Tyrian (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Tyrian is a scrolling shooter computer game developed
by World Tree Games Productions and published
in 1995 by Epic MegaGames
.
The game was officially released as freeware
in 2004, and the graphics have been made available under an open license in April 2007.
Tyrian was programmed by Jason Emery, illustrated by Daniel Cook, and its music composed by Alexander Brandon
and Andras Molnar.
pilot named Trent Hawkins, who is employed to scout out habitable locations on newly terraformed planets. His latest assignment is the planet
Tyrian, which is located near the territory of the Hazudra, who are a lizard
-like race.
One day, Buce Quesillac, a Hazudra and Trent's best friend, is shot in the back by a hoverdrone which quickly disappears into the sky. As Buce lay dying, he tells Trent that it was all the work of Microsol, the giant corporation who controlled the terraformation of Tyrian. They had Buce shot because of his knowledge of Gravitium, which is a special mineral
, unique to Tyrian, capable of controlling the force of gravity.
Microsol want to utilize Gravitium to power their warships
, which could result in them becoming nearly unstoppable. They also attempt to eliminate anyone who knows of its existence. Trent is the next person on their hit list, and with his last words, Buce implores him to try to reach Savara, a free world. Trent manages to secure a small fighter
, and departs for Savara.
-style vertical scrolling shooter. The player
controls a space ship
fitted with different weapon
s (front and back, linked to the same button, and up to two external pods with their own buttons) and other equipment. The game is mostly fast-paced but easily memorizable and it presents a variety of enemies (some flying, some fixed, some on rails) and bosses
, with many occurrences of fixed and/or indestructible obstacles.
A peculiar feature of Tyrian is that it is very forgiving of enemy hits: before the player's starship is destroyed it must take enough damage to exhaust several points of shields and armor (the difference is that shields regenerate during play while armor is recovered only with specific powerups and between levels).
Tyrian's Full Game mode features a credit and equipment-buying system, and the shield/armor hit points which are similar to game mechanics in Raptor: Call of the Shadows
, another PC game from the same period. Tyrian also features an Arcade Mode which has characteristics from coin-op arcade shooters, such as in-game powerups and extra lives.
Tyrian was a departure from the prevalent "serious" style of shooters like Raptor and Aero Fighter, due to the cartoon-like artwork and the abundance of silly (or at least strange) dialogue and content. The bonus levels in Episode 1 and 2 were meant as a tribute to Galaxian
or Galaga
, where there are large formations of enemy ships that gradually break off one by one to attack the player.
Full Story mode. This mode also includes storyline-related messages for the player to read, some are given in the shop at the start of the level while others can be picked up by destroying certain enemies to reveal more of the plot or get helpful hints. At certain points in the game, the player has a choice of levels to choose from which may suit the weaponry on their ship, such as Asteroids 1 (lots of big asteroids) or Asteroids 2 (few asteroids but lots of defensive turrets) in Episode 1.
The player begins with one standard weapon, which may be upgraded or replaced by a large variety of weapons, including weapons such as multi-directional cannon
s, lightning
guns, beam laser
s, heavy missile
s, and homing bomb
s. The player's craft can accommodate a front and a rear gun; where front weapons are mostly limited to forward arcs, "rear" weapons often come with wider coverage including side and rear shots. In addition, rear weapons have two selectable fire modes, focusing either mostly forward or mostly sideways/rearward. Both types of weapons have eleven levels, making them upgradeable 10 times, although higher levels cost exponentially more.
Additionally, the player can purchase up to two "sidekick
s" which fly alongside the ship, and some of these can be fired independently of the main guns. Some sidekicks are intended to provide a very limited but extremely powerful firepower at a critical moment such as bosses (i.e. the plasma storm which causes extreme damage but has very low ammo), other sidekicks can be considered extra regular firepower such as the unlimited ammo Vulcan Sidekick, and many sidekicks fall between the two extremes. Some sidekicks such as the Charge Laser can be "charged up" (the player waits a few seconds before firing) to release a much more powerful burst.
