''Black Shades'' is a
free
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procur ...
and
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by
Wolfire Games
Wolfire Games is an American independent video game development company founded by David Rosen. Wolfire Games develops video games for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
History
David Rosen founded Wolfire Games in 2003 to organize his open source ...
. Originally released for
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
it was
ported to other platforms due to the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
availability. The player controls a psychic bodyguard who is tasked with protecting a
VIP from a horde of zombies, snipers and other assorted would-be assassins.
Gameplay
The object of ''Black Shades'' is to defend the VIP from assassins and zombies for a set amount of time. Once that time is met, the player progresses to another level. Each new level presents a randomly generated city, and a new weapon for the player. The levels get progressively more difficult. Aiming their weapon, the player is not presented with an aiming reticule as is common in most
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
games, but the player is allowed to use the
ironsight
Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers (usually made of metallic material) used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons (such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow or even compound bow), or less commonly as ...
of their weapon.
The player has two psychic abilities, the first one being "
Slow-mo". This ability allows the player to slow down time, for the purpose of having more time to aim, kill possible assailants. The second ability is the "soul fly", which allows the player to fly around the city without the body of the bodyguard, allowing them to find enemies.
Development
The game's developer David Rosen (founder of Wolfire Games) aimed for ''Black Shades'' a much simpler graphical style than in ''
GLFighters'' and ''
Lugaru''. He did this in order to complete the game within the deadline for the uDevGame 2002 game contest.
From 2003 to 2008, the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
was hosted on
icculus.org
Ryan C. Gordon (also known as icculus) is a computer programmer and former Loki Software employee responsible for ''icculus.org'', which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as others. Gordon's site hosts projects with the code from such c ...
under the "uDevGame
License
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
". In 2021, David Rosen relicensed the game under the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...
version 3 or later.
Release
''Black Shades'' was released in 2002 for
PC with
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
,
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
, and
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
.
A
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
port was created by Zachary Slater. In 2009 the game was also ported to the
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
iPhone and
iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...
. In 2013 the game was ported to the
ARM-based
OpenPandora handheld.
Mods and add-ons
Due to Black Shades' open-source nature, this allows it to be modified extensively. The Black Shades Enhanced
partial conversion authored by Michael 'Bitl' Hart, offers more capabilities such as a higher frames-per-second limit, the option to use a windowed mode, and the option to adjust the player's field-of-view.
Reception
The game was noted for its use of
procedural generated content.
The game was one of the winners of the UDevGame 2002 contest, out of about 40 contestants.
[uDevGame 2002 official results](_blank)
/ref> Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
's Jim Rossignol
James Michael Rossignol (born July 1978) is a British video game journalist and critic, as well as an author. He has also branched out into games, founding the company Big Robot in 2010.
Biography
Rossignol started his career as a reporter o ...
named ''Black Shades'' number 2 in a top 20 list of ''Summer of PC'' Freeware
Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...
games.Eurogamer's Summer of PC Plenty - Twenty freeware games.
by Jim Rossignol
James Michael Rossignol (born July 1978) is a British video game journalist and critic, as well as an author. He has also branched out into games, founding the company Big Robot in 2010.
Biography
Rossignol started his career as a reporter o ...
on Eurogamer.net
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
(18/07/2006) Joe Martin from
bit-tech.net recommended the game even in 2009 with ''"Black Shades isn’t a new game, it’s just a free game that I really like. It’s basically the opposite of
Hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
, but reduced down to twitch shooter basics and presented in a typically indie way."''.
[Free Games I Like: Black Shades](_blank)
by Joe Martin on bit-tech.net (7 Nov 2009)
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
''Black Shades'' website
Wolfire Games games
Windows games
IOS games
Classic Mac OS games
MacOS games
Linux games
Open-source video games
2002 video games
Indie video games
Freeware games
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games
Video games using procedural generation