| Captain Blood | |
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| Developer(s) | Exxos (ERE informatique) |
| Publisher(s) | Infogrames |
| Distributor(s) | Mindscape (US) |
| Designer(s) | Phillipe Ulrich (scenario) Didier Bouchon (graphics & programming) |
| Platform(s) | Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIGS, IBM PC, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Thomson TO7, Macintosh, |
| Release date | 1988 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Cassette, Disk |
| Input methods | Mouse, Joystick |
Captain Blood (L’Arche du capitaine Blood in French) is the name of a French video game from 1988 made by Imagitec Design Ltd and released by ERE Informatique, soon relabeled with their short-lived Exxos label. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video ERE Informatique was one of the first French Video game companies founded in 1981 by Phillipe Ulrich and Emmanuel Viau. ERE Informatique was one of the first French Video game companies founded in 1981 by Phillipe Ulrich and Emmanuel Viau. Infogrames Entertainment SA ( IESA) ( is an international Holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s The Amiga is a family of Personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. The Apple, the fifth model inception of the Apple II, was the most powerful member of the Apple II series of personal computers made by Apple Computer. The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit Home computers produced by Amstrad Plc during the 1980s and early 1990s The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal Home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction An adventure is an activity that comprises Risky dangerous and uncertain experiences Simulation is the imitation of some real thing state of affairs or process In video gaming, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased A mouse (plural mice) is a small Animal that belongs to one A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) ERE Informatique was one of the first French Video game companies founded in 1981 by Phillipe Ulrich and Emmanuel Viau. ERE Informatique was one of the first French Video game companies founded in 1981 by Phillipe Ulrich and Emmanuel Viau. It was later re-released by Players Premier Software. The title tune is a stripped down version of "Ethnicolor" by Jean Michel Jarre. Jean-Michel André Jarre (born 24 August 1948, Lyon) is a French Composer, performer and Music producer.
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Development
Captain Blood was developed jointly by Didier Bouchon and Phillipe Ulrich, both contributing design and scenario, and Bouchon graphics and programming for the Atari ST version. The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s Bouchon originally designed covers for ERE informatique's Gazoline Software label, but he learned to program in assembler for the Atari ST after Ulrich provided him with one. The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s Bouchon then created fractal-generated realtime graphics that inspired both to do a sci-fi inspired video game. A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts each of which is (at least approximately a reduced-size copy of the whole" [1]
After ERE's absorption by Infogrames in summer of 1987 (partly justified by preliminary versions of Captain Blood), Ulrich and Bouchon isolated themselves in the Landes in order to have the game ready for Christmas. ERE Informatique was one of the first French Video game companies founded in 1981 by Phillipe Ulrich and Emmanuel Viau. Infogrames Entertainment SA ( IESA) ( is an international Holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. The Landes forest ( La forêt des Landes in French) or the Landes of Gascony ( las Lanas de Gasconha in the Gascon language) in the Many adaptations for both 16-bit and 8-bit machines were developed in successive months, although none of them surpasses the original Atari ST version in graphics, sound effects or music. The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s
Gameplay
The titular character of the game is an 80's video game designer, Bob Morlock, who had picked "Captain Blood" as a nickname in tribute to the film starring Errol Flynn of the same name. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Captain Blood is a 1935 Swashbuckling Film made by First National Pictures and Warner Brothers. Morlock develops a new video game about aliens and space travel. See also List of extraterrestrials in fiction In Popular cultures Life forms -especially intelligent life forms that are of extraterrestrial While testing for the first time his new project, he becomes warped inside the spaceship of the very game he had designed. Soon after, Blood is forced to go into hyperspace mode and, due to an incident, gets accidentally cloned 30 times. For 800 years, Blood tracks down every clone, as each one took a portion of his vital fluid. When the game begins, Blood successfully disintegrated 25 clones but he needs to kill the last five clones who turned out to be the most difficult to track down or he will lose his last connections with the human species.
The objective of the game is to track down and disintegrate five clones (referred to as Duplicates or Numbers depending on the version of the game) of Captain Blood. To find them, the player must speak to various aliens and gain their trust. Communication with aliens occurs via an icon-based interface known as UPCOM. This consists of around 150 icons, each representing a different concept. As each alien race discovered speaks its own language and reacts differently, the player must learn to negotiate using these UPCOM concepts in a style that suits the races.
Other unique facets of the game play of Captain Blood included changes in the player interface as the game progressed; as time wore on, the character's health deteriorated. This was represented in-game via an increasing amount of shaking of the mouse cursor, making the game more and more difficult to control. Disintegrating a clone would temporarily relieve the symptoms.
The player starts the game at the bridge of a biological ship, the Ark. A bioship is a type of Spacecraft described in Science fiction. The ship begins in the vicinity of one of four predetermined planets, each inhabited by a single alien. To make contact with an alien, the player launches an OORXX - a biological probe - to the planet's surface. The player must successfully navigate the probe over a fractal landscape, eventually reaching the alien at the end of a valley. The UPCOM interface then appears so that the player may talk to the alien and find out more information - most importantly, the coordinates of other inhabited planets.
The Ark also has the capability to hyperspace to other planets, scan planets for defences, destroy planets and teleport aliens to an area known as the Fridgitorium, for disintegration or transportation to another planet. An alien can only be teleported to the Ark after it has consented to do so.
Images
Planetary landing screenshot from the Atari ST version
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Conversation with a Migrax (Atari ST)
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The Ark (Atari ST)
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Conversation with a Buggol (ZX Spectrum)
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Audio clips
Captain Blood - Migrax
Versions
The game was first released on the Atari ST, and was later released on the Amiga, Apple IIGS, PC and many 8-bit platforms, including the ZX Spectrum. The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal Home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd The ST version is generally considered to be the definitive version, being the only version that includes the full set of alien language sounds.
Sequels
It was followed by the sequel Commander Blood in 1994 and later by Big Bug Bang in 1997, a French-only release. Commander Blood is a Science fiction Adventure game that was developed by Cryo Interactive, a French company that also created
References
- ^ Daniel Ichbiah, La saga des jeux vidéo. Chapter 5. Vuibert. 2004. ISBN 2-7117-4825-1
External links
- ARGanoid's Captain Blood Worship Page
- Oldskool.org Captain Blood Shrine (includes Captain Blood novella)
- classicamiga.com features Amiga release (includes manuals, guides, trivia, screenshots, boxart, video and more)
- Captain Blood at World of Spectrum
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