Difference between revisions of "Barracuda: Secret Mission 1"

Latest revision as of 05:21, 6 August 2017

Barracuda: Secret Mission 1

Release type: Shareware
Release date: September 7, 1992
Levels: 13
Author: Mark A. Janelle
Registration bonus: Any available updates + sequel, Barracuda 2
Registration price: $15-30
Related games: Barracuda II: The Escape, Barracuda 3

Barracuda is a curiously straight-faced adventure-sim action-exploration... thing. Basically, nuclear warheads threaten to blow up the Western world; you need to seek them out on the sea floor, then dive to retrieve them. Wind your way into labyrinthine shipwrecks, find your treasures, then escape unharmed.

This is a hugely ambitious game by Game-Maker standards, involving large environments and several different play modes. The only thing that Barracuda lacks is the features added by subsequent updates to Game-Maker -- digital sound effects and interstitial presentations. Nevertheless, Janelle cobbled together his own solutions.

You start off as a blip on a map screen. You move with agonizing slowness in any of the four cardinal directions, half a grid square at a time. All the while, waterspouts randomly swirl around the map. If they hit your ship, well, too bad for you. There's no avoiding them, because once you hit the arrow key the game moves you at the rate it feels like moving you. Still, it all looks clean and professional. And it's certainly unusual.

Once you reach an "X" on the map, the game switches to a side-scrolling procedural submarine section. You dive, dive, dive, dive, dodge the mines, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, and dive, and then scour the sea floor for a wreck to enter. Along the way your sub can shoot torpedoes at the local wildlife, to unknown efficacy. This section is more of a slow-paced bit of exploration. Again, there's no faulting the presentation; ponderous as it may be, it looks and feels great.

Finally you arrive at a wreck, and the view shifts again. Now the game involves searching the wreck with a too-fragile diver. Health equates with air. If you get snagged on barbed wire and start to bleed out, you can find replacement air tanks to heal yourself. Makes as much sense as pork chops in a trash can.

Getting lost in Mark A. Janelle's Barracuda

Even compared to the sub the diver moves slowly. And the areas inside the ships are enormous mazes. They seem to follow no known engineering logic, consisting of one murky corridor after another. It all looks pretty much the same. Then once you find what you're looking for, you need to make your way all the way back to the entrance. Which is... realistic.

The shareware version of Barracuda is an unusual collage. Long before Game-Maker supported interstitial .FLI files, Janelle hacked together custom Deluxe Paint animations and a text-mode wrapper, to lend the game an intro and outro, and the industry standard registration bugs.

To add to the professional presentation, Janelle put together his own loader, using LHarc compression to archive the game's files then to invisibly unpack them on load and repack them on exit. So instead of a directory full of .MAP and .CHR files, he presented a small number of mysterious data files, an executable, and some supplementary text files. Much tidier, and a function often requested out of the box by Game-Maker uses.

Stiff and ponderous as it may be, Barracuda is one of the most significant and technically inventive games in the Game-Maker library, and on those merits is worth a look.

Previous	Current	Next
(Overview)	Barracuda	Barracuda II
Barracuda series

Story

Diving down, down down in Mark A. Janelle's Barracuda

CLASSIFIED....

The United States sent an F117A to intercept a fleet fleet of Iraq ships. They were beleived to be transporting peices to build a nuclear weapon. All ships were sunk, of course.

YOUR MISSION....

Recover the pieces before the Iraqi warships do!! You must not fail, the free world depends on you! From this point on you will be called "BARRACUDA". We have placed marker buoys in the location of the ship wrecks.

You must hurry. The Iraqi ships are in the area. Once you dive in your sub, contact us by pressing your [F1] button on your panel.

