{"id":40937,"date":"2023-12-22T21:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/forgotten-gems-lucasfilms-rescue-on-fractalus\/"},"modified":"2023-12-22T21:00:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T21:00:07","slug":"forgotten-gems-lucasfilms-rescue-on-fractalus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/forgotten-gems-lucasfilms-rescue-on-fractalus\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Gems: Lucasfilm’s Rescue on Fractalus!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We all have those memories of games \u2013 hopefully only figuratively \u2013 scaring the crap out of us. <\/p>\n

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If you\u2019ve ever played a survival horror game, you no doubt vividly remember a specific moment that scared the crap out of you \u2013 hopefully only figuratively. Though given the millions of gamers who have walked the hallways of the Resident Evil mansion and experienced that window-shattering surprise encounter with the zombie dog, it\u2019s entirely possible that some have had to literally reach for a change of underpants. If that happened to you, please don\u2019t share it in the comments.<\/p>\n

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Whether it was Man Bat so rudely introducing himself in Arkham Knight, the moving mannequins in Condemned, or coming face-to-face with Lisa in Kojima\u2019s P.T., every gamer has a different story of when and how a video game first got them \u2013 like, really got them \u2013 with a jump scare.<\/p>\n

Mine was in 1985. And I know exactly whom to thank: George Lucas. <\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re reading IGN, you know the name \u2013 but you might not know the game or the development team behind it that ran with his sage advice and ensured that my story is shared by many veteran gamers. Turns out, when people talk about 1985\u2019s Rescue on Fractalus, the jump scare is the first thing they mention.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople usually tell me: \u2018I remember the first time a Jaggi popped up. I was playing in the dark with a bunch of college friends and we had a big speaker setup and a Jaggi popped up and I fell off my chair. And people came to my door asking if I was okay,\u2019\u201d project lead and former Lucasfilm Games designer David Fox told me. \u201cThere was someone who said their 5-year-old was playing it and the kid ran out of their house screaming \u2018Mommy, there\u2019s a monster in my computer! Help!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI kinda feel bad for that part of it. But not too bad,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

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But before we get to that memorable moment \u2013 most likely the very first jump scare in gaming history \u2013 you should know that Rescue on Fractalus is so much more than that unexpected wake-up call. And just to be clear: nobody got scared by pixelated graphics. Though named after the jagged stair-step edges seen in lower-resolution game graphics, the Jaggis in question are green, bug-eyed aliens intent on your destruction.<\/p>\n

Rescue on Fractalus! is a first-person cockpit shooter that has you fly your Valkyrie spacecraft over a fractal landscape (hence the name) in search of downed pilots. The game made quite an impression on me when I played it as a teenager \u2013 seeing what I thought were smooth 3D landscape graphics on my Atari 8-bit computer was a bit of an epiphany. \u201cIs this where games are going?\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally codenamed \u201cRescue Mission\u201d and “Behind Jaggi Lines”, Fractalus was one of two initial games pioneered by the games group at Lucasfilm, which would become Lucasfilm Games and later LucasArts. The other, Ballblazer, was an equally exciting demonstration of how advanced in technology could have a lasting impact on game design. I can\u2019t tell you how many hours my friends and I sank into this super-speedy split-screen vehicular sci-fi soccer game. But suffice it to say, the first two Lucasfilm games made quite the splash with technology-obsessed computer gaming fans and that streak continued with later releases, like The Eidolon and Koronis Rift. <\/p>\n

All Roads Lead to Star Wars<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rescue Project leader David Fox<\/a> and his wife Annie were running a public-access computer center non-profit in Marin County, north of San Francisco when he first crossed paths with Lucasfilm while researching computer-generated special effects for a book on computer animation he was writing at the time. Fox got the inside track on Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan\u2019s famous fractal-based planet-transforming sequence, known as the Genesis Effect, and made friends with its creator and later Pixar co-founder Loren Carpenter. <\/p>\n

The first half of Fox\u2019s book, Computer Animation Primer<\/a> (free PDF also available<\/a>), focuses on the history and tools of computer animation, but the second half dives even deeper and looks at the Atari 800 and the possibilities of doing computer animation at home using BASIC and assembler language. The book, delivered to the publisher but still awaiting publication, turned out to be the perfect door opener at the Lucasfilm Computer Division’s newly founded Games Group. Supported by a million-dollar deal with Atari that offered the computer maker right of first refusal on new game projects, the company took a chance on David and he joined in 1982.<\/p>\n

