Difference between revisions of "Ship"

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| status=Source code found and compiled, cartridge found and dumped
 
| status=Source code found and compiled, cartridge found and dumped
 
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'''''Ship''''' is an unreleased [[Sega Mega Drive]] game by [[Technopop]], notable for being distributed by [[Sega of America]] as sample code for the new system.
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'''''Ship''''', also known as '''''Visitors''''', is an unreleased [[Sega Mega Drive]] action game developed by [[Technopop]]. A basic clone of the early arcade game ''[[wikipedia:Spacewar!|Spacewar!]]'', it was commissioned by [[Sega of America]] for distribution to third-party developers as sample code for the then-new 16-bit hardware.
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Two very early builds of the game have been preserved - the first of which was compiled from source code unearthed by drx of Hidden-Palace.org on September 24, 2007 as part of a development kit for [[GEMS]],{{ref|https://hiddenpalace.org/Ship_(demo)}} and the second of which was dumped from an EPROM cartridge with a [[Sega of America]] visitor sticker sent to Modern Vintage Gamer on December 21, 2020. There are byte differences between both ROMs, but are otherwise the same game.
 
  
 
==Gameplay==
 
==Gameplay==
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Two ships fight with [[wiki:Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]-like controls and a toggleable shield, all while maneuvering against the gravitational pull of the star in the screen’s center. Numerous physics and gameplay features can be altered via the options screen, like the reversing the gravity or arming each player with infinite lives.
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Two ships fight with ''[[wiki:Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]''-like controls and a toggleable shield, all while maneuvering against the gravitational pull of the star in the screen’s center. Numerous physics and gameplay features can be altered via the options screen, like reversing the gravity or arming each player with infinite lives.
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
−
In the Fall of 1990, [[Technopop]] founder [[Randel Reiss]] was approached by [[Sega of America]]’s VP of Product Development [[Ken Balthaser]] about creating a sample game for the still-young [[Sega Genesis]] whose code could be distributed to interested developers. As Reiss was the first American outside of Sega to develop for the 16-bit platform, his experience could greatly aid in Sega of America’s kickstarting of the American game development market. Thankfully, he accepted.
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[[File:Ship MD cart alt.png|thumb|280px|The cartridge produced for ''Ship'', labelled with a standard [[Sega of America]] visitor's sticker.]]
 +
In the Fall of 1990, [[Technopop]] founder [[Randel Reiss]] was approached by [[Sega of America]]’s VP of Product Development [[Ken Balthaser]] about creating a sample game for the still-young Sega Genesis, whose code could be distributed to interested third-party developers. As Reiss would be the first American outside of Sega to develop for the 16-bit platform, his experience could greatly aid in Sega of America’s kickstarting of the American game development market. Thankfully, he accepted.
 +
 
 +
Choosing to recreate one of his favorite games - 1962’s ''[[wikipedia:Spacewar!|Spacewar!]]'' - his first challenge became addressing the significantly-limited [[Mega Drive]] technical documentation he was provided, and with only [[Technopop]]’s self-developed and rudimentary development tools at his disposal. In the span of only ten days, Reiss was able to fully program ''Ship'' with a Sega logo, title screen, detailed menus, sprite rotation and scaling, and two-player gameplay. The title screen was sourced from conceptual artist Gary Jones, and sound effects were created by Reiss verbalizing them into his computer’s microphone.
 +
 
 +
Upon its completion, a single cartridge of the game was produced. Originally housed in a blank Genesis cartridge, Reiss decided to humorously affix a spare Sega of America visitor's sticker to the cartridge - fitting so cleanly it appeared like a proper cartridge label. Due to this title, and in reference to Technopop’s frequent visits to Sega, Balthaser and others began calling the game '''''Visitors'''''. Its source code was soon purchased by Sega of America and distributed to third-party developers interested in making games for the Sega Genesis. It also saw distribution alongside numerous revisions of the company’s [[GEMS]] music driver.
 +
 
 +
Two copies of ''Ship'' have since been preserved. The first was compiled from the originally-distributed source code, unearthed by drx of Hidden-Palace.org on September 24, 2007 as part of the release of [[GEMS]] 2.5.{{ref|https://hiddenpalace.org/Ship_(demo)}} The second was dumped from the actual cartridge itself - discovered sometime in 2020 by Redditor executiveburrito{{ref|https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/jxw6xl/mystery_visitor_cartridge/}}, it eventually reached YouTuber [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFaPUcJU1vwk193mnW_w1w Modern Vintage Gamer] and was finally preserved on December 21, 2020 (with Randel Reiss himself confirming the cartridge’s authenticity).{{ref|1=https://youtu.be/UAJlqOANC0c}}
  
