''Alien Gate'' is a

fixed shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

developed by SPC Vision and published by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

for the

CD-i The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...

Gameplay

''Alien Gate'' is a

. Each stage consists of the player's ship facing off against a giant head that spawns several smaller enemies. Once all the required enemies are defeated, the player must defeat the head as a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

. The background gives the impression of a

vertically scrolling shooter A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the Player (game), player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background Scrolling, scrolls from the top of the screen to the b ...

, but the attackers stay in position relative to the player's ship. There are 25 stages and 14 different enemy types.

Development

''Alien Gate'' was developed by Dutch studio SPC Vision. It was co-designed and programmed by Stefan Posthuma and Tim Moss while Niklas Malmqvist provided the

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

. The

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

and graphics were all written using the

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

. The project began as a demo provided to publisher

who were so impressed that they commissioned a full release as well as a five-game contract with the developer. Moss had come to SPT from a British university as an intern. ''Alien Gate'' was put together during that six week period and Moss was asked to return for a permanent position. The group disbanded upon the failure of the CD-i. Posthuma subsequently took a job at the Canadian developer

Gray Matter Grey matter, or gray matter in American English, is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil (dendrites and unmyelinated axons), glial cells (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and ...

while Moss returned to England to work for

Argonaut Games Argonaut Games is a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game '' Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX chip, and for '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and the '' Starglider'' series. The company wa ...

Reception

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' reviewed the CD-i version of the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Those who actually want shooting action from their CD-i will do better to stick with games like ''

Mystic Midway ''Mystic Midway'' is a 1992 horror-themed arcade shooter video game for the CD-i where the player must shoot targets to advance to the next level. Plot A sarcastic, ghostly theme park owner named Dr. Dearth (Randy Polk) explains all the info abo ...

'' than to delve into this painfully deficient travesty." ''

Power Unlimited ''Power Unlimited'' is a Dutch multi-format video games magazine. It is the biggest gaming magazine in the Benelux. The first issue was released in June 1993. History ''Power Unlimited'' started in June 1993 in Bjørn Bruinsma's basement as a ...

'' gave the game a score of 82% commenting: "''Alien Gate'' is very difficult. You will have to practice for a long time, because if you don't know the levels by heart, you won't get very far. If you're a stickler this game will have a long shelf life." Alfred Debels of another Dutch magazine, ''Software Gids'', concurred about the game's difficulty. stating that despite the game cover's advertisement for children ages six and up that it would be challenging even for adults. He recommended using the mouse or joystick, finding the game unplayable with the standard CD-i controller.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Alien Gate''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

1993 video games CD-i games CD-i-only games Fixed shooters Single-player video games Video games developed in the Netherlands