Raid on Bungeling Bay was the first video game designed by Will Wright. It was published by Brøderbund for the Commodore
Read moreRaid on Bungeling Bay was the first video game designed by Will Wright. It was published by Brøderbund for the Commodore 64 in 1984 and the NES and MSX computers in 1985. The Commodore 64 version was published in the UK by Ariolasoft, and the NES version was ported by Hudson Soft.
Apart from offering a 2D overhead view of terrain which was a bit more complex than in other games, Raid on Bungeling Bay was basically a simple war zone shoot 'em up. The player controlled a helicopter that launches from an aircraft carrier to bomb six factories scattered across islands on a small planetoid occupied by the Bungeling Empire (the usual villains in Brøderbund games), while fending off escalating counterattacks by gun turrets, fighter jets, guided missiles, and a battleship. There was also a hidden island for the player to reload on. Failure meant that the Bungeling Empire develops a war machine to take over the planet Earth. Players had to attack its infrastructure while defending the aircraft carrier which served as home base.
The game offers an interesting insight into the design style of Wright, who would later go on to design SimCity. The islands and factories in the game behaved in a sophisticated manner which closely resembled SimCity. Over time, the factories would grow and develop new technologies to use against the player. There were also visible signs of interdependency among the islands, such as supply boats moving between them. In order to win the game, the player must prevent the escalation by bombing all the factories as quickly as possible, keeping them from advancing their technology. If left alone for too long, the factories would create enough new weaponry to overwhelm the player.