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Choosing to recreate one of his favorite games, 1962’s [[wiki:Spacewar!|Spacewar!]], and with extremely limited documentation of the console, Reiss was able to fully program ''Ship'' with a Sega logo, title screen, menus, sprite rotation and scaling, and two-player gameplay. Once completed, a single cartridge of the game was produced. Originally housed in a blank Sega Genesis cartridge, Reiss decided to humorously affix a Sega of America “VISITOR” sticker to the front of the cartridge and found it fit like an offical cartridge label.
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==Quotes==
 +
{{quote|The game is essentially a two-player Space War. I've always been a big fan of the original arcade game and had one of the arcade games for years. In Fall of 1990, Ken Balthaser Sr., the then VP of Development for Sega, asked me, as the first U.S. based licensed developer for the Genesis, if I could make a sample game for general distribution, in source form, to the growing development community on the Genesis. Given extremely limited documentation on the Genesis, I managed to code a fully functional 2-player game, Sega logo, title screen, text menus, sprite animation - scaling & rotation, collision, animated backgrounds, number of lives, sound effects, physics, and of course the game logic.
  
−
Sega purchased the source code from Reiss and distributed ''Ship'' as a sample game with development kits, one of which would be unearthed by drx in 2007.
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<br>
 +
The title screen uses conceptual artwork by Gary Jones - who did conceptual artwork for me on Spider-man and Zero Tolerance. When I brought the finished Ship game cartridge to Sega headquarters, I was handed yet another visitor sticker - having been on site dozens, and dozens, of times. As a joke, I stuck the visitor sticker on the cartridge and it fit like an official game label. Ever since the demo has had 2 names.
  
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The original cartridge was then sent to [[Piko Interactive]], and was later purchased as part of a larger auction lot by a man known as "John" in 2018. Around December 2020, John emailed Modern Vintage Gamer about the cartridge and sent the cartridge to him so it can be dumped. When contacted about it via email, Reiss confirmed that the cartridge was indeed his work, and was the only cartridge ever made of ''Ship''.{{ref|1=https://youtu.be/UAJlqOANC0c?t=408}}
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<br>
 +
Sega purchased the source code from me and Ship was distributed to every Sega Genesis developer as starting code for their games, for years.|''[[Randel Reiss]]''|ref={{ref|1=https://youtu.be/UAJlqOANC0c}}}}
  
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The title screen originated as conceptual artwork by [[Gary Jones]], who did similar work for ''[[Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin]]'' and ''[[Zero Tolerance]]''.
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==Production credits==
 +
{{creditstable|
 +
*'''Commissioned by:''' [[Ken Balthaser]]
 +
*'''Programming:''' [[Randel Reiss]]
 +
*'''Title Screen Artwork:''' Gary Jones
 +
| source=Developer statements
 +
| console=MD
 +
}}
  
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==ROM dump status==
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==Physical scans==
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{{romtable|
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{{Scanbox
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{{rom|MD|sha1=95bab798ecd769567300e1dddfbed3aeee206e87|md5=c63eb0b42c60f25fe1aa108debf0c8b4|crc32=4cdc9f16|size=128kB|source=Compiled source code|prototype=yes|file=Ship (prototype).7z}}
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| console=Mega Drive
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{{rom|MD|sha1=8983ef2a11529b89aebfbec9f22b9d934f8377fd|md5=96cd37d1c1458279e16d4e56ed199733|crc32=f30ba411|size=512kB|date=1990-05|source=EPROM cartridge|prototype=yes|file=Ship (cartridge dump).7z}}
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| item1=Ship MD cart front.png
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| item1name=Cart
 +
| item2=Ship MD cart back.png
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| item2name=Cart
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| item3=Ship MD pcb front.png
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| item3name=PCB (front)
 +
| item4=Ship MD pcb back.png
 +
| item4name=PCB (rear)
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
==Technical information==
 +
{{mainArticle|{{PAGENAME}}/Technical information}}
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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*[https://hiddenpalace.org/Ship_(demo) Hidden palace release page] (source code version)
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*''[https://hiddenpalace.org/Ship_(demo) {{PAGENAME}}]'' release page at [https://hiddenpalace.org Hidden Palace]
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*{{LinkYoutube|video=UAJlqOANC0c|title=Video about the cartridge by Modern Vintage Gamer}}
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*''{{LinkYoutube|video=UAJlqOANC0c|title=I dumped a one of a kind Mystery SEGA Genesis Cartridge}}'' video essay by [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFaPUcJU1vwk193mnW_w1w Modern Vintage Gamer] at [https://www.youtube.com YouTube]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Latest revision as of 04:11, 4 June 2023

