Orbit

Published on Game On 06/90

In the wake of Tetris, the early nineties became a fertile ground for computer puzzle games. During that period, everyone had to release something that involved dropping and/or removing tiles. Here's a game that not only fits the trend perfectly but it also comes with the added bonus of taking place IN SPACE!

Orbit sure knows how to make a remarkable first impression. Here's the game's title logo, orbiting the title screen. You know, because it's called Orbit. Anyway, the logo is made up of a total of 24 sprites, thus each of the C64's eight hardware sprites gets drawn three times per frame. Actually, strike that, it's five times per frame: The sprites are also used in the upper and lower border to display the scores. That's a lot of multiplexing just for the title screen.

Apart from the striking visuals, the title music by Rudolf Stember also knows how to catch one's attention and is definitely worth a listen. He contributed quite a lot of tracks to games that got published on CP Verlag's diskmags. Up until now, I've encountered him three times on this blog, namely in Decton, Tower of Terror, and Suprallay. I still have a hard time spelling that last one.

Pressing space brings up this info screen which also functions as an eye test. Even if you're able to decipher the borderline unreadable font, you'll discover that none of the listed keyboard commands work. You actually have to press space repeatedly until you get back to the title screen, and only then can you use the commands. If you still remember them.

But let's not get hung up on the bizarre interface design. I'll just apply pressure to the F1 key an start a normal single player game:

The visual treat continues in the game where the playfield gets assembled in a pleasing manner while a massive number of stars rapidly rushes past. Orbit is very similar to Tale Software's Turn It from 1989. It's a somewhat simplified, flat variant of Mahjong Solitaire. You have to remove identical-looking tile pairs from the board by drawing an unobstructed beam from one tile to the other. The beam can have up to two 90 degree turns, signified by diagonal mirrors. Here's an example:

The stars' direction and velocities also change depending on the vertical position of the player cursor which is a neat touch.

IT'S FULL OF STARS The starfield is done exclusively with characters. If we switch to the C64's standard font, the screen looks like this: Even in this alphabet soup it's easy to make out the boundary between the game's tiles and the stars. Each star column consists of a series of ten characters that gets repeated vertically. Neighboring columns are slightly offset and colored differently to break up the repetition. The pixel data of these characters gets updated each frame which creates the impression of single dots moving vertically at different speeds: Vertically arranged, with the aforementioned column offsets and color variations, the effect looks like this: Since the change affects all characters on the screen at once, this is an efficient way to create a lot of dynamic movement without sacrificing many CPU cycles.

The first level (or LEVEL: 00, as the game calls it) isn't particularly hard to clear. The tiles are arranged in a pretty friendly manner, and it's not very likely to get into impossible situations. If you remove the tiles labeled TIME, the time limit receives some bonus seconds. Not that you need them here, as you get ample time to finish this stage.

Having to position the mirrors manually seems a bit of a hassle at first, as the game could very well determine automatically if the two tiles you selected can be connected. But at the same time, you get the opportunity to make the beam as long as possible, just for dramatic effect.

And that's the first level completed. On to the next one!

The second level (LEVEL: 01) steps up the challenge by increasing the number of tiles and symbols.

This stage is still perfectly doable if you don't take too long searching for matches. I sometimes have acute cases of tile blindness, as some of them look very similar. Especially the green and purple ones blend together quite easily, at least for my eyes.

I like how even simple details involve some technical trickery: If you select a tile, it gets highlighted with sprites that are superimposed over it. The mirrors are also sprites while the rest of the playfield is done with modified characters.

It would be a crime for me not to mention the in-game music that's playing here. Also done by Rudolf Stember, this is a fantastic and tense track that makes solving the level feel way more epic than it is. If you want to have a listen, here is a video I uploaded which also shows the game's attract mode where the computer solves the first level:

Allow me to skip ahead to LEVEL: 03 because this is where the tile pattern becomes devious:

Looks pretty harmless at first glance, but if you do this...

... then you've already made this level unwinnable. The four purple tiles in the center cannot be removed on their own because the two pairs block each other. In other words, you'd need three mirrors to connect one tile with its twin.

