Lost Luggage (video game)
Lost Luggage | ||
---|---|---|
Designer(s) Ed Salvo[1] | | |
Platform(s) | Atari 2600 | |
Release | September 1982 | |
Genre(s) | Action | |
Mode(s) | Single-player Two-player simultaneous |
Lost Luggage is a 1982
Programmer Ed Salvo was inspired to make Lost Luggage when he was waiting for his luggage at the
Gameplay
Lost Luggage is an
There are two difficulty levels, and depending on the difficulty selected, players can control one skycap or two at once. There is also a two-player competitive mode where the second player controls the direction of the flying baggage.[4] Another mode, featuring "terrorist suitcases", is available; enabling this mode will cause black suitcases to appear mixed with the regular baggage.[3][4] These black suitcases will cause the game to instantly end if they touch the floor, regardless of the player's current number of collected suitcases.[3]
Development
Lost Luggage was developed by
Afterwards, Salvo presented artist Ernie Runyon with a rough sketch of his ideas for the game. The crew of Apollo brainstormed titles for half an hour before deciding on Lost Luggage; Runyon later remembered one of the proposed titles was "Airport Mayhem". Runyon programmed the game with help from Salvo. He has stated he would have liked to include a luggage train, but there was not enough room in the 4-kilobyte cartridge. Salvo had difficulties with collision detection and synchronizing the character movements with the joystick, which took one week to fix. Due to a hardware issue, a graphical bug would also occur whenever a suitcase was captured, which was solved by compiling the game on another computer.[7]
The sound effects and music for Lost Luggage were created by Larry Minor. According to Runyon, the game was the first to integrate music on the 2600 as opposed to only sound effects.[7] Salvo estimated that Lost Luggage took a total of four weeks to complete.[8] A four-minute advertising jingle was made by Byron Parks for the game. Apollo founder Pat Roper was "fishing for ad material", and Parks belonged to a sound studio which Roper also owned. The jingle was never used, and in a 2013 interview Runyon recalled that he did not "know or remember where it was intended for use."[7]
Following the release of Lost Luggage, Runyon departed Games by Apollo, making it the only game he worked on at the studio.
Release
Games by Apollo released Lost Luggage in September 1982.[11] Two versions were released, differentiated by the color of the label. Cartridges with blue labels feature an opening sequence in which the character takes out the three starting suitcases. In the green-labeled version, the game may be restarted by pressing the fire button, which does nothing in the blue-labeled version. Neither Salvo nor Runyon were aware of the existence of this version. Runyon speculated that Salvo may have found more space after tweaking the game and added the features,[7] while Salvo did not "remember doing any of this and I can't conceive of anyone at Apollo messing with the game after it went to production."[8]
Reception
Lost Luggage received mixed reviews upon release.
Modern reviews have been largely critical – Brett Alan Weiss, writing for
References
- ^ Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
- ^ Lost Luggage promotional catalog. Games by Apollo. 1982. p. 2. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Lost Luggage Manual". Games by Apollo. September 1982. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
- ^ AllGame. Archived from the originalon November 14, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-9643848-2-8.
- ISBN 978-0-9643848-2-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g Stilphen, Scott (March 17, 2013). "DP Interviews... Ernie Runyon". 2600 Connection. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Stilphen, Scott (December 5, 2010). "DP Interviews... Ed Salvo". Digital Press. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- ^ "AGH – Third Party Profile: Apollo". Atari Gaming Headquarters. January 23, 2005. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- ^ a b Communications, Emmis (September 1982). "Low Talk". Texas Monthly. 10 (9): 112. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ a b Iida, Keita (January 25, 2005). "AGH Atari 2600 Review – Lost Luggage". Atari HQ. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ "Lost Luggage". Electronic Games. 1 (9): 36. November 1982. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ISSN 0147-8907.
- ^ Goodman, Danny (Spring 1983). "Home Video Games: Video Games Update". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games. p. 32.
- ^ "Lost Luggage". TV Gamer. Boytonbrook: 28. June 1983. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ^ "Apollo, Like Its Namesake, Shoots For The Videogame Stars". Videogaming Illustrated: 8. August 1982. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-8755-4.
External links
- Lost Luggage can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive