Earth Orbit Stations

E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations is a space station construction and management simulation game developed by Karl Buiter,[1] with Joe Ybarra as producer, for Electronic Arts. It was released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1987.

E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Designer(s)Karl Buiter[1]
Platform(s)Apple II, Commodore 64
Release1987
Genre(s)Simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The game focuses on both the material and economic challenges of building a permanent, fully functioning space station in geocentric orbit.

The game was set in 1996, and the player is given various selected scenarios to fulfill, from mundane tasks such as setting up a simple space station to developing and supplying a specified amount of high-grade, zero G pharmaceuticals to being the first to contact alien life. The game also is a cutthroat strategy game in multiplayer, as players compete over finite resources and resource management.

Reception

Computer Gaming World in 1987 gave the game a mixed review. While the single-player portion was praised, the review felt the game had too high a learning curve to be really suitable for multiplayer. The user interface was particularly bothersome, described as "a textbook case of how not to design a window/menu/graphics interface." The documentation was similarly described as poorly organized and cryptic.[2] In 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two-plus stars of five, calling it "An interesting failure ... the logistics just are not that much fun".[3][4] Compute! reviewed the game more favorably, stating that "EOS offers a level of challenge unusual in space-related software. To succeed at this game requires careful thought".[5]

gollark: > Description: SCP-2339 is the collective designation for an anomalously large Bombus terrestris (buff-tailed bumblebee) nest and the bees residing within. SCP-2339-1 is the nest itself, measuring nearly 32m across. In comparison, a standard European bumblebee nest has a maximum capacity of 400 bees, and is far smaller. Aside from its size, SCP-2339-1 shows no other anomalous properties.
gollark: That is not 2339, though. I checked.
gollark: Interesting. Very interesting.
gollark: What is big narf? Bees enabled.
gollark: But you can still access the main content, and osmarks internet radio™, and the random stuff API!

See also

References

  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. Williams, Gregg (October 1987), "Earth Orbit Stations", Computer Gaming World, pp. 26–27
  3. Brooks, M. Evan (November 1992). "Strategy & Wargames: The Future (2000-....)". Computer Gaming World. p. 99. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  4. Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World. pp. 42–58.
  5. Fisher, Russell H. (February 1988). "EOS: Earth Orbit Stations". Compute!. p. 48. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
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