Droidworks

GEC: Discuss gaming, computers and electronics and venture into the bizarre world of STGODs.

Moderator: Thanas

Post Reply
User avatar
SolarpunkFan
Jedi Knight
Posts: 586
Joined: 2016-02-28 08:15am

Droidworks

Post by SolarpunkFan »

The nostalgia posts in the Mass Effect: Andromeda thread reminded me to post a topic about my first computer game addiction: Droidworks!

All the way back in 1998, I was a kid in second grade who loved Star Wars and science. Imagine my excitement upon seeing a book catalog selling -among other things- a game that combined both!

Synopsis courtesy Wikipedia:
Star Wars: DroidWorks is a 1998 educational adventure video game, and the premiere edutainment title of LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning. It was built from the same engine as LucasArts' Star Wars: Jedi Knight. The creators aimed to make a program that appealed to both genders, and designed it to avoid violence. The release date was moved up by a number of months, resulting in the development team having to cut some of the game's features.

The game's plot involves the player saving the galaxy by manufacturing droids that can complete secret missions based on certain specifications such as the ability to see in the dark or to jump. These missions are where the educational properties come into play, as the missions puzzle specifies, it will teach the player about energy, force and motion, simple machines, light, and magnetism.
I played this thing for years, even after our Windows 98 machine died and we had to get a Windows XP machine. Though that was problematic as the game was designed only for a certain generation of processors, so playing on the XP caused a glitch where the droid would walk slowly if you didn't jump first, along with a few AV problems but none were crippling to gameplay.

The graphics aren't the best, but it was still fun as hell.

(Loud video ahead!)

Link (because the YouTube tags don't seem to like me).

There was one level I was never able to beat: the final level of the Maze of Darkness mission (seriously, that level was Nintendo Hard without cheat codes, fortunately the part provided upon completion isn't requisite for later missions). Link.

And there was a particularly fun piece of music in the game: link.

There are sites where you can still find this game, Google is your friend there. :wink:
Seeing current events as they are is wrecking me emotionally. So I say 'farewell' to this forum. For anyone who wonders.
Post Reply