[HN Gopher] Lode Runner (HTML5 Remake)
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Lode Runner (HTML5 Remake)
Author : memalign
Score : 252 points
Date : 2023-12-28 12:24 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (loderunnerwebgame.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (loderunnerwebgame.com)
| memalign wrote:
| Source code: https://github.com/SimonHung/LodeRunner_TotalRecall
| jddj wrote:
| I spent many hours as a child playing load runner (the legend
| returns) but I have no idea where we got it.
|
| I think our Compaq Presario at the time must have come packaged
| with a sierra disk.
| theandrewbailey wrote:
| I remember having a Compaq computer in the 90s (some 486-based
| all-in-one with a CD drive), and had The Legend Returns. I
| kinda grew into liking it, but I'm not sure where the disc
| ended up. I found an ISO of Mad Monks Revenge (an expansion/re-
| release) on an abandonware site 15+ years ago. Works great on
| my retro PC.
| a1o wrote:
| Compaq Presario did come with Loderunner - and also The
| Evermore Incredible Machine!
| intrasight wrote:
| Great memories. Was our favorite game on my Macintosh 128K. My
| nephew brought my Mac back to Italy with him just so he could
| continue playing. I don't think I've played it on any other
| computer since.
| todotask wrote:
| Issue: stuck at name input field. I cannot run!
| _0ffh wrote:
| Same here, I just get a beep on "enter", nothing going...
| sltkr wrote:
| I think the site requires you to pick something unique (???).
| For me, entering AAA doesn't work but entering HJFDKFDSGHK
| works.
| kleiba wrote:
| The classic ASS worked for me.
| Cerpicio wrote:
| I remember spending a lot of time playing this game. Even my mom
| liked it, and she never played video games. I wonder if she'll
| want to play this version. Great to see it again!
| eddyfromtheblok wrote:
| I played this as a kid on a Franklin PC, an Apple II clone. It
| was more interesting than Pac-Man at the time and IIRC you could
| design your own levels.
| buescher wrote:
| Lode Runner was the first game to impress me with its play
| mechanics and its level builder. It was really an elegant little
| game. I don't think it would make my all time top 10 today but it
| would probably make a "top 10 to date of release".
| subtra3t wrote:
| What would be your all time top 10?
| didgeoridoo wrote:
| That Broderbund triple crown never fails to bring me back to the
| half-underground computer software shop on the Main Street in my
| town some time in the early 1990s. I would read about upcoming
| games in PC Magazine, and visit almost daily when a new game came
| out to see if they had it in stock yet.
|
| Either that shop was pretty casual about staying on the cutting
| edge, or release dates were fuzzier back then, because it would
| often be months of agonized visits before the game showed up on
| shelves. By then, of course, I'd have gotten another PCMag, and
| my attention had leapt to a different -- clearly far more
| advanced and interesting -- game that was "only days" from
| launch.
|
| Anyway, during one of my Saturday morning visits to the musty-
| smelling and over-dehumidified shop, I ended up idly browsing
| through the Borland section and a Turbo C box caught my eye. My
| dad was incredibly pumped that I was showing an interest in
| something that could actually be productive and creative, so he
| bought it for me.
|
| Unfortunately, nine-year-old me did not turn out to be a natural
| prodigy. My dad's coding experience stopped somewhere south of
| FORTRAN (he had juggled some accounting systems for ABC in the
| early 1980s) so he tried his best but couldn't really make it
| click for me.
|
| So Turbo C went back on the shelf. Dark Forces was coming out
| next month, and I didn't have time for twiddling with
| incomprehensible runes when there were stormtroopers to kill.
|
| What could have been.
| wenc wrote:
| I tried Turbo C as an 8 year old and got as far as printf hello
| world and scanf. The pointer stuff seemed obtuse to me (coming
| from BASIC) and it was strange it didn't have automatically
| sized string types (it was char[7] or something). In retrospect
| I should have gone the Turbo Pascal route as an 8 year old.
| codetrotter wrote:
| When I was around 12 years old I convinced one of my parents
| to buy a little book about C++ for me. I read the first
| chapter with great interest and wrote variations of input and
| output things with pen and paper.
