''Chase'' is a
turn-based computer game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
in which players are tasked with escaping from robots programmed to pursue and kill them. The player attempts to destroy the robots by moving in such a way that the robots collide with each other or other obstacles. The basic concept has been part of games stretching into the 1970s, and is among the earliest of the "standards" for
microcomputer
A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...
platforms. Many variations exist, the most notable being the
home computer-based ''Escape!'' and ''Zombies'', ''Daleks'' on
MacOS and ''robots'' on
Unix.
The original author of the game remains unknown, but it is highly likely it started on the
DTSS system at
Dartmouth College in the early 1970s. The first public versions appeared in ''
Creative Computing
''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...
'' magazine in early 1976 and a variety of modified versions appeared over the next few years. ''Daleks'' and ''robots'' both appeared in 1984, leading to another wave of similar versions. New ports continue to appear to this day.
Gameplay
''Chase'' is played on a two-dimensional rectangular grid. The objective of the game is to escape from a number of
robots, which have been programmed to kill the player.
The game is turn-based. In the original game, the player character starts at a randomly selected location. In some derivative versions, such as the
GNOME
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
version, the player starts at the centre of the grid. The robots start at randomly selected locations on the grid. Every time the player character moves a square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), each robot moves one square closer to their new location, in whichever direction is the shortest path. If the player character collides with a robot, they die and the game ends.
The player attempts to survive by causing the robots to kill themselves by colliding with other objects on the map. There are two major ways this occurs. In earlier versions derived from ''Chase!'', there are a number of deadly objects on the map that will kill either the robots or the player. In later versions derived from ''robots'', the map is initially clear and these hazards are created when two robots collide to create a pile of rubble. In either case, the player is attempting to move in such a way to cause the robots to collide with each other or stationary obstacles.
The player can also
teleport into a randomly selected location in cases where escape is otherwise impossible. Teleportation counts as a move, and the robots will respond by moving towards the new location. Because the location is randomly selected, it is possible that the player teleports right into the path of a robot. In some versions of the game, there is a "safe teleport" feature which the player may use a limited number of times (for instance once per level) and there may also be a close-range weapon which kills all robots within the immediate vicinity, the use of which would be limited in a similar way.
A few versions also add a tank, which is not killed when colliding with the other objects and is deadly to all objects. It otherwise acts like the other robots.
The game is won when all of the robots are destroyed. In modern versions, this normally results in the game proceeding to another level with more robots. Traditionally, the number of robots increases by ten each level.
Other versions
''Chase'' was originally written in
Dartmouth BASIC on the DTSS system at
Dartmouth College. The original author is unknown, and original versions of the
source code have not been found.
The Jan-Feb 1976 issue of ''
Creative Computing
''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...
'' contains a version of this original code ported to the
Honeywell 6000 series by Bill Cotter. It was republished in 1979's ''More BASIC Computer Games'', at that time adding a note suggesting the original author was Mac Oglesby, a prolific game author of Dartmouth BASIC games from the mainframe era.
A series of relatively direct copies of this game appeared in computer magazines of the era, including one for the SWCP 4k BASIC, and a graphical version using the
VDM-1 card for
S-100 bus machines. It was also ported to the
PLATO system's
TUTOR language on the
MODCOMP IV as ''HiVolts''.
Many follow-up versions of the game were known as ''Escape!'', although it is not clear when this name was first used. One such version appears in ''Announcing: Computer Games'' for the
TRS-80, which added another enemy, the tank, and limited the player to two teleports per match. A commercial graphical version of ''Escape!'' was also sold by
Sublogic as early as 1982, which added a real-time option that caused the robots to move even if the user didn't. A review of this version in ''Creative Computing'' once again attributed the original to Mac Oglesby.
A modified version of ''Escape!'' known as ''Robot Minefield'' was released in 1983 by
Tim Hartnell and Nathan Butcher. This reduced the number of enemies to four and eliminated the tank. In addition, the player could only move in four directions (North, South, East, West) while the robots had the ability to move diagonally. The game was played in real time; as the player pondered his move, the robots would continue converging toward him. This version was published in the 1983 ''
Giant Book of Computer Games
Tim Hartnell (1951–1991) was an Australian journalist, self-taught programmer and author of books and magazines on computer games. He set up The National ZX80 User Group with Trevor Sharples in 1980 producing a more-or-less monthly magazine e ...
''.
The Unix-based ''robots'' was developed by Allan R. Black in November, 1984. In May 1985, it was posted to the
Usenet newsgroup ''net.sources.games''.
[robots, by Allan R. Black](_blank)
/ref> It was then ported to the Berkeley Software Distribution
The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berk ...
by Ken Arnold. The BSD Unix version of ''robots'' first appeared in the 4.3BSD The History of the Berkeley Software Distribution begins in the 1970s.
1BSD (PDP-11)
The earliest distributions of Unix from Bell Labs in the 1970s included the source code to the operating system, allowing researchers at universities to modify an ...
software release in June 1986.4.3BSD robots source code
/ref>
See also
* ''Robotron: 2084
''Robotron: 2084'' (also referred to as ''Robotron'') is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional wo ...
'', a real-time version
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Linux games
Video games about robots
Software that uses ncurses
Unix games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with textual graphics
Open-source video games
Mainframe games
MacOS games
ru:Robots