HesWare (Human Engineered Software) Games

Aggressor

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1982

Aggressor (Andes Attack in Europe) is a Defender clone by Jeff Minter. In true Minter fashion, instead of the original's humans, you are out to rescue llamas which are under attack by the aliens. The player patrols the two-way scrolling landscape waiting for marauding aliens trying to abduct the llamas. You have to destroy the aliens before they manage to whisk away your precious camelid, if they manage to get them to the top of the screen they mutate into horrors that will come after you, resulting in a fatal collision. Each surviving Llama gives you a bonus at the end of each stage. You have three lives in your quest, and the aliens shoot back. Each time you get hit by an alien, an alien shot or a rampaging llama you lose a life. Once all lives are spent, the game is over.

Air Rallye

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Created by SoftEdge Software and released by HesWare in 1984 this flying air rally game allows creations and saving of own maps or use of computer generated rally point maps. In the simplest of these courses, start at one end, hit the midpoint and make your way to and around the endpoint and back as quickly as possible. Watch your gauges, the RPM, altitude and heading. Instruction mode helps you know then you need to fix these settings and use of the map will show you where you are in relation to the checkpoints and turn points. Any game you walk away from is a good game!

Attack of the Mutant Camels

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1983

Attack of the Mutant Camels (better known as Matrix: Gridrunner 2 in Europe) is the sequel to Gridrunner. In this Centipede style game you play a retired captain of a starship, one of those who had won the previous war against aliens. You come out of retirement because the aliens are back, tougher than ever. Thus a second gridwar begins. You pilot your ship and shoot at chains of pods coming at you. As you hit the pods, they break into smaller independent chains. The aliens seem to have a sense of humor, though. Each pod in the chain coming at you looks like a...camel. Flying camels from outer space. As you start shooting the camels, you are attacked by guns from the bottom of the screen and from the left side of the screen. Even worse, a human traitor has joined the aliens, and when he appears on the screen, running across the grid on top, the guns get very accurate at shooting you. Luckily you can shoot traitors. Other twists include deflectors, which turn your bullets and even ricochet them back at you. The enemy fires back too. And as you advance in level, the enemy changes the direction of their attack. Not to be confused with Advance of the Megacamel which is also called Attack of the Mutant Camels in Europe.

Bravo!

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Bravo! is an educational music game for the Commodore 64 computer developed by Passport Designs and published by HesWare in 1984.

Cell Defense

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

An education game based on a cellular science simulation and biology properties.

Double Dragon (Ocean)

Commodore 64 - Released - 1992

Set in a post-apocalyptic New York, Double Dragon is the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, twin brothers trained in the fighting style of Sou-Setsu-Ken. Together, they manage a small martial arts training school, teaching their students in self-defense. One day, Billy's girlfriend, Marian, is kidnapped off the street by the "Black Warriors", a savage street gang led by a man named Willy. The Black Warriors demand the Lee brothers disclose their martial arts secrets in exchange for Marian's freedom. The Lee brothers set out on a rescue mission to crush the Black Warriors and save Marian. Using whatever techniques they have at their disposal, from the basic punches and kicks to the invulnerable elbow strike, as well any weapon that comes into their hands, the Lee brothers must pursue the gang through the city slum, industrial area and the forest before reaching their hideout to confront the big boss, Willy. This is the Ocean version from 1992. Unlike the Virgin/Melbourne House version from 1987, this version only supports one player as it was originally designed for the failed C64GS games console.

Dynamite Skier

Commodore 64 - Released - 1982

A slalom skiing game coded by Gunter Koch and published by HesWare in 1982.

FaceMaker

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1983

Everyone's mothers always say "Don't make those faces! They'll stay like that!" But now you have the chance to make the silliest looking faces anyone's ever seen! Choose from a wide assortment of eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. Then make your newly created faces blink, wiggle their ears, wink, or razz you. You can even play a "Simon Says.." type game where your face will do some kind of action and you have to follow along!

