Matrix - Quest from Deliverance
Project sheet
Year
1993
Type
Game (Breakout/Arkanoid style)
Status
Platforms
- MSX2
- MSX2+
- MSX turbo R
License
Freeware (public domain)
Media
3.5" 2DD floppy disk
Language
MSX-BASIC with 3rd party routines for music playback
Summary
A Breakout/Arkanoid-style game for MSX computers.
Description
This was a game I wrote for MSX computers back in 1993 (when I was 18 years old). It was supposed to be completed to be shown at an MSX event in Barcelona, but I didn't finish it on time and I never finished it.
Despite this, it's playable up to the point where the game runs out of stages (around 50-60ish).
My cousin Carlos García composed the two songs in the game (they were also used in the MoonBlaster Mania music disk), and I did the coding and graphics.
Level editor
The game comes bundled with a level editor. Before it starts there's a text-based menu with three options:
- Press 1 to start the game
- Press 2 to enter the level editor
- Press 3 to play the edited levels
The editor has two modes: block placement mode, and block type/level selection. It starts in block placement mode.
Controls in block placement mode:
- Cursor keys to move the pointer on the screen
- SPACE key to place a block
- ENTER to switch to block type/level selection mode
- ESCAPE key to save and exit
Controls in block type/level selection mode:
- UP/DOWN cursors to select a block type
- LEFT/RIGHT cursors to select the level (00-99)
- ENTER to return to block placement mode
Exiting the level editor will drop you to the MSX-BASIC interpreter. And yes, you can look at the listing from there. 😅
Gameplay
It's as simple as it gets:
- Break all the destructable blocks on the screen to move to the next level
- Silver blocks require two hits to be destroyed
- Golden blocks require three hits
- Metallic green blocks are indestructible
- Move your ship with the LEFT/RIGHT cursor keys
- Hold the SPACE key to magnetize the ship and capture the ball
- Press the ESCAPE key to pause the game
Technical details
It runs on MSX2 computers and up. It supports both the MSX-MUSIC (Yamaha YM-2413) and MSX-Audio (Yamaha Y8950) sound chips. If they're both available then the music quality is greatly improved.
Without these sound chips, the game has no sound, but still has sound effects during the gameplay.
It came in a two-sided 3.5" floppy disk.
License and download
This software is public domain. Feel free to redistribute.
Download disk image: matrix_1993.dsk (720Kb)
You can use this disk image directly on an emulator, or save it to a physical disk to use in a real MSX (recommended).
Online version
Matrix runs on the WebMSX emulator. It should be running in the window below this paragraph, as long as you're using a modern web browser with Javascript enabled.
Note that even though the emulation is pretty good, there will always be differences from using it on a real MSX computer:
- Emulation accuracy and performance will depend on your computer's performance and operating system load
- Sound emulation isn't 100% accurate
- WebMSX doesn't support the MSX-Audio chip (at least not at the time of this writing), so you will only hear the MSX-MUSIC part