''Rescue at Rigel'' is a 1980 science fiction

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

written and published by Automated Simulations (later known as Epyx). It is based on a modified version of their '' Temple of Apshai''

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

, which was used for most of their releases in this era. The game was released for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

(as a

self-booting disk A self-booting disk is a floppy disk for home or personal computers that loads directly into a standalone application when the system is turned on, bypassing the operating system. This was common, even standard, on some computers in the late 1970 ...

), TRS-80, Commodore PET,

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

, and

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. The game requires the player to search out a space fortress looking for ten hostages. Presented in a top-down view, the player can only see the area immediately around them, so the entire base has to be searched room by room. There is a 60-minute time limit on the mission. ''Rescue at Rigel'' was followed by ''

Star Warrior ''Star Warrior'' is a 1980 science fiction role-playing video game written and published by Automated Simulations (later renamed to Epyx) for the Apple II, TRS-80, and Atari 8-bit family. The game is branded as part of the ''Starquest'' series ...

'', and the two rebranded to be part of their "Starquest" series.

Gameplay

Players take on the role of adventurer Sudden Smith. Smith must try to rescue captives from the interior of an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

orbiting the

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

Rigel. Players have 60 minutes to rescue 10 human captives from the alien moon base. They must first find the captives before delivering them to the rescue ship (via a transport beam). Players must defeat or avoid the enemies wandering the base: the alien Tollahs, two types of armed robots, a six-legged "cerbanth", and a huge

amoebic An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

. As players forge deeper into the alien stronghold, they have the opportunity to acquire better weapons. The playfield is presented as a

top-down view A variety of Computer graphics, computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to Graphics hardware, ...

of the current location of the hero. The game is turn-based, with the player given a certain number of "points" to spend on various actions, completing their turn when the points ran out. ''Rescue at Rigel'' is very similar to '' Temple of Apshai'', a popular

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

by Epyx, part of their "Dunjonquest" series. ''Rescue at Rigel'' had a timer similar to ''

The Datestones of Ryn ''The Datestones of Ryn'' is a role-playing video game released in 1979 for the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 by Automated Simulations (later Epyx). ''The Datestones of Ryn'' was the second title in the ''Dunjonquest'' series, but was actua ...

'', an earlier Dunjonquest game. ''Rescue at Rigel'' used the concept of providing room descriptions similar to those used in some '' Dunjonquest'' games, but instead of unique descriptions for numbered rooms, the game had multiple rooms labeled "Sanctum", for example, and a detailed description of what typical Sanctums contained was provided in the manual along with about a dozen other room types.

Reception

Bruce F. Webster Bruce F. Webster is an American academic and software engineer. He is currently a principal at Bruce F. Webster & Associates and an adjunct professor in computer science at Brigham Young University. Early life and education Webster studied ...

reviewed ''Rescue at Rigel'' in '' The Space Gamer'' No. 34. Webster commented that "if you've got the money and the interest, buy it. In fact, if you've only got either the money or the interest, buy it - you'll be glad you did." Jerry Pournelle reported in '' BYTE'' in 1983 that ''Rescue at Rigel'' was one of several Epyx games his sons enjoyed playing.

References

{{Reflist 1980 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore PET games VIC-20 games Epyx games Fiction set around Rigel Role-playing video games TRS-80 games Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games