Ghost Manor

Atari 2600 - Released - 1983

Your friend is trapped inside Ghost Manor! There are five different screens you need to get past before you can rescue your friend from the top floor of the manor. The game begins in the graveyard outside the manor; here you play tag with a friendly rainbow ghost or skeleton which will supply you with spears you can fire at enemies. In the second screen, you approach the guarded entrance of the manor. Using the spears you collected, you need to shoot all of the enemies blocking the entrance. The third and fourth screens take place inside the manor; each floor has a set of stairs as well as several treasures and crosses which can be collected. There is a moving wall on each of these floors which is deadly to the touch, so be careful! The final screen is the top floor of the manor where your friend is being held captive. Dracula guards this floor, and using the crosses you collected earlier you need to repel him into a prison and free your friend. To make the game more challenging, there is a time limit; you must complete all of this in four minutes or less! You can play the game as either a boy or a girl, and four different skill levels are available.

Ghost Manor

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Gridrunner

Commodore 64 - Released - 1982

This is an arcade game in the style of Centipede. You control a ship, at the bottom of a grid. Moving toward you in a zig-zag is a chain of pods. The object is to shoot them before they get the ship. As the pods are shot, the dead pod remains on the screen, as a blocker to your bullets. The live pods on either side form two new chains, both moving toward you. Further complicating the game are two guns outside the grid, shooting at your ship from beneath and from your left side. You are able to move into the grid, toward the pod-chain, to avoid the guns. The combination puts pressure on you, from front, back and the side.

Gridrunner

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - January 1, 1982

The game is similar to the Atari game Centipede, in which the player controls a green ship, the Gridrunner, at the bottom and shoots at enemies which zigzag down from the top. The player must also avoid pulses emitted by the X-Y zappers which patrol the edges of the grid. The game has twenty waves of enemies to complete. The player controls a small, constantly firing, ship that can be steered around the whole of the playfield with swipes of the iOS touchscreen. Various enemies appear on the playfield and will attack the player's ship. The game is divided into a number of levels (or grids) with set patterns of enemy attack on each grid. At the end of each level a bonus life is awarded and the next grid begins. To aid the player shooting certain enemies will release spinning coloured disks that increase the player's attacking powers, these power-ups are short-lived but collecting multiple disks will increase the potency and/or duration of the power-up. More enemy types are introduced as the player moves through the levels of the game, enemies also become more dangerous as the game progresses. The game can be played in Pure or Casual mode. In Pure mode the player has to start at the first level and progress through each level consecutively until all his lives are lost, after level 4 and every 4th level thereafter the game will create a save point. In Casual mode the player can resume the game at any of the save points he has created when playing in Pure mode with his score and lives set to his best performance at that point. Pure and Casual modes have separate high score tables.

Gridrunner II: Attack of the Mutant Camels

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Gridrunner II: Attack of the Mutant Camels (also known as Matrix) is the sequel to Gridrunner. In this Centipede style game you play a retired captain of a starship, one of those who had won the previous war against aliens. You come out of retirement because the aliens are back, tougher than ever. Thus a second gridwar begins. You pilot your ship and shoot at chains of pods coming at you. As you hit the pods, they break into smaller independent chains. The aliens seem to have a sense of humor, though. Each pod in the chain coming at you looks like a...camel. Flying camels from outer space. As you start shooting the camels, you are attacked by guns from the bottom of the screen and from the left side of the screen. Even worse, a human traitor has joined the aliens, and when he appears on the screen, running across the grid on top, the guns get very accurate at shooting you. Luckily you can shoot traitors. Other twists include deflectors, which turn your bullets and even ricochet them back at you. The enemy fires back too. And as you advance in level, the enemy changes the direction of their attack.

HES Games

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

HesGames

Apple II - Released - February 20, 1984

Six different track and field disciplines are recreated in this multi-event sports simulation. Up to six human players can take them on.You can replay each attempt, or watch simulated recording of the world record distances and speeds of the day, for training purposes. 100m sprint and 110m hurdles have a similar joystick waggling technique, but time the jumps over the hurdles accurately. The long jump is also waggling-based, with the joystick being pushed up to launch the jump and ensure a correct landing. In diving you can choose the jump to attempt, with more difficult ones worth more points if you get it right. In archery you shoot at four circles of differing distances several times, aiming to get as close to the centre as possible. This is done by holding down fire to prepare the arrow, and push down to release the bow. Weightlifting involves the snatch and clean-and-jerk phases, with the latter involving more joystick presses to keep the weights under control. It was originally developed by 3-2-1 Software for the C64 . It was later upgraded by Michael Crick and released in the UK by Americana as Go For The Gold (#1 hit September 1986) and in the US by COSMI CORP under the label Celery Software. The US title, World Games, was changed to Gold Medal Games to avoid confusion with an Epyx product also called World Games. It was developed by Softedge Software for the Apple II. The Apple II version has digitized voice.

