Initial release date 1987 Publisher Thalamus Ltd Platform Commodore 64 | Developer Thalamus Ltd Genre Shoot 'em up | |
 | ||
Similar Thalamus Ltd games, Shoot 'em up games | ||
Hunter's Moon is a 1987 shoot 'em up computer game programmed by Martin Walker for the Commodore 64. It was published by Thalamus. The music was composed by Matt Gray.
Summary
Despite the game being a single ~64kb binary (many C64 games loaded each level separately from the storage device), the game world is large: there are 128 levels divided to 32 star systems. Along with The Sentinel, it is one of the best examples of the use of procedural content generation in early computer games.
Each level takes place in a void with two dimensional cities appearing as they are being built by "worker cells". The worker cells are indestructible but the bricks dropped by them can be temporarily destroyed using the ship's weapon. The goal of the game is to collect enough star cells contained inside the cities to get to the next level.
By collecting enough star cells within a strict time limit (displayed in the lower score table) it is possible to skip the remaining levels in current star system and pass on to the next, allowing skilled players to advance the game quicker.
The game was well received, gaining a score of 92% in the well-known computer games magazine Zzap!64.
According to the game's creator Martin Walker, Hunter's Moon was inspired by the children's game Spirograph.