BBC Microcomputer System

Star Drifter

Star Drifter is an arcade adventure style game published by Firebird for the BBC Microcomputer in 1985. It was programmed by John Day and Tim Wilkinson. Your adventure aboard this ancient colonisation liner begins on the bridge; your task - to discover the answers to this strange disappearance of the fleet. You may move freely around the open areas of the ship, discovering artifacts and clues; but many parts will be inaccessible to you without the keys to the computer controlled doors scattered around. Beware of the intermittent force fields in some of the corridors which will drain your Oxygen supply when active. However, with an oxygenator unit, it is possible to replenish your Oxygen supply by standing in one of these forcefields. Watch out for the many alien life forms that have infiltrated the ship; they will rapidly reduce your oxygen supply if they are allowed to touch you. Each of your three lives will be terminated when the Oxygen supply is exhausted. Initially, communication with the Earth is impossible. Your first task therefore will be to locate the ship's radio and return it to the bridge, which is where you start the game. You may only carry three items at any time; these are displayed on the left of the screen.