Obviously, there are official Star Wars games - Domark's conversions of the Atari arcade games for the Spectrum, not to mention those on the consoles as well - that can't be completely ignored. Also, by 1988, Lucasfilm were taking charge of their properties and either creating games in-house, or at least publishing themselves, having outsourced development. Additionally, there's the fact that Ocean produced some amazing movie adaptations - possibly the most consistent in terms of overall quality and (attempted) fidelity to the source material - and I wanted to aim for that sort of feel.
Now, unencumbered as I am with any understanding of the coding side, there's always the risk that I'll come up with something completely unfeasible so, after putting together my proposal, I figured it would be worth sharing it here for a bit of a sense-check from anyone who has experience in coding.
Ultimately, I felt that the design should:
- Be as original as possible (in the sense of using as little as possible from existing Star Wars games), within the limits of what was possible on the ZX Spectrum back in 1988.
- Present as something that would be possible for both 48K and 128K machines.
- Have a discernible ‘Star Wars’ feel in its presentation.
- Follow at least part of the ESB story, preferably more than one scene, and without deviating too far from the established story.
- Take advantage of the hypothetical ‘licence’ as far as possible (scenery, music, etc.).
- Give the player access to as many vehicles and weapons from ESB as possible.
- Offer at least one lightsaber battle.
- Use more than one character throughout, maybe those who don’t often appear as player characters in games.
Hoth:
Level 1: The Empire tracks the Rebels
Plot-central sequence establishing how/where the story begins, in which the tide is shown to have turned against the Rebellion, despite the destruction of the Death Star, as described in the movie’s opening text crawl.
Phase 1 - Luke investigating probes
- Foreshadowing the attack on the Rebel base.
- Traverse the icy landscape riding a Tauntaun.
- Follow probe signals and destroy them.
- Environmental hazards only or native creature enemies?
- Time limit for each probe before it locates Rebel installations dotted around the landscape and starts transmitting?
- Each probe requires several hits from Luke’s blaster.
- Wampa as end-of-level boss. After beating it, Luke collapses in the cold.
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost (Luke is lost on Hoth, the Empire eventually wipes out the Rebellion).
Phase 2 - Han rescuing Luke
- Luke is the main character, and must be rescued as he’s important later in the story.
- Similar setup to Level 1, tracing Luke’s last known location.
- Checkpoints at Rebel installations along the way, each indicating the direction of the next site (possibly via Obi-Wan’s Force ghost? Or only to indicate Luke’s actual location?).
- Environmental hazards only, active enemies or a time limit to find and rescue Luke?
- If enemies, more probes as enemies, Imperial Snow Troopers, native creatures?
- No end-of-level boss (necessary?). Possibly build shelter under time limit? Need to collect equipment (beacon, shelter, etc.) from Rebel stores before seeking Luke?
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost, Luke not found in time (Luke and Han are lost on Hoth, the Empire eventually wipes out the Rebellion).
- Deviates from the film, in that Luke investigates only one probe (of five) before getting captured by the Wampa. This could be considered a ‘lose state’, which isn’t a good way to start a game. Additionally, including the sequence where a trapped Luke Force-pulls his lightsaber would seem contrived in a game, despite being true to the film. Additionally, Han’s rescue attempt is described as dangerous, but little of it is shown, so it seems to be achieved easily, under the circumstances, with few complications.
- Controls: left/right - run; down - crouch (and dismount?); up - jump (and mount?); fire - blaster.
First major battle sequence. Arranged much like the Atari 2600/C64 Empire game, but set over just two waves rather than repeating endlessly with increasing difficulty/enemy numbers.
Phase 1 - vs AT-STs and ground troops, possibly split into a couple of waves of increasing difficulty.
- Defend the Rebels’ fixed gun and radar emplacements.
- Losing the guns means more AT-STs in the next wave.
- Ground troops only require a single hit.
- AT-STs move fast and require multiple hits to the cockpit (legs don’t register a hit and can be flown ‘through’).
- Main aim is to thin out the troops, thereby slowing the attack in Phase 2.
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost after being shot down, or all gun/radar emplacements lost (the Rebel base is defenceless, the fleet is destroyed before they can escape).
- Win state: at least one emplacement remaining when AT-STs and ground troops are all destroyed.
Phase 2 - vs AT-STs and AT-ATs moving toward the Rebels’ power station, possibly split into a couple of waves of increasing difficulty.
- Defend the power station and Rebel base against AT-ATs.
- AT-STs are tougher, based on the number of gun emplacements lost in the first phase?
