''Hunter's Moon'' is a
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre 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 typ ...
programmed by Martin Walker for the
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 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 ...
and published by
Thalamus
The thalamus (: thalami; from Greek language, Greek Wikt:θάλαμος, θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter on the lateral wall of the third ventricle forming the wikt:dorsal, dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of ...
in 1987.
The music was composed by Matt Gray.
Summary
Despite the game being a single ~64kb binary, the game world is large: there are 128 levels divided to 32 star systems. It is an example of
procedural content generation in early computer games.
Each level takes place in a void with two dimensional cities appearing as they are being built by "worker cells". The worker cells are indestructible but the bricks dropped by them can be temporarily destroyed using the ship's weapon. The goal of the game is to collect enough star cells contained inside the cities to get to the next level. By collecting enough star cells within a strict time limit (displayed in the lower score table) it is possible to skip the remaining levels in current star system and pass on to the next, allowing skilled players to advance the game quicker.
According to the game's creator Martin Walker, ''Hunter's Moon'' was inspired by the children's toy
Spirograph
Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold in ...
.
Reception
''Hunter's Moon'' received a score of 92% in computer games magazine ''
Zzap!64
''Zzap!64'' is a computer games magazine covering games for computers manufactured by Commodore International, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazi ...
'', earning its ''Sizzler'' accolade for games rated 90-95% overall.
The magazine also went on to chronicle the production of Martin Walker's next game, ''Citadel'', in a diary column named ''Walker's Way''.
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[{{cite web, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ , last1=Hague , first1=James]
External links
Interview with the creator
1987 video games
Commodore 64 games
Commodore 64-only games
Shoot 'em ups
Thalamus Ltd games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom