Name that game?

[aminerva]

I'm sorry to have to post a question such as this, but I figured someone on this list might know:

 

When I was a kid w/ my Atari 8 bit (early 1980's), I recall my neighbor & I used to swap this game but I can't remember if it was a game we'd programmed or a "real" game.

 

I think the game was called "Bumble Bee" and you were a bee (that is a small square) that would fly around the screen doing something (pollinating flowers?) having to avoid other things (predators?). The game was played with gravity so you were always naturally falling, pushing the joystick button caused you to fly up, then you controlled your directional movement via momentum.

 

The graphics were terrible, not even as good as Adventure for the 2600 if I remember correctly. But I think the game-play was good, it's been maybe 20 years so my memory could be rusty.

 

Anybody else remember this game? Know where I can get the ATR file if it indeed was a real game?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Tony

[Callipygous]

Alien Garden from Epyx Maybe. Its so bad that I never played it again, and may not recall the game play correctly.

[aminerva]

No not Alien Garden, I just checked in on Homesoft and that's not it. I feel bad to even ask for help when I barely can remember the game myself, and there is a reasonable chance that it was not even commercially released.

 

I also found a game called "Biene Maja" which you might think is the game, but it also is not (although it seems to have the exact same premise). The game I'm talking about was not a side scroller, you just flew around the screen & when flowers would appear you had to hit them (difficult to do b/c of the momentum issue). Again you were tiny, about the size of this letter "o".

 

I appreciate your help, all I can tell you is that we used to play it on disk. I cannot remember if it was booted from Dos, basic, or a multi-game hacked disk. We used to program stupid little games all the time, but I think this one was probably beyond our skills at the time (if I was in contact now with my neighbor at the time I'd just ask him).

[aminerva]

Well I may have answered my own question, the only reference to a bumble bee game I can find is on a british public domain site here

 

http://www.dgs.clara.net/

(click on Catalogue, then Public Domain Software Catalogue)

 

Disk PD58 has a game called bumble bee. I'd not be surprised if this was it. I'm going to see about ordering the disk, if/when I get this disk I'm happy to share the game if anyone is interested in seeing what I was talking about (assuming it is the same game).

[+davidcalgary29]

I remember that game! It was a type-in from "Analog" magazine and had a name that closely matched the one you named. I bet you could find it if you looked at some old copies (that can be found on-line, I believe)

[aminerva]

You must be right about the type in from an Analog Mag, that would explain why I wasn't sure whether we had programmed it or if it was a commercial game. We probably did type it in basic (following the Analog text) and saved it ourselves to disk.

 

Anyway, the site I listed in my last post did have the game, I purchased a copy of the disk which had Bumble Bee & it was in fact the right game. Although it is in the public domain, I'm not sure what the copyright law would be about adding it as an attachment to this message. So instead of attaching it, just let me know if you are interested in a copy & I'll email one to you. Please use the private message if you wish to get a copy.

 

Thanks

[RJ]

Actually it was in Antic Magazine 8/86 as the Game of the Month. I recall typing it in- 15+ years ago! Read about it here:

 

www.atarimagazines.com/v5n4/Bumblbee.html

[+davidcalgary29]

Yes, of course.

I do wish that some enterprising individual(s) would get together and publish a magazine devoted to all 8-bits (with, of coure, type-ins). Surely the community of "retro" gamers would be large enough to support this type of enterprise!

[RJ]

Well, they tried that already...most notably Antic & ANALOG magazines, though Antic was both 8- & ST-oriented for awhile. I don't think popularity has resurged that much as to warrant an actual published product. Antic ceased publishing in the early '90s but I'm not sure when ANALOG "died". Do a simple internet search (or see the previous url) & you'll easily find lots of 8-bit stuff!

[+davidcalgary29]

I subscribed to both "ANALOG" and "Antic" when they existed, and regularly scoured the magazine racks for Atari User, "Hi Res", and my personal favourites, "ROM" and "Popular Computing". None of those were, of course, "retro gaming" magazines when they were published. What I really meant was that it would be nice if someone(group) published a magazine for 8-bitters [/i]today...along the lines of what "COMPUTE!" used to be like.