White Light

= White Light by Sarah Walker =

Game Details
License: Freeware

Introduction

White Light is an unofficial sequel to FireTrack, publisher Electric Dream's 1987 vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up classic by Orlando which was loosely based on Tehkan's 1984 arcade game Star Force.

Firetrack has long been regarded as one of the most technically advanced games ever made for the BBC Micro.

View the Development Diary for White Light.

Discuss White Light on the StarDot forum

Features


 * 14 huge, increasingly-taxing levels
 * A new set of graphics and enemies for each level, totalling 90k of data
 * Beautiful graphics and detailed background scenery, designed by professional video game artist John Blythe
 * Uses the SDS engine for fast, smooth parallax scrolling in Mode 2
 * Runs at 50 frames per second (scrolling at 25)
 * 12 enemy ship formations plus static turrets and reactors
 * Collect power ups and achieve up to 4-way multidirectional fire
 * Listen to 4 pulsating music tracks whilst you play
 * High score table with music and saving of scores
 * Keyboard or Joystick control.

Story

The galaxy is threatened by the industrial pirates! They have stolen the White Light - the greatest known source of energy. You have been dispatched to retrieve the light and destroy the industrial pirates once and for all. Are you skillful enough to save the galaxy? Using the incredible SDS game engine, White Light provides the most intense arcade action seen to date on the BBC Micro.

Loading & Controls

To load, hold down shift and tap the break key.

Controls: Z (left), X (right), * (Up), ? (Down), Return (Fire), Shift (Bomb). Press space to start a game with keyboard controls or fire to initiate joystick control. Press R key at the title screen to redefine the keys.

Credits

Programming: Sarah Walker Graphics: John Blythe

Compatibility

The BBC 5.25" DFS Disc version is compatible with the BBC Micro Model B, B+ and Master Series. The Master Compact 3.5" ADFS version is compatible with the Master Compact and BBC Master.

Note: no forms of storage other than floppy drives are supported, though it has been tested on a BBC B/Master running from USB stick with Datacentre and also on a BBC Master with CF-Flash ADFS Hard Drive.

Ordering & Downloads
White Light is available to download as an emulator image, free of charge:
 * White Light v1.0 80T DFS Disc (200k SSD emulator image for the BBC Micro Model B/B+/Master)

For optimum emulation of gameplay and in particular the music, we recommend the B-Em emulator.

It is also possible to play White Light online in your browser via the Complete BBC Games Archive which uses the jsBeeb emulator (please use Firefox as there are known to be control issues under Chrome).

If you do play the game we would be very grateful if you could leave some feedback on the Stardot forum.

White Light was formally launched at the For the Love of Sci-Fi convention in Manchester, UK on 2-3 December 2017.

100 physical copies of the BBC version (and 25 copies of the Master Compact version) were produced for sale. At the time of writing there are still some copies remaining, price £11.95 each plus £3.00 postage (UK). Please email orders AT retrosoftware DOT co DOT uk to enquire about availability.

Reviews & Quotes
Reviews

Review by Tim Vickerstaff (16th December 2017)

Quotes

"For me, this is the best shoot-em up game ever released for the Beeb" (Chris N)

"This game's been in development a long time, but it's worth the wait ... it's a really great game - best shoot-em-up on the BBC bar none, I'd say. Very polished" (Jools H)

"It's just amazing for a beeb and feels very polished. Absolutely fantastic effort ... congratulations!!" (Lance D)

"It's absolutely brilliant and a credit to everyone involved in its creation. I'm really impressed by the graphics, the music, and the absolutely flawless scrolling. But what is even more impressive is the way the whole thing feels like a much deeper and more complex game than Firetrack - the latter is almost like a demo by comparison. In fact I've just played the two games back to back and I've noticed the playfield is much bigger on White Light as well." (John S)

Videos
Promo Video

Science Museum feature on BBC Breakfast

Photos
Packaging

Production

Launch at For the Love of Sci-Fi 2017

White Light at the shows ...

Development
Screenshots

Videos

[[Media:White_Light_preview_2.zip|White Light AVI Video]] (190 KB zipped, expands to 2.0 MB) (19 June 2009) [[Media:White_Light_preview.zip|White Light AVI Video]] (261 KB zipped, expands to 3.2 MB) (28 April 2009) White Light Wakefield 2016 demo (17th April 2016)