History VideoGame / TheColony

''The Colony'' was an ActionAdventure FirstPersonShooter written by David Alan Smith and released by Mindscape in 1988. It was originally an UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh game, but there were also [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer DOS]] and UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} ports.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Freeform movement in realtime 3D!]]]]

The game's creator David Alan Smith has posted a [[http://croqueteer.blogspot.com/2005/02/my-colony-memoir.html retrospective blog entry about the game's development]]. Smith was in heavy pursuit of the "virtual world" concept and went on from ''The Colony'' to create Virtus Walkthrough, a 3D modeling program for architecture, the first program offering real-time 3D tours of building plans.

* WideOpenSandbox: You are never explicitly told a goal; you must work out what to do by exploration and clues scattered about.

''The Colony'' was an ActionAdventure FirstPersonShooter written by David Alan Smith and released by Mindscape in 1988. It was originally an UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh game, but there were also [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer DOS]] and UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} ports.

s with computers on them whose screens you can read for clues. In the Mac version the computers looked like Macintoshes. In the DOS port they looked like IBM [=PCs=].

* ASpaceMarineIsYou: Either a TropeMaker or an UrExample. You, the SilentProtagonist, are a "Space Marshal," piloting some kind of police and/or military ship. You are responding to a distress call from a remote outpost. Your ship runs into a NegativeSpaceWedgie enroute which may or may not be an enemy attack, and you crash land near the underground base, which, it turns out, has been overrun by aliens. Fortunately you are equipped with PoweredArmor and an energy weapon. You explore and [[StormingTheCastle fight your way]] to the depths of the overrun underground base to discover what happened, [[spoiler:rescue survivors, and finally re-power your spacecraft so that you can take off and [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure nuke the site from orbit.]] ]]
* BlockPuzzle: You often need to use a forklift to move things around, some of the things being blocks.
* ChekhovsGun: The first way you die in the game is probably by pressing the [[PressXToDie unmarked button]] which triggers your ship's missile launcher. At the end [[spoiler:you launch the same missiles [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure from a safe distance in orbit]] to destroy the colony.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Well, the game was monochrome (aside from a rarely seen colorized update released for the Macintosh II), but some things are Shape Coded For Your Convenience. The shape of an alien corresponds to the type of EssenceDrop (weapon, shield or health) it leaves when you shoot it.
* ConsoleCameo: Scattered around the colony are desks with computers on them whose screens you can read for clues. In the Mac version the computers looked like Macintoshes. In the DOS port they looked like IBM [=PCs=].

* TeleportersAndTransporters: There are some, that you can carry around with your forklift, that get used in a sort of transport puzzle. [[spoiler:The purpose of the research colony was to develop teleporter technology. The colonists were apparently working on teleportation technology. You have to use it to solve some puzzles. And it turns out it was a TeleporterAccident that brought the alien queen from another dimension.]]

The author gives a tour of the game on YouTube here: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1XENlUUOhA part 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k3qrt76Ddk part 2]]

* TechnologyMarchesOn: What is a future space colony doing with a bunch of 1980s-looking desktop computers? This caused a bit of FridgeLogic even at the time.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: The entrance is [[spoiler:due northeast]], but "people came up with an incredible number of methods to find the colony, most of which were wrong."

* YouNukeEm: [[spoiler:The ending.]]

The game showed a first-person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, and navigated using the mouse. Considered to be ahead of its time, it can be viewed as a TropeMaker for {{First Person Shooter}}s (where games like ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Battlezone]]'' and ''MazeWar'' were {{Ur Example}}s, and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' were {{Trope Codifier}}s.)

* FirstPersonShooter: If ''MazeWar'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Battlezone]]'' were {{Ur Example}}s, and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' were {{Trope Codifier}}s, then ''The Colony'' may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', and ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: A brief excerpt from GustavHolst's ''The Planets''.

''The Colony'' was an ActionAdventure FirstPersonShooter written by David Alan Smith and released by Mindscape in 1988. It was originally an AppleMacintosh game, but there were also [[IBMPersonalComputer DOS]] and {{Amiga}} ports.