Other upgrades include increased shields, more powerful generators which can increase firing rate as well as shield recharge, and ships with more armour and/or higher maneuverability.
The practical function of shops is not trade or forcing the player to carefully micromanage credits, instead letting the player build a strong ship on a budget with no penalty for failing and trying a different build. Any weapon can be upgraded in stores, even if not available for sale, and any item can be sold without loss. However, the player cannot obtain sold items again without reaching another level which offers them, in many cases a single secret level in the whole game may contain a unique weapon or equipment. The choice of the weapons and ships depends on personal style and level needs.
The ship, shields, and generators are not upgradeable, although the player is given a medium attribute ship.
. Tyrian even enables the two players to be connected via modem.
Both ships had differing abilities. The Dragonhead has front gun powerups (with more variety than the Dragonwing's rear gun pickups), has better maneuverability, and a smaller profile making it easier to dodge enemy fire. It also controls the "special" powerup weapons such as the Soul of Zinglon or Repulsor.
The Dragonwing is larger and slower but more heavily armored. It picks up the rear up powerups (although unlike the equivalent single player rear gun, the Dragonwing fires it mostly forward instead of the side or rear), and also controls the sidekick weapons. The Dragonwing has a unique "charge-up" ability for its main gun, where if the player decides not to fire for a short period of time, the power of their blast will accumulate. This is visibly shown as 1) blue particles gathering in front of the ship, culminating with a blue sphere with two orbiting particles in the front of the ship, and 2) green lights moving in succession on the control board on the right of the screen. There are five charge levels for each weapon, and collecting the spherical purple powerups will give the Dragonwing the ability to charge-up faster, to the point where the maximum charge is reached within a second or two.
. When the level is complete, the score is calculated depending on time, life, destruction and killed enemies.
ships), requiring the user to type in certain codeword
s which are shown after beating the game. (The first code is given by beating the regular game, and each consecutive code is given after beating the mode which comes before it.)
The headlight effect is always turned on in Super Tyrian, which can obscure objects that are not within 90 degree front angle of player's ship.
concealed inside Tyrian, reminiscent of Scorched Earth
, with human-vs-human and human-vs-computer modes of play. It can be played by typing destruct at the main menu screen.
or Galaga
. Large formations of ships fly down to attack you. Individual ships in the groups break off to fly down in various ways. You must destroy the entire
fleet to advance to the next fleet. Basically, just shoot everything you can.
You must shoot all the small enemies to advance to the next level.
from above and bounce around the edges of the screen and against the energy
field. Touching the field or one of the little enemies means almost certain
instant death.
You must shoot all the small enemies to advance to the next level.
(composer and writer), Jason Emery (programmer and level designer), and Daniel Cook (artist and interface designer). For the aforementioned developers, Tyrian was their first commercial video game.
The origins of Tyrian began as an experiment in 1991, with a young Jason Emery showing his friend Alexander Brandon the preliminary workings of a scrolling background. The two continued developing, and eventually decided the work could be shown to a game company. Brandon wrote a proposal document and sent it to the two leading shareware game publishers of the time, Epic MegaGames and Apogee
. However, the game lacked any sound or music, and the graphics were "definitely not professional". As such, "neither got overly excited", but both showed interest.
The two developers thought they would never find a publisher. However, after a long wait, Robert Allen
—head of Safari Software
—considered Tyrian to fit perfectly with their company, which handled smaller scale projects. Robert Allen had word from Cliff Bleszinski
that Tyrian was very similar to Zanac
, thinking that it should be followed up.
Robert Allen gave leads to sound coders and artists, the first being Bruce Hsu who created interface graphics and character faces. Artist Daniel Cook was hired after composer Alexander Brandon showed interest in his artwork, which was—unbeknown to Cook—"sent around" by a friend. After he was sent a short list of levels, Cook created sample artwork on an Amiga 1200
, with a David Letterman
episode inspiring "some weird stuff". It was met with praise by the other developers, who asked him to "make some more!". The artwork was completed in a 4 month period.
