Dung Beetles (video game)

Screenshot of the Color Computer version of the game, Mega-Bug.

Dung Beetles is an Apple II computer game by Bob Bishop,^[1] released in 1982 by Datasoft. It was ported to the TRS-80 Color Computer, where it was distributed by Tandy. On the Color Computer, it was renamed Mega-Bug; however, some copies were sold as Dung Beetles. Later versions for both the Apple II and Atari were named Tumble Bugs. In Australia, the game was re-branded Bug Attack.

The game concept and gameplay are based on Pac-Man, but features a much larger maze and a moving "magnifying rectangle" which makes it easier to see graphic detail of the main character and the opponents, but also obscures a small area of the map near the main character, making short- to medium-range navigation more difficult. In addition, whenever the main character passes through a part of the maze, it leaves a trail of dung. When a dung beetle finds this dung, it eats it and follows the trail; however, if the trail branches, or it encounters a point along the trail, it picks at random which branch to follow, thereby giving the player a 50% to 66 2/3% chance of losing the pursuer. The player can back-track over his own trail (often necessary as the map can contain dead ends) creating false leads for his pursuers.

Whenever the player was caught, the game plays a digitized voice saying, "We Gotcha!" This is the only use of voice in the game, and was a novelty, as the Apple II speaker is only able to emit a click. Programmers clicked the speaker rapidly to produce any sound — the typical Apple II game made only monotone beeps and clicks. Programming the game to play back an audio sample, using only a clicking speaker, was an interesting technical accomplishment, shared with another 1982 Apple II game, Sea Dragon, as well as 1981's Castle Wolfenstein and 1984's Beyond Castle Wolfenstein.

References

1. ^ http://bob-bishop.awardspace.com/softlist.html List of software by Bob Bishop

External links

• Mega-Bug from NitrOS9.LCURTISBOYLE.COM
• Play Dung Beetles online