SunDog: Frozen Legacy

SunDog: Frozen Legacy was the first computer game produced by FTL Games. It was first developed for the Apple II. Version 1.0 was released in March of 1984, with Version 1.1 (bug fixes) released three weeks later. Version 2.0, which included enhancements and improved performance, was released in October 1984. It was released for the Atari ST in 1986 with some features not found in the Apple II version, as well as greatly improved graphics possible with the Atari ST.

Overview

SunDog is a space trading game. The player barters, buys and sells commodities, all the while fighting off pirates and thugs. The game stores an amazing amount of information in limited RAM. It garnered acclaim when it was released and won many industry awards.

The game used a precocious layered windowing system called ZoomAction. Inspired by the Apple Lisa user interface (the Macintosh's precursor), it was developed by FTL for the game and was hailed for its ease of use and intuitive functionality. Players only needed the Apple two-button joystick to play the game. Windows appeared one on top of the other as the player accessed different parts of the game. Drag-and-drop icons were used for repairing the ship, buying components, eating food, and so on. The user would interact with non-player characters (NPCs) via buttons listing possible responses to what the NPC had just said.

Zoomaction was used for everything from controlling the ship to walking around the cities and planets in the game. As the user clicked into buildings, a window would appear showing the interior, and the character could walk about and carry on (limited) conversations with other people in the building. The idea of a world outside the ship remains fairly uncommon to this day, one in which neutral characters populated interactive cities appears to be unique. Compared to games like Elite, the SunDog world was considerably more immersive, albeit much smaller in terms of the number of stars and planets.

The story

The game begins with the player assuming the part of Zed, a young man who has been a slave in the glass mines his entire life. His uncle, Brock Dor-Ceed, died leaving Zed his ship, the SunDog. Zed has the chance to earn his freedom if he can fulfill his uncle's outstanding contract to start a colony for a religious order somewhere on a planet called Jondd, where the game begins.

Game description

The player, as Zed, finds himself aboard the SunDog. A quick inspection of the ship finds many systems damaged and several destroyed components. A quick visit to the city's Commodity Exchange finds some goods belonging to the SunDog's captain (now Zed). Zed's bank account holds a few thousand credits (money). With nothing else to go on, the player must find the colony and attempt to fulfill Zed's uncle's contract.

The cities in SunDog vary in size, though all appear to be neatly laid out. They contain ship parts shops, hotels, gun shops, restaurants/bars and banks. If Zed wanders about on foot for long, he'll eventually encounter others. Some are beggars, some are hawkers trying to sell him items, but most are hoodlums who'll attempt to mug him. If the player has taken appropriate precautions (and is a good shot), he can sometimes turn the tables on the thugs.

There is no set route the player must follow to win the game. But a typical route would have the player finding the colony on Jondd. The player can do this by taking the SunDog's cargo pod, which can be used like an all-terrain vehicle when detached from the ship. Driving the pod over the continent, the player will eventually find the (very small) colony. Driving into the colony's Commodity Exchange will display what the colony needs in order to upgrade to the next phase. Several items are listed, such as fruits/grains, stock embryos and "Sun suns." All these goods can be purchased in the commodity exchanges of cities in neighboring star systems. Some can even be purchased right on Jondd.

The only way for Zed, the player, to fulfill his uncle's contract is by supplying the colony with the items it needs. He has to buy these goods and deliver them to the colony. The colony won't give Zed any money (presumedly they already paid Zed's uncle), so the only way the player can obtain the goods for the colony is by buying and selling other commodities for a profit. Zed has to adhere to the sound economic principle of buy low, sell high.

He may have a few goods initially, but has little money to buy more, especially since the SunDog needs repairs. By visiting cities' commodity exchanges, the player can inspect what is for sale, buy and sell commodities and, ideally, turn enough profit to buy everything the colony needs.

The most important goods the colony will need, however, are cryogens, or cryogenically frozen colonists. These cannot be purchased, but have to be found throughout the neighboring star systems. Zed's uncle has stored them in various commodity exchange warehouses, but has left no documentation specifying where. The only way to locate them is by visiting the planets in the neighboring systems and investigating the warehouses for any items belonging to the SunDog's captain.

The next item of business, usually, is to repair the SunDog. Normally the SunDog will be in good enough shape to fly, but it will have to be in fairly good shape to combat and flee from the pirates which litter the merchant channels between planets. Repairing the ship is usually a straight forward affair of discarding destroyed components and replacing them with new ones obtained from parts shops found in nearly every city on every planet. The only initial problem is that some parts can be expensive, eating into Zed's initial chunk of money.