|
| Then I tried to follow the instructions on how to build and
| run a program on a computer.
|
| I managed to install the IDE they recommended; one called
| Bloodshed Dev-C++. I managed to type the code for hello world
| into the IDE, and I managed to compile the program.
|
| It produced an exe file that had a black terminal icon.
|
| I double clicked the exe and it opened and closed very
| quickly.
|
| It would only be several years later, when I started at the
| university, that this confusing interaction made sense to me.
|
| At the time I thought I had made some mistake and I didn't
| understand what or why.
|
| But what happened of course was that the program started,
| printed its output and exited, and it all happened so fast
| that I just saw a window open and quickly close.
|
| Fortunately I did eventually get better introductions to
| programming. But that first experience was a bit unfortunate
| heh.
| keerthiko wrote:
| If it makes you feel any better, I was (am) a game-addicted kid
| who did indeed pick up Borland C++ and coded a graphical DOS
| version of hangman alongside my older brother when I was 12,
| and made a tank game with a map editor solo when I was
| comfortable with pointers before I was 14 -- it hasn't made me
| a prodigal pioneer of computer programming or a wildly
| successful silicon valley C[E/T]O. While I do still enjoy
| coding/gamedev and earn a modest living from it, as a more
| evenly matured adult I have other interests that I care about
| just as much and keeps me occupied instead of poring over the
| latest and greatest in tech or gamedev.
|
| I guess what I'm saying is that being interested enough to
| become competent at a young age doesn't necessarily equate to
| becoming an industry-leading savant by age 34...nor is it a
| prerequisite. If you are passionate today, I bet you could
| still level up to the forefront of whatever niche you care
| about with enough commitment.
| sliken wrote:
| I did have IBM's C compiler and a full set of printed manuals.
| Never clicked for me. I did however get turbo pascal, it was
| amazing. Compile/edit/run cycles measured in seconds. Online
| docs/examples, etc.
|
| Ended up reading PC Tech journal, wrote an EGA driver for Turbo
| pascal, and even a few games. Had some silly mine based game
| written in Turbo Pascal that showed how many mines were
| adjacent, with the revolutionary idea that you didn't have to
| hit enter after every move. It floated around as shareware on
| BBSs, someone even binary edited it make amusing changes to the
| text when you died. I allowed mines to cause chain reactions,
| people were amused that past a certain point increasing mine
| density made the game easier since the chain reactions got
| larger.
|
| Certainly a different world back then.
| mock-possum wrote:
| Hey dark forces was my introduction to modern 3D first person
| shooter level design - I played it before I played quake,
| before I even played DOOM. I made handfuls of custom levels for
| it over my childhood years, before moving up to half life /
| source. Still have a very strong nostalgia for Dark Forces.
| samstave wrote:
| So funny! I too was nostalgically brought back seeing that logo
| again - I literally stopped and evaluated it for a good moment,
| letting memories wash in.
|
| Also, I suck at LodeRunner.
| oflannabhra wrote:
| I remember going quite deep on lode runner's level editor in
| school with friends. I think there were a variety of edge cases
| that (almost like exploits) that allowed our levels to be
| incredibly complex and harder than any of the pre built level. A
| great reminder that giving people tools is almost always a
| creative boon.
| Red_Tarsius wrote:
| I haven't played the original, but _Lode Runner: The Legend
| Returns_ is one of my favorite games of all time. The later
| levels can be very challenging and I don 't remember ever
| reaching the final stage but it was an addicting experience. You
| can download a faithful remake of Legend Returns here:
| https://mmr.quarkrobot.com/. Highly recommended!
| nlitened wrote:
| Oh God, I used to be obsessed with Lode Runner: The Legend
| Returns
| morkalork wrote:
| I sank countless hours in the level editor.
| a1o wrote:
| Lode Runner: The Legend Returns is the best version of the game
| I think, the old one is too pixely (like the classic version on
| iPhone) and the later 3D ones lose the simplicity of the
| original.
| sillywalk wrote:
| (Thanks for that link.)
|
| Agreed, one of my favourites. I also liked the background art,
| and the animated clips in between some of the different levels,
| and the CD's Redbook audio soundtrack. It kind of reminds me of
| the game Creaks.
