1989 · Maze · Science

Hlípa

1989 video game

Released: 1989
Platforms: Sharp MZ PMD 85 Atari ST
Genres: Maze Science
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Composers: Jean-Michel Jarre

About

Hlípa is a 1989 video game, developed by two developers from Prague. It is a maze game, and is considered to be the most complex game for the PMD 85. The game was later ported to the Atari ST and the Sharp MZ.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

The game follows a member of Hlípa nation. Hlípas are some kind of amoeba. Their homeworld is a planet Danepa. They have to face another nation – Sivrams.

There are two kinds of Sivrams. The first ones are not very smart but working Falmons while the other ones are intelligent but moveless Ploxons. If a Falmon touch Hlípa, he dries his body and kills him. On the other hand, if Hlípa touches Ploxon he breaks up.

Development

The game was created in 1989 by Karel Šuhajda. The idea of the game came from a discussion with his girlfriend in which he mentioned a word Hlípa as a possibility to be a shortening of words hlídané parkoviště (guarded parking). He later realised that Hlípa could be some kind of amoeba. He decided to make a game about this creature.

As an inspiration he had his older game 3D-Mikrotron and Knight Lore. He was helped by his friend Tomáš Švec who made a design of the game world consisting of 256 areas. Šuhajda created the programming and wrote a story. The game was programmed in DAM Assembler.