BBC Microcomputer System

Microcosm

Microcosm was programmed for the BBC Microcomputer by Steven Reece and David Pearse. Microcosm is a single screen platformer where you control the Maintenance Engineer on the crippled interstellar freightliner Nimbus, as you attempt to save the priceless cargo Terran Plant over various levels. You must walk or fly with your jet-pack around the screen and pick up seeds, one at a time from the top of the screen and feed it to the various stalks by walking over them. Once all the stalks are fully grown then you move to the next level to grow more stalks. Aphids move around the screen and these can be shot with your laser or avoided and if you touch one then you lose one of three lives. Acid drops fall down the screen and must be avoided and on later levers there are spiders and bugs that cannot be shot just avoided and if touched lose a life. As well as the stalks, there are other plants that need saving and the status of the plants are shown by a Phloem gauge which is slowly decreasing and when it empties then you lose a life. To save the plants and keep the Phloem gauge filled, the plants need plantfood and to do this you have to place your laser on a shelf and pick up the plantfood spray container. You can spray the plants but the spray won't fire on the plants if there are too many Aphids on the screen so switching between laser and spray container is needed as you make the stalks grow.