Micronaut One is one of my favorite games for the Spectrum. I've recently finished a remake of it. I thought I'd post the download link to the completed remake as well as waffle on about the game itself.
First of all, the remake can be download (Its a 12Mb zip file) from my google drive:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=19PZBW ... ILb4WXSO-B
It runs on Windows (XP or newer). To run the game, extract the zip file and run "unreal.exe", that's it.
It is remade using the ZX recoloring project (For more information visit https://github.com/rg-software/zxrecolor)
Here is a youtube video of it running:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w03P1qfuTo
The Keys are re-definable but are currently:
Q=up
W=down
O=left
P=Right
S=Inc Thrust
X=Dec Thrust
Space=Fire
Tab=InGameMenu
What has been added:
- Engine thrusters sound
- Lasers/sparks sound when you fire
- Title/menu/in-game music (I used snippits of some fantastic David Whittaker tunes from Infection and Back To The Future II).
- The dashboard and Speedo has a new colour scheme
- Added a red/green cross-hair
I thought I'd now waffle on about the original game because I think it is an amazing game. First of all, the developer, Pete Cooke, is a genius. I adore so many of his games. They're all polished to such a high standard. All his games are so unique and offer something you've never seen before, pushing the boundaries of what you thought possible on the Speccy. Pete Cooke has given us some great games (Tau Ceti, Academy, Tower Of Babel, Earthlight) but I just adore Mircronaut One so much!
When I first played it as a teenager, I was so impressed with the smooth/fast vector graphics. Playing Micronaut One in race mode, trying to beat your last lap time. I can remember playing the game in race mode whilst listening to Jan Hammer's Crockets theme 12", good times
Then I started playing Micronaut One in game mode. This is where you find the game is much more than an excellent vector tunnel routine, you find the game has real depth. The life cycle of the bugs that plague the biocomputer really do seem to have their own a gender, after 10mins of playing Micronaut One, you really get the feeling these things are alive and running amok. Then there is a point in the game where, after a bit of practice, you feel you are getting the upper hand. It is a great rewarding feeling when you completely rid each level of those evil Scrim!
So trying to understand what to do in game mode is a bit tricky but fascinating. There are eggs, webs, slow crawling larvae things, fast flying Adult Scrim (umbrellas), ETUs (eyeballs on walls), collectable energy (like fireflies), and drones to hinder your mission (You can only destroy the drones that move, the stationary drones are indestructible). Back in the day, I thought it all looked cool, but I had no idea what I was doing. I skimmed through the manual, read that eggs are "impervious to your fire". Unfortunately, I took this advice literally and for ages never bothered shooting any eggs. This completely hindered my success, that'll teach me for reading the instructions! Actually, there isn't much detail in the instructions, so I thought I'd over do it here as well as provide some useful tactics:
- When an Adult Scrim (Umbrella) comes to the end of its life cycle, it creates a web and lays 2 eggs (A grey egg and a white egg) right beside it. The scrim then dies
Eggs then turn into Larvae, which turn into Adult Scrim and off we go again.- White eggs are indestructible.
- Grey eggs can be destroyed when freshly laid. After about a minute they turn white and become indestructible.
- The web does not initially block the tunnel. You can fly through it while there is a grey egg beside it. When the grey egg beside it turns white, the web will block the tunnel forever and cannot be destroyed. I read somewhere that if you fly fast enough into a completed web you can smash through it, I have never been able to smash through a web so I believe the statement is untrue.
- Destroy the grey egg and the web next to it will disappear for good (I wish this was mentioned in the instructions).
Rough times it takes for a:
White Egg to Hatch = 1 minute 30 seconds
Grey Egg to turn white and then Hatch = 1 minute 45 seconds
(Grey Egg to turn white = 1 minute 15 seconds, White Egg (That was previously grey) to Hatch = 30 seconds)
Larvae lifetime = 2 minutes
Adult Scrim lifetime = 1 minute
At the start of each level, the maze of tunnels are clear except for 3 or more white eggs positioned randomly. You have no idea where the eggs are, so my tactic at this point is to fly around randomly as fast as possible collecting energy and trying to locate the eggs. You might get lucky, be able to find all the eggs and destroy the Larvae as they hatch. However, in my experience there is always one egg that is tricky to find. It will hatch and reach adulthood and there is nothing you can do but let it create a web and lay its eggs before dying. The good thing is, as soon as the adult scrim creates a web, it gives its position away. That gives you the opportunity to fly to that location and clean up the mess.
Your ship's computer announces the location of each newly created web. Have a pen and paper handy and note down that location. You need to get to that location quick and destroy the grey egg (and thus also the web). If you destroy the grey egg in time, there will still be the matter of the one remaining white egg. This is a good time to take care of other business (I.e. Deal with the energy levels of the ETUs) but remember after about 1 min, you want to return to this section with plenty of fire energy, ready for when that white egg hatches.
Using the SatNav is a must for navigating yourself around the sections of the tunnel and to the ETUs. Using the 'Map' menu, select the tunnel section where you want to go, and then select "Set Route". Then fly your ship to that location following the arrow on your ship's SatNav. Be warned, going off course a little (so easily done) and you'll have to go back to the menu and select the route again. Whilst viewing the menu, time is stopped, so you can plan your route carefully without fear of eggs hatching or webs being created in the background, phew!
Larvae are slow moving, easy to shoot but take about 40 shots (Taking 1/2 your energy) to destroy. Adult Scrim (umbrellas) are fast moving, tricky to shoot but only require about 15 shots to destroy (Requires about 1/5 your energy). Shoot Larvae there and then if you have the energy to do so. If you don't have the energy to kill the larvae in one burst, don't do anything, just follow it. Some random flying energy will most probably find you (giving you enough energy to open fire), or the Larvae will eventually turn into an Adult Scrim and you'll (hopefully) have enough energy and skill to shoot it before it gets away.
The amount of strands on a web is proportional to the maturity of the grey egg. Shooting the grey egg reverses the egg's maturity and reduces the amount of strands on a web. When first created by the dying Adult Scrim, the web only has a couple of strands on it. When left over time, more and more strands appear on the web. You can tell when the grey egg is about to turn white by how complete the web is. Constantly shooting the grey egg destroys the strands of the web one by one. Whilst opening fire, seeing that there are just a few strands left on the web, then you know with a couple more shots the grey egg is about to explode and the web will be gone for good. Sometimes you may not have enough energy to totally destroy a grey egg, but 'hurting' it enough can buy you a bit of time to go collect energy and return to finish the job properly.
You could, if you wished, keep the grey egg from maturing into a white egg indefinitely by shooting it periodically but without actually destroying it (Thus never allowing the web to complete) but this is pointless and arguably cruel.
When you have cleared the level, your ship's computer tells you to find the nearest ETU and you'll be transported to the next level. Whatever energy you have at the end of the level will be carried forward into the next level. If you are a bit low on energy, don't immediately go to an ETU. Instead, fly around a bit and collect energy so you start the next level fully prepared.
Some wishes - I would have liked to have seen a 128K version of Micronaut One with some extra sound effects/music. Would have been nice to see it ported to a 16-bit platform with some filled vectors. Maybe a nice ending sequence when you manage to complete all the levels.
Something I've often wondered - Was Micronaut One influenced by Dune? On the cover of the instruction booklet there is text that reads "Welcome to the guild, long life to the emperor", sounds a bit like a Dune game... Also, it is me or do the heads of the Larvae look a bit like the heads of the sandworms in David Lynch's Dune film. I like to think so.
Well, that's it I think. Well done if you a read this far without falling asleep and hope you enjoyed the read!
I need to get out more
