As the project progressed, he eventually got other people involved in the game's development including Larry DeMar, with whom he would later co-found their company, Vid Kidz.
Defender was developed using the "Exorciser", a computer from Motorola that Jarvis describes as "the most bloated, overpriced computer ever created".
Jarvis initially worked on the game on his own, added the scrolling land, and added some humanoids on the land, but lacked a narrative. One night while falling asleep he dreamed of the aliens following the land and picking up the humanoids and carrying them off and then turning into mutants, with the player trying to stop them.
He had his game. Initially the game was too easy, like flying in a tank of water, but the gameplay picked up considerably when 'baiters' were added which appeared after a set time period. The baiters kept the player under constant time pressure to finish the level, significantly increasing the intensity of the game. At one point, when the game was nearly complete, the highest score anyone had ever managed was 60, points, and many people thought that this was a fluke.
Indeed, the development team almost didn't add extra levels, as they believed that no one would be able to reach them.
When the time came for the game to make its debut at the AMOA trade show, the game still wasn't complete. The game had everything: its complex controls, its cabinet graphics, and the Defender marquee. However, it was missing one important thing: the ROM chip that actually contained the game.
When the game was finally finished, the machine wouldn't come on the first time the ROM chips were inserted, they accidentally plugged them in upside-down and destroyed the chips in the process, however when the ROMs were "burned" the method of transferring the game from the development computer to the arcade machine's ROM chips a second time, it did come on.
Unfortunately, nobody would play the game; because of its complex controls, many of the showgoers felt that the game was too complicated to play.
In the end it was believed that this game, along with Pac-Man , would fail, and that Rally-X would be the top money earner. The game went on to sell more than 60, units—more than disproving these projections—and cemented its place in video game history. The player flies a small spaceship above a long, mountainous landscape in all versions, except the Atari edition due to memory limitations; in that case, the landscape consisted of a city represented by buildings.
The land is inhabited by a small number of humanoids. The landscape wraps around, so flying constantly in one direction will eventually bring the player back to their starting point. The player's ship can fly through the landscape without being harmed by it. A number of flying aliens reside in the air above the landscape.
The player's responsibilities are twofold:. The player is armed with a beam-like weapon which can be fired rapidly in a long horizontal line ahead of the spaceship, and also has a limited supply of smart bombs three, to begin with , which can destroy every enemy on the screen.
At the top of the screen is a radar-like scanner, which displays the positions of all aliens and humanoids on the landscape. Some of the aliens in Defender fire projectiles at the player- these travel at random speeds; the highest speeds are quite capable of killing the player from right across the width of the screen without any chance of dodging; survival thus depends to some extent on accruing enough points to get extra lives.
The game starts with ten humanoids inhabiting the land. Landers will attempt to capture and fuse with these during play.
To rescue a humanoid from capture, the player must listen for the cry made by the captured humanoid, look at the radar to see where the captured humanoid is, then shoot the Lander holding it while it is in the air, causing the humanoid to drop back to the ground. At low height humanoids can survive the drop on their own, but if the Lander is killed at too high an altitude, the player must catch the humanoid with their own ship and return them to the ground, otherwise the humanoid will not survive the drop.
The humanoids can be killed by the player's weapon just as easily as the aliens can, so careful aim is required when firing near them. If all humanoids are killed, the entire planet explodes, leaving the player in empty space. This also has the unfortunate effect of turning every Lander into a Mutant, making the player's job very difficult. All ten humanoids are replenished every fifth wave, starting with wave five.
If the planet explodes, the player has to survive mutant-filled waves until the next multiple of five wave arrives, when the planet will be restored. The player receives an extra life and an extra smart bomb every points on the game's default settings, although this can be changed by the operator.
Scores over , at this setting are extremely difficult to achieve. The control system of the Defender arcade game is quite unusual compared to that of most shooters.
Instead of the standard 'Up, Down, Left, Right' system, it has a joystick to move up and down, a 'Reverse' button to toggle the player's horizontal direction, and a 'Thrust' button to move in that direction. The player is capable of flying their ship in all directions, and changing weapons to bring down enemies. Such as creating a choke point with Tanks.
Almost all ground units in the game can be picked up by flying into them. The game isn't fully about defending colonists anymore, Well not directly anyway. Colonists still play a pivotal role in the game. They can be traded for different support units during gameplay or can be substituted for Health Units. Defender didn't get any direct game sequels but, got a spin-off and a book based on it. It had a GBA title released which stuck with the updated design, but had more of the classic Defender styled gameplay and took place before the events of Defender A book was based off the Defender series titled, Defender: Hyperswarm.
It was released as an eBook in , it acted as another edition to the Defender story and went into backstory on the Manti. Defender Wiki Explore. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account?
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