- AT-ATs move slowly, but are only vulnerable at the cockpit and, even there, require a substantial number of hits (legs don’t register a hit, main body just absorbs everything so the ‘head’ can’t be shot from behind), or to tow-cable (requires flying around the AT-AT).
- Tow-cables must be fired while between an AT-AT’s legs, then weave around the legs to bind and topple them.
- Snowspeeder can only carry 1 tow-cable at a time, additional cables must be picked up from Rebel stockpiles dotted around the map, but the AT-ATs can destroy these stockpiles.
- Time limit, fighting as a distraction to allow the Rebel ships to escape?
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost after being shot down, Rebel base destroyed by AT-ATs (the Rebel fleet is destroyed before they can escape).
- Win state: all AT-ATs destroyed (AT-STs are effectively bonus points on final wave).
- Snowspeeder can take multiple hits before crashing then, in either wave, the player can continue on foot after being shot down, using blaster mainly, with lightsaber, grenades & grapple gun combo vs. AT-ATs, but loses a life after a single hit.
If moving on foot, the player is vulnerable to fire from ground troops, AT-STs and AT-ATs. Can shoot ground troops, but AT-STs are tougher vs. hand blaster. AT-ATs vulnerable to attack from below via grappling hook (visual indicator on position, automatic action of climbing and lobbing a grenade inside once triggered). - Controls: In snowspeeder, left, right, up, down - fly; fire - main guns; additional fire - launch tow cable.
On foot, left/right - run; fire - blaster; additional fire - use grappling hook.
Level 3: Luke’s training with Yoda
Plot-central scene - Luke’s first real Jedi training, in which he learns more about the Force from Yoda.
- Either direct control, or Track & Field-style joystick waggling (depending on the ‘event’?).
- Running through two or three increasingly complex/dangerous swampland assault courses: bogs, bog creatures, hills, branches, flying creatures, etc. to avoid; vines, trees, etc to climb/swing from.
- Luke is unarmed, and must avoid creatures.
- Altered jump mechanic from level 1 - short press gives a normal jump, hold gives a somersault?
- Force exercises between each course eg. lifting things while balancing on one hand, etc. - probably the best use of joystick waggling, with direct control in the assault courses. Lives are not lost due to failure, the player simply moves on to the next assault course.
- Lightsaber duel with phantom Vader at the end of the final assault course.
- Level ends with the raising of Luke’s X-Wing - deviates from the film in that success is possible for Luke. Failure simply results in Yoda raising the X-Wing, per the events of the film. Alternatively, Luke’s attempt is a sort of demo, which cannot be completed, after which the player takes control of Yoda?
- Lives lost upon failure?
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost during assault course stages or phantom Vader duel (Yoda convenes with Obi-Wan’s Force ghost: “That boy was our last hope” / “No, there is another…”).
- Win state: all courses completed, success in Force exercises, X-Wing raised.
- Controls: On foot, left/right - run; up/down - climb; fire - jump.
Force exercises, left & right (fast) - build Force power; fire - activate (where appropriate).
Duel, left/right - advance/retreat; up - jump; down - crouch; fire - swing lightsaber (also in combination with directions).
Level 4: Millennium Falcon escape/asteroid field
Significant action set piece showcasing Han & Chewie’s piloting skills (“Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1” / “Never tell me the odds”), improvisational skills, and the manoeuvrability of the Millennium Falcon, even when not fully functional.
Phase 1: Navigate the asteroid belt.
- Dodge asteroids of various sizes (indestructible), shoot TIE Fighters (2 hits), TIE Interceptors (1 hit), TIE Bombers (3 hits) and TIE Advanced (4 hits).
- End-of-level boss is the giant worm living inside an asteroid. Made up of overlapping segments to make animation easier/smoother.
- Level ends with the Falcon landing inside a cavern on a large asteroid.
- Deviates from the film in that the worm is only seen coming after the Falcon once they leave the asteroid.
- Fail state: all shields/lives lost (the Millennium Falcon is destroyed in the asteroid field, all hands lost).
- Phase 2: Escape ‘collapsing’ asteroid, shoot more TIE Fighters, etc.
- Starting at takeoff, the Falcon must navigate the cavern, then back through a short burst of asteroids, then more TIE Fighters, etc.
- Star Destroyer as end-of-level boss, played similar to Level 3 of R-Type - Falcon must knock out axial defence turrets x3, lateral quad lasers x2, turbolaser batteries x3, heavy ion cannon x2 and tractor beam targeting array (on the command bridge section). Possibly engines as well?
- Deviates from the film in that the Falcon hides from the Star Destroyers by landing on the back of the bridge section of one of them, then dropping off before the fleet disperses.