|
| I also remember it was one of the games that used WinG[0],
| before DirectX game out.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinG
| thriftwy wrote:
| https://okgamer.ru/dendi-igry-onlayn/2356-lode-runner.html took
| five seconds to boot, whereas on this web site it took ten
| seconds to get to 25% after which I have up waiting.
|
| HN hug of love?
| rgrieselhuber wrote:
| Man I used to love this game.
| wiredfool wrote:
| Damn, got 30 levels in, 7 men left, and it reset when I went to
| the bathroom.
|
| I wasted so much time on this as a kid, and this is the most
| faithful to the //e version that I've ever seen.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| It resumed on my highest reached level when I revisted the
| page.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Oh man! I played the sequel when I was a kid after it came
| included on my dad's work computer. Entertainment on several
| family trips!
| wg0 wrote:
| Seeing and playing this for the first time and... it's really
| very interesting game.
|
| Is there a value in a total remake (different graphics, art
| style) of this game? I'm sure many already exist.
| mmphosis wrote:
| The original loaded pretty much instantly. Software of that era
| didn't have minutes long "Loading ... Please Wait" screens for
| everything.
|
| Also, the original didn't <s>try to data collect</s> ask to enter
| a name. For some odd reason, it took a while to get past this
| annoying dialog box on this web game.
|
| On the original, the player would keep running whereas this new
| game is laborious in that you need to hold down keys to keep
| moving. The original keyboard layout is: UIO =
| dig up dig JKL = left down right
| flymasterv wrote:
| "Software of that era didn't have minutes long "Loading ...
| Please Wait" screens for everything."
|
| Someone never played an Electronic Arts game on C64.
| ddingus wrote:
| Right! The Apple ][ game loads are very fast. Those are the
| ones I remember.
| thwarted wrote:
| _> The original loaded pretty much instantly. Software of that
| era didn 't have minutes long "Loading ... Please Wait" screens
| for everything_
|
| Huh? Just about everything that didn't come on a cartridge took
| forever to load, especially on a C64. That's why there were
| "fast load" extensions. Most games would load once at the
| beginning, but sometimes you'd "need to insert disk 2" or "flip
| the disk over" to finish loading. What was truly impressive is
| that games like Times of Lore could entirely fit in 64k and
| only hit the disk when initially loading.
|
| _> On the original, the player would keep running whereas this
| new game is laborious in that you need to hold down keys to
| keep moving._
|
| The original worked with a joystick, where you'd hold it in the
| direction to keep running. I'm not sure I ever played the
| original with the keyboard. You need to be able to stop in
| loadrunner in order to direct and avoid the movements of the
| enemies and dig holes in the right spots.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| > The original worked with a joystick, where you'd hold it in
| the direction to keep running. I'm not sure I ever played the
| original with the keyboard. You need to be able to stop in
| loadrunner in order to direct and avoid the movements of the
| enemies and dig holes in the right spots.
|
| I believe you would run endlessly on the Apple II version,
| because it had a non-centering joystick and it was more
| nimble of a game that way. You could stop the character with
| the space bar.
|
| The MS-DOS version had a nice control scheme with the numeric
| keypad. You character would run endlessly left or right, but
| the "5" key on the keypad (right in the center of the arrows)
| would make him stop.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > Huh? Just about everything that didn't come on a cartridge
| took forever to load, especially on a C64.
|
| Taking a long time to load doesn't mean having a minutes long
| "Loading ... Please Wait" screen.
|
| _Civilization_ needed a lot of time, on a contemporary
| computer, to create the map. While doing so, it plays a
| slideshow with captions:
|
| _In the beginning,
|
| the Earth was without form,
|
| and void.
|
| But the Sun shone upon the sleeping Earth
|
| and deep inside the brittle crust
|
| massive forces waited to be unleashed._
|
| This goes on for quite a while, accompanied by appropriately
| epic music.
|
| How do I even know that this is actually a loading screen?
| Simple - the animation is not skippable on a low-powered
| computer. You can try, but the actual skip will only occur
| later, when the computer is ready for it. On a Windows-95-era
| computer, you can skip the whole thing; the game will be
| ready before the slideshow starts.
