Lode Runner: brilliant simplicity

The first version of the game was written by Douglas Smith in 1982 in Fortran, used pseudographics and was called Kong.

What is funny, Broderbund, in which the creator sent a demo version, rejected the offer of cooperation. Smith borrowed money, finalized the game, and only at the second attempt did he receive consent to publish an improved program under the new name Lode Runner.

There were a lot of clones, I, for example, started with the game “Tarzan” on the back, but only in 1994 (!) Sierra released a sequel, which was somewhat different from the usual gameplay with the ability to play together and a large number of traps.


It is known for certain that money was specially allocated for the elaboration of the pixel animation of the original game, and the creation of each level of the game was paid separately by the children who lived next door to Douglas. By the way, Daron Stainett (executive producer of Dark Forces and Outlaws games at LucasArts) was a tester and creator of some levels of Lode Runner.
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What is the secret? In my opinion, the appeal of old favorite games is that we played them "then." And "then" everything was better. And the ice cream tastes better, and the computers are smarter. It's like old action movies with your favorite actors.

If we speak objectively, then we value the games not for the schedule, not for the complexity, but on the contrary - for the reasonableness and validity of each element of the game, which ultimately creates simplicity and creates the atmosphere. All this is the gameplay.

From this point of view, by the way, I prefer the classic Lode Runner with Speccy. New - curious, but no more than the latest remakes of old Hollywood films.

Habrayuzer, is there someone who passed all 150 levels?

"Other" Lode Runner

PS The title picture is taken from the vit1251 habrauser blog, for which he is tremendous.