From Retrosoftware

Revision as of 17:20, 10 November 2012

Galaforce by Kevin Edwards and Kees van Oss

Licence

Freeware (source code available on request, subject to copyright holders' permission)

Introduction

The classic shoot-'em-up Galaforce was originally released on the BBC Micro and Electron in 1986 by Superior Software. Coded by legendary Acorn programmer Kevin Edwards, he has unearthed and generously shared the source code of the original BBC Micro version with RS and the first attempt to port the game is by our talented Atom coder Kees van Oss.

8-directional movement of the player's spaceship; fast and slow-speed bombs which home in when later zones are reached; keyboard and joystick control; self-play demo mode; high score table and superb atmospheric music.

In the midst of the 25th century, the United Cosmological Federation declared war on the savage, belligerent aliens inhabiting the Magellanic galaxy. Only the most experienced of the U.C.F. pilots were chosen to embark upon the perilous mission of conquering and overthrowing the hordes of Magelian, the Galaforce.

The Galaforce aliens attack in precise preconceived formations with each zone comprising several such formations. You must pilot your spaceship carefully avoiding the aliens, or shooting them whenever possible. Some aliens have to be hit more than once to destroy them. You have four spaceships and an extra spaceship is awarded if your score reaches 20,000 points.

Discuss Galaforce

Platforms

Atom

Port by Kees van Oss

System Requirements

• Standard Acorn Atom
• 32 KB RAM (#0000-#7FFF)
• 6 KB video RAM (#8000-#97FF)
• VIA

• Colourboard (optional)
• Joystick (optional)

Joystick Connections

An optional joystick can be connected to PORTB of the AtoMMC interface with software version 2.9.

AtoMMC  Joystick
-----------------
 PB0  -  Right
 PB1  -  Left
 PB2  -  Down
 PB3  -  Up
 PB4  -  Jump
 PB5  -  nc
 PB6  -  nc
 PB7  -  nc

 GND  -  GND

In the test phase pull-up resistors were added to PB0,1,2,3,4 because the pull-up function of the PIC controller was not activated.

Download

Galaforce Acorn Atom disc/tape images

This image archive includes both tape and disc versions of the game, in colour and monochrome. Read the included Readme.txt file for more info.

Atom Development Diary

A Development Diary recording the details of the game's development by the author.

Screenshots

Atom Galaforce Title Screen early preview screenshot   
Posted: 23:34, 16 Aug 2011

Galaforce Loading screen screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Intro screenshot Posted: 16:22, 17 Aug 2011	Galaforce High Score screenshot Posted: 16:22, 17 Aug 2011
Galaforce Gamestart screenshot Posted: 15:51, 03 Sep 2011	Galaforce Zone 1 screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Zone 2 screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012
Galaforce Zone 3 screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Zone 3 screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Zone 3 screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012
Galaforce High Score Mono screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Game Start Mono screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Zone 1 Mono screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012
Galaforce Zone 2 Mono screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012	Galaforce Zone 3 Mono screenshot Posted: 16:56, 10 Nov 2012

Videos

Galaforce for the Atom update by Kees van Oss
Posted: Fri Sept 30, 2011.

Galaforce for the Atom Update 2 by Kees van Oss
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012.