My favorite kid games, feelings and - Elite

Introduction

I was browsing Steemit and I came across a post about games by @rival and I remembered few of the games I played myself. I have fond memories of them and I know that I've enjoyed them very much.

When I was a kid we had various circles back then - odd kids that played computer/video games. We shared our tricks, tips and ideas if we felt like doing so (or if we were asked). It made us cool when we knew our stuff. It was so sweet when you were the first one to pass a certain point in the game and then you got to share your knowledge and wisdom with others. Nothing can beat the look in their eyes when you talk about how you've defeated a certain boss or level. It felt amazing as they gazed at you with awe when you shared the info. The sheer happiness when they too, a day or even a week later made it through that same part. All the bragging rights, all the wits, the fact that you beat someone to it made it feel wonderful. That feeling was amazing.

I sort of miss that naivety, that unavailability of information related to games. Today when a game comes out, minutes later someone data mines it and/or some fan starts creating wikia. It is great that people want to share their knowledge. I love that part. But what I hate is that there are people that buy a game and blindly go and look for guides, look for the best classes, best PVE/PVP combo gear and just follow instructions. They follow those guides and complain that the game is bad and that it offers no content. As a creative person that hurts me. I feel that creators of the game are not appreciated by people who do that. It may just be my opinion, but I feel like that.

Elite

While reading the article I remembered few of the games I've played and I decided to reply. After all I had a grin on my face and that post was worth the upvote. And then, [dramatic pause] I remembered another game I played, Elite.

Image was taken/captured at: image source

It was, at the time the game I've played the most in my life. I've played that game for days, weeks, months, years. As long as I had the Spectrum - I played the game. The only reason I regret selling my Spectrum was that game. It was definitely my top game I had on my trusty ZX Spectrum 48K. I was just a kid back then but I was interested in programming - there was basic and it was all I knew back then. I just loved the challenge, difficulty and the unknown. Games back then were difficult, unknown, fun and so rewarding. There were no guides - except sometimes in the magazines - and they weren't available here. There was no wiki info, how to guides or anything similar. All that was available was your imagination. And a piece of paper.

Learning to play

We had a piece of paper, a pen, a lot of time and a game that we learned to play. If you got the game with computer - which I did, and a previous owner had no game manual all you had to do was figure out the controls. That was the first step. It was easy! If you were lucky, you could skip that step.

Depending on the game type determining the keys was easy. Up, down, left, right, jump, fire. That was all the controls the games back then used. Then came Elite and changed all.

Up, down, roll left, roll right, fire, accelerate, decelerate, lock target, fire missile, hyper space, galactic hyperspace, map, local map, info, commander status, front view, back view, left view, right view. Those are all that I can remember at this time. And all of them we had to figure out on our own (if we didn't have the manual).

Luckily I had it. It was just a piece of paper. Old, crumbled on the sides, yellowish and valuable. It came with the cassette I got.

Step two was getting used to the controls and that was very difficult. But like every kid, after some time you become expert. You invest all your free time and just master it. There is no other way. You just had to do it.

Step three was to become good, learn the levels or get familiar with the game and that was it.

My secrets shared

I got pretty proficient in the game but sadly no one else in my circle had played it. I was 8 to 11 at the time and the game was created for a little more mature audience. My friends - and I only had a few - said that it was stupid. In reality, I fear that none of them had mastered the skill of finding the space station and docking.

All you had to do was get the little ball in the center of the big circle on the right side of the radar and go there. Once you got close to the station, you pass it and it became hollow (a small circle within a big one). That was the sign that the entrance was on your side. With a little goofing around, and fiddling you got closer to the station and went in slowly, rotating. And you landed. You can see and figure it out on these few pictures (and yes, the "bug"/exploit/"feature" is still there (unlike on C64, Amiga and PC versions).

Just go to the sun.

Almost there, just pass the station.

Station is behind us, just a small turn and we're set.

Slow and steady now, watch the paint.

All images were taken/captured at: image source

At first it was almost 90% chance of me getting blown away while docking. Then it became 50/50, and at the end it was a success every time.

During my fiddling with docking, when I was still learning I've managed to find a bug, an exploit, or a feature you might say. Unintended option most definitely. When it happened I was puzzled, I was intrigued, I was ecstatic! I did some testing and I've confirmed it.

The "feature" discovered

When you fly out of the station, if you had a destination set you should turn into the station, accelerate slowly and just before you enter you press hyperspace button and WOOOOOOSH! You're docked! Nothing special you might say? What would you say if I told you that you're in the station in the system light years away? Cool? Exactly! :)

I was so happy with that find, I had to tell everyone, but sadly no one played Elite as much as I did. I did share the secret with my friends, but no one had used it. No one knew its value.

I've used it as my docking computer until I bought one. After I got it I rarely used it, and it was on few occasions when I felt too lazy to fly manually. It was at those occasions when I didn't want to go through with manual flying and killing pirates. But that became less and less frequent as my ship got more and more improved. Flying and killing pirates was all the fun I got and I wanted more and more of it. It was addictive. I fought alone and they were outnumbering me. 2 to 1, 3 to 1, even 5 to 1.
What got me into space combat was the amazing effect of explosion. Yeah it was a bit dull for today's standards, but that little red flash for a split second meant a lot to me back then. You fired, and fired and pop, a split second flash and slow lines of only few parts flying away and fading. It was amazing.

If you gonna try the game on the site I linked is: get docking computer, it will dock the ship for you. Sadly my young friends didn't even know that. But its their fault, they gave up too soon. I got that thing myself a bit later and stopped using the bug which I discovered.

I went through all the galaxies. There were 8 of them, each having 256 stars and started my quest to find the secret missions. I heard a rumor that each galaxy had one and it was all it took to make me look for them. I vaguely remember that I got a laser in one of them but I am not sure if it had anything to do with those secret missions. I remember fondly those years where I discovered space on my own in a dark room bathing in the light of my small tv and staring at a screen smiling, my grin wide and genuine, looking for secrets to find.

If you want to try the game out, see what you're made of, or if nostalgia is kicking your ass and wants you to revisit the old days, you can visit this link here and give it a go.

After 3 years we sold that Spectrum, and Elite along with it. We got C64 after that, I managed to get Elite for it but it wasn't the same. There was no pop when the ship exploded. It was different. Something was missing, or I felt guilty for getting rid of that Spectrum. Later we sold C64 and got Amiga. I tried Elite on that as well, it was called Elite plus. It was the same as on C64. Later I got my first PC and on that I got Elite 2, it was fun, but not as fun as the original.

Elite is one game that I'll never forget!

There are two more games on that list, but I'll talk about them later.
Until then, here are some hints, you can try and guess the names of the games in the comments.
1. Sharp red stone, dark and gritty surroundings and evil lurking.
2. Sand filled surroundings, scorching sun, heat and a threat that creeps closer.
Lets see who can guess correctly.

Keep steemin!
@zneeke