Ship Title.png

Ship
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Technopop
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1-2
Status of prototype(s): Source code found and compiled, cartridge found and dumped
Sound driver: GEMS

Ship, also known as Visitors, is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive action game developed by Technopop. A basic clone of the early arcade game Spacewar!, it was commissioned by Sega of America for distribution to third-party developers as sample code for the then-new 16-bit hardware.

Gameplay

Two ships fight with Asteroids-like controls and a toggleable shield, all while maneuvering against the gravitational pull of the star in the screen’s center. Numerous physics and gameplay features can be altered via the options screen, like reversing the gravity or arming each player with infinite lives.

History

The cartridge produced for Ship, labelled with a standard Sega of America visitor's sticker.

In the Fall of 1990, Technopop founder Randel Reiss was approached by Sega of America’s VP of Product Development Ken Balthaser about creating a sample game for the still-young Sega Genesis, whose code could be distributed to interested third-party developers. As Reiss would be the first American outside of Sega to develop for the 16-bit platform, his experience could greatly aid in Sega of America’s kickstarting of the American game development market. Thankfully, he accepted.

Choosing to recreate one of his favorite games - 1962’s Spacewar! - his first challenge became addressing the significantly-limited Mega Drive technical documentation he was provided, and with only Technopop’s self-developed and rudimentary development tools at his disposal. In the span of only ten days, Reiss was able to fully program Ship with a Sega logo, title screen, detailed menus, sprite rotation and scaling, and two-player gameplay. The title screen was sourced from conceptual artist Gary Jones, and sound effects were created by Reiss verbalizing them into his computer’s microphone.

Upon its completion, a single cartridge of the game was produced. Originally housed in a blank Genesis cartridge, Reiss decided to humorously affix a spare Sega of America visitor's sticker to the cartridge - fitting so cleanly it appeared like a proper cartridge label. Due to this title, and in reference to Technopop’s frequent visits to Sega, Balthaser and others began calling the game Visitors. Its source code was soon purchased by Sega of America and distributed to third-party developers interested in making games for the Sega Genesis. It also saw distribution alongside numerous revisions of the company’s GEMS music driver.

Two copies of Ship have since been preserved. The first was compiled from the originally-distributed source code, unearthed by drx of Hidden-Palace.org on September 24, 2007 as part of the release of GEMS 2.5.[1] The second was dumped from the actual cartridge itself - discovered sometime in 2020 by Redditor executiveburrito[2], it eventually reached YouTuber Modern Vintage Gamer and was finally preserved on December 21, 2020 (with Randel Reiss himself confirming the cartridge’s authenticity).[3]

Quotes

“ The game is essentially a two-player Space War. I've always been a big fan of the original arcade game and had one of the arcade games for years. In Fall of 1990, Ken Balthaser Sr., the then VP of Development for Sega, asked me, as the first U.S. based licensed developer for the Genesis, if I could make a sample game for general distribution, in source form, to the growing development community on the Genesis. Given extremely limited documentation on the Genesis, I managed to code a fully functional 2-player game, Sega logo, title screen, text menus, sprite animation - scaling & rotation, collision, animated backgrounds, number of lives, sound effects, physics, and of course the game logic.


The title screen uses conceptual artwork by Gary Jones - who did conceptual artwork for me on Spider-man and Zero Tolerance. When I brought the finished Ship game cartridge to Sega headquarters, I was handed yet another visitor sticker - having been on site dozens, and dozens, of times. As a joke, I stuck the visitor sticker on the cartridge and it fit like an official game label. Ever since the demo has had 2 names.


Sega purchased the source code from me and Ship was distributed to every Sega Genesis developer as starting code for their games, for years.

„

— Randel Reiss[3]


Production credits

Source:
Developer statements


Physical scans

Mega Drive,

Ship MD cart front.png
Cart
Ship MD cart back.png
Cart
Ship MD pcb front.png
PCB (front)
Ship MD pcb back.png
PCB (rear)

Technical information

Main article: Ship/Technical information.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Hidden Palace: Ship (demo)
  2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/jxw6xl/mystery_visitor_cartridge/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://youtu.be/UAJlqOANC0c
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