Atari Demos
Here you will find some basic information about the Encounter project and who made it, including some downloadable resources.
The Encounter game
Encounter is a graphical/text adventure game for the 80ies Oric range of computers.
Based on a 1983 text adventure game from Severn Software, this version is a completely rewritten software featuring music, animated graphics, sound effects, alternate puzzle solutions, achievements not present in the original game.
This new version, published under the Defence Force label has been written by Mickaël Pointier (code, design, graphics, sound effects) and Per Almered (music).
The source code of the game is available on GitHub
Oric Computers
Oric was a brand of home computers sold from 1983 to 1985 by Tangerine Computer Systems.
Based around the well-know MOS 6502 processor (running at 1mhz) and available in 16KB (briefly) and 48KB RAM variants, these machines were similar to contemporary computers such as the Sinclair Spectrum or Apple II which did not have any dedicated graphics acceleration hardware.
That being said, we reckon that not everybody in 2024 owns an Oric computer, so the game will also be available on Steam and itch.io.
Defence Force
Defence Force was founded by Mickaël Pointier in 1998 at a time when having your own domain name was not a very common thing.
The main website is www.defence-force.org but there's also a host of valuable resources for Oric users such as the Defence Force Forum, the Oric Library, the Oric Software Development Kit or the Dbug's Stuff youtube channel.
Quite a few productions have been released under the Defence Force label, including demos for the Atari ST and Oric computers, but there's also been occasional participations in game jams and mini-game competitions leading to the creation of a few quickly made small games.
In addition, Chema Enguita from Spain (author of Space: 1999, Blake's 7, Skooldaze, Oricium) and Jonathan Bristow from the UK (author of Impossible Mission and Stormlord) also used Defence Force as a de-facto publishing label for their games.
Mickaël Pointier
Mickaël is a French programmer currently living in Norway.
He started making small games on his Oric Atmos back in 1984, then upgraded to an Atari ST a few years later where he joined the computer sub-culture known as "demo scene" under the pseudonym "Dbug".
Using the Phaleon Demo as a portfolio, Mickaël joined Adeline Software in 1995 and has been working in the industry since then, including 10 years in France at Heliovisions Productions and Eden Studios before finally moving to Norway where he has been working at Funcom for almost 20 years.
Mickaël rediscovered the Oric and Atari computers when the first proper emulators were released, and has been regularly releasing small demos and games for these machines every few years for the last three decades, which is also where he collaborated with Per Almered.
Per Almered
Per Almered is a music producer, songwriter and programmer living in the south of Sweden.
Playing the piano from the age of 4, his life was turned upside down in the early 1980s when he discovered that computers could now actually make more advanced music than just beeps and boops. From that point on, his dream was to make music for video games.
After school, Per's 1990s were spent partly in the games industry, working on 5 commercially released titles for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC, and partly in graphic design.
Starting in 2002, Per has mainly been writing, recording and producing music, and also worked on a couple of the best-selling VST instruments of the mid-2000s.
In his spare time, he programs assembler on 1980s computers, which is how he met Mickaël Pointier, and in 2009, the pair collaborated on a demoscene production called Save The Earth" for the Atari STE.
Contact information
We can be contacted in multiple ways:
- You can send an email to contact@defence-force.org
- We can also be contacted on social media sites such as Bluesky or Twitter/X
- The game is available on both itch.io and Steam.
Resources
Download this PressKit.zip for a collection of images, photos, design elements and development environment screenshots.