|
| But just because the game _required_ a loading screen didn 't
| mean the designers thought it would make any sense to punish
| the player by making them spend minutes staring at a message
| saying "I bet you feel pretty stupid for buying this game
| now, huh?". The Civ I intro is famous and well loved. You can
| watch a youtube video of it here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtK388b9drE . You can read
| the entire text on TvTropes, where a fan has posted it as a
| memorable quote:
| https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Civilization .
| It is the first thing listed on that page.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| There is a repeat action toggle.
| solardev wrote:
| I'm curious, why does it take so long to load?
| MourYother wrote:
| Loads for ages, prompts for player name. smh...
| foresto wrote:
| > prompts for player name. smh...
|
| Also triggers Firefox canvas fingerprinting protection, but
| doesn't seem to need it to function. What's it doing there?
| inetknght wrote:
| Ahhh I remember many (well... maybe not so many compared to
| current games) hours playing Lode Runner on a Mac Plus when I was
| 3 years old. I remember editing the maps and my dad thinking I
| was editing a locked floppy disk... when really I just figured
| out how to unlock it and re-lock it afterward.
| RomanPushkin wrote:
| What framework/libraries did you use while making the game?
| wiredfool wrote:
| My guess is that this is a 6502 emulator plus the original code
| in wasm. It's too close to the //e version to be a
| reimplementation.
| xbar wrote:
| Crap. If this ruins 2024 like it ruined 1987, I am in deep
| trouble.
| olvy0 wrote:
| This brings back so much memories of playing the original on my
| Apple IIe.
|
| Glad to have found about Lode Runner: The Legend Returns, Lode
| Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge, and its remakes from the
| comments here. There goes my weekend...
|
| Another very good and free remake (which doesn't even include
| ads!) for mobile platforms is/was Lode Runner 1 by Nexon. It
| appears it's no longer on Google Play, but it can be found on
| APKMirror. I still play it from time to time.
|
| Review: https://toucharcade.com/2017/05/19/lode-runner-1-is-a-
| well-m...
| thealienthing wrote:
| It goes without saying that I could easily Google this myself,
| but I'll ask anyway for those who are also wondering: what is the
| significance of HTML5 for this implementation? I'm not a web guy
| have gotten by with simple html css js and occasional templating
| when needed. Is HTML5 supporting some native programming?
| rijoja wrote:
| The canvas element I suppose, and yeah maybe gamepad and
| joystick support as well.
| archsurface wrote:
| Wow. Memories. Loving it.
| nikolay wrote:
| One of my favorites in the past. This implementation is pretty
| good!
| ddingus wrote:
| This looks and plays great!
|
| My favorite version of this game runs on the Apple ][ and I am
| going to fire mine up and have a go this evening to hear the
| goofy 1 bit sounds.
|
| To play on Android, I had to connect a keyboard.
| dvirsky wrote:
| This is pretty great, I used to love this game as a kid. I played
| it on a PC in the late 80s. Besides being a fun game, it was
| probably the first game I've played where you could design your
| own levels, which was awesome, we used to challenge each other to
| custom levels in our school's computer lab.
| lovegrenoble wrote:
| Love this game
| squarefoot wrote:
| I don't remember playing Lode Runner back in the day, although it
| was quite famous. Back then my favorite games in the same league
| were Pharaohs Curse and Montezuma's Revenge.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBSW6r9-lQo
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq7xwDrKwBs
| foresto wrote:
| Anyone else find that pressing a key while another key is pressed
| causes the game to forget that the first key is still being
| pressed? I don't remember this being a problem in the original.
| Browser limitation, or bug?
| harha_ wrote:
| It shouldn't take this long to load. Honestly it should just
| launch into the game without a loading screen at all.
| bitwize wrote:
| See also xscavenger, old-school X11 Lode Runner clone:
| https://www.linuxmotors.com/linux/scavenger/index.html
|
| Enjoy it now, while X11 is still quasi-relevant and runnable on
| today's computers!
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(page generated 2023-12-28 23:00 UTC)