* FirstPersonShooter: If ''MazeWar'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Battlezone]]'' were {{Ur Example}}s, and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' were {{Trope Codifier}}s, then ''The Colony'' may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', and ''HalfLife'' series.

The game showed a first-person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, and navigated using the mouse. Considered to be ahead of its time, it can be viewed as a TropeMaker for {{First Person Shooter}}s (where games like ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Battlezone]]'' and ''MazeWar'' were {{Ur Example}}s, and ''{{Wolfenstein 3D}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' were {{Trope Codifier}}s.)

* FirstPersonShooter: If ''MazeWar'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Battlezone]]'' were {{Ur Example}}s, and ''{{Wolfenstein 3D}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' were {{Trope Codifier}}s, then ''The Colony'' may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', and ''HalfLife'' series.

** To ''{{Aliens}}'': The forklift is based on the loader Ripley pilots in ''{{Aliens}}'', and even uses a sound effect sampled from that movie.

** To ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'': There is a recreation of David Bowman's bedroom, complete with a {{Monolith}} and an audio sample of "my god, it's full of stars!"

''VideoGame/TheColony'' was a ActionAdventure FirstPersonShooter game written by David Alan Smith and released by Mindscape in 1988. Originally written as an AppleMacintosh game, but there was also a DOS port.

[[caption-width-right:300:Real time, full screen 3D]]

The game showed a first person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, navigated using the mouse. Considered to be ahead of its time, the game can be viewed as a TropeMaker for FirstPersonShooter games (where games like {{VideoGame/Battlezone1980}} and MazeWar were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s.)

The game's creator David Alan Smith has posted a [[http://croqueteer.blogspot.com/2005/02/my-colony-memoir.html retrospective blog entry about the game's development]]. Smith was in heavy pursuit of the "virtual world" concept and went on from The Colony to create Virtus Walkthrough, a 3d modeling program for architecture, the first program offering realtime 3d tours of building plans.

The author gives a tour of the game on Youtube here: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1XENlUUOhA part 1]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k3qrt76Ddk part 2]]

* AIBreaker: When you bumped into an enemy it would turn around to face you. Actually, it didn't quite turn around to face you; it turned to the opposite direction the player was facing. So if a hard to kill enemy was bothering you you could turn around and bump into it backwards and it would then turn to face away from you!

* CopyProtection: The game would demand the player translate a sequence of shapes into numeric code using a sliding paper device included in the game box.

* CulturalTranslation: Mixed with ComputerWars: Scattered around the colony are various desks with computers on them whose screens you can read for clues. In the Mac version the computers looked like Macintoshes. In the DOS port they looked like IBM [=PCs=].

* FacelessEye: Most of the aliens posess one. Some are just one. And the icon the program used on the Mac was a floating eye.

* FirstPersonShooter: If MazeWar and {{VideoGame/Battlezone1980}} were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s, then TheColony may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the {{VideoGame/Doom}} and HalfLife series.

* {{Homage}}: The planet's surface which you must traverse to get from your spacecraft to the colony entrance deliberately looks a lot like {{VideoGame/BattleZone1980}}.

* InVehicleInvulnerability: Inverted. While using the forklift you cannot fire your weapon. And you need to carry some things quite a long way.

* LateToTheTragedy: You're there too late to save any of the colonists [[spoiler:except for a few children to were placed in cryogenic pods.]]

* NoSmoking: One of the early ways to instantly die is to even touch a cigarette (which is, bafflingly, [[ShmuckBait lit and sitting in an ash tray for you]])

* SinisterGeometry: Although partly determined by the limits of rendering power at the time, there is something unnerving about an enemy that's a floating Platonic solid topped with an unblinking eye.

** To {{Aliens}}: The forklift is based on the loader Ripley pilots in {{Aliens}}, and even uses a sound effect sampled from that movie.
** To TwoThousandAndOne: There is a recreation of David Bowman's bedroom, complete with a monolith. and an audio sample of "my god, it's full of stars!"

