Lunar Lander
Encyclopedia
Lunar Lander is the name of several video games. In all variations of the game, the player must portion a limited amount of fuel
to land on the moon
without crashing. Computer Gaming World
described it as one of the first fun programs entry level programmers start with and continually improve upon as they improve their skills.
(DEC) PDP-8
computer by Jim Storer while a student at Lexington, Massachusetts
High School in the fall of 1969. A somewhat different version called Rocket was written in BASIC
by Eric Peters at DEC, and a third version, LEM, also in BASIC
was written by William Labaree II of Alexandria, Virginia
. David H. Ahl
converted Jim Storer's FOCAL version to BASIC, changed some of the dialog, published it in the EDU newsletter and distributed it through DEC's Education Product Group, which he headed at the time. A year or so later, all three BASIC versions first appeared under the names ROCKET (Storer version), ROCKT1 (Peters version), and ROCKT2 (Labaree version) in Ahl's book, 101 Basic Computer Games published by DEC in 1973. Ahl and Steve North converted all three versions to Microsoft BASIC
, changed the name to Lunar Lander, and published them in Creative Computing
magazine in 1976. They also appeared in an updated version of Ahl's games book simply called BASIC Computer Games
published in 1978 which was re-published in 2010.
graphics terminal (typically downloaded from a PDP-10
mainframe computer). DEC commissioned the game to be written in 1973 as a demonstration of the capabilities of the GT40; it was seen at many trade shows.
The goal was to correctly land a lunar module on the surface of the moon
using the game's telemetry
data. If the player miscalculates the module's landing, the module will either fly off into space or crash hard against the moon's surface or the mountain over which the lander first passed. The interface was through a light pen
and the output display was a vector graphics
system; the light pen allowed adjusting the throttle value and the angle of the lunar lander. Sophisticated players could achieve a landing on the mountain while cheaters learned the address of the word of magnetic core memory
in which the fuel value was stored.
Later versions offered the ability to run the game on a free-standing RT-11
system as well as an Easter egg: a specific landing site offered a McDonald's restaurant. Upon landing successfully near the restaurant, an astronaut would walk over to get lunch. Crashing into the restaurant destroyed it permanently (until the program was reloaded) and displayed an amusingly sarcastic message berating the player.
Boy, are you inept! was the error message that appeared if the lunar lander went off either end of the map of the lunar surface. It became a cult phrase, for use as an error message for many in-house computer programs.
released by Atari
in 1979, that uses a vector monitor
to display vector graphics
. Lunar Lander featured two concepts previously unseen in arcade video games:
, was included with the eight-inch floppy
operating system diskettes for the Datapoint 2200 series
in the early 1980s. Playing it required three separate loadings: first the operating system, then BASIC, and only then the program itself.
s such as the Hewlett Packard models 65 and 67, the Texas Instruments
SR 52, and the Sharp PC-1403
using the calculator's single-line numeric display to show altitude and function keys to increase or decrease fuel flow. Later calculators had improved graphics with LCD screens.
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
to land on the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
without crashing. Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
described it as one of the first fun programs entry level programmers start with and continually improve upon as they improve their skills.
Lunar Lander (1969)
Lunar Lander started as a text-based computer game and went by the names Rocket, Lunar, LEM, and Apollo. Lunar was originally written in the FOCAL programming language for the Digital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
(DEC) PDP-8
PDP-8
The 12-bit PDP-8 was the first successful commercial minicomputer, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1960s. DEC introduced it on 22 March 1965, and sold more than 50,000 systems, the most of any computer up to that date. It was the first widely sold computer in the DEC PDP series of...
computer by Jim Storer while a student at Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
High School in the fall of 1969. A somewhat different version called Rocket was written in BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
by Eric Peters at DEC, and a third version, LEM, also in BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
was written by William Labaree II of Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. David H. Ahl
David H. Ahl
David H. Ahl is the founder of Creative Computing magazine. He is also the author of many how-to books, including BASIC Computer Games, the first million-selling computer book....
converted Jim Storer's FOCAL version to BASIC, changed some of the dialog, published it in the EDU newsletter and distributed it through DEC's Education Product Group, which he headed at the time. A year or so later, all three BASIC versions first appeared under the names ROCKET (Storer version), ROCKT1 (Peters version), and ROCKT2 (Labaree version) in Ahl's book, 101 Basic Computer Games published by DEC in 1973. Ahl and Steve North converted all three versions to Microsoft BASIC
Microsoft BASIC
Microsoft BASIC was the foundation product of the Microsoft company. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first BASIC, and the first high level programming language available for the MITS Altair 8800 hobbyist microcomputer....
, changed the name to Lunar Lander, and published them in Creative Computing
Creative Computing
Creative Computing was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from 1974 until December 1985, Creative Computing covered the whole spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format than the rather technically-oriented BYTE. The magazine...
magazine in 1976. They also appeared in an updated version of Ahl's games book simply called BASIC Computer Games
BASIC Computer Games
BASIC Computer Games is a compilation of type-in computer games in the BASIC programming language collected by David H. Ahl. Some of the games were written or modified by Ahl as well...
published in 1978 which was re-published in 2010.
