171:
106:
329:
237:.. A real time version of Chase called Logan was ported to the HP-2000 by Jim Burnes at St. Louis University High School. It used the 2D addressable cursor of a VT52 video terminal to generate the play field. It became so popular that it monopolized the entire computer center within a month and was subsequently deleted off the system.
31:
in which players are tasked with escaping from robots programmed to pursue and kill them. The player attempts to destroy the robots by moving in such a way that the robots collide with each other or other obstacles. The basic concept has been part of games stretching into the 1970s, and is among the
154:
to a random location in cases where escape is otherwise impossible. Teleportation counts as a move, and the robots will respond by moving towards the new location. Since the location is randomly selected, it is possible for the player to teleport right into the path of a robot. In some versions of
135:
version, the player starts at the centre of the grid. The robots start in random locations on the grid. Every time the player character moves in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), each robot moves one square closer to their new location, in whichever direction is the shortest
279:
and Nathan
Butcher. This reduced the number of enemies to four and eliminated the tank. In addition, the player could only move in four directions (North, South, East, West) while the robots had the ability to move diagonally. The game was played in real time; as the player pondered his move, the
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the game, there is a "safe teleport" feature which the player may use a limited number of times (for instance once per level) and there may also be a close-range weapon that kills all robots within the immediate vicinity, the use of which would be limited in a similar way.
147:, the map is initially clear and these hazards are created when two robots collide to create a pile of rubble. In either case, the player is attempting to move in such a way to cause the robots to collide with each other or stationary obstacles.
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The game is won when all of the robots are destroyed. In modern versions, this normally results in the game proceeding to another level with more robots. Traditionally, the number of robots increases by ten each level.
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The player attempts to survive by causing the robots to kill themselves by colliding with other objects on the map. There are two major ways this occurs. In earlier versions derived from
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A series of relatively direct copies of this game appeared in computer magazines of the era, including one for the SWCP 4k BASIC, and a graphical version using the
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210:, at that time adding a note suggesting the original author was Mac Oglesby, a prolific game author of Dartmouth BASIC games from the mainframe era.
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was aware of its origins on the DTSS system and naturally ascribed it to Mac based on his prodigious output. The original author remains unknown.
490:
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In an email, Mac stated he was not the original author of the game. Bill Cotter stated that he saw the original on either a DECUS tape or the
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The game is turn-based. In the original game, the player character starts in a random location. In some derivative versions, such as the
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as early as 1982, which added a real-time option that caused the robots to move even if the user didn't. A review of this version in
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A few versions also add a tank, which is not destroyed when colliding with other objects and acts similarly to the other robots.
143:, there are a number of deadly objects on the map that will kill either the robots or the player. In later versions derived from
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252:, which added another enemy, the tank, and limited the player to two teleports per match. A commercial graphical version of
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both appeared in 1984, leading to another wave of similar versions. New ports continue to appear to this day.
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is played on a two-dimensional rectangular grid. The objective of the game is to escape from a number of
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path to the player. If the player character collides with a robot, they die and the game ends.
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magazine in early 1976 and a variety of modified versions appeared over the next few years.
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The original author of the game remains unknown, but it is highly likely it started on the
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244:, although it is not clear when this name was first used. One such version appears in
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was developed by Allan R. Black in
November 1984. In May 1985, it was posted to the
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robots would continue converging toward him. This version was published in the 1983
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Computer Games : for business, school, and home for the TRS-80 level II Basic
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Tim
Hartnell's Giant Book of Computer Games, p.273: Robot Minefield
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368:, which is the same machine as the DTSS system of the same era.
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platforms. Many variations exist, the most notable being the
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GNOME robots replaces the character graphics with sprites.
83:
in the early 1970s. The first public versions appeared in
413:. Vol. 2, no. 1. January 1976. pp. 75–76.
202:
contains a version of this original code ported to the
189:. The author is unknown and original versions of the
264:once again attributed the original to Mac Oglesby.
381:. DECUS shows no similar program. It appears that
240:Many follow-up versions of the game were known as
128:, which have been programmed to kill the player.
489:Nahigian, J. Victor; Hodges, William (1980).
206:by Bill Cotter. It was republished in 1979's
8:
562:"Robots game for 4.2 BSD (highly addictive)"
657:Video games developed in the United States
364:The Honeywell 6000 series was a re-badged
398:
357:
476:"HiVolts, the Game of Electric Fences"
7:
221:machines. It was also ported to the
424:Chase (additional detail from 1979)
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662:Video games with textual graphics
560:Stephen J. Muir (May 28, 1985).
442:. February 1977. pp. 48–50.
327:
113:is very similar to the original
32:earliest of the "standards" for
647:Free software that uses ncurses
453:Singer, Joseph Jay (May 1977).
317:software release in June 1986.
303:Berkeley Software Distribution
1:
379:Dartmouth Time Sharing System
301:. It was then ported to the
283:Giant Book of Computer Games
538:GameBase64: Robot Minefield
693:
527:. August 1982. p. 16.
455:"Video Chase for 8080/VDM"
309:. The BSD Unix version of
246:Announcing: Computer Games
196:The Jan-Feb 1976 issue of
181:was originally written in
619:4.3BSD robots source code
608:4.3BSD robots(6) man page
597:robots, by Allan R. Black
208:More BASIC Computer Games
642:Video games about robots
275:was released in 1983 by
16:Turn-based computer game
667:Open-source video games
313:first appeared in the
267:A modified version of
185:on the DTSS system at
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118:
347:, a real-time version
204:Honeywell 6000 series
193:have not been found.
173:
108:
150:The player can also
525:Creative Computing
460:Dr. Dobb's Journal
411:Creative Computing
335:Video games portal
262:Creative Computing
199:Creative Computing
176:
119:
86:Creative Computing
570:net.sources.games
463:. pp. 10–16.
299:net.sources.games
256:was also sold by
187:Dartmouth College
81:Dartmouth College
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273:Robot Minefield
183:Dartmouth BASIC
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344:Robotron: 2084
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166:Other versions
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38:home computer
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29:computer game
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580:. Retrieved
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383:David H. Ahl
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277:Tim Hartnell
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677:MacOS games
637:Linux games
191:source code
652:Unix games
631:Categories
582:August 21,
495:. p.
393:References
307:Ken Arnold
297:newsgroup
231:MODCOMP IV
79:system at
26:turn-based
566:Newsgroup
521:"Escape!"
271:known as
225:system's
219:S-100 bus
217:card for
440:Kilobaud
436:"Chase!"
321:See also
258:Sublogic
248:for the
152:teleport
101:Gameplay
574:Usenet:
568::
407:"CHASE"
269:Escape!
254:Escape!
242:Escape!
235:HiVolts
49:Zombies
43:Escape!
40:-based
576:
503:
315:4.3BSD
311:robots
295:Usenet
291:robots
250:TRS-80
145:robots
141:Chase!
126:robots
111:robots
95:robots
91:Daleks
65:robots
60:Mac OS
55:Daleks
352:Notes
227:TUTOR
223:PLATO
215:VDM-1
179:Chase
133:GNOME
122:Chase
115:Chase
24:is a
21:Chase
584:2015
501:ISBN
109:BSD
93:and
77:DTSS
70:Unix
62:and
46:and
305:by
233:as
68:on
58:on
633::
572:.
564:.
523:.
499:.
497:46
457:.
438:.
409:.
286:.
72:.
52:,
586:.
509:.
478:.
117:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
