''Target'', or TARG, was an action

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 ...

written by Steve Dompier for the

VDM-1 The Processor Technology VDM-1, for Video Display Module, was the first video card for S-100 bus computers. Created in 1975, it allows an S-100 machine to produce its own display, and when paired with a keyboard and their 3P+S card, it eliminates ...

video card A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...

for

S-100 bus The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE 696-1983 ''(withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. computers, consisting of ...

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

s. It is among the earliest computer video games, released some time in 1976 or 1977. The game used the VDM-1's graphics characters in a game that Dompier described as a "shoot the airplanes sort of game". The player had a gun that could be rotated left and right, firing at targets moving sideways across the top of the screen. ''Target'' is almost certainly the first microcomputer game to be shown on national television. It appeared in late 1976 on

The Tomorrow Show ''The Tomorrow Show'' (also known as ''Tomorrow with Tom Snyder'' or ''Tomorrow'' and, after 1980, ''Tomorrow Coast to Coast'') is an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder which aired on NBC in first run form from Octob ...

, mesmerizing the host

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and ' ...

to the point where he had to be forced to stop playing it in order to finish the episode.

Gameplay

Target puts the user in control of a missile base centered at the bottom of the screen. The keyboard is used to tilt the launcher to the left and right to angle it. A single missile can be on the screen at any time, and they can be moved left and right after firing, using the same controls. Enemy "spaceships" enter near the top of the screen travelling to the left or right. There are three types of enemy ships, large cargo ships worth 100 points, smaller scout ships worth 200, and parachutes that appear when two enemies collide, worth 600. When ships are hit, they blow up and fall to the ground, during which time they may hit other spaceships and destroy them as well. There are bonuses for destroying more than one ship with a single missile. The score is reduced by 20 when a ship escapes without being destroyed, or 30 when a missile flies off the top of the screen without hitting anything. The game ends automatically when a 90-second timer expires, and 20 seconds extra time is granted if the score has reached 4000 at the 90-second mark.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{cite magazine , title=Software tools let you paint, show slides on Apple , first=Paul , last=Freiberger , magazine=InfoWorld , date=1 March 1982 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fz4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 , page=21

External links

TARG video game for the Sol-20 computer
shows gameplay 1977 video games Science fiction video games Video games developed in the United States Video games with textual graphics