GOOD LUCK...BARRACUDA

DEPARTMENT CHIEF MARK A. JANELLE

Instructions

Plotting a course in Mark A. Janelle's Barracuda

ARROW KEYS move character / JOYSTICK moves character

[SPACE] fires sub torpedo / JOYSTICK BUTTON 1 fires sub torpedo

[P] Pick Up Items. Or... JOYSTICK DOWN + BUTTON 1

[D] Drop Items. Or... JOYSTICK DOWN + BUTTON 2

Barracuda! Be sure to 'pick' up ANYTHING you can, and be sure to search the surroundings. You must find four items to stop the bomb!

Find these items:

CONTROL PANEL

GUIDANCE SYSTEM

ROCKET BOOSTER

NUCLEAR WARHEAD

Good Luck and remember, you have to beat the IRAQIS!

Credits

DESIGN, GRAPHICS, ANIMATION: Mark A. Janelle

SUPPORT FILES: Jim Lund, Ron Cote

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Recreational Software Designs, Computer Worx

Versions

The corruption of Mark A Janelle's Barracuda

Barracuda was originally distributed as a set of archived files with an executable and some Deluxe Paint .ANM animations tacked onto the front end (along with some text-mode shareware nag messages). This version was relatively hard to pick apart. Some years later, Janelle offered the game up to RSD for distribution with the CD release of Game-Maker 3.0.

This version of Barracuda had many subtle changes: the diver sprite was swapped for a completely different and more fully animated one; a few background blocks were tweaked to rationalize collision issues; all the wrapper animations were removed; and somewhere along the way nearly all of the background block sets and maps became corrupted.

The game would play fine, and would start normally enough. If you kept to the right areas of the right levels, nothing seemed all that amiss. Maybe the seas seemed a little lonely; weren't there fish in this game? If there are no threats, then why does the sub have weapons?

For distribution here, the map files and the relevant background tiles have been extracted from the earlier version of Barracuda and substituted in the CD gameware edition.

Availability

Level 1-2 of Barracuda

Janelle seems to have reached some sort of exclusive distribution deal with RSD, as early copies of Game-Maker include the shareware version of Barracuda on an unlabeled stand-alone 5-1/4" floppy diskette. The later Game-Maker 3.0 CD release also includes the adjusted Gameware version of Barracuda (minus the intro, and with altered spritework) as a sample game.

During the early 1990s the game was available for download from GameLynk's Frontline BBS.

The game is also available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:

Power User Software's So Much Shareware! Three (November 1993),
Chestnut Software's Deathstar Arcade Battles (1993),
Dr. CD-ROM's Dr. Shareware Gold (1993),
Micro Haus Black Box #5 (1993),
Chicago Computer Broker's Games 1994 (April 1994),
STG Computer Limited's Gamefest (August 1994),
101 Games (October 1994),
CMS Distributing's Ultimate Gameware CD-ROM (October 1994), and
From Super Oz Software's Sprint Games and Entertainment 6 (February 1995).

Archive history

Barracuda was introduced to the archive with the purchase of Game-Maker 1.02 in September 1992.

Links

Downloads

You'd better register...

