 |
|
|
 Return to the main page |
||
MSX-ALL Team Proudly presents
An epic battle between the best pilot with the best ship
Please, read carefully this disclaimer before download and use this software. Click here...
The History of the Iron Star and its author
Larini had his first contact with computers when he was 13. It was his sister in law who got him his first subscription for a computer school to learn Basic. At the school he was introduced to ZX81 and he loved everything he learned. As result of his dedication he got as a gift a TK85 (the TK85 was the last ZX-81 compatible machine produced by Microdigital in Brazil). It was on that machine that he invested more time on the games development concept. He also built some titles for this plataform, such as Lunar, Thunder Cats and Space, and it was on that ZX-81 where he learned more about Basic and specially Z80 ASSEMBLY. His first MSX just arrived in 1986, a model called HotBit, which was produced by Sharp in Brazil. He was so impressed with the new features he found on the MSX that he immediately decided to start working on a fight game based on Karate. Unfortunately, his programming skills on the MSX were not better than his martial arts skills, and then he slowed down his game projects to first learn more about the MSX architecture. He purchased some books, learned very well the MSX-Basic and also had a chance to be introduced to new friends (all MSX users). He enjoyed the MSX games and played a lot, meanwhile he practiced his programming skills creating small routines (such as music ripper to steal music from games and then play it on the Basic environment). Only when he felt more comfortable with the MSX specifications that he started developing what he had called at that time "THE GAME". He was right when he believed that he was able to build a game by himself. He had not only programmed it all in pure Assembly, but also he discovered that he was a very good artist, creating all the digital arts for the game and also composing its music. But, the most important for him at that time was to be able to play his own game.
Although, the MSX 1 has great features, but also some big limitations that challenges even the most experienced MSX programmer. One aspect of the MSX 1 that severely slowed him down on his game projects was the Screen 2 "characteristic" that uses blocks of 8 pixels limited to one color only. Even worst was to be forced to develop a color game in a Black and White TV (at that time some "very old fashion" people believed that computers could harm the Color TV's). It was not before the third month of development that we was able to buy a 14" Color TV to connect his MSX (a TV that he proudly bought himself with his own money). He faced other challenges to develop Iron Star. The sincronization of the elements was one of the biggest! But, the major problem was when he was forced to change the programming environment. He started his development using Mega Assembler, which has several known limitations when working with large source codes, and then he learned about the M80 Pack, which he used to complete the project. Larini recalls that he was not able to spend to much time developing his games because of his studies and work. The only available time to invest in the Iron Star project was on the weekends. He used several ideas from his friends to enrich the game, and the music was composed using a program called HotMusic,which is other of his creations. Nowadays, Larini is over 35 years old, and he nostalgically remembers how difficult was to work on this game, but not without laying emphasis on how pleasurable was after each completed step. The game has 8 levels and several enemies to be faced simultaneously. The Iron Star is not an easy game to play, and the challenge it implies is one of its most fascinating characteristics. Larini says that he understand that he built a game that is really hard to play (and because of our tears he just made an small "last minute" change on it, adding the "continue" feature); but he also believes that the game is not as difficult as Aleste 2 (what we from MSX-ALL Team gently disagree).
The Iron Star has never been released for sale or distribution before. Only some closer friends were contemplated with a courtesy copy of the game. Larini explains that the main reason why he had never sold or distributed this game was because his MSX got broken once and have never been repaired. Instead, he got an Commodore Amiga and almost all MSX stuff were forgotten. Luckily he did save some of his floppy disks, includding the Iron Star game and its assembly fonts. He rediscover the MSX about 8 years ago thanks to the emulators, and he decided to revive his game just to see if it still be playable. After more than 15 years of "darkness" finaly the Iron Star become available for your enjoyment, exclusively brought to you by the MSX-ALL Team. This is the only one game Larini has ever finished for MSX, and also a piece of history that was almost lost forever. It deserves nothihg less than our attention and respect. We invite you to download the game, to play it and to try to win without cheat it. The game is a nice "time machine" for the gold era of the MSX 1 games, and an example of how the MSX can be an easy computer to develop on, so easy that a boy was able to build a game by himself without any advanced development knowledge (not just Larini, but several other boys around the world have done the same). Is not that one of the main reasons why we all love MSX? Julio Marchi You may contact Paulo Larini (the Iron Star author) thru his e-mail: pflarini at gmail.com |
|||||||||||||||||
Taured is the most advanced and powerful Android ever created. He is well-equipped with the highest level of Artificial Intelligence ever designed, and he will use all his strength, knowledge and power to prevent you from accomplish your mission!
DOWNLOAD
