''Sea Dragon'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter for the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of ...

computer, written by Wayne Westmoreland and Terry Gilman, and released in 1982 by

Adventure International Adventure International was an American video game publishing company that existed from 1979 until 1986. It was started by Scott and Alexis Adams. Their games were notable for being the first implementation of the adventure genre to run on a m ...

. The gameplay is similar to the ''

Scramble Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game Music Albums * ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers * ''Scrambles'' (album) ...

'' arcade game, but underwater. It was ported to 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-mold ...

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 ...

, Commodore 64,

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Co ...

, and

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

. In 1995, Wayne Westmoreland placed the game into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

. In January 2016 the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

for the Atari 8-bit version was released to the public and added to the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

Gameplay

The player controls a submarine that can shoot torpedoes both forwards and upwards. The gameplay involves navigating "past underwater mountains and through labyrinthine passages while avoiding webs of explosive mines that rise from the sea bottom. Additional dangers include mine-dropping ships, enemy attack stations, falling stalactites, and deadly lasers—any of which could keep you from your ultimate goal: destruction of the incredibly powerful nuclear reactor at the end of the undersea course." (Adventure International catalog, 1982)

Speech

The Apple II version uses

digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...

voice that says "Sea Dragon!" When the user starts the game, he or she is told, "Captain! Your ship's computer is now ready. Please wait while I initialize systems!", and during the game will be informed, "Air level critical!", "Checkpoint!", and "Approaching maximum damage!" The use of speech was a novelty, as the Apple II speaker is only able to emit a one-bit click. Programming ''Sea Dragon'' to play back an audio sample is a technical achievement shared with ''

Castle Wolfenstein ''Castle Wolfenstein'' is a 1981 action-adventure game that was developed by Muse Software for the Apple II home computer. It is one of the earliest games to be based on stealth mechanics. An Atari 8-bit family port was released in 1982 and w ...

'' (1981), ''

Dung Beetles Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

'' (1982), ''Creepy Corridors'' (1982), and ''Plasmania'' (1982). The Color Computer version is the only other version that includes speech. It says "Welcome aboard, Captain!" on the title screen.

Reception

Writing for ''

Video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

'' magazine in 1983, Ivan Berger noted that ''Sea Dragon''s graphics were dominated by "simple patterns and primary colors". This Berger contrasted with the "more subtle colors and shadings that go into professional animation", however Berger noted that while ''Sea Dragon'' was emblematic in this regard, the chromatic and graphical simplicity of the game was endemic to the home computer game medium.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , last1=Hague , first1=James , title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers , url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/

External links

''Sea Dragon''
at TRS-80.org

at Atari Mania
Video TRS-80 gameplay
1982 video games Adventure International games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Commercial video games with freely available source code DOS games Horizontally scrolling shooters Public-domain software with source code TRS-80 games TRS-80 Color Computer games Video games developed in the United States Video games with underwater settings Submarines in fiction