After work began on graphics, the popularity of Tyrian rose at Epic MegaGames. Arturo Sinclair from Storm Front Studios joined to create rendered artwork for planets and character faces. The developers wanted a "simple and fun solution" for the interface, and changed it at least three times before deciding on a final design. At this point, Tyrian was almost complete; with the "LOUDNESS" sound system, near-completed sound effects, and a marketing plan head by Mark Rein
. At this time, Tim Sweeney
approached the team and informed them Tyrian was to be published as a full fledged Epic MegaGames product. It was later released in 1995.
Version 1.1 includes following:
Version 1.1 was the first published as registered version, consists of first 3 episodes. Registered version also included ship editor, which was later available as separate download.
Version 2.0 added following:
Version 2.01/2.1 has following changes:
Additional ships include Phoenix II, Storm, Red Dragon, Pretzel Pete Truck (from the Pretzel Pete video game published by XSIV Games). Datacube TRANSMISSION SOURCE: Epic Megagames game and was renamed to TRANSMISSION SOURCE: XSIV Games with Pretzel Pete game ad (however, other references to Epic Megagames titles remain).
Although it claims Windows compatibility, this is achieved using a .PIF file, not by building a native Windows application.
and Game Boy Advance
were in development, but after the then current publisher Symmetry Entertainment had closed business, the European publisher Stealth Productions, Inc. (Stealth Media Group, Inc.) obtained the publish rights, but it was cancelled.
Both Game Boy versions were eventually released in compiled format.
In the Game Boy Color version, the Full Game incorporates a shorter stories (from Episodes 1-4) than the original DOS game, but planet Ixmucane core always gets destroyed at the end, and the levels were redesigned. The rear weapon from the DOS game is not available. The player can carry 2 Sidekick weapons at once, but only 1 is usable at a time. New game modes and items can be unlocked by purchasing Extras using credits obtained by completing a stage.
The Game Boy Advance version incorporates graphics from the DOS game, but the level layout and game play are based on the Game Boy Color game. Two Sidekick weapons can be fired at the same time. Super Arcade and audio are not included. New to this game is Challenge mode, where additional levels are unlocked by completing existing Challenge levels.
source code for Tyrian was licensed for a small group of developers to re-write it in C
, in a project named OpenTyrian, licensed under the GNU General Public License
. There are no plans of releasing the original source code. Following that announcement, in April 2007 Daniel Cook announced the free availability of his Tyrian artwork (not including the later work for the Game Boy Color
edition and for Tyrian 2000) under generic liberal terms.
Most recently, it has been re-released for the Wii as homebrew. It is now a direct port thanks to a Wii port of OpenTyrian's hardware access, SDL
.
This version uses Tyrian 2.1 data, instead of the later released Tyrian 2000.
OpenTyrian was built in 2 versions: Classic and Enhanced.
Classic is designed to be play like the original DOS game and it is actively being developed and refined.
Enhanced adds command console and uses alternate command line parameters (no legacy command line support). It was meant to provide improved game play and graphic features for currently available systems unfortunately, those features never materialized and the project was discontinued, with last improvements being applied at the end of August 2010. Users are advised to use Classic instead.
's Zune HD
personal media player on ZuneBoards, a community of Zune users online. The application is installed manually by the user, not through Microsoft's Zune PC software. The project is run through the OpenZDK framework, which allows programs coded outside of Microsoft's XNA and proprietary APIs to be run on the Zune HD player. The OpenTyrian 2.1 code was converted from Turbo Pascal to C in order to run in OpenZDK.
version features touch screen controls and other GUI
optimizations designed to enhance user experience on the mobile device. In September 2010 an updated version was released, which now also runs on iOS 4 devices and the iPad
.
with additional music by Andreas Molnar, and is in the LDS (Loudness Sound System) format. Tyrian 2000 CD includes 25 of the tracks in red book audio
format. The red book tracks are omitted from the freeware version due to the download size.
(one percent below their Editor's Choice award) and 4 out of 5 stars in Next Generation
. Computer Gaming World
nominated Tyrian as "Action Game of the Year". The original developers Jason Emery and Alexander Brandon considered Tyrian' s reception "far more" than their expectations .
}
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by World Tree Games Productions and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
in 1995 by Epic MegaGames
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
.
The game was officially released as freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
in 2004, and the graphics have been made available under an open license in April 2007.
Tyrian was programmed by Jason Emery, illustrated by Daniel Cook, and its music composed by Alexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon is a US musician, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed music mostly for games produced by Epic Games, or games based on Epic technology, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Tyrian, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and the cancelled game Jazz Jackrabbit 3D...
and Andras Molnar.
Plot
The game is set in the year 20,031. Players play as a skilled terraformationTerraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
pilot named Trent Hawkins, who is employed to scout out habitable locations on newly terraformed planets. His latest assignment is the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
Tyrian, which is located near the territory of the Hazudra, who are a lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
-like race.
One day, Buce Quesillac, a Hazudra and Trent's best friend, is shot in the back by a hoverdrone which quickly disappears into the sky. As Buce lay dying, he tells Trent that it was all the work of Microsol, the giant corporation who controlled the terraformation of Tyrian. They had Buce shot because of his knowledge of Gravitium, which is a special mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
, unique to Tyrian, capable of controlling the force of gravity.
Microsol want to utilize Gravitium to power their warships
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
, which could result in them becoming nearly unstoppable. They also attempt to eliminate anyone who knows of its existence. Trent is the next person on their hit list, and with his last words, Buce implores him to try to reach Savara, a free world. Trent manages to secure a small fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
, and departs for Savara.
Gameplay
Tyrian is an arcadeArcade 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...
-style vertical scrolling shooter. The player
Player (game)
A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games....
controls a space ship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
fitted with different weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s (front and back, linked to the same button, and up to two external pods with their own buttons) and other equipment. The game is mostly fast-paced but easily memorizable and it presents a variety of enemies (some flying, some fixed, some on rails) and bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
, with many occurrences of fixed and/or indestructible obstacles.
A peculiar feature of Tyrian is that it is very forgiving of enemy hits: before the player's starship is destroyed it must take enough damage to exhaust several points of shields and armor (the difference is that shields regenerate during play while armor is recovered only with specific powerups and between levels).
Tyrian's Full Game mode features a credit and equipment-buying system, and the shield/armor hit points which are similar to game mechanics in Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a 2D raster graphics vertical scrolling shoot 'em up single player game for the x86 PC originally written for MS-DOS, by Cygnus Studios...
, another PC game from the same period. Tyrian also features an Arcade Mode which has characteristics from coin-op arcade shooters, such as in-game powerups and extra lives.
Tyrian was a departure from the prevalent "serious" style of shooters like Raptor and Aero Fighter, due to the cartoon-like artwork and the abundance of silly (or at least strange) dialogue and content. The bonus levels in Episode 1 and 2 were meant as a tribute to Galaxian
Galaxian
is an arcade game developed by Namco in 1979. It was published by Namco in Japan and was imported to North America by Midway in 1980. A fixed shooter-style game in which the player controls a spaceship at the bottom of the screen and shoots enemies descending in various directions, it was designed...
or Galaga
Galaga
is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
, where there are large formations of enemy ships that gradually break off one by one to attack the player.
Difficulty
There are several levels of difficulty to choose from: Easy, Medium, Hard, as well as the hidden options of Impossible, Suicide, and Lord of the Game. Hard difficulty and above employ enemies with more health as well as fire more bullets per second. Certain hidden levels are only available at hard difficulty, which provide ample opportunities for unique powerups and upgrades. In certain levels, the Hard setting also prevents the player from seeing enemies outside a conical line-of-sight. Upon completion of the game, the player receives a password for one of the several hidden ships, as well as the options for replaying the game at a higher difficulty setting.Full Story mode
The main mode is the single playerSingle player
A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...