Laser Zone

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - January 1, 1983

One of Jeff Minter's early eighties shoot'em'ups in his typical frantical style, Laser Zone has you controlling not one, but two "zone gunners" in a constrained playfield. Controlled with only one joystick, you move one zone gunner on a vertical wall and one at the bottom. Wave upon wave of nasties come into the zone, and must be shot down before they reach either wall, where neither gun can reach them and they advance toward you. You can try to escape perpetually, since your movements wrap around the screen borders, at least until another enemy has reached your wall, but it is better to use up one of your electro bolts that will erase everything on the screen.

Lazer Zone

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Maze Master

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

In Maze Master you create a party of three characters, each either a Warrior or a Wizard and venture into the labyrinth to defeat monsters, gain experience and ultimately confront the Balrog. Initially you start outside the maze, where you can create your party and purchase equipment. Once equipped you enter the maze which is presented as a 3D wireframe. Control can be either via keyboard or joystick. It is recommended to map the maze on graph paper in order to be able to make your way back to the exit. As you explore the maze you will encounter various monsters including dwarves, goblins and rogues. As you descend farther down into the levels of the maze, harder monsters will appear. You must also look for clues as to how to get past the Balrog's mystical aura which prevents entry into the lowest level of the maze. Defeating monsters will provide gold and experience. You can purchase better weapons and armor as well as magic items with gold. Experience increases the power of your party members. An early game from Michael Cranford (the creator of The Bard's Tale series)

Minnesota Fats Pool Challenge

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Minnesota Fats' Pool Challenge a.k.a. Hustler is an overhead pool table view allowing one or two players to shoot six different configurations of pocket pool, or billiards, for score. The game requires a joystick and key commands to Shoot, break, or bank cue ball shots against an opponent, or the table. The six play templates are as follows: 1. One player, any ball, any pocket. 2. One player, balls in order. 3. One player, ball in specific pocket. 4. Two player, Score the pockets. 5. Two player, Mini Pool. 6. Two player,lowest and highest numbered ball.

Mosquito Infestation

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1982

In Mosquito Infestation you have to keep mosquitos away from an arm and a hand by spraying them. The spray might get empty at the time, but you can refill it at the middle of the top. You lose the game once the blood pressure goes to 0.

Mr. TNT

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Mr. TNT is an arcade game where the player controls the titular blobby character. The game is played on a grid and the player's objective is to collect sixteen stockpiles of dynamite. Lit fuses are also moving across the grid and the player has to avoid touching these or he will explode. The grid is removed as the player or the fuses move across it which means the player can't turn around and move in the opposite direction. It also means that he has to plan his movements to avoid reaching a dead end. The same is true for the fuses who will burn out when reaching a dead end. A level is cleared when the player has collected all the dynamite or when all fuses have been burned out. The player then moves on to another level with a different grid layout. Points are earned by picking up dynamite and for crossing grid junctions.

M-ss-ng L-nks

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

H_re'_ a _uzzle t_hat c_alleng_s yo_ _o re_d wo_ds a_d l_tte_s th_t ar_ n_t t_ere! Think you can do it? Good luck. o play, you reconstruct the passage by Filling in the missing letters, one-by-one. You win by filling in the most blanks with the fewest misses. Your guesses are based upon your built-in sense of language, your feeling for how letters make up words and words make up sentences. As the pas- Sage unfolds, you gain more clues for your next guesses. The computer lets you vary the level of difficulty for each passage from omitting some of the letters to omitting all of the letters. Try it. You'll be surprised how much you know. You can select passages from some of the classics of children’s literature including My Side of the Mountain; The Wind in the Willows; From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; The Cricket in Times Square; Shadow of a Bull; The Secret Garden, Little House in the Big Woods; and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Oubliette

MS-DOS - Released - 1983

Oubliette is one of the earliest party-based role-playing games. It is an open-ended hack-and-slash through a multilevel dungeon with a party of 1-6 characters, chosen from possible classes including Fighters, Priests and Thieves. They will gain experience, jewelry and armor as the adventure progresses, but they will also age and may eventually die. Spells are triggered through typing their activation codes. The party can be changed before every trip to the dungeon by dropping off / picking up characters from the local tavern.

