Star Wars (Nestoly)
Release type: Incomplete
Release date: 1995
Levels: 3
Author: Yurik Nestoly
Website: On Target Programming
Related games: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Not to be mistaken for Alan Caudel's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi or Return of the Jedi.
From the group of mutual associates sort of sometimes known as On Target Programming, there are at least three Game-Maker games based on Star Wars: two by Alan Caudel, one by Yurik Nestoly (also known as "Yurik Wars" -- keeping with his informal naming convention). Curiously, all three games are based on the third chronological film, Return of the Jedi. Nestoly doesn't go there with the title, but level two is still set on Endor.
All three of the games are quite short and incomplete. Two of the games involve a change of perspective and genre between levels; all three involve shooting. In principle, you probably could edit together all of their material and wind up with a superficially varied yet both thematically and conceptually consistent single game.
Nestoly's game starts with a top-down space shooter level, then transitions to a side-scrolling run-and-gun, with a trademark Nestoly micro-character (see Ninja, Stickman!!! Die). This means, as far as shooter levels go, one game has a side-scroller; one has an isometric level and a side-scroller; and one goes top-down. Looks like we've covered all the bases.
As top-down shooters go, this one isn't the most rigorously designed. You've got lasers; you need to get to the exit tile; the space in between is filled with zig-zagging enemy ships. Jam the attack button, and maybe hang to one side so that you only have to deal with zagging in one direction, and then wait until you get to the end.
Level two is far more interesting, with the micro-character adding quite a bit of charm and the limited attempt at a run-and-gun rather refreshing. You don't see many of those in this engine, and one wonders why not. A Contra or Ikari Warriors clone is certainly a better fit for Game-Maker than a scrolling space shooter, and it's a really neat hybrid genre. So, Nestoly didn't spend a bunch of time here but what is here still plays pretty well. Had the game been more fully developed, this feels like it would have been the meat of the design, with the space shooter element left to the occasional transition or bonus stage -- sort of a Guardian Legend deal.
As with the two Stickman games, here it's interesting to see two perspectives on the same game -- once again, between Nestoly and Caudel. What's interesting is just how much common ground they share. Their Endor scenes feature much the same material, just drawn a little differently. In one you go on foot; on the other, speeder bike. Here there's more commonality than in their other crossover project, to the point where it seems a waste that their games don't seem to share any resources. Between the two of them, this Star Wars tribute could have become something rather grand.
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|---|---|---|
| Return of the Jedi | Star Wars | Star Wars: Return of the Jedi |
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Story
N/A
Instructions
Stage one:
- Arrow keys: Fly ship in those directions
- Spacebar: Shoot
Stage two:
- 4/6 (on numerical keypad): Walk left/right
- 7/8/9 (on numerical keypad): Leap left/up/right
- Spacebar: Shoot
Credits
Designed by Yurik Nestoly.
Availability
This game is not known to have been distributed in any form, prior to its addition to the Archive.
Archive History
After an earlier wave of rediscoveries, on July 13 2011 Alan Caudel provided another archive of previously missing Game-Maker material, including the following:
Links
Downloads
- Star Wars (101 kB)