Barracuda: Secret Mission 1 (Shareware Edition) (307.2 kB)
Barracuda: Secret Mission 1 (Gameware Edition) (180.7 kB)
Cutscene intro map (7.5 kB)
Sea Chart (26.9 kB)
- Level 1-1 map (19.9 kB)
  - Level 1-2 map (54.4 kB)
  - Level 1-3 map (18.1 kB)
- Level 2-1 map (16.3 kB)
  - Level 2-2 map (153.7 kB)
  - Level 2-3 map (29.2 kB)
- Level 3-1 map (17.6 kB)
  - Level 3-2 map (367.6 kB)
  - Level 3-3 map (133.8 kB)
- Level 4-1 map (16.8 kB)
  - Level 4-2 map (19.0 kB)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-From experience, Janelle was all business. It looks like he reached some sort of exclusive distribution deal with RSD, as I believe my first copy of ''Barracuda'' came as a stand-alone sample diskette with my original copy of Game-Maker. Later on the CD release of Game-Maker included a stripped-down version of ''Barracuda'' as a sample game.
+{{featured}}{{box
+|header='''''Barracuda: Secret Mission 1'''''
+|file=[[File:bcuda-title.png|290px|border]]
+|text=
+'''Release type:''' [[Shareware]]<br />
+'''Release date:''' September 7, [[1992]] [[Category: 1992|Barracuda 1]]<br />
+'''Levels:''' 13<br />
+'''Author:''' [[Mark A. Janelle]]<br />
+'''Registration bonus:''' Any available updates + sequel, ''Barracuda 2''<br />
+'''Registration price:''' $15-30<br />
+'''Related games:''' [[Barracuda II: The Escape]], [[Barracuda 3]]
+}}''Barracuda'' is a curiously straight-faced adventure-sim action-exploration... thing. Basically, nuclear warheads threaten to blow up the Western world; you need to seek them out on the sea floor, then dive to retrieve them. Wind your way into labyrinthine shipwrecks, find your treasures, then escape unharmed.
-The reason ''Barracuda'' had to be stripped down, I suppose, is that the official version is an unusual hack job. Long before Game-Maker supported interstitial [[.FLI]] files, Janelle designed custom [[Deluxe Paint]] intro animations and a text-mode wrapper to strongly insist that the player register the game. One wonders who these many hard-working individuals are who form the Gamelynk corporation. If I fail to register, will they each send a sternly-worded note to my mother?
+This is a hugely ambitious game by [[Game-Maker]] standards, involving large environments and several different play modes. The only thing that ''Barracuda'' lacks is the features added by subsequent updates to Game-Maker -- digital sound effects and interstitial presentations. Nevertheless, Janelle cobbled together his own solutions.
-Something else kind of neat is that Janelle archived all of the component Game-Maker files, I believe using [[LHarc]] compression. So instead of a directory full of [[.MAP]] and [[.CHR]] files, you had a small number of mysterious data files, an executable, and some supplementary text files. Much tidier, and a capability that I always wished Game-Maker provided on its own. I'm not so sure that Janelle was as concerned with presentation as he was with preventing other Game-Maker users from tinkering with his files. Still, it's cool to see this level of ambition.
+[[File:Barracuda-sprites.png|center]]
-As for the game itself, again it feels weirdly stiff and serious. The premise involves... well, here's Janelle's description:
+You start off as a blip on a map screen. You move with agonizing slowness in any of the four cardinal directions, half a grid square at a time. All the while, waterspouts randomly swirl around the map. If they hit your ship, well, too bad for you. There's no avoiding them, because once you hit the arrow key the game moves you at the rate it feels like moving you. Still, it all looks clean and professional. And it's certainly unusual.
+Once you reach an "X" on the map, the game switches to a side-scrolling procedural submarine section. You dive, dive, dive, dive, dodge the mines, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, and dive, and then scour the sea floor for a wreck to enter. Along the way your sub can shoot torpedoes at the local wildlife, to unknown efficacy. This section is more of a slow-paced bit of exploration. Again, there's no faulting the presentation; ponderous as it may be, it looks and feels great.