Project: Space Station

Commodore 64 - Released - 1985

Project: Space Station casts the player into the role of a NASA Administrator, charged with the task of designing and building a space station. The project will span 15 years, during which time the player must plan shuttle launches, recruit personnel, manage the budget, conduct research and development and, of course, design and build the station. A very deep and involved game for such an early effort. Project Space Station is a game published in 1985 by HESware, originally written for the Commodore 64 home computer, then ported out to both the Apple II series and PC compatibles.

Retro Ball

Commodore 64 - Released - 1982

Retro Ball is a 2-player only competitive air hockey game. Each player controls the respective paddle on their side, and can use it to push the puck around the air hockey table. A point is scored when the puck is placed in the opposing team's net. At the beginning of each game, there is a toss-up to see who goes first. This is repeated if the puck becomes stuck on the center-line. Each game is timed, with the goal to outscore the other player. Players can choose from a fast or slow puck, to change game speed.

Robot Panic

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1982

It is the year 6502 and Earth is being attacked by the vicious Grydlocks, which are being commanded by the Draknoids. You are the last drone robot on the innershield defense of Earth. Your goal is to destroy as many of the enemies as possible and hopefully save Earth!

Rootin' Tootin'

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Rootin' Tootin' is a musical instrument themed game similar to Pac-Man. You play as a tuba that moves about a maze of vertical and horizontal staves collecting musical notes. In pursuit is the rest of the orchestra, which may consist of modified versions of guitars, cymbals, triangles and pianos. There are cymbombs which occasionally drop additional notes, triens which drop deadly pauses, madphones which shoot sonic blasts and pianahs which relentlessly chase you and are not confined to the staves. But you are not defenseless against this musical menagerie. As you collect a musical note, it shoots away from you and will knock out any instruments in its flight path. You also have the ability to turn insubstantial for a couple of seconds, during which time you cannot pick up notes but you also cannot be hurt by the other instruments. During play, bonuses will sometimes appear. These can temporarily turn all enemy instruments into stationary treble clefs, which can be collected for bonus points. Once all of the notes in the maze have been collected, a new level with a different maze layout starts.

Shamus

Commodore VIC-20 - Released - 1982

Infiltrate the lair of the elusive Shadow, shoot and sneak your way through his army of robotic minions, and hunt him down before he does the same to you. Starring in the titular role of Shamus, you will have to find your way through over 120 rooms in this cross between Berzerk's "robots in a maze" action and Adventure's exploration of a predefined game world. The elusive villain's henchmen will express their disapproval of your plans in rather strong terms, namely with showers of bullets. What's more, once they're dead they don't necessarily stay that way: each time a room is re-entered, a random selection of them will respawn. The Shadow has also arranged for electrified walls throughout his compound, so bumping into them will prove quite lethal. The labyrinth of chambers is divided into four levels, with multiple locked doors that'll have you wandering around in search of the right keys. If you tarry too long in the same room, a bulletproof Shadow (taking a page from Evil Otto's book) will drop by to discourage loitering.

Spike's Peak

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Spike's Peak is an action game where you need to climb to the top of a mountain! Gameplay takes place on five different screens. The first screen shows you approaching the mountain; you begin here each time you start a game or lose a life. All you need to do is walk up the path to begin the stage you've reached so far. Flags by the path indicate how many lives you have left. The next screen is a zig zag path through meadows at the base of the mountain. Beware of the deadly bears and eagles here! Along the path are several caves which you can hide in when a bear or eagle appears (you can also jump over bears). The caves are cold, however, and you have a limited amount of time to hide before freezing to death. Make it to the top of the path, and you begin the next screen. Here you climb up a rocky ledge. Boulders and falling pieces of rock constantly appear and can knock you back down the screen. Next is the icy cap of the mountain. Climb up to the top without being knocked down by avalanches or getting caught by the abominable snowman. The last screen takes place at the mountain summit where you need to climb to the top and plant a flag before freezing! Complete all of these screens and you win the game. There are four different difficulty levels available. Released as part of "Double-Ender" game pack together with "Ghost Manor".

