Non-Profit Commercial

From the author of Qwak (which appeared on Superior Software's Play It Again Sam 10 compilation in 1989) comes a classic shoot 'em up inspired by Tekhan/Tecmo's Star Force and in the style of Namco's classic arcade game, Galaga.

Even though it actually pre-dates the BBC version of Qwak by roughly 1 or 2 years, Zap had never been published until it was released by Retro Software at the Retro Computer Museum Open Day on May 31st 2009.

Discuss Zap

Zap! is a blue label Retro Software title. Formats, price and ordering details are available on the Pricing Structure page.

Note: the emulator CD-ROMs are not yet available but, until they are, anyone ordering one of the other physical releases can request an emulator image to be emailed to them, when placing their order

The year is 2204 ...

The century-long wars between the Earth and the invading Dark Empire are coming to an end.

The Earth is almost certain to perish - you are the last resort.

It is your job to ZAP everything.

Z - Left

X - Right

: - Up

? - Down

RETURN - Fire

SPACE - Start Game

Programming: Jamie Woodhouse

Cover Art/Loading Screen: Kecske Bak (Dave Jeffery)

Release Preparation: Tom Walker & Bill Carr

From Jamie Woodhouse:

I developed Zap maybe a year before the BBC version of Qwak, so I'd date it around 1987-88. It was the 2nd shoot-em-up I developed for the Beeb, the first being a sideways 'bulletfest-in-space' by the name of Darkside.

As far as I recall, I only submitted it to Superior Software, who for whatever reason didn't want to publish. The game would have been largely inspired by the arcade shoot-em-up, Star Force; which I used to play a lot back when I was in college.

Star Force had a scrolling background and you could shoot out buildings and installations, but I couldn't figure out how to do vertical scrolling on the Beeb; so in Zap, there's just a bunch of stars. Some of the attack patterns on the alien ships are very much inspired by Star Force, but a lot of them I made up myself, too.

To read about the other games I’ve written (such as Qwak, Nitro and ATR) please visit the softography on my homepage: www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk.

A new version of Qwak is now available for the PC, at www.qwak.co.uk.

{{#ev:dailymotion|k70rlvhOXDNg1WSheX}} Posted: Jan 29, 2009

The reason the you can't see the player's ship at the start of this video, is because it's flashing on and off (to signify that you can't be hit), only it flashes on and off every other frame; and the video recording setup I used, only captures every other frame; so viola! A black nothing where your ship should be.

 Title screen Posted: Jan 29, 2009	 In-game 1 Posted: Jan 29, 2009
[[Image:Zap2.png|375px|'In-game 2 Posted: Jan 29, 2009]] In-game 2' Posted: Jan 29, 2009	[[Image:Zap3.png|375px|'In-game 3 Posted: Jan 29, 2009]] In-game 3' Posted: Jan 29, 2009

 Inlay for BBC Micro Cassette version (front) Posted: Jun 6, 2009	 Inlay for BBC Micro Cassette version (back) Posted: Jun 6, 2009
 Media for BBC Micro Cassette version Posted: Jun 6, 2009	 Inlay for BBC Micro 5.25" Disc version (front) Posted: Jun 6, 2009
 Inlay for BBC Micro 5.25" Disc version (back) Posted: Jun 6, 2009	 Media for BBC Micro 5.25" Disc version Posted: Jun 6, 2009
 Inlay for Master Compact 3.5" Disc version (front) Posted: Jun 6, 2009	 Inlay for Master Compact 3.5" Disc version (back) Posted: Jun 6, 2009
 Media for Master Compact 3.5" Disc version Posted: Jun 6, 2009

Feedback from Anthony Foulkes:

'"The postie has just delivered a parcel from the super fast despatch office of Retro Software ... it took me right back to the long ago days when I would save my paper round money, swap the cash for one of my Dad's cheques, post it off and then wait and wait for the game to finally arrive. ' Isn't it amazing that holding a real disc with real packaging feels a thousand times better than downloading an image file. True retro!

Zap is really very good indeed, so thanks again to all involved in its release."

Feedback from Greg Cook:

"I am now the proud owner of tape no. 10. I agree a physical copy to have and to hold is nicer. Especially for a SHMUP on tape, the loading is part of the experience! In this case I'm catching up on the games-buying I didn't get to do before!

The graphics are rich and very smooth, a lot better than I was anticipating. You do have to watch that the enemies don't get level with you as they are fond of launching sideways mines that wipe you out!

Thanks again [to] everyone involved!"