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David saw it as a path to be part of the Star Wars creative universe — he never imagined there’d be a place in the company for him given he lacked the skillset for film production or special effects work. \u201cI saw Star Wars four years earlier and loved it. I was a huge fan and I just wanted to get into those movies somehow and this seemed like the best way to get a job at Lucasfilm.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t waste any time. Even before the studio was properly set up and he was still sharing an office with Carpenter, he pitched what he calls a \u201cRescue-type Star Wars game \u2013 something with the impact of Star Raiders on the Atari 800 but with great sound and spectacle.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Lucasfilm had already licensed Star Wars to other companies, with Atari and Kenner\/Parker bros. splitting the rights for arcade and home games, respectively. <\/p>\n

\u201cI said okay, I still want to do this game \u2013 I just won\u2019t call it Star Wars,\u201d recalls Fox. \u201cSo I asked Loren if he thought it\u2019d be possible to take his fractal landscape technology and make it work on an Atari 800. He laughed and said \u2018no, no way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Carpenter came back the next day and the \u201cno\u201d had already turned into a \u201cmaybe.\u201d Fox provided him with an Atari 800 computer, manuals, and instructions on how to program in 6502 assembly language and three days later Carpenter came back with an Atari 800 prototype that showcased flying through a landscape with randomly-generated fractal mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe framerate was six or eight frames per second\u2026 This was, like, wow \u2013 this is amazing!\u201d – David Fox<\/section>\n

\u201cThe framerate was six or eight frames per second\u2026 Which was amazing at the time. Microsoft Flight Simulator was two or three frames per second. This was, like, wow \u2013 this is amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox got to work on creating a design document that outlined both the use of fractal technology and many of the gameplay details that would make it into the final game. \u201cAny similarities between this game and the rescue scene on the ice planet Hoth are purely coincidental,\u201d he wrote in the 1983 doc. He also got out the graph paper and sketched some early designs, including the Valkyrie spaceship’s cockpit, which took heavy inspiration from Luke Skywalker\u2019s ship of choice, the X-Wing. <\/p>\n

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While Fox was set to bring the excitement of Star Wars to computer gaming, he also wrestled with what he calls his \u201chippie pacifistic tendencies.\u201d His original design outlines a non-violent flight action game \u2013 one without a fire button or any shooting at all. His idea was that you could get enemy saucers to chase you and you could lure them into dangerous terrain and cause them to crash into canyon walls.<\/p>\n

The Emperor is Coming Here?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When the Rescue and Ballblazer projects reached beta, Star Wars director and head of Lucasfilm himself, George Lucas, wanted to try the games.<\/p>\n

Fox recalls that George picked up the joystick and immediately said \u201cHow come the fire button doesn\u2019t work? Where\u2019s the fire button?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come the fire button doesn\u2019t work? Where\u2019s the fire button?\u201d – George Lucas<\/section>\n

Fox told him about his idea of not having direct combat and Lucas asked if it was a gameplay decision or a philosophical decision: \u201cDid you do this to make a better game or due to your beliefs?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said, \u2018well, more the latter, I guess.\u2019 George said: \u2018I want a fire button.\u2019 And he was right. The other thing he said was: \u2018What if, if everyone once in a while, the pilot you rescued turns out to be an alien. And maybe he jumps up, or something like that.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Fox says the suggestion threw the team for a loop. They asked themselves if it could be done, technically. \u201cThere were issues with framerate, there were issues with storage, with trying to get more animation into the game,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

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The project grew in scope, and with it the team. Gary Winnick joined to help design and create animations for the Jaggi alien character. Charlie Kellner, who worked on flight dynamics, music, and sound, and Peter Langston, Games Group Leader, then added the finishing touches and brought my childhood nemesis to life by coming up with the Jaggi pop-up sound on a MIDI keyboard. The creature looks harmless today, but trust me, when you\u2019re not expecting a visit from a Jaggi, it\u2019s quite the shock.<\/p>\n

When Jaggis Attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rescue on Fractalus! has you rescuing crashed pilots while fending off enemy attacks for quite a while until \u201cthat moment.\u201d You use your radar to track one down and then carefully land \u2013 all handled seamlessly and in real time \u2013 turn off your engines and wait for the pilot to approach. You then hear a knock at the ship\u2019s door as the now invisible pilott is asking you to open the hatch and let them in. If you wait too long, the knocks fade and get slower \u2013 and eventually the pilot dies. But open the airlock too early, and you may have inadvertently opened your safe space to a murderous alien. <\/p>\n

The trick is that the game lulls you into a sense of security. For a full seven levels, Rescue on Fractalus! is all about rescuing your fellow pilots. The loop becomes routine. Land. Turn off engines. Open hatch. Successful rescue. The marketing kept the jump scare secret \u2013 there\u2019s no mention of it in the manual other than a cryptic transmission from a pilot on the back that something went wrong during the mission. That’s it.<\/p>\n