Other than that, the level doesn't pose much of a problem. The time limit gets noticeably tighter, though, which can be fatal if I take too long to spot a valid match.

After finishing the fifth level (LEVEL: 04), I get presented with a password which is rather convenient. Less convenient is that font. I think it says ARGONIC?


LEVEL: 09

This is the point where the game gets crazy hard, mainly because of the brutally tight time limit. 1750 corresponds to about three minutes. The level has a total of 42 tile pairs that need to be removed which leaves you a measly four seconds per match.

After several tries, this was the closest I could get to complete the stage in time. There are no lives or continues, thus I was unceremoniously dumped to the high score table and then back to the title screen.


However, since I was quite close to finishing the level, I found a way to clear the last few matches in rapid succession:

What I failed to mention until now is the meaning behind the digit in the bottom left: This is the number of match suggestions I can still use. If I press space, the game automatically sets up a match for me, and I just have to press fire to execute it. Even though the counter only goes up to 9, I evidently accumulated more than that. After eight uses I still have six left. And I just got dished out a password. Nice!

These suggestions have to be taken with a grain of salt, though, especially early in a level. The computer just shows you the first match it can determine but doesn't care if removing those tiles puts the stage in an unwinnable state.


The next batch of levels doesn't offer any new gameplay elements. This is one of my main problems with the game. I've played through half the stages by now, and all of them consisted of nothing but rectangular blocks of tiles. How about some other shapes to add some variety to the level design?

LEVEL: 14

Or introduce a new kind of tile that can't be cleared. That's fine, too. To solve this level, you must not match the two purple tiles in the lower corners. Otherwise, you won't be able to remove the tile surrounded by the brown wall tiles. This is an interesting addition. I'd have liked to see it introduced earlier, though.


LEVEL: 16

We're still stuck with rectangular level designs, but this one is special because you have to start making matches inside. Here's a warning: If you remove the two green/purple tiles in the center that just sit on top of each other, you'll make the stage unwinnable. Guess who did this and then had to replay the level.


LEVEL: 20

Finally! We've reached a non-rectangular tile pattern. You'll have to leave the leftmost tiles alone, as they need to be matched with the ones in the corners on the right edge.


LEVEL: 24

This is the last level and it's a good one: To remove all of the bottom tiles, you have to match up some of them with tiles from the top row or the right column. Thus you have to pay attention not to clear tiles around the edge that you'll need later.

Looking good there. The remaining bottom tiles all have counterparts waiting to be matched up. I think I have a realistic chance to finish Orbit and finally see its ending! Here we go:

Gee, thanks, game. How generous of you to acknowledge my achievement with such ample praise.

After having played a lot of C64 games with lousy endings, I suppose it's my fault for expecting something more.

At least I attained first place in the near-unreadable high score table. Yay me!



CONCLUSION

Orbit is a solid puzzle game with an outstanding presentation and attention to detail. The concept isn't original, but it's well implemented. I remember playing this as a kid and quite enjoying it. Unfortunately, it soon gets rather difficult, and passwords are only provided every five levels. If you fail before that, you have to start right from the beginning.

The graphics are on a very professional level that gives the game almost a full-price feel. In my opinion, the only thing that drags the visual department down is that spectacularly illegible font used in some of the screens.

Rudolf Stember's music is another standout. While I don't know how the selection of tracks came to be, I find it interesting that he went for a somewhat darker and foreboding tone. Most other contemporary puzzle games featured bright and happy melodies, so this is a welcome contrast.

My main criticism concerns the levels: As I mentioned already, there are too many similar-looking stages that are just massive rectangular blocks of tiles. The wall tiles could've been introduced much earlier for a greater variety of puzzles. The final level was a joy to solve, but when I had finished the game, I felt there was a lot of untapped potential for more stages in that vein.

The game actually provides the means to extend its stock of levels. Pressing Ctrl + E at the title screen starts up a level editor. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work. The program always locked up as soon as I tried placing a tile. I don't remember ever using the editor on my actual C64, so I can't say whether it worked on real hardware. It's possible this is purely an emulator problem.

If you are looking for a simplified version of Mahjong Solitaire for your C64 (and who doesn't?), then this game will do nicely.