II games. At the time, the colorful fire effect was notable.
Several years after the game's release, a critic complained that the game promoted arson.[citation needed]
The game was an inspiration for Pyro 2.