- Fail state: all shields/lives lost (the Millennium Falcon is recaptured by the Empire)
- Win state: Hyperdrive repaired, Star Destroyer disabled.
- Level ends with the Falcon going into hyperspace once the Star Destroyer is disabled.
- Controls: left/right/up/down - fly; fire - guns (dorsal and ventral cannons?); additional fire (or double-tap back?) - change direction?
Bespin/Cloud City:
Level 5: Cloud City
Plot-central sequence, in which the tide seems to turn against the protagonists more directly. Multi-directional map featuring key locations from the movie.
Phase 1: Rescue.
- Lando (unarmed) must rescue Leia, Chewbacca, R2 & 3PO before they’re taken aboard an Imperial Shuttle at the main spaceport.
- Hide from Stormtroopers.
- Activate Lobot to bring reinforcements (not necessary, he just brings additional firepower versus the Stormtroopers).
- Leia leads the team through Cloud City in an attempt to intercept Boba Fett before he flies off.
- Stealth/Guns blazing options on gameplay. Not to the extent of Metal Gear (1987, MSX - surprising there was never a Spectrum conversion, it was only ported - badly - to the C64 in 1991), but alcoves in walls can be used to hide (with visual prompts?).
- Stormtroopers only need 1 hit, but lots of them.
- Use R2 to unlock doors?
- Battle with Boba Fett (flies using jetpack, shoots using his own blasters and those of SLAVE-1).
- Boba Fett escapes with Han in SLAVE-1 when defeated.
Lando leads the team back to the Millennium Falcon.
- Fight/avoid Stormtroopers.
- Use R2 to unlock doors.
- No end of level boss? Or one of the other bounty hunters?
- Deviates from the film in that it significantly expands on what happens:
-Lando activates Lobot by remote in the movie, must find him and activate via control panel in the game.
-Lando technically leads the team throughout the escape, but is left unarmed almost until they reach the Falcon, vs. the game switching to Leia leading the attempt to rescue Han.
-Three phases amount to far more gameplay than is suggested in the movie. - Possibly a fourth phase - adding Luke’s arrival between 2 and 3 or after 3?
- Switching up the focal character would be largely cosmetic, but Lando can unlock doors himself initially, while Leia (and Lando in Phase 3) must rely on R2 due to the Empire takeover of Cloud City.
- Twin Pod Cloud Cars likely relegated to background scenery, as their appearance in the movie was so brief, any attempt to add a level in which they’re flying around would seem contrived.
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost (Han is taken by Boba Fett, Cloud City falls to the Empire, the protagonists are all captured, Luke is turned to the Dark Side).
- Win state: Leia, etc. rescued and returned to the Millennium Falcon.
- Controls: left/right - run; up - hide/enter doorway; down - stop hiding/enter doorway/crouch; fire - shoot (where available); additional fire - use R2-D2 (where available).
Straight 1-on-1 lightsaber duel, much like Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior (1987), but Vader uses the Force to throw scenery at Luke intermittently.
Phase 1: In the cryogenics room
- Reduce Vader’s health, and he Force-throws Luke out the window.
- Reduce Vader’s heath, and he reveals his identity.
- Fail state: all energy/lives lost (Luke is turned to the Dark Side)
- Win state: having learned Darth Vader’s true identity, Luke jumps down the ventilation shaft (animated?) and is rescued by Lando, etc. in the Millennium Falcon.
- Controls: left/right - advance/retreat; up - jump; down - crouch; fire - swing lightsaber (also in combination with directions).
Other bits and bobs I wondered about:
- ‘Attract Mode’ featuring the opening text crawl from ESB to set the scene ahead of the main game menu, and/or upon starting the game.
- Each level could have a brief introduction with one or two images from the movie along with brief expository text, as well as transitional story scenes, memory permitting (maybe on 128K/disk only?). This could correct some of the omissions listed above.
- After Level 1, a short shooting gallery sequence with a fixed number of probes remaining, playing as Han Solo/Chewbacca, as a precursor to the Empire’s assault on the Rebel base.
- Between phases on Level 4, a puzzle game based on fixing the Millenium Falcon’s Hyperspace system. Either joining points on a 2D circuit, or a 2.5D rotating discs puzzle similar to the Astrolabrium wooden puzzle, designed to look like the Hyperdrive Engine itself, as depicted in the book Star Wars: Millennium Falcon - Owner’s Workshop Manual (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/SSP05_hyperdrive).
- Between phases on level 6, a puzzle game based on Chewbacca attempting to fix C-3PO.
- Music: Main Star Wars theme (assuming licence), incidental music based around other elements of the score for each level, or original themed music.
This is just a hypothetical exercise, but any feedback on general feasibility would be gratefully received!