* WideOpenSandbox: You are never explicitly told a goal; you must work out what to do by exploration and clues scattered about.

* CulturalTranslation: Mixed with ComputerWars: Scattered around the colony are various desks with computers on them whose screens you can read for clues. In the Mac version the computers looked likw Macintoshes. In the DOS port they looked like IBM [=PCs=].

* AIBreaker: When you bumped into an enemy it would turn around to face you. Actually, it didn't quite turn around to face you; it turned to the opposite direction the player was facing. So if a hard to kill enemy was bothering you you could turn around and bunp into it backwards and it would then turn to face away from you!

TheColony was a ActionAdventure FirstPersonShooter game written by David Alan Smith and released by Mindscape in 1988. Originally written as an AppleMacintosh game, but there was also a DOS port.

The player is a Space Marshal answering a distress call from a distant research colony, and his ship is damaged en route. After crash landing on the planet, he makes his way over to the colony, to find the colonists missing and the station overrun by aliens. The player explores clues left in the environment, penetrate to the deepest levels of the colony, and hopefully figures out a way to escape alive and prevent the alien infestation from spreading further.

The game showed a first person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, navigated using the mouse. Considered ahead of its time, the game can be considered a TropeMaker for FirstPersonShooter games (where games like {{VideoGame/Battlezone1980}} and MazeWar were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s.)

* ActionAdventure: At turns the player is exploring a large environment, solving puzzles, or fighting an alien that appeared around the last corner.

* AIBreaker: When you bumped into an enemy it would turn around to face you. Actually, it didn't quite turn around to face you; it turned to the opposite direction you were facing. So if a hard to kill enemy was bothering you you could turn around and bunp into it backwards and it would then turn to face away from you!

* AlienGeometries: Some parts of the colony doesn't work in three dimensions.

* CulturalTranslation: Mixed with ComputerWars: Scattered around the colony are various desks with computers on them whose screens you can read for clues. In the Mac version the computers looked likw Macintoshes. In the DOS port they looked like IBM PCs.

* FirstPersonShooter: If MazeWar and {{VideoGame/Battlezone1980}} were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s, then TheColony may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the VideoGame/Doom and HalfLife series.

* NoSmoking: One of the early ways to instantly die is to even touch a cigarette (which is, bafflingly, [[InsaneTrollLogic lit and sitting in an ash tray for you]])

* TechnologyMarchesOn: What is a future space colony doing with a bunch of 1980s-looking desktop computers? This was a bit FridgeLogic even at the time.

The game showed a first person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, navigated using the mouse. Considered ahead of its time, the game can be considered a TropeMaker for FirstPersonShooter games (where games like {{Battlezone1980}} and MazeWar were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s.)

* FirstPersonShooter: If MazeWar and {{Battlezone1980}} were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s, then TheColony may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the VideoGame/Doom and HalfLife series.

* {{Homage}}: The planet's surface which you must traverse to get from your spacecraft to the colony entrance deliberately looks a lot like {{BattleZone1980}}.

* WideOpenSandbox: You are never explicitly told a goal; you must work out what to do by exploration and clues scattered about.

The game showed a first person perspective of a 3D world drawn out of opaque polygons, rendered in real time, navigated using the mouse. Considered ahead of its time, the game can be considered a TropeMaker for FirstPersonShooter games (where games like Battlezone1980 and MazeWar were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s.)

* FirstPersonShooter: If MazeWar and Battlezone1980 were {{UrExample}}s, and {{Wolfenstein3D}} and {{VideoGame/Doom}} were {{TropeCodifier}}s, then TheColony may have been a TropeMaker. It was one of the earliest games that allowed free-form (as opposed to FauxFirstPerson3D) movement around a mazelike indoor environment, with multiple enemies that could spring from any corner. Several elements of setting and plot would recur in the VideoGame/Doom and HalfLife series.

* {{Homage}}: The planet's surface which you must traverse to get from your spacecraft to the colony entrance deliberately looks a lot like BattleZone1980.