Full Story mode. This mode also includes storyline-related messages for the player to read, some are given in the shop at the start of the level while others can be picked up by destroying certain enemies to reveal more of the plot or get helpful hints. At certain points in the game, the player has a choice of levels to choose from which may suit the weaponry on their ship, such as Asteroids 1 (lots of big asteroids) or Asteroids 2 (few asteroids but lots of defensive turrets) in Episode 1.
The player begins with one standard weapon, which may be upgraded or replaced by a large variety of weapons, including weapons such as multi-directional cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s, lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
guns, beam laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s, heavy missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s, and homing bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
s. The player's craft can accommodate a front and a rear gun; where front weapons are mostly limited to forward arcs, "rear" weapons often come with wider coverage including side and rear shots. In addition, rear weapons have two selectable fire modes, focusing either mostly forward or mostly sideways/rearward. Both types of weapons have eleven levels, making them upgradeable 10 times, although higher levels cost exponentially more.
Additionally, the player can purchase up to two "sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
s" which fly alongside the ship, and some of these can be fired independently of the main guns. Some sidekicks are intended to provide a very limited but extremely powerful firepower at a critical moment such as bosses (i.e. the plasma storm which causes extreme damage but has very low ammo), other sidekicks can be considered extra regular firepower such as the unlimited ammo Vulcan Sidekick, and many sidekicks fall between the two extremes. Some sidekicks such as the Charge Laser can be "charged up" (the player waits a few seconds before firing) to release a much more powerful burst.
Other upgrades include increased shields, more powerful generators which can increase firing rate as well as shield recharge, and ships with more armour and/or higher maneuverability.
The practical function of shops is not trade or forcing the player to carefully micromanage credits, instead letting the player build a strong ship on a budget with no penalty for failing and trying a different build. Any weapon can be upgraded in stores, even if not available for sale, and any item can be sold without loss. However, the player cannot obtain sold items again without reaching another level which offers them, in many cases a single secret level in the whole game may contain a unique weapon or equipment. The choice of the weapons and ships depends on personal style and level needs.
Arcade mode
In Arcade mode, the player picks up the front guns, rear guns, and sidekicks along the way, instead of purchasing by earning money. Front weapons are upgraded by picking up purple bubbles from destroyed enemies, and the number of purple orbs required increases exponentially to advance to higher power levels. Front and rear guns can also be upgraded to the next level by picking up powerup pods, which are found by destroying a certain enemy (often a secret). There is also a limited variety of weapons, unlike the Full Story mode.The ship, shields, and generators are not upgradeable, although the player is given a medium attribute ship.
Single player-arcade interchangeability
It is possible to switch between the Single Player and (1 person) Arcade modes using a secret routine (not cheat codes). Since it is possible to find exotic weapons early in Arcade Mode (by contrast in Single Player, such weapons can only be bought at the end), using this switch will allow such weapons to be brought over to single player. Likewise, generator and shield upgrades from single player will result in a better ship for Arcade Mode.Two player
In the two player (arcade mode only), the players control two different ships, known as the "Dragonhead" and "Dragonwing". Both players can combine their ships into one, forming the "Steel Dragon", with the first player controlling the combined ship, and the second player controlling a turretTurret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
. Tyrian even enables the two players to be connected via modem.
Both ships had differing abilities. The Dragonhead has front gun powerups (with more variety than the Dragonwing's rear gun pickups), has better maneuverability, and a smaller profile making it easier to dodge enemy fire. It also controls the "special" powerup weapons such as the Soul of Zinglon or Repulsor.
The Dragonwing is larger and slower but more heavily armored. It picks up the rear up powerups (although unlike the equivalent single player rear gun, the Dragonwing fires it mostly forward instead of the side or rear), and also controls the sidekick weapons. The Dragonwing has a unique "charge-up" ability for its main gun, where if the player decides not to fire for a short period of time, the power of their blast will accumulate. This is visibly shown as 1) blue particles gathering in front of the ship, culminating with a blue sphere with two orbiting particles in the front of the ship, and 2) green lights moving in succession on the control board on the right of the screen. There are five charge levels for each weapon, and collecting the spherical purple powerups will give the Dragonwing the ability to charge-up faster, to the point where the maximum charge is reached within a second or two.