+Finally you arrive at a wreck, and the view shifts again. Now the game involves searching the wreck with a too-fragile diver. Health equates with air. If you get snagged on barbed wire and start to bleed out, you can find replacement air tanks to heal yourself. Makes as much sense as pork chops in a trash can.
-: Barracuda V1 Brand new Game Supports VGA, 286 and up with Animation.  Action Role Play Game that will let you Save The World From A Nuke Atack. Navigate Submarines and Explore Underwater Wrecks...
+[[File:bcuda3.png|thumb|320px|Getting lost in Mark A. Janelle's ''Barracuda'']]
-It's not an RPG, at least not in the sense that you or I understand. It's more of an adventure-sim... something. Basically, nuclear warheads that threaten to blow up the Western world. You need to seek them out on the sea floor, then dive to retrieve them. It's a hugely ambitious game by Game-Maker standards, and involves huge environments and several different play modes.
+Even compared to the sub the diver moves slowly. And the areas inside the ships are enormous mazes. They seem to follow no known engineering logic, consisting of one murky corridor after another. It all looks pretty much the same. Then once you find what you're looking for, you need to make your way all the way back to the entrance. Which is... realistic.
-You start off as a blip on a map screen. You move with agonizing slowness in any of the four cardinal directions, half a grid square at a time. All the while, waterspouts randomly swirl around the map. If they hit your ship, well, too bad for you. There's no avoiding them, because once you hit the arrow key the game moves you at the rate it feels like moving you. Still, it all looks clean and professional. And it's certainly unusual.
+The shareware version of ''Barracuda'' is an unusual collage. Long before Game-Maker supported interstitial [[.FLI]] files, Janelle hacked together custom [[Deluxe Paint]] animations and a text-mode wrapper, to lend the game an intro and outro, and the industry standard registration bugs.
+To add to the professional presentation, Janelle put together his own loader, using [[LHarc]] compression to archive the game's files then to invisibly unpack them on load and repack them on exit. So instead of a directory full of [[.MAP]] and [[.CHR]] files, he presented a small number of mysterious data files, an executable, and some supplementary text files. Much tidier, and a function often requested out of the box by Game-Maker uses.
+Stiff and ponderous as it may be, ''Barracuda'' is one of the most significant and technically inventive games in the Game-Maker library, and on those merits is worth a look.
+{{SeriesNav|Barracuda series{{!}}(Overview)|Barracuda|Barracuda II|[[Barracuda series]]}}
+== Story ==
+[[File:bcuda2.png|thumb|320px|Diving down, down down in Mark A. Janelle's ''Barracuda'']]
+CLASSIFIED....
+: The United States sent an F117A to intercept a fleet fleet of Iraq ships. They were beleived to be transporting peices to build a nuclear weapon.  All ships were sunk, of course.
+YOUR MISSION....
+: Recover the pieces before the Iraqi warships do!!  You must not fail, the free world depends on you!  From this point on you will be called "BARRACUDA".  We have placed marker buoys in the location of the ship wrecks.
+: You must hurry.   The Iraqi ships are in the area.  Once you dive in your sub, contact us by pressing your [F1] button on your panel.
+GOOD LUCK...BARRACUDA
+DEPARTMENT CHIEF MARK A. JANELLE
+== Instructions ==
+[[File:bcuda1.png|thumb|320px|Plotting a course in Mark A. Janelle's ''Barracuda'']]
+'''ARROW KEYS''' move character / JOYSTICK moves character
+'''[SPACE]''' fires sub torpedo / JOYSTICK BUTTON 1 fires sub torpedo
+'''[P]'''   Pick Up Items. Or... JOYSTICK DOWN + BUTTON 1
+'''[D]'''   Drop Items.  Or... JOYSTICK DOWN + BUTTON 2
+Barracuda!  Be sure to  'pick' up  ANYTHING  you  can, and be sure to  search  the surroundings.    You  must  find  four items to stop the bomb!
+Find  these  items:
+: CONTROL PANEL
+: GUIDANCE SYSTEM
+: ROCKET BOOSTER
+: NUCLEAR WARHEAD
+Good  Luck  and remember,  you have to beat the IRAQIS!
+== Credits ==
+DESIGN, GRAPHICS, ANIMATION: Mark A. Janelle
+SUPPORT FILES: Jim Lund, Ron Cote
+SPECIAL THANKS TO: Recreational Software Designs, Computer Worx
+== Versions ==
+[[File:bcudaCorrupt.png|thumb|320px|The corruption of Mark A Janelle's ''Barracuda'']]