Sumo Wrestlers

Commodore 64 - Released - 1985

A typing education game where you move your Sumo wrestler forward by typing the correct letters as quickly as possible. Published in Italy as Lotta Sumo in Formula 64 n.5 and Play on tape Nuova serie - Sport Simulator 3.

Super Zaxxon (HesWare)

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Radio Elettronica & Computer 1987/04 (Anno XVI Numero 4). Hesware's C64 license deal was the result of a scheme by one of SEGA's own lawyers, Robert Crane. After having sublicensed Zaxxon to Synapse using his position at SEGA through his own company Universal Licensing, he tried something similar for Super Zaxxon. However, the emerging copyright issues and Crane being laid off at SEGA in January 1984 soon caused complications. At one point, Crane signed with two different pseudonyms for Universal. Eventually, the whole thing blew up. Paramount's (SEGA's parent company) deputy general counsel and senior president Joshua Wattles later testified that Paramount paid HES $200,000 in exchange for withholding Super Zaxxon so Synapse could market Zaxxon first. Super Zaxxon is a three-quarter perspective, space shooter style game. You must first go over a base on an asteroid. Things located on this base include gun implacements, fuel tanks, radar stations, missiles, and fighters. After you successfully navigate this base, you will go through a tunnel to tangle with enemy fighters, mine layers, and mines. You then will have to navigate through a series of barriers on another asteroid in order to take on the Super Zaxxon's, the enemy robot dragons.

The Factory

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

The Factory is an educational game, designed to introduce young children to the ideas behind programming. The player is prompted with a rectangular plate, decorated with stripes and holes arrayed at various angles. They then need to design a factory production line consisting of a step-by-step set of processes that arrive at the desired pattern. Each step is performed by a machine that either Stripes, Punches or Rotates an initially plain plate. After choosing the machines, the manufacturing process is simulated, and the resulting plate is compared with the starting specification. Except for the Atari port, there are three levels of difficulty. The easiest levels require only two or three machines to be placed in order to create the desired patterns. The hardest levels may require up to eight machines. In addition to solving problems generated by the computer, there is an option which allows you to create your own patterns, and challenge someone else to recreate it. There is also a free-form mode.

The Pit

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

The Pit is an arcade action game where the player controls an astronaut-explorer on an alien planet. The object of this game is to dig down to the bottom pit and collect at least one large jewel and then return to the spaceship through the upper pit. The game starts with the player's spaceship landing in the top left and an enemy tank and monsters enter from the top right. The player must dig through a series of underground tunnels, while avoiding monsters and falling rocks. When the player reaches the bottom pit, arrows start falling down. After collecting at least one large jewel the player must return to the spaceship. Players get 3 lives but losing a life essentially starts a new game, as all collected jewels are restored and new tunnels are erased. The area is laid out in such a way that the player must always return through the upper pit which is filled with acid. When entering the upper pit, the orange platform starts collapsing so the player must quickly run across to the exit. The tank in the top right essentially acts as a timer. It shoots through the mountain eventually destroying the spaceship. The player loses a life when the spaceship is destroyed. The player moves slower when digging through dirt compared to walking through already digged out tunnels. To dig through the dirt the player must be aligned up perfectly, making some moves tricky to perform. This is especially noticeable when trying to move into a sideways tunnel to avoid an enemy, or when exiting the bottom pit. The player can shoot a laser to destroy monsters, but he can only shoot horizontally, he can't shoot up or down.

Tri-Math

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Three super math games - take your pick! A hungry space invader...a batty haunted house...even a "Digitosaurus".

Turtle Toyland Jr.

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

This game creates a world for young children can explore color, music, and creativity guide by a kindly Turtle. Using their joysticks they can manipulate color, and create their own art, and store it for later visit. There are also settings and other animals that the children can interact with artistically and musically.