Timed Battle (only available in Tyrian 2000)
In this mode the player chooses from three levels to play in (Deliani, Space station and Savara). The game automatically starts and the player is given a specific time to complete the level, while collecting power-ups, fighting off enemies and killing the bossBoss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
. When the level is complete, the score is calculated depending on time, life, destruction and killed enemies.
Super Arcade
The game also features 7 (9 in Tyrian 2000) hidden Super Arcade modes (with specializedSpecialization (functional)
Specialization is the separation of tasks within a system. In a multicellular creature, cells are specialized for functions such as bone construction or oxygen transport. In capitalist societies, individual workers specialize for functions such as building construction or gasoline transport...
ships), requiring the user to type in certain codeword
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...
s which are shown after beating the game. (The first code is given by beating the regular game, and each consecutive code is given after beating the mode which comes before it.)
Super Tyrian
In this mode, all cheat codes and command parameters are disabled and the game is set to Lord of Game difficulty setting (although it's possible to play in Suicide difficulty by holding Scroll Lock). The Player possesses a Stalker 21.126 ship, along with a small shield and only one weapon. The ship is able to generate a large amount of different weapons when the right movements are made. There are no other weapons and power-ups available, just the Atomic Rail Gun Front Weapon Power-ups and a special weapon are available for the player. (Like a merged version of the Full Story (Single Player) and 1-player arcade mode). It is entered by typing engage at main menu screenThe headlight effect is always turned on in Super Tyrian, which can obscure objects that are not within 90 degree front angle of player's ship.
Destruct
"Destruct" is a minigameMinigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
concealed inside Tyrian, reminiscent of Scorched Earth
Scorched Earth (computer game)
Scorched Earth is a popular shareware artillery video game, which is a subgenre of strategy game. The game was developed in the DOS era, originally written by Wendell Hicken , in which tanks do turn-based battle in two-dimensional terrain, with each player adjusting the angle and power of their...
, with human-vs-human and human-vs-computer modes of play. It can be played by typing destruct at the main menu screen.
Zinglon's Ale
In this game, you must dodge wave after wave of bouncing enemies in an attempt to gather as much ale as possible. While dodging is important, it is necessary to clear the screen of enemies completely before you will progress to the next level. The game continues infinitely, though it will keep getting harder and harder.Zinglon's Squadrons
A game similar to GalaxianGalaxian
is an arcade game developed by Namco in 1979. It was published by Namco in Japan and was imported to North America by Midway in 1980. A fixed shooter-style game in which the player controls a spaceship at the bottom of the screen and shoots enemies descending in various directions, it was designed...
or Galaga
Galaga
is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
. Large formations of ships fly down to attack you. Individual ships in the groups break off to fly down in various ways. You must destroy the entire
fleet to advance to the next fleet. Basically, just shoot everything you can.
You must shoot all the small enemies to advance to the next level.
Zinglon's Revenge
A giant ship projects a horizontal field of energy. Small enemies fall downfrom above and bounce around the edges of the screen and against the energy
field. Touching the field or one of the little enemies means almost certain
instant death.
You must shoot all the small enemies to advance to the next level.
Development
Tyrian was developed by a credited total of 11 people, with "three main drivers" — Alexander BrandonAlexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon is a US musician, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed music mostly for games produced by Epic Games, or games based on Epic technology, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Tyrian, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and the cancelled game Jazz Jackrabbit 3D...
(composer and writer), Jason Emery (programmer and level designer), and Daniel Cook (artist and interface designer). For the aforementioned developers, Tyrian was their first commercial video game.
The origins of Tyrian began as an experiment in 1991, with a young Jason Emery showing his friend Alexander Brandon the preliminary workings of a scrolling background. The two continued developing, and eventually decided the work could be shown to a game company. Brandon wrote a proposal document and sent it to the two leading shareware game publishers of the time, Epic MegaGames and Apogee
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
. However, the game lacked any sound or music, and the graphics were "definitely not professional". As such, "neither got overly excited", but both showed interest.
