Star Castle is a vector graphicsmultidirectional shooter released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The display is black and white with the colors of the rings and screen provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay.
Star Castle was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden. Skelly created a number of other Cinematronics vector games, including Starhawk, Armor Attack, and Rip-Off.[1] A Vectrex port of Star Castle for was released in 1983.
The object of Star Castle is to destroy an enemy cannon which sits in the center of three concentric, rotating energy shield rings while avoiding or destroying "mines"–enemies that spawn from the core, pass through the energy rings, and then home in on the player's ship. The player-controlled spaceship can rotate, thrust forward, and fire small projectiles. The cannon's shields are composed of twelve sections each, and each section takes two hits to destroy. Once a section is breached, rings beneath it are exposed to fire.
A color overlay tints the rings yellow, orange, and red and the rest of the playfield blue.
Once the innermost ring has been breached, the central weapon is vulnerable to attack from the player. However, the player is also more vulnerable at this point, as with the shield rings eliminated, the gun can fire out a large projectile that hisses with white noise. Moreover, the central core tracks player movement at all times. If the player manages to hit the cannon, it explodes violently, collapsing the remnants of the shield rings, and the player is awarded with an extra ship. The next level then starts with a new gun and fully restored shield rings, with the difficulty increased (the mines move faster, the rings rotate more quickly, and the core tracks the player faster).
If the player completely destroys the outermost shield ring, the cannon will create a new one. The middle ring expands to replace the lost outer ring, the inner ring replaces the middle, and a new ring emerges from the core to become the inner ring. Therefore, in order to penetrate the cannon's defenses, the player must be careful not to completely obliterate the outer ring.
The three homing mines will destroy the player's ship on contact. The mines can be destroyed, but they are very small and difficult to fire on, and the player does not receive points for destroying them. Mines are revived when shield rings regenerate (some variants keep three mines churning constantly so that a new mine respawns from the core as soon as one is destroyed). As the player progresses through the levels, the mines get faster and faster, forcing the player to keep moving to avoid them.
Reception
Michael Blanchet's 1982 book How to Beat the Video Games praised Star Castle as "a standout among the wave of free-flight games that emerged after Asteroids", describing the game's increase in difficulty over time, rather than between game levels, as the "catch" which made it challenging.[2] In 1995, Flux magazine ranked Star Castle 83rd on their Top 100 Video Games, calling it "One of the all-time great vector graphics classics".[3]
Legacy
In an interview, Skelly admitted that the stellar field was made using the shape of a woman from a nude magazine[4]
Atari, Inc. programmer Howard Scott Warshaw investigated writing a clone of Star Castle for the Atari 2600, but didn't see the game as a good match for the system, technically. He reconfigured the concept into Yars' Revenge, which became Atari's top selling original game for the 2600.[5] A hobbyist-written clone of Star Castle for the Atari 2600 was eventually released in 2012.[6]
Jim Nitchals of Cavalier Computer wrote a clone for the Apple II called Ring Raiders (referenced in-game as Raiders of the Lost Ring) (1981).[7] Anthony Weber of Stedek Software wrote a clone for the Atari 8-bit family called Star Island (1982).[8]
star, castle, castle, isles, scilly, isles, scilly, rock, band, starcastle, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, s. For the castle on the Isles of Scilly see Star Castle Isles of Scilly For the rock band see Starcastle This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Star Castle news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message Star Castle is a vector graphics multidirectional shooter released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980 The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen The display is black and white with the colors of the rings and screen provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay Star CastleDeveloper s CinematronicsPublisher s CinematronicsDesigner s Tim Skelly 1 Programmer s Scott Boden 1 Platform s Arcade VectrexRelease1980 Arcade1983 VectrexGenre s Multidirectional shooterStar Castle was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden Skelly created a number of other Cinematronics vector games including Starhawk Armor Attack and Rip Off 1 A Vectrex port of Star Castle for was released in 1983 Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Reception 3 Legacy 4 References 5 External linksGameplay EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The object of Star Castle is to destroy an enemy cannon which sits in the center of three concentric rotating energy shield rings while avoiding or destroying mines enemies that spawn from the core pass through the energy rings and then home in on the player s ship The player controlled spaceship can rotate thrust forward and fire small projectiles The cannon s shields are composed of twelve sections each and each section takes two hits to destroy Once a section is breached rings beneath it are exposed to fire A color overlay tints the rings yellow orange and red and the rest of the playfield blue Once the innermost ring has been breached the central weapon is vulnerable to attack from the player However the player is also more vulnerable at this point as with the shield rings eliminated the gun can fire out a large projectile that hisses with white noise Moreover the central core tracks player movement at all times If the player manages to hit the cannon it explodes violently collapsing the remnants of the shield rings and the player is awarded with an extra ship The next level then starts with a new gun and fully restored shield rings with the difficulty increased the mines move faster the rings rotate more quickly and the core tracks the player faster If the player completely destroys the outermost shield ring the cannon will create a new one The middle ring expands to replace the lost outer ring the inner ring replaces the middle and a new ring emerges from the core to become the inner ring Therefore in order to penetrate the cannon s defenses the player must be careful not to completely obliterate the outer ring The three homing mines will destroy the player s ship on contact The mines can be destroyed but they are very small and difficult to fire on and the player does not receive points for destroying them Mines are revived when shield rings regenerate some variants keep three mines churning constantly so that a new mine respawns from the core as soon as one is destroyed As the player progresses through the levels the mines get faster and faster forcing the player to keep moving to avoid them Reception EditMichael Blanchet s 1982 book How to Beat the Video Games praised Star Castle as a standout among the wave of free flight games that emerged after Asteroids describing the game s increase in difficulty over time rather than between game levels as the catch which made it challenging 2 In 1995 Flux magazine ranked Star Castle 83rd on their Top 100 Video Games calling it One of the all time great vector graphics classics 3 Legacy EditIn an interview Skelly admitted that the stellar field was made using the shape of a woman from a nude magazine 4 Atari Inc programmer Howard Scott Warshaw investigated writing a clone of Star Castle for the Atari 2600 but didn t see the game as a good match for the system technically He reconfigured the concept into Yars Revenge which became Atari s top selling original game for the 2600 5 A hobbyist written clone of Star Castle for the Atari 2600 was eventually released in 2012 6 Jim Nitchals of Cavalier Computer wrote a clone for the Apple II called Ring Raiders referenced in game as Raiders of the Lost Ring 1981 7 Anthony Weber of Stedek Software wrote a clone for the Atari 8 bit family called Star Island 1982 8 1980s portal Video games portalReferences Edit a b c Hague James The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers Blanchet Michael 1982 How to Beat the Video Games New York Simon and Schuster p 109 ISBN 0671453750 Top 100 Video Games Flux Harris Publications 4 32 April 1995 De Maria Rusel 2004 HIGH SCORE Spanish ed Mc Graw Hill p 28 ISBN 9780072231724 Onfrichuk Brendan April 5 2006 Howard Scott Warshaw Interview The Atari Times Atari 2600 Star Castle Kickstarter Campaign Retrieved May 3 2012 Bio and Gameography of Jim Nitchals Game Designers Remembered December 28 2011 Anthony Weber Interview Retrieved June 15 2020 External links EditStar Castle at the Killer List of Videogames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Star Castle amp oldid 1162280943, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
