- Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game involves a player seeking out the planet Solaris via their starship. To accomplish this, the player must navigate the galactic scanner to explore quadrants of a map. Doing so allows them to explore Federation planets to refuel their ship, and engage in combat with hostile aliens known as the Zylons.
- Atari 2600 (Wikipedia)
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982, alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
- Solaris (1972 film) (Wikipedia)
Solaris (Russian: Солярис, tr. Solyaris) is a 1972 Soviet science fiction drama film based on Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel of the same title. The film was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and stars Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk. The electronic music score was performed by Eduard Artemyev and features a composition by J.S. Bach as its main theme. The plot centers on a space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris, where a scientific mission has stalled because the skeleton crew of three scientists have fallen into emotional crises. Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Banionis) travels to the station to evaluate the situation, only to encounter the same mysterious phenomena as the others.
- Solaris (Atari 2600) online game (atarionline.org)
The galaxy of Solaris is made up of 16 quadrants, each containing 48 sectors. The player uses a tactical map to choose a sector to warp to, during which they must attempt to keep their ship “in focus” to lower their fuel consumption rate. Fuel must be carefully managed, as an empty tank results in loss of one of the player lives. Space battle ensues whenever the player navigates into a hostile battlegroup via the tactical map. Space enemies include pirate ships, mechanoid ships, and aggressive “cobra” ships. Each battlegroup has at least one enemy flagship, which shoots out fuel-sapping drones.
- who said practical effects are always better? (YouTube)
We’ve got to the point where fully CGI characters can be near flawless, we easily forget that Caesar from Planet of the Apes, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean or Gollum from Lord of the Rings are just visual effects creations, and accept the illusion without second thought. How did we get here? What makes good CGI characters good and bad CGI characters bad? Join me and Andy Serkis as we explore the development of motion capture and performance capture, and look at a few examples which demonstrate how to use this technology most effectively.
