The Humans (video Game)
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''The Humans'' is a
puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...
-
platform Platform may refer to: Arts * Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow * ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film * ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke * '' The Platform'' (2019 film) * Pla ...
video game developed by
Imagitec Design Imagitec Design was a video games development company founded in 1989, based in the UK. The main person involved was Barry Leitch, who worked as a composer for many of the company's soundtracks. Imagitec Design interacted with other companies su ...
in
Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and originally published by Mirage Technologies for the
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...
in May 1992. It was later
ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...
to other
home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...
s and
console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...
s. The goal of the game varies per level but usually revolves around bringing at least one of the player-controlled
human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
s to the designated end area marked by a colored tile. Doing this requires players taking advantage of the
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
's ability to build a ladder and use tools such as spears, torches, wheels, ropes and a
witch doctor A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors ...
in later levels. ''The Humans'' was conceived by Rodney Humble during his time working with Imagitec Design as a project for the
Atari Lynx The Atari Lynx is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console, hand-held game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe and Japan. It was the first handhe ...
spawning a trilogy based upon the
human evolution ''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...
inspired by
Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (; known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Het ...
1991 game ''
Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also incl ...
'', creating and drawing his ideas before transferring the design work to Imagitec
programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...
s in developing them further, serving as the first game to be published by
MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...
offshoot Mirage, while
Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of Home computer, home computers and Video game console, video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than ...
liked the title and commissioned two additional
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...
s for their platforms. ''The Humans'' was very well received by video game magazines and garnered praise for the originality, presentation and audio upon its initial Amiga launch. Other versions of the game have been met with a more mixed reception from critics and reviewers alike. It was followed by three sequels: ''The Humans: Insult to Injury'' in 1992, ''Humans 3: Evolution - Lost in Time'' in 1995, and ''The Humans: Meet the Ancestors!'' in 2009.


Gameplay

''The Humans'' is a puzzle game similar to ''
Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also incl ...
'' whose objective is to manipulate the given number of humans, taking advantage of abilities and tools to achieve the level's goal, usually consisting of finding a certain tool, killing a certain number of
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
s or bringing at least one human to the end point, marked by a conspicuous colored tile. Each level is independent of the next, each with its own tools, goal, and set number of humans allowed per level. The only things that carry from level to level are the total number of humans in the player's tribe and the player's total score.''The Humans'' manual (Amiga, EU)''The Humans'' instruction booklet (Game Boy, US)''The Humans'' instruction manual (Sega Genesis, US)''Dinolypics'' game manual (Atari Lynx, US)''The Humans'' instruction booklet (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, EU)''Evolution: Dino Dudes'' game manual (Atari Jaguar, US) The player controls one human at a time, and may switch between any human at any time. In order to complete a level, it is often necessary to use certain tools or abilities, such as stacking to reach a high ledge. For instance, the spear, a tool obtained in the first level of the game, may be thrown across gaps to other humans, used to jump chasms, thrown to kill dinosaurs or other enemies, or brandished to hold off dinosaurs temporarily. Certain levels also feature NPCs like the
pterodactylus ''Pterodactylus'' (from ) is a genus of extinct pterosaurs. It is thought to contain only a single species, ''Pterodactylus antiquus'', which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying reptile and one of the first prehis ...
that can be ridden in order to reach otherwise unreachable platforms, that cannot be controlled, but can be used to the player's advantage. Several forms of enemy appear and can range from dinosaurs that eat a human if he is unarmed and within its walking range to spear-wielding members of enemy tribes. There can be up to eight controllable humans in a level, though some levels only allow as few as three. Though there is a preset number of humans allowed per level, there is no limit to how many humans are in the player's tribe. If a human dies, he is replaced by one from the tribe as long as there are humans there to replace him. During the course of the game, the player is given chances to rescue other humans and add them to their tribe. If there are fewer humans in the player's tribe than the minimum required number for any given level, the game is over. Each level, however, has a password that can be used to jump to that particular level from the beginning of the game.


Development

''The Humans'' was the creation of former Imagitec Design
designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
Rodney Humble during his time working at the company in Dewsbury who, inspired by Psygnosis ''Lemmings'' and its puzzle elements, created and drew his ideas on
storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...
s before transferring his work to the Imagitec programmers, developing them further into a trilogy based upon human evolution. Coding on the project started in December 1991, with ''Suspicious Cargo'' programmer David Lincoln being responsible for the Amiga version, although design work originally started on the Atari Lynx under the working titles ''Dino Dudes'' and ''Dino World''. Atari Corporation reportedly liked the game and commissioned Imagitec with two additional conversions for their
Atari Falcon The Atari Falcon030 (usually shortened to Atari Falcon), released in 1992, is the final personal computer from Atari Corporation. A high-end model of the Atari ST line, the machine is based on a Motorola 68030 CPU and a Motorola 56001 digital s ...
and
Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. It is in the fifth generation of video game consoles, and it competed with Fourth generation of video game consoles, fo ...
platforms respectively. ''The Humans'' creation process was overseen by co- producers Martin Hooley and Simon Golding, the latter of which oversaw all versions of the game. Golding stated that the production was inspired by ''Lemmings'' instead of being "a rip-off" but focusing towards "bigger
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 ...
", a cartoon-esque feeling reminiscent of short films like ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
'', more varied levels, among other features. Lincoln employed Cross Products SNASM
programming tool A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that is used to develop another computer program, usually by helping the developer manage computer files. For example, a programmer may use a tool called a source code editor ...
to write the code on an editor using a PC before porting it to Amiga for testing.
Video game artist Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects of video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are visual artists invo ...
s Andrew Gilmour and Michael Hanrahan drew the pixel art, while
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
s
Barry Leitch Barry Leitch (born 27 April 1970 in Strathaven, Scotland) is a Scottish video game music composer. His work includes the '' Lotus Turbo Challenge'', '' TFX'', '' Gauntlet Legends'', '' Gauntlet Dark Legacy'', ''Top Gear'', and '' Rush'' video ga ...
and Ian Howe were responsible for the
soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
. Other members at Imagitec were also involved in the title's production across every subsequent version released.


