| SkyRoads | |
|---|---|
Screenshot of gameplay |
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| Developer(s) | Bluemoon |
| Publisher(s) | Creative Dimensions |
| Platform(s) | PC DOS |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| System requirements
AT 286 |
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Bluemoon's creation of SkyRoads is a polished-up remake of the game Kosmonaut. The three months spent working on it paid off when the shareware title was released in 1993, selling internationally and getting LCR distribution deals from the U.S. to Taiwan.
The game's interface was an instant hit with downloaders. The spacebar and up/down/left/right keys are used to create an easy "jump and move" motion. Up makes the ship go faster, down makes the ship go slower. Meters at the bottom indicate your ship's speed, Oxygen Levels, and Fuel Levels. The meter to the left indicates how far you are into the level, next to a grav-o-meter that describes the planet's gravity (100 is the lowest, giving a weightless feeling, and 1700 is the highest, allowing no jumping.) Obstacles exist in your path, which, if run into at any speed above very low, will cause your ship to explode. Also, if your ship does not land on a road, it will drift off into space forever. If your ship runs out of fuel or oxygen, your game is over.
The demo and full versions of both games are now available for download as freeware from the homepage of Bluemoon Interactive (link below).
Contents |
Certain colors on the roads indicate special properties:
The game always ends with a tunnel that ends into space, signifying a win.
Following the success of the original Skyroads, Bluemoon have released a "Skyroads XMAS-Special" version in 1994, which featured exactly the same interface and features, but different and considerably harder levels beyond the surprisingly tame Snowbound 1, 2, and 3 (with the possible exception of the last level of the original Skyroads, Druidia 3 which is still considered a notch above all others in difficulty by some, while others find the final level, The Eve 3, or even the final two levels of the Xmas edition (The Eve 2 and 3) to be far tougher). Because of this substantial increase in difficulty, the XMAS-Special version never became as popular as the original.
Tinsanity produced a freeware Skyroads clone called Tasty Static. It runs on Windows, Apple and Linux platforms. The Windows version also features a level editor. A free software remake called Orbit-Hopper also exists. It is properly 3D using OpenGL and runs on Windows and Linux.[1][2][3]
There also exist two browser-based remakes using Flash, one is called SWFROADS and the other is HiRoads by Filippo Bodei.