''Octapolis'' is a
video game for the
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 ...
written by
Finnish game programmer Jukka Tapanimäki
Jukka Tapanimäki (11 August 1961 – 1 May 2000) was a Finnish game programmer from Tampere, Pirkanmaa. Tapanimäki wrote his games for the Commodore 64 computer, and many have been ported to other computer systems. Tapanimäki was a reviewer fo ...
and published by
English Software in 1987. The game is a hybrid between a
shoot-'em-up
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charact ...
and a
platform game.
[Kauppinen, Jukka O.: ]
Suomalaisen pelialan varhaiset vuodet ja ensimmäiset suomalaiset pelit
', Dome 1 November 2013. Accessed on 21 November 2015. The title comes from the eight cities in the game.
Gameplay
Each of the eight cities contains a short shoot-'em-up part and a longer platform game part. The shoot-'em-up part includes two screens similar to ''Sanxion'', one of which is a top-down view and the other is a side view. The game is played around a landing platform. The player's ship moves left or right automatically, and its speed can be adjusted. A sound effect tells the player when they can land on the platform and enter the platform game part. The better the player does on the shoot-'em-up part, the easier the platform game part will be.
The platform game part consists of a character resembling an
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
moving around on single-screen (non-scrolling) rooms in which the character has to reach the exit. The character is armed with a
raygun and can jump upwards or diagonally. Some enemies can be shot, some have to be avoided. The challenge is to shoot enemies well in advance and watch the movement patterns of unshootable enemies carefully to get past them. When enough rooms have been passed, the city is cleared. When all eight cities have been cleared, the game restarts with at a higher difficulty.
Development
''Octapolis'' was Tapanimäki's first commercial release. Its shoot-'em-up phase resembles Stavros Fasoulas's ''
Sanxion'', which inspired Tapanimäki to try designing games. Tapanimäki sent a demo of the game to several foreign publishers, of which Hewson, CRL and English Software replied with an offer about a publication contract. Tapanimäki agreed to English Software's contract, but the company went bankrupt soon after publishing ''Octapolis'', which limited the distribution of ''Octapolis''.
[Saarikoski, p.268.]
The music was composed by Wally Beben.
Reception
Finnish magazine ''
C-lehti
''C-lehti'' (sometimes written as ''C=lehti'') ('C-magazine') was a Finnish computer magazine targeted specifically at Commodore computers. It was in circulation between 1987 and 1992.
History and profile
''C-lehti'' was started in 1987 as a spi ...
'' rated the game five stars out of five.
Sources
* Kuorikoski, Juho: ''Sinivalkoinen pelikirja - Suomen pelialan kronikka 1984-2014''. Saarijärvi: Fobos Kustannus 2014. .
* Saarikoski, Petri: ''Koneen lumo. Mikrotietokoneharrastus Suomessa 1970-luvulta 1990-luvun puoliväliin''. Saarijärvi: Nykykulttuurin tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja 83,
University of Jyväskylä 2004. .
References
External links
*
Octapolis' at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
Tec Dubelin Xbox, Octapolis{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121224747/http://tdubel.net/emulaattorit/sc64pelit/octapolis.html , date=2015-11-21 (game manual)
1987 video games
Commodore 64 games
Commodore 64-only games
English Software games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Platformers
Shoot 'em ups
Video games developed in Finland