Release

''The Humans'' was first launched in Europe for the Amiga in May 1992 by MicroProse offshoot Mirage Technologies, serving as their first title to be published, shortly after ''Lemmings'' was released hoping to capitalize the popularity of this style of game.
GameTek GameTek was an American video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida, known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing ri ...
and Mirage later published the PC version in June 1992 in North America and Europe. Other known commercial ports of the game include:
Amiga CD32 The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32) is a home video game console developed by Commodore as part of the Amiga line, as well as the final hardware to be developed by the company. Released in September 1993 in Europe, Australia, Canada, and B ...
, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx, Atari Falcon,
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
,
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
and
Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
. A
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
port featuring three versions of the game (SNES and Game Boy initially, with the Genesis version unlocked once you complete either of the initial games, even if using a password to start on the last level) was released by
Piko Interactive Piko Interactive LLC is an American video game publisher based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in early 2013 by Eli Galindo, the company focuses on physical re-releases of games from older video game consoles and digitally released ports to newer ...
and QUByte Interactive on February 3rd, 2022. The Jaguar version was included as part of the '' Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration'' compilation for Nintendo Switch,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
,
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
.


Cancelled ports

Ports of ''The Humans'' for both
Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...
and
NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...
were under development by Imagitec Design, although the latter never materialized. The Game Gear version was reviewed by ''
Sega Pro ''Sega Pro'' was the first publication from Paragon Publishing and catered for the Sega consoles: the Master System, Game Gear and the Mega Drive. Early editorial staff included Dominic Handy (editor), Les Ellis (games editor), Dave Perry (de ...
'' magazine in their May 1993 issue, obtaining a 75 out of 100 score, but ultimately went unreleased for unknown reasons.


Reception

The Amiga and PC versions of ''The Humans'' received excellent reviews, while those of versions ported to other consoles were more lukewarm. Ashley Cotter-Cairn, of ''Amiga Mania'', gave the Amiga version an overall score of 93% and ranked it number 1 claiming that "''The Humans'' has everything: great graphics, including a variety of backdrops, some neat sound...(she's) pleased to say that those long months at the keyboard were worth every second". ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' called the PC version of ''The Humans'' "delightful". While stating that the VGA graphics' limited color palette resembled those of a console game more than a computer's, it liked the soundtrack and documentation. The magazine concluded that while "not quite the calibre of ''Lemmings'' ... In all, much pleasure is to be had". Reviewing the Genesis version, the four reviewers of ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' praised the game's twist on the ''Lemmings'' formula and the high level of challenge in the later levels. However, all but one of the reviewers complained that the game's slow pace is aggravating, especially since a single mistake can force the player to restart an entire level. ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' said of the Jaguar version that "the graphics are pretty good and the control is adequate. An OK game". ''
GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'' was more critical, commenting that the backgrounds are more detailed and colorful than in the Genesis version but that the game is still graphically subpar given the Jaguar's capabilities. They also criticized the stiff controls and lack of multiplayer modes, but still rated it as one of the better Jaguar games to date due to the "brain-twisting" gameplay. The Jaguar version has sold nearly 19,000 copies since its release as of 1 April 1995, though it is unknown how many were sold in total during its lifetime.


Legacy

Following the success of ''The Humans'', a sequel titled ''The Humans: Insult to Injury'' was launched in 1992 as both a stand-alone release or as an
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
. In 1993, the two games were combined and released for both Amiga CD32 and PC under the name ''Humans 1 and 2''. In 1995, a third entry in the series titled ''Humans 3: Evolution - Lost in Time'' was released, keeping to the original game idea but differs from the original entry in storyline, gameplay style, and level continuity. Between 1994 and 2001, the trademarks for the Atari Jaguar version were abandoned and cancelled respectively. About a decade after GameTek declared bankruptcy,
Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars''. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Medi ...
released a fourth entry for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
under the name ''The Humans: Meet the Ancestors!'', retaining the same general gameplay style but improved the graphics and added more interactive objects and enemies.


Notes


References


External links


''Dinolympics''
at
AtariAge AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998. Taking its name from the 1982–84 '' Atari Age'' magazine, the site ...

''Evolution: Dino Dudes''
at
AtariAge AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998. Taking its name from the 1982–84 '' Atari Age'' magazine, the site ...

''The Humans''
at
GameFAQs GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active Internet forum, message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom (website), Fandom, Inc. since October ...

''The Humans''
at
Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time (maga ...

''The Humans''
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 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humans (video game), The 1992 video games Amiga 1200 games Amiga CD32 games Amiga games Atari games Atari Jaguar games Atari Lynx games Atari ST games Cancelled Game Gear games DOS games Game Boy games GameTek games Imagitec Design games Mirage Technologies (Multimedia) Ltd. games Piko Interactive games Prehistoric people in popular culture Puzzle video games Sega Genesis games Single-player video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video game franchises introduced in 1992 Video game franchises Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Barry Leitch Video games scored by Ian Howe Video games set in the Stone Age Windows games