The two developers thought they would never find a publisher. However, after a long wait, Robert Allen
Robert Allen
Robert Allen may refer to:*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Tennessee*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Virginia*Robert Allen , American Civil War general...
—head of Safari Software
Safari Software
Safari Software was a software developer and published founded circa 1989 in Houston, Texas. Patrick Aalto, prior to founding Safari, released a freeware game titled Line Wars in 1989 inspired by the original Elite video game engine. The first game released by Safari was Jason Storm in Space Chase...
—considered Tyrian to fit perfectly with their company, which handled smaller scale projects. Robert Allen had word from Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski
Clifford Michael "Cliff" Bleszinski is the design director for the game development company Epic Games in Cary, North Carolina. He is most famous for his continuing hand in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise...
that Tyrian was very similar to Zanac
Zanac
is an arcade-style shoot 'em up video game designed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI.It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Virtual Console. It was reworked for the MSX2...
, thinking that it should be followed up.
Robert Allen gave leads to sound coders and artists, the first being Bruce Hsu who created interface graphics and character faces. Artist Daniel Cook was hired after composer Alexander Brandon showed interest in his artwork, which was—unbeknown to Cook—"sent around" by a friend. After he was sent a short list of levels, Cook created sample artwork on an Amiga 1200
Amiga 1200
The Amiga 1200, or A1200 , was Commodore International's third-generation Amiga computer, aimed at the home market...
, with a David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
episode inspiring "some weird stuff". It was met with praise by the other developers, who asked him to "make some more!". The artwork was completed in a 4 month period.
After work began on graphics, the popularity of Tyrian rose at Epic MegaGames. Arturo Sinclair from Storm Front Studios joined to create rendered artwork for planets and character faces. The developers wanted a "simple and fun solution" for the interface, and changed it at least three times before deciding on a final design. At this point, Tyrian was almost complete; with the "LOUDNESS" sound system, near-completed sound effects, and a marketing plan head by Mark Rein
Mark Rein
Mark Rein may refer to:*Mark Rein , Menshevik journalist*Mark Rein Software executive-See also:*Mark Rein·Hagen Game designer...
. At this time, Tim Sweeney
Tim Sweeney (game developer)
Tim Sweeney, born in 1970, is a computer game programmer and the founder of Epic Games, being best known for his work on ZZT and the Unreal Engine....
approached the team and informed them Tyrian was to be published as a full fledged Epic MegaGames product. It was later released in 1995.
Tyrian
Version 1.0 was originally released as shareware, which consists of episode 1 of the game.Version 1.1 includes following:
- Support for DMA 3 and MIDI port 300.
- Control bug fix.
- Random lockup, runtime error fix.
- Level, ship fixes.
Version 1.1 was the first published as registered version, consists of first 3 episodes. Registered version also included ship editor, which was later available as separate download.
Version 2.0 added following:
- Additional Episode 4 (An End to Fate) in registered version
- Two-player mode
- New ships, weapons
- New game modes: Super Tyrian
- New game difficulty: Lord of Game
- Level, shop item changes for previous episodes.
- New bonus games: Zinglon's Ale (episode 1), Zinglon's Squadron (episode 3), Zinglon's Squadrons (episode 4).
Version 2.01/2.1 has following changes:
- keyboard bug fix
- Christmas mode (triggered by starting the game on December).
Tyrian 2000 (3.0)
In 1999, Tyrian was re-released as Tyrian 2000, which includes an additional fifth episode and bug fixes.Additional ships include Phoenix II, Storm, Red Dragon, Pretzel Pete Truck (from the Pretzel Pete video game published by XSIV Games). Datacube TRANSMISSION SOURCE: Epic Megagames game and was renamed to TRANSMISSION SOURCE: XSIV Games with Pretzel Pete game ad (however, other references to Epic Megagames titles remain).
Although it claims Windows compatibility, this is achieved using a .PIF file, not by building a native Windows application.
