Planet of Death
Artic Computing, Paxman Promotions, Real Software 1981
- Aka:
- Adventure A, The Last Planet
- Language:
- English
- Authors:
- Chris A. Thornton, Richard Turner
- Systems:
- Assembler, Quill, The/AdventureWriter
- Platforms:
- Amstrad CPC , C64/128 , Jupiter ACE , Spectrum, VZ200/300 , ZX81
- Genres:
- Science fiction
- Related:
- Adventure series [1: Planet of Death, 2: Inca Curse, 3: Ship of Doom, 4: Espionage Island, 5: Golden Apple, The, 6: Eye of Bain, The, 7: Ground Zero, 8: Robin Hood]
Nick Hardy Adventures [1: Inca Curse, 2: Planet of Death, 3: Espionage Island]
- Entered by:
- Alex, ChickenMan, Gunness, Strident, Sudders
- Added:
- 10-05-2010
- Edited:
- 21-06-2022
Synopsis
Plot
In this adventure you find yourself stranded on an alien planet.Your aim is to escape from this planet by finding your, now captured and disabled, Space Ship.
You will meet various hazards and dangers on your adventure, some natural, some not - all of which you must overcome to succeed.
Notes
The various versions of the game contain minor differences in the puzzles and the vocabulary required to solve them. In some editions there are alternative solutions to puzzles or additional restrictions, such as an object weight limit.The publication history of this game is fairly complex...
It was originally released for ZX80 and ZX81 by Artic as Adventure A, and was ported to the 16K ZX Spectrum. Artic later used the subtitle Planet of Death as the main title of the game. The (English) game was published by Profisoft in Germany.
The game was also released in Sinclair-branded packaging for the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. That version of the game featured cover art by Tony Roberts which was later reused as the cover of the Amiga game Agony, as well as for several novels & books by various authors.
The Amstrad CPC version was ported by Dollarsoft and published by Paxman Promotions. Dollarsoft used magazine type-in routines to port the Spectrum code to the CPC.
There are at least three distinct versions of the game for C64, with the title Planet of Death; the initial release (which can be identified by the # prompt), and two Quilled versions (with > prompts). One of the Quilled versions seems to be a direct port of the original "basic" version of the game. The other Quilled version is more verbose, and was produced by A.W.J. Adam.
The "extended" Quill'ed C64 version was later published in the U.S. by Real Software as The Last Planet, as part of the Nick Hardy Adventures.
An Android version of the game (adapted by Lee Parker) was released in 2019, initially as an unofficial release, but later gaining authorisation from the "rights holder". This version was re-released under the Pixel Games UK label in 2020.
Various "unofficial" (and also several non-English) versions of Planet of Death exist...
A version for the Jupiter Ace was produced by the Jupiter Ace Archive Team (JAAT) in 2008; updated in 2010.
Paul Taylor (Poglad) dissembled the ZX Spectrum code and used this to generate a version for CP/M and also to create a port in C, which can be compiled for various machines (including back to the original target ZX80 & ZX81) using Z88dk.
The Poglad C version was used to port it to Microbee CP/M, including the original graphics.
Paul Taylor's C version was used by Zeljko Juric to produce a version for the Texas Instruments TI-89 and TI-92+ graphical calculators.
Several versions have been produced in BASIC. Jim Gerrie ported the game to DRAGON, TRS-80 MC-10 and Coco using Micro Color BASIC. The game information & text was extracted from the C source and the engine was adapted from Compute's Tower of Mystery.
Colin Appleby used Jim Gerrie's BASIC version as the basis for his port to Newbrain.
Francisco Javier Lopez produced a "reimagined" and expanded Spanish ZX Spectrum version of the game in 2009, using PAW, replacing many of the illogical puzzles of the original and adding many new elements.
Laks & Stalker produced a Russian translation for Pentagon 128.
A version for C64 exists called The Pain by "Ivysoft", but this appears to be just a crack of the original Artic release with the title screen changed.
Resources (Upload file)
- Solution
- by zjuric
- Solution (C64/128)
- by Alex
- Solution
- by THayes
- Map
- by zjuric
- Map
- by Sudders
- Map
- by Simon
- Review
- by Sudders
- Further Info:
- Search at CPC-Power
- Search at Gamebase64
- Search at Museum of Computer Adventure Game History
- Search at Spectrum Computing
- Search at The Tipshop
- Search at World of Spectrum
- Search at ZX81 Collection
[+] Users who have solved this game
[+] Users currently playing this game
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I tried CPC version. You cannot fix typing mistake and port is buggy as hell. A game you can avoid.
Just play it on my C64Maxi as it is a game in the Carroussel. And it worked perfectly. Simply awesome :)