Lunar Lander (1973)
Lunar Lander (also known as Moonlander) is an early computer game that runs on the DEC GT40DEC GT40
DEC GT40 is an VT11 vector graphic terminal produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation, first introduced in October, 1972 .The DEC GT40 consists of:* CPU: KD11-B...
graphics terminal (typically downloaded from a PDP-10
PDP-10
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
mainframe computer). DEC commissioned the game to be written in 1973 as a demonstration of the capabilities of the GT40; it was seen at many trade shows.
The goal was to correctly land a lunar module on the surface of the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
using the game's telemetry
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
data. If the player miscalculates the module's landing, the module will either fly off into space or crash hard against the moon's surface or the mountain over which the lander first passed. The interface was through a light pen
Light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy...
and the output display was a vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
system; the light pen allowed adjusting the throttle value and the angle of the lunar lander. Sophisticated players could achieve a landing on the mountain while cheaters learned the address of the word of magnetic core memory
Magnetic core memory
Magnetic-core memory was the predominant form of random-access computer memory for 20 years . It uses tiny magnetic toroids , the cores, through which wires are threaded to write and read information. Each core represents one bit of information...
in which the fuel value was stored.
Later versions offered the ability to run the game on a free-standing RT-11
RT-11
RT-11 was a small, single-user real-time operating system for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 family of 16-bit computers...
system as well as an Easter egg: a specific landing site offered a McDonald's restaurant. Upon landing successfully near the restaurant, an astronaut would walk over to get lunch. Crashing into the restaurant destroyed it permanently (until the program was reloaded) and displayed an amusingly sarcastic message berating the player.
Boy, are you inept! was the error message that appeared if the lunar lander went off either end of the map of the lunar surface. It became a cult phrase, for use as an error message for many in-house computer programs.
Lunar Lander by Atari (1979)
Lunar Lander is an arcade gameArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
released by Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
in 1979, that uses a vector monitor
Vector monitor
A vector monitor or vector display is a display device used for early computers. It is a type of CRT, similar to the oscilloscope, but typically uses magnetic, rather than electrostatic, deflection...
to display vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
. Lunar Lander featured two concepts previously unseen in arcade video games:
- A proportional throttle control that allowed perfect timing of fuelFuelFuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
expenditure - A 'fuel for money' system which allowed the player to spend money to continue their play and purchase more fuel in-game
Text version
A text-only version of Lunar Lander, written in BASICBASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
, was included with the eight-inch floppy
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
operating system diskettes for the Datapoint 2200 series
Datapoint
Datapoint Corporation, originally known as Computer Terminal Corporation , was a computer company based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in 1967 by Phil Ray and Gus Roche, its first products were, as the company's initial name suggests, computer terminals...
in the early 1980s. Playing it required three separate loadings: first the operating system, then BASIC, and only then the program itself.
Calculator versions
A moon landing game was also popular on programmable calculatorProgrammable calculator
Programmable calculators are calculators that can automatically carry out a sequence of operations under control of a stored program, much like a computer. The first programmable calculators such as the IBM CPC used punched cards or other media for program storage...
s such as the Hewlett Packard models 65 and 67, the Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
SR 52, and the Sharp PC-1403
Sharp PC-1403
The Sharp PC-1403 was a small scientific calculator and pocket computer manufactured by Sharp. It was the successor of the Sharp PC-1401, and had better display, more RAM and better system software.-Technical specifications:...
using the calculator's single-line numeric display to show altitude and function keys to increase or decrease fuel flow. Later calculators had improved graphics with LCD screens.
See also
- Lunar Lander (arcade game)Lunar Lander (arcade game)Lunar Lander is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1979, which uses a vector monitor to display vector graphics. Although not particularly successful, a vector-graphics generator was the impetus of Atari's most successful coin-operated game: Asteroids. The object of the game is to pilot a...
- Thrust
- ZarchZarchZarch is a computer game written by David Braben in three months in , for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer...
- Lander (video game)Lander (video game)Lander is an action shooter game developed in-house at the Manchester office of Psygnosis. It was released for Microsoft Windows in Spring 1999 and published under the Psygnosis label shortly before the Manchester office was closed and the Psygnosis label was fully absorbed into Sony...
External links
- BASIC Computer Games source listings
- Atari's official online version of Lunar Lander
- Source code (in MACRO-11MACRO-11MACRO-11 is an assembly language with macro facilities for PDP-11 minicomputers from Digital Equipment Corporation . It is the successor to PAL-11 , an earlier version of the PDP-11 assembly language without macro facilities....
) of GT40 Moonlander game, February 1973. Also: a port to RT-11RT-11RT-11 was a small, single-user real-time operating system for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 family of 16-bit computers...
by Al Kossow, January 1980.