+''Barracuda'' was originally distributed as a set of archived files with an executable and some [[Deluxe Paint]] .ANM animations tacked onto the front end (along with some text-mode [[shareware]] nag messages). This version was relatively hard to pick apart. Some years later, Janelle offered the game up to [[RSD]] for distribution with the CD release of Game-Maker 3.0.
+[[File:BarracudaEarlyDiver.gif|center]]
+This version of ''Barracuda'' had many subtle changes: the diver sprite was swapped for a completely different and more fully animated one; a few background blocks were tweaked to rationalize collision issues; all the wrapper animations were removed; and somewhere along the way nearly all of the background block sets and maps became corrupted.
+The game would play fine, and would start normally enough. If you kept to the right areas of the right levels, nothing seemed all that amiss. Maybe the seas seemed a little lonely; weren't there fish in this game? If there are no threats, then why does the sub have weapons?
+For distribution here, the map files and the relevant background tiles have been extracted from the earlier version of ''Barracuda'' and substituted in the CD gameware edition.
+== Availability ==
+[[File:Bcuda1-2.png|thumb|320px|Level 1-2 of ''Barracuda'']]
+[[Mark A. Janelle|Janelle]] seems to have reached some sort of exclusive distribution deal with [[Recreational Software Designs | RSD]], as early copies of Game-Maker include the shareware version of ''Barracuda'' on an unlabeled stand-alone 5-1/4" floppy diskette. The later Game-Maker 3.0 CD release also includes the adjusted Gameware version of ''Barracuda'' (minus the intro, and with altered spritework) as a sample game.
+During the early 1990s the game was available for download from GameLynk's [[Frontline BBS]].
+The game is also available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:
+* Power User Software's '''[[:Category: So Much Shareware! Three|So Much Shareware! Three]]'''[[Category: So Much Shareware! Three]] (November 1993),
+* Chestnut Software's '''[[:Category: Deathstar Arcade Battles|Deathstar Arcade Battles]]'''[[Category: Deathstar Arcade Battles]] (1993),
+* Dr. CD-ROM's '''[[:Category: Dr. Shareware Gold|Dr. Shareware Gold]]'''[[Category: Dr. Shareware Gold]] (1993),
+* '''[[:Category: Micro Haus Black Box 5|Micro Haus Black Box #5]]'''[[Category: Micro Haus Black Box 5]] (1993),
+* Chicago Computer Broker's '''[[:Category: Games 1994|Games 1994]]'''[[Category: Games 1994]] (April 1994),
+* STG Computer Limited's '''[[:Category: Gamefest|Gamefest]]'''[[Category: Gamefest]] (August 1994),
+* '''[[:Category: 101 Games|101 Games]]'''[[Category: 101 Games]] (October 1994),
+* CMS Distributing's '''[[:Category: Ultimate Gameware CD-ROM|Ultimate Gameware CD-ROM]]'''[[Category: Ultimate Gameware CD-ROM]] (October 1994), and
+* From Super Oz Software's '''[[:Category: Sprint Games and Entertainment 6|Sprint Games and Entertainment 6]]'''[[Category: Sprint Games and Entertainment 6]] (February 1995).
+== Archive history ==
+''Barracuda'' was introduced to the archive with the purchase of Game-Maker 1.02 in September 1992.
+== Links ==
+<videoflash>NOGNx9EYyGw</videoflash> <videoflash>FwKylqnAzn0</videoflash>
+=== Interviews / Articles ===
+* [http://www.diygamer.com/2010/07/gamemaker-archive-part-11-mark-janelle/ Mark A. Janelle (DIYGamer)]
+=== Listings ===
+* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/barracuda-secret-mission-1 MobyGames entry]
+* [https://archive.org/details/BarracudaSecretMission1_1020 archive.org entry]
+* [http://demu.org/resource/BarracudaSecretMission1_1020 demu.org entry]
+* [http://www.squakenet.com/download/barracuda-secret-mission-1/17881/ Squakenet entry]
+* [http://www.myabandonware.com/game/barracuda-secret-mission-1-3vc My Abandonware entry]
+** "If you like naval, puzzle-solving, spy / espionage, download, install and enjoy"
+* [http://annarchive.com/dos_shareware.html Anna Anthropy's ⒶNNARCHIVE list]
+=== Misc. Links ===
-Once you reach an "X" on the map, the game switches to a side-scrolling procedural submarine section. You dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, and dive, and then scour the sea floor for a wreck to enter. Along the way your sub can shoot torpedoes, though I'm unsure at what. Maybe the game presents some hazards later on; I don't remember encountering any. This section is more of a slow-paced bit of exploration. Again, there's no faulting the presentation; if you ignore the tedium, it looks and feels great.
