Lunar Lander (computer game)
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Lunar Lander is the name of several computer games. In all variations of the game, the player must portion a limited amount of fuel to land on the moon without crashing.
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[edit] Lunar Lander (1973)
| Lunar Lander | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | DEC |
| Designer(s) | Jack Burness |
| Release date(s) | 1973 |
| Genre(s) | Retro/Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | DEC GT40 graphics terminal, PDP-11 based |
| Media | downloaded (typically from mainframe) |
| Input | light pen |
Lunar Lander (also known as Moonlander) was an early computer game that ran on the DEC GT40 graphics terminal (typically downloaded from a PDP-10 mainframe computer). DEC commissioned the game to be written in 1973 as a demonstration of the capabilities of the GT40; it was seen at many trade shows.
The goal was to correctly land a lunar module on the surface of the moon using the game's telemetry data. If the player miscalculates the module's landing, the module will either (1) fly off into space or (2) crash hard against the moon's surface or the mountain over which the lander first passed. The interface was through a light pen and the output display was a vector graphics system; the light pen allowed adjusting the throttle value and the angle of the lunar lander. Sophisticated players could achieve a landing on the mountain while cheaters learned the address of the word of magnetic core memory in which the fuel value was stored.
Later versions offered the ability to run the game on a free-standing RT-11 system as well as an Easter egg: a specific landing site offered a McDonald's restaurant. Upon landing successfully near the restaurant, an astronaut would walk over to get lunch. Crashing into the restaurant destroyed it permanently (until the program was reloaded) and displayed an amusingly sarcastic message berating the player.
Lunar Lander can be run on the E11 PDP-11 emulator.
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[edit] Lunar Lander (1979)
| Lunar Lander | |
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| Developer(s) | Atari |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Release date(s) | 1979 |
| Genre(s) | Retro/Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Input | lever, 3 buttons |
| Arcade cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade display | Horizontal orientation, Vector, size: 19 inch |
Lunar Lander was an arcade game released by Atari in 1979 (and later also ported to the Atari 400/800 home computers). Lunar Lander featured two concepts previously unseen in arcade video games:
- A proportional throttle control that allowed perfect timing of fuel expenditure
- A 'fuel for money' system which allowed the player to spend money to continue their play and purchase more fuel in-game
Not long after the home computer version of Lunar Lander was released by Adventure International in 1981 [1], Commodore released the very similar Jupiter Lander for its VIC-20 computer.
Lander, a modern Windows game inspired partly by Lunar Lander, was released in 1999 by the game company Psygnosis. To create a modern game from the old favourite the basic original ideas were used as merely a base for the new 3D control scheme for the Lander craft used within the modern game. The two gameplay constraints of the fuel system and inertia were retained and expanded upon, varnished over with up-to-date computer graphics.
The control scheme proved to be quite difficult to master in the 3D setting, taking days to become confident and competent. Thus, unlike the original, the game was never particularly popular outside of a small loyal fan base.
[edit] Text version
A text-only version of Lunar Lander, written in BASIC, was included with the eight-inch floppy operating system diskettes for the Datapoint 2200 series in the early 1980s. Playing it required three-separate loadings, first the operating system, then BASIC, and only then the program itself.
