The Programmers: Gavin Dodd, Paul Frewin, Martin Linklater, Dominic Mallinson, Simon Moore, Stuart Sargasson, Dave Smith, Andrew Toone, David Worrall, Chris Wylie.

The Artists: Jim Bowers, Nicky Carus-Westcott, Garvan Corbett, Paul Franklin, John Harris, James McDonald, Rogan MacDonald, James Robinson, Digby Rogers, Louise Smith.

All other versions are able to output higher quality full-motion video than the Mega-CD version, and in many cases, at higher resolutions. Microcosm was released for a variety of home platforms, including the 3DO, Amiga CD32, FM Towns, and IBM PC. įeedback from Microcosm led to a spiritual successor, Novastorm having a greater focus on gameplay. While Microcosm was considered a financial success, the game is not held in high regard, with even Psygnosis considering it more as an experiment for the CD-ROM format than a good video game. Microcosm was later rereleased in the two-disc Mega-CD compilation Prime / Microcosm, published exclusively in the United States by Sony Imagesoft in December 1995. Unlike other Mega-CD titles, Microcosm chooses to limit its full-motion video sequences to 16 colours (a quarter of the 64 available to the system), presumably as a space-saving measure.

Initial development cost between $600,000 and $750,000 USD.

In total, the game's raw data amassed over 6 GB, with image data being stored in 24-bit colour before being compressed for the various platforms. 2D graphics (and textures) were drawn on Amigas. Live action footage was recorded at night with an S-VHS recorder, and features members of the team as opposed to paid actors. The full-motion video was rendered using Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations alongside life action footage. Microcosm was first seen in demo form for the CDTV platform in 1991, but soon became an FM Towns title, with development partially funded by Fujitsu prior to the game being ported to other platforms. The player is given a password when the game ends for continuing the game. The two stages played using the Hunter Killer involve chasing capsules, and the game also ends if the player fails to destroy the capsule before the end of the stage. The player has three lives, and the game ends when the player exhausts them all. If the player has an extra life remaining, the stage restarts from the beginning there are no checkpoints. The ship explodes if it runs out of energy, costing the player a life. The ship has an energy bar the top of the screen that depletes as it takes damage from enemies. Each ship starts with two uses of a special weapon, which is a Smart Bomb for the Pod and the Pressure Suit and a Shield for the Hunter Killer. The ship's primary weapon has endless ammunition, but other weapons have a limited supply that can be increased by collecting power-ups after destroying enemies. The player can cycle through the available weapons, shown on the bottom of the screen, with.

Each ship moves with the D-Pad and fires with. There are multiple vehicles, each employed on different stages: the Spook Series 4 Pod, the Hunter Killer RS-18, and the S2-21 Pressure Suit. While some versions of Microcosm opt for a first-person perspective, the Mega-CD uses a third-person view at all times. The video backgrounds contain collision zones that can block the player's movement or fire, though colliding with terrain does not do damage. The limitations of the Mega-CD mean a pseudo-3D effect is achieved through full-motion video, with the player's craft and enemies depicted as scaling sprites. The player has control over the ship's horizontal and vertical movements, but movement into the screen along the third axis is dictated by the game. The game is a rail shooter where the player navigates small craft through the human body. Cybertech, however, learns of this plan and injects Korsby with their own piloted submarines shrunken down to a microscopic size to destroy Axiom's droids and prevent them from controlling Korsby's mind. Axiom also claims that Cybertech is responsible for the death of Axiom's former president.Īxiom injects Cybertech president Tiron Korsby's body with microscopic droids designed to penetrate his brain and control his mind. Because of this, poverty, crime and disease are rampant in the cities. The galaxy's two largest conglomerates - Cybertech, considered the more compassionate of the two, and Axiom, thought to be the more oppressive corporation - compete to achieve premier status in the business world, a position known as CORP 1.īecause of heavy mining operations on the planet from the corporations, most of Bodor is uninhabitable due to pollution, forcing 87% of the population onto 2% of the planet's land. Set in the year of AD 2051, the game takes place in a dystopian futuristic setting on an alien planet called Bodor, located in the Bator System.

Microcosm video game