Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

lander.bbcelite.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 41 posts

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#2

Post by unwind »

According to Wikipedia, "Lander" is only a demo, the actual game is "Zarch" [1]. Later ported to the Amiga, and renamed "Virus" (which is the title I knew, having grown up on the Amiga).

Very impressive, and cool to read the ARM assembly since it looks similar today of course. :)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#5

Post by MarkMoxon »

unwind wrote: post #2

According to Wikipedia, "Lander" is only a demo, the actual game is "Zarch" [1]. Later ported to the Amiga, and renamed "Virus" (which is the title I knew, having grown up on the Amiga). Very impressive, and cool to read the ARM assembly since it looks similar today of course. :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch

I've always felt that calling Lander a "demo" was harsh. It's a fully featured game in itself, and has features that Zarch doesn't (such as falling rocks and hover mode). Yes, Zarch was the result of continued development of Lander, but Lander stands on its own, and to me, that makes it a game in its own right, not a demo.

It's also a lot more relaxing to play. There's nothing more chill than flying over the bucolic landscape of Lander - no aliens or viruses in this version!

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#6

Post by scrumper »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #3

Was completely obsessed with this game on the school computers. Had an Amiga at home but never knew it had a port till like 10 years later.

Same here, we loved it at school. Also a liquid simulator called "Aliquid" has just popped into my memory. Hours of fun.

Despite playing hours and hours of Elite on the school BBCs before we got a room full of Archimedes machines, I've only just today noticed that Lander was also made by David Braben.

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#7

Post by WWWWH »

scrumper wrote: post #6
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #3

Was completely obsessed with this game on the school computers. Had an Amiga at home but never knew it had a port till like 10 years later.

Same here, we loved it at school. Also a liquid simulator called "Aliquid" has just popped into my memory. Hours of fun. Despite playing hours and hours of Elite on the school BBCs before we got a room full of Archimedes machines, I've only just today noticed that Lander was also made by David Braben.

I also wasted a lot of my youth playing Elite, so much fun. Check out the page--it also has annotated source code for Elite (a few different versions up there).

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#8

Post by unwind »

MarkMoxon wrote: post #5
unwind wrote: post #2

According to Wikipedia, "Lander" is only a demo, the actual game is "Zarch" [1]. Later ported to the Amiga, and renamed "Virus" (which is the title I knew, having grown up on the Amiga). Very impressive, and cool to read the ARM assembly since it looks similar today of course. :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch

I've always felt that calling Lander a "demo" was harsh. It's a fully featured game in itself, and has features that Zarch doesn't (such as falling rocks and hover mode). Yes, Zarch was the result of continued development of Lander, but Lander stands on its own, and to me, that makes it a game in its own right, not a demo. It's also a lot more relaxing to play. There's nothing more chill than flying over the bucolic…

Thanks! My memories of "Virus" was that it was super-mega-difficult, but of course it was the late 80s and games were not afraid of having a bit of a learning curve to them. :)

Re: Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes

#10

Post by flir »

WWWWH wrote: post #7
scrumper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, we loved it at school. Also a liquid simulator called "Aliquid" has just popped into my memory. Hours of fun. Despite playing hours and hours of Elite on the school BBCs before we got a room full of Archimedes machines, I've only just today noticed that Lander was also made by David Braben.

I also wasted a lot of my youth playing Elite, so much fun. Check out the page--it also has annotated source code for Elite (a few different versions up there).

...E-Type...

(who's up next?)

Post reply on HN