Robot Odyssey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Robot Odyssey
Developer(s)	Mike Wallace, Dr. Leslie Grimm
Publisher(s)	The Learning Company
Platform(s)	Apple II, TRS-80 Color Computer, DOS
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Puzzle game
Mode(s)	Single Player

Robot Odyssey is a classic adventure game that came out in 1984. It was made by The Learning Company for computers like the Apple II, TRS-80 Color Computer, and DOS. Many people say it's one of the hardest computer games ever made! In the game, you're getting ready for bed when you suddenly fall into a secret underground city called Robotropolis. This city is full of robots. You start in the sewers with three robots you can control. Your main goal is to climb to the top of the city to find your way back home.

How to Play Robot Odyssey

In Robot Odyssey, your main goal is to program and control your robots to escape Robotropolis. This city is like a giant maze underground, with hundreds of rooms full of puzzles. You need to solve these puzzles to move forward.

You start with three robots named Sparky, Checkers, and Scanner. Later in the game, you might get a fourth robot. The city has five levels, and each one gets harder. To get through them, you'll need to design more complex circuits for your robots.

The game also includes a helpful tutorial and a special area called the Innovation Lab. This lab lets you test out your robot designs.

Inside Your Robots

All three robots are the same inside, except for their color and how they are first programmed. Each robot has:

• Four thrusters to move around.
• Bumper sensors to detect things.
• A grabber to pick up items.
• A radio antenna for simple talks with other robots.
• A battery for power.
• A periscope you can use when you are riding inside the robot.

Programming Your Robots

Throughout the game, you'll face many challenges. To solve them, you need to program your three robots. You do this by wiring up a digital circuit inside each robot. These circuits are made of logic gates and flip-flops.

The tasks range from simple things like finding your way through a maze or picking up an item, to very complex puzzles. Some puzzles even need two or more robots to work together and communicate! While you can ride inside your robots, most challenges require the robots to work on their own. You can't just rewire them while you're inside.

Using Chips

Robots can also be connected to chips. These chips are a handy way to program your robots easily and reuse programs. You'll find many pre-programmed chips scattered around Robotropolis. Some chips have complex circuits, like one that helps a robot hug walls to navigate mazes. Others are simpler, like clocks or counters.

The game doesn't tell you exactly what each chip does. You have to figure it out yourself by testing them. Each chip only has a short, sometimes mysterious, description. There are also chip files stored on the game disks that you can load into the in-game chips. The chips available can be different depending on which version of the game you are playing.

The Innovation Lab

The Innovation Lab is a great place to test your circuit designs in the robots. You can also create new chips there. Any chips you make in the lab can then be loaded into your game and used in the main adventure. Just remember, loading a new chip will erase any old programming that was on it.

Even though Robot Odyssey is suggested for ages 10 and up, it can be very challenging, even for adults! This game is great for learning the basic ideas of electrical engineering and how digital logic works.

Games Like Robot Odyssey

The main system for Robot Odyssey was created by Warren Robinett. Parts of this system were used in many other adventure games by The Learning Company around that time. These games include Rocky's Boots, Gertrude's Secrets, Gertrude's Puzzles, and Think Quick!. All of these are similar logic puzzle games, but they are usually easier than Robot Odyssey. The way Robot Odyssey looks and plays was inspired by Robinett's famous Atari 2600 game, Adventure.

Here are some other games that are similar to Robot Odyssey:

• Carnage Heart is a game where you program giant robots called mechas. Once programmed, these mechas fight on their own without you controlling them directly.
• Cognitoy's MindRover is a newer game that feels a lot like Robot Odyssey. However, it uses different ways of programming in its gameplay.
• ChipWits by Doug Sharp and Mike Johnston was a game for Apple II, Macintosh, and Commodore 64 computers. It was similar in its theme and how it worked, but the way you programmed your robot was different.
• Epsitec Games made Colobot and Ceebot for Windows computers. These games are like modern versions of Robot Odyssey. In them, you program machines to solve puzzles. Instead of using logic gates, these games teach you the basics of object-oriented programming languages like Java, C++, or C#.
• One Girl One Laptop productions created a game called Gate. This game is a spiritual successor to Robot Odyssey and uses the same kinds of digital logic puzzles.
• There is also a version of the game made in Java called Droidquest. It has all the original levels and even an extra secret level!