+* '''[http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/java/barracuda.php Play ''Barracuda'' online]'''
-Finally you arrive at a wreck, and the view shifts again. Now the game involves searching the wreck with a too-fragile diver. Health equates with air. If you get snagged on barbed wire and start to bleed out, you can find replacement air tanks to heal yourself. Makes as much sense as pork chops in a trash can, I guess.
+== Downloads ==
-Again the diver moves so, so slowly. And the areas inside the ships are enormous mazes. They don't seem to follow any particular engineering logic; they're just one murky corridor after another, everything looking pretty much the same. And then once you find what you're looking for, you need to make your way all the way back to the entrance. Which is... realistic.
+[[File:gamelynk.png|thumb|320px|You'd better register...]]
-I notice that I'm being sarcastic all throughout this entry. It's hard for me to avoid, as this game is so astoundingly dull. Yet it is one of the most important games in the Game-Maker library, and it's such an oddity that it's worth discussing.
+* '''''[http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/downloads/bcuda1.zip Barracuda: Secret Mission 1 (Shareware Edition)]''''' (307.2 kB)
+* '''''[http://www.aderack.com/game-maker/downloads/bcuda30.zip Barracuda: Secret Mission 1 (Gameware Edition)]''''' (180.7 kB)
+* [[Media:bcudaIntroMap.png|Cutscene intro map]] (7.5 kB)
+* [[Media:SeaChart.png|Sea Chart]] (26.9 kB)
+** [[Media:bcuda1-1.png|Level 1-1 map]] (19.9 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda1-2.png|Level 1-2 map]] (54.4 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda1-3.png|Level 1-3 map]] (18.1 kB)
+** [[Media:bcuda2-1.png|Level 2-1 map]] (16.3 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda2-2.png|Level 2-2 map]] (153.7 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda2-3.png|Level 2-3 map]] (29.2 kB)
+** [[Media:bcuda3-1.png|Level 3-1 map]] (17.6 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda3-2.png|Level 3-2 map]] (367.6 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda3-3.png|Level 3-3 map]] (133.8 kB)
+** [[Media:bcuda4-1.png|Level 4-1 map]] (16.8 kB)
+*** [[Media:bcuda4-2.png|Level 4-2 map]] (19.0 kB)
-Apparently the shareware episode of <em>Barracuda</em> has at least one sequel, <em>Secret Mission 2</em>. I've never seen it, and if it's more of the same then I think I'm set. The registration form also suggests a future <em>Mission 3</em>, though I'm unsure if that came to pass.
+[[Category: Game-Maker games|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Shareware|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Demo games|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Mark A. Janelle|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Nonlinear|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Varied perspective|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Sims|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: In-game cinematics|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Experimental|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Old discoveries|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Game-Maker 3.0 CD|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Frontline BBS|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Barracuda series|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Eponymous titles|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Complete games|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Compilation CD-ROMs|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: Maine|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: United States|Barracuda 1]]
+[[Category: DIYGamer]]

Difference between revisions of "Barracuda: Secret Mission 1"

Latest revision as of 05:21, 6 August 2017

Contents

Story

Instructions

Credits

Versions

Availability

Archive history

Links

Interviews / Articles

Listings

Misc. Links

Downloads

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