Atari XL/XE - Rescue on Fractalus [Lucasfilm Games] 1985

StaxX28Cited 3× on HN, 2011–2025

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demo · general · evergreen · 2011–2025 on HN

Intro and gameplay footage of Rescue on Fractalus, the 1985 Lucasfilm Games title for Atari XL/XE, programmed by Loren Carpenter and David Fox. It shows the game's fractal-generated mountain terrain.

Shown as a historic example of fractal terrain rendering in games, in threads about voxel and terrain rendering.

3 comments from Hacker News

@karmakaze2025-01 · in “VoxelSpace: Terrain rendering algorithm in less than 20 lines of code (2020)”

I remember Commanche and how it reminded me of being wowed by "Rescue on Fractalus"[0] (aka Behind Jaggi Lines pre-release) procedural generation on the 8-bit Atari. [0] ▶ this video (landing on planet is at 1:00)

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@keithnz2021-04 · in “Vector Games 32c3”

one of my favourite vector games on my Atari 800XL was Mercenary. It was this open world type game, felt amazing at the time. link it wasn't that graphics was the best (compared to something like rescuse on fractalus ▶ this video ), it was just a big vector world with quite a lot of places to explore.

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@danieldk2011-04 · in “Ace of spades, Minecraft like FPS ”

I fondly remember NovaLogic's Comanche series. While it isn't of the 'world building' genre, its voxel engine was very impressive for its time: link Also interesting (historically) is 'Rescue on Fractalus'. Not just for its cheesy name, but also due to its reliance on fractals to draw 3D mountain sceneries: link ! Edit: videos of both games: link ▶ this video

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