''Hans Kloss'' is a puzzle-platform game designed by Dariusz Żołna and published in Poland by

LK Avalon Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon (lit. "Computer Laboratory Avalon"), abbreviated LK Avalon, was a Polish software developer and distributor, with product range encompassing video games, educational software and other applications. History The co ...

. It was published in 1992 for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. A

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

conversion, programmed by Janusz Dąbrowski, was released in 1993. The player controls Hans Kloss, the fictional protagonist of the Polish TV series '' Stawka większa niż życie'', during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He must find plans for a secret weapon in

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's headquarters, the

Wolf's Lair The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ostp ...

. ''Hans Kloss'' met with success upon its release, in part because of its usage of a popular character. It was praised by reviewers for the quality of its gameplay, graphics and music.

Gameplay

''Hans Kloss'' belongs to a genre known in Poland as ''gra labiryntowa'' ("maze game"). This categorization referred to

flip-screen This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

games set in a

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

, which combined elements of action (e.g. avoiding enemies) and logic (e.g. collecting and using keys). The player's task is to find 21 pieces of the plans of a secret

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

weapon (the

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

), hidden within safes found around the corridors of the Wolf's Lair bunker, as well as a seal located in one of the rooms. Finishing the game requires the player to skillfully find his way around the mazelike bunker. Numerous closed doors bar the player's path, but keys can be found to open them, though each key is one-use. Two counters displayed at the bottom of the screen represent the level of the protagonist's hunger and thirst. The value of the counters gradually decrease with time, and if either of them reaches zero, the game is over. They can be refilled by finding mutton legs and cups of coffee. Another threat are the

Goliath tracked mine The Goliath tracked mine (German: ''Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath,'' "Goliath Light Charge Carrier") was a series of two unmanned ground vehicles used by the German Army as disposable demolition vehicles during World War II. These were the e ...

s which occasionally appear in the rooms; while the protagonist remains in close contact with a mine, both counters decrease rapidly. The bunker also contains automatic machine guns with nearby

motion detector A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion. Such a device is often integrated as a component of a system that automatically performs a task or alerts a user of motion in an area. They form a vital co ...

s. Crossing a sensor causes the gun to fire, killing the protagonist instantly; however, a sensor can be temporarily deactivated by finding its off switch.

Development

''Hans Kloss'' was programmed by Dariusz Żołna, who had already developed a number of simple games published in the ''Tajemnice Atari'' magazine, but had ambitions to create ''"something bigger and more interesting"''. He decided to base the game on his favorite TV series, ''Stawka większa niż życie''. The development took half a year; Żołna, then a school student preparing for his high-school exit exam, worked on it after school, sometimes by night. Three other developers worked on the game: Sebastian Michna (artist, who created the protagonist's animation and the

title screen A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television show, television programmes present their title and key filmmaking, production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a ...

), Daniel Kleczyński (music composer) and Bartek Gałązka (

level designer In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

). Dariusz Żołna created some of the art assets: the background graphics, the Goliath mine sprites, the font and the plans of the V-1 flying bomb, which were copied by hand from a book illustration. After the release of ''Hans Kloss'', Żołna kept developing computer games (''The Jet Action'', ''Digi Duck''). While ''Hans Kloss'' never received a proper sequel, in part due to concerns over using the copyrighted character, in 1993 Żołna released a similar game named ''Spy Master'', a spiritual sequel where the player controlled Kloss's grandson. Nevertheless, ''Hans Kloss'' remains his most successful production.

Reception

''Hans Kloss'' met with critical acclaim in Polish video game press. The reviewer in ''Tajemnice Atari'' described it as ''"highly interesting and addictive"'' and praised the variety of the gameplay, as well as high-quality graphics and music; she also commented positively on the light-hearted aspects of the game, such as Kloss vomiting after eating too much food. The reviewer's only criticism was the unoriginal maze game concept. The game received an overall score of 4/5 from ''Top Secret'', with music rated 2/5 and graphics rated 4/5. A review in the British '' New Atari User'' magazine praised the graphics, music and controls, and concluded that ''Hans Kloss'' was "one of the best arcade adventures" available for the Atari platform. In the ''

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

'' magazine, the Commodore 64 port was commended for graphics and music, but was criticized for the slow jumping animation and lack of music outside of the title screen.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , last1 = Kluska , first1 = Bartłomiej , last2 = Rozwadowski , first2 = Mariusz , title = Bajty polskie , publisher = Wydawnictwo Orka , location = Łódź , year = 2011 , pages = 119–121 , isbn = 978-83-927229-1-5 , language = pl {{cite journal , title = Rzut okiem czyli przegląd nowości: Hans Kloss , journal =

, date = October 1993 , issue = październik 6/1993 , page = 4 , url = https://archive.org/details/secretservicemagazine-1993-06/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater , language = pl {{cite journal , title = Hans Kloss , journal =

, date = September–October 2014 , issue = wrzesień/październik 2014 (97) , pages = 92–94 , language = pl {{cite journal , title = Hans Kloss , journal = Tajemnice Atari , issue = 1 (9)/1992 , page = 15 , language = pl , url = http://tajemnice.atari8.info/1_92/1_92_hans.html {{cite journal , title = Kloss , journal = Top Secret , date = July–August 1992 , issue = lipiec-sierpień 11/92 , page = 11 , language = pl {{cite AV media notes , title = Hans Kloss , year = 1992 , url = http://www.mobygames.com/game/hans-kloss/cover-art/gameCoverId,256828/ , type = Inside cover , publisher = LK Avalon , quote = Należy pamiętać, że wędrówka po Wilczym Szańcu jest bardzo męcząca, w związku z czym Kloss powinien od czasu do czasu coś zjeść. Należy w tym celu "stanąć" na wizerunku jedzonka i nacisnąć strzał. (...) Poniżej planszy znajdują się liczniki przedstawiające ilość jedzenia, picia, kluczyków, oraz planów i tekstów opisujących je. Aby ukończyć misję należy zdobyć 9 rysunków i 12 tekstów. , language = pl {{cite journal , title = Hans Kloss , journal = Tajemnice Atari , issue = 6-7 (14-15)/1992 , pages = 23 , language = pl , url = http://tajemnice.atari8.info/6-7_92/6-7_92_hanskloss.html {{cite journal , title = Wywiad z autorami gier , journal = Tajemnice Atari , issue = 5 (25)/1993 , pages = 21 , language = pl , url = http://tajemnice.atari8.info/5_93/5_93_wywiad.html {{cite journal , author = Paul Rixon , title = Hans Kloss , journal = New Atari User , date = April 1993 , issue = April/May 1993 , page = 43 , url = https://archive.org/stream/New_Atari_User_Issue_061_1993-04_Page_6_Publishing#page/n42/mode/1up 1992 video games Alternate history video games Atari 8-bit computer games Commodore 64 games LK Avalon games Maze games Poland-exclusive video games Puzzle-platformers Single-player video games Spy video games Unauthorized video games Video games about Nazi Germany Video games based on television series Video games developed in Poland World War II video games