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

    StaxX28

    3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2011–2025

    YouTube

    5:14 · 136K views · Apr 16, 2007

    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.

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    3 comments from Hacker News

    1. @danieldkApr 2011· 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

      CitesView on HN
    2. @keithnzApr 2021· 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.

      CitesView on HN
    3. @karmakazeJan 2025· 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)

      CitesView on HN