From this point, the player can either take what commodities are waiting for him in the commodity exchange's warehouse or buy new commodities. Zed can then travel to other systems and try to sell the goods for a profit. While there, the player may want to look for any cryogens that may be stored at various commodity exchanges.

Getting safely to other planets is another matter, however. The merchant space avenues abound with pirates eager to rob merchant vessels, like the SunDog. The player either needs to fast talk, threaten or otherwise evade the pirates. As a last resort, the player can give in to the pirates and jettison his cargo, losing any monetary investment he had in the goods. Sooner or later, however, the player will have to resort to combat. The SunDog has shields and two weapons systems (lasers and a cannon), but both have to be controlled manually. Hits from the pirate ships on the SunDog damage systems and shields quickly deplete fuel reserves. If a player manages to make it to the planet's orbit, he can safely land. Pirates only attack if the SunDog has something "interesting," that is, goods other than fuel or cryogens. If the player destroys a pirate, they may be able to obtain whatever cargo it was carrying.

The equipment the SunDog comes with is only suitable for landing in cities with a starport. There is generally only one city per planet equipped with one. Cryogens, however, are sometimes stored in commodity warehouses other than the one in the city the player landed in. Initially the player can use the cargo pod to pick up cryogens in other cities. However, some cryogens will be located in cities on islands or continents other than the one with the starport. The cargo pod cannot cross water, so the player has to find other means to pick up the cryogens.

The only way to do this is by outfitting the SunDog with advanced equipment. Advanced ground scanners, for example, can allow the SunDog to land in any planet's city. These advanced items have to be obtained by visiting distant planets whose shops carry these exotic parts. They can also sometimes be obtained by asking the barkeeps in bars. Other exotic items, such as "charm boosts" can be obtained in this manner.

Platforms

Trivia

• The original Apple II version of SunDog was written in Apple (UCSD) Pascal (~15,000 lines) and 6502 assembler (~5,000 lines). The Atari ST port was also done using UCSD Pascal.
• The Apple II version 2 of SunDog had a self-running demo. It advertised a sequel to SunDog called SunDog II: Old Scores to Settle. Though it sounded engaging, the game was never developed. The same demo promised a version for the Apple Macintosh which also never materialized.
• SunDog was originally envisoned as a trilogy. SunDog II: Old Scores to Settle was to have Zed seeking to find out the real circumstances of his uncle's death via interactions with a number of specific non-player characters, one or more of whom might want to kill Zed as well. SunDog III: Blows Against the Empire would build upon SunDog II and find Zed enmeshed in an empire/rebellion conflict where it's not at all clear who the good guys are.
• The Atari ST version has several features not found in the original Apple II version. For example, it has slot machines in some bar/restaurants. The player can gamble on them and make a small sum of money. It also has parking lots for the (drivable) cargo pod. If the player simply leaves their pod parked out on the street somewhere, they face the risk of having it "booted" and thus have to pay a fine at a uniteller before they can re-enter the pod and drive it away.
• SunDog can still be played on modern PCs using Apple II and Atari ST emulators. The ROMs and disk images of the games can be downloaded from several sites on the Internet.
• After programming version 2.0 of SunDog for the Apple II, Bruce Webster quit FTL due to burn-out. He did not take another programming job for four years.
• After Webster's departure, Holder and FTL Games went on to create Dungeon Master, widely considered to be one of the best computer games of all time.
• Bruce Webster has recently set up the SunDog: Resurrection project, an open-source project to recreate SunDog using modern technology. It has several members, but is apparently seeking more.
• The cover artwork for the game is by David R. Darrow, still a commercial artist.[1] (http://www.darrowart.com/) Darrow also did the cover artwork for several other FTL products.

External links

• Bruce Webster's official SunDog site (http://sundog.brucefwebster.com/) with history, feedback from SunDog players, and old design notes.
• An open-source project, SunDog Resurrection (http://sundog.sourceforge.net/) by original SunDog programmer, Bruce Webster
• Wayne Holder's blog (http://weblogs.java.net/blog/wholder/)
• Template:Moby game
• An FTL fan site (http://dmweb.free.fr/FTLGames.htm) with some SunDog information
• A SunDog fan site (http://www.geocities.com/amirlx/sundog.html) with information on how to play the game
• A SunDog art fan site (http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6287/)
• A history of FTL and SunDog (http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/sundog.html) with a lot of helpful tips and strategies for the gamede:SunDog: Frozen Legacy