Game Boy releases
World Tree Games originally developed versions for the Game Boy ColorGame Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
and Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
were in development, but after the then current publisher Symmetry Entertainment had closed business, the European publisher Stealth Productions, Inc. (Stealth Media Group, Inc.) obtained the publish rights, but it was cancelled.
Both Game Boy versions were eventually released in compiled format.
In the Game Boy Color version, the Full Game incorporates a shorter stories (from Episodes 1-4) than the original DOS game, but planet Ixmucane core always gets destroyed at the end, and the levels were redesigned. The rear weapon from the DOS game is not available. The player can carry 2 Sidekick weapons at once, but only 1 is usable at a time. New game modes and items can be unlocked by purchasing Extras using credits obtained by completing a stage.
The Game Boy Advance version incorporates graphics from the DOS game, but the level layout and game play are based on the Game Boy Color game. Two Sidekick weapons can be fired at the same time. Super Arcade and audio are not included. New to this game is Challenge mode, where additional levels are unlocked by completing existing Challenge levels.
OpenTyrian
In February 2007 the PascalPascal (programming language)
Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...
source code for Tyrian was licensed for a small group of developers to re-write it in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, in a project named OpenTyrian, licensed under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
. There are no plans of releasing the original source code. Following that announcement, in April 2007 Daniel Cook announced the free availability of his Tyrian artwork (not including the later work for the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
edition and for Tyrian 2000) under generic liberal terms.
Most recently, it has been re-released for the Wii as homebrew. It is now a direct port thanks to a Wii port of OpenTyrian's hardware access, SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
.
This version uses Tyrian 2.1 data, instead of the later released Tyrian 2000.
OpenTyrian was built in 2 versions: Classic and Enhanced.
Classic is designed to be play like the original DOS game and it is actively being developed and refined.
Enhanced adds command console and uses alternate command line parameters (no legacy command line support). It was meant to provide improved game play and graphic features for currently available systems unfortunately, those features never materialized and the project was discontinued, with last improvements being applied at the end of August 2010. Users are advised to use Classic instead.
OpenTyrianHD
In February 2011, OpenTyrianHD was released for MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Zune HD
Zune HD
The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009 by Microsoft. It is a direct competitor with the Apple iPod and iPhone series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A 64 GB version was released on April 9, 2010...
personal media player on ZuneBoards, a community of Zune users online. The application is installed manually by the user, not through Microsoft's Zune PC software. The project is run through the OpenZDK framework, which allows programs coded outside of Microsoft's XNA and proprietary APIs to be run on the Zune HD player. The OpenTyrian 2.1 code was converted from Turbo Pascal to C in order to run in OpenZDK.
Tyrian for iPhone
In June 2009, an iPhone adaptation of OpenTyrian was approved for sale in Apple App Store. Like OpenTyrian it also uses Tyrian 2.1 data files. But unlike its computer-based counter part, iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
version features touch screen controls and other GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
optimizations designed to enhance user experience on the mobile device. In September 2010 an updated version was released, which now also runs on iOS 4 devices and the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
.
Audio
The music of Tyrian was created by Alexander BrandonAlexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon is a US musician, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed music mostly for games produced by Epic Games, or games based on Epic technology, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Tyrian, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and the cancelled game Jazz Jackrabbit 3D...
with additional music by Andreas Molnar, and is in the LDS (Loudness Sound System) format. Tyrian 2000 CD includes 25 of the tracks in red book audio
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
format. The red book tracks are omitted from the freeware version due to the download size.
Reception
Tyrian was generally well-received, scoring 87% in PC GamerPC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
(one percent below their Editor's Choice award) and 4 out of 5 stars in Next Generation
Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company . It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West...
. 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...
nominated Tyrian as "Action Game of the Year". The original developers Jason Emery and Alexander Brandon considered Tyrian
External links
- Official Tyrian repository (World Tree Games)
- OpenTyrian
- Freeware Tyrian page, (Download - Tyrian 2000 PC Windows Setup) based on DosboxDOSBoxDOSBox is emulator software that emulates an IBM PC compatible computer running MS-DOS. It is intended especially for use with old PC games. DOSBox is free software....
}