Earth Orbit Stations
E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations is a space station construction and management simulation game developed by Karl Buiter for Electronic Arts.[1] It was released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1987.
E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations | |
---|---|
Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
Producer(s) | Joe Ybarra |
Designer(s) | Karl Buiter[1] |
Platform(s) | Apple II, Commodore 64 |
Release | 1987 |
Genre(s) | Simulation |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
The game focuses on both the material and economic challenges of building a permanent, fully functioning space station in geocentric orbit.
The game was set in 1996, and the player is given various selected scenarios to fulfill, from mundane tasks such as setting up a simple space station to developing and supplying a specified amount of high-grade, zero G pharmaceuticals to being the first to contact alien life. The game also is a cutthroat strategy game in multiplayer, as players compete over finite resources and resource management.
Reception
Computer Gaming World in 1987 gave the game a mixed review. While the single-player portion was praised, the review felt the game had too high a learning curve to be really suitable for multiplayer. The user interface was particularly bothersome, described as "a textbook case of how not to design a window/menu/graphics interface." The documentation was similarly described as poorly organized and cryptic.[2] In 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two-plus stars of five, calling it "An interesting failure ... the logistics just are not that much fun".[3][4] Compute! reviewed the game more favorably, stating that "EOS offers a level of challenge unusual in space-related software. To succeed at this game requires careful thought".[5]
Reviews
- Casus Belli #43 (Feb 1988)[6]
See also
References
- Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers". dadgum.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- Williams, Gregg (October 1987), "Earth Orbit Stations", Computer Gaming World, pp. 26–27
- Brooks, M. Evan (November 1992). "Strategy & Wargames: The Future (2000-....)". Computer Gaming World. p. 99. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World. pp. 42–58.
- Fisher, Russell H. (February 1988). "EOS: Earth Orbit Stations". Compute!. p. 48. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- https://rpggeek.com/rpgissuearticle/139001/ludotique
External links
- Earth Orbit Stations at Lemon 64
- Mozomedia Apple II retrospective