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Tron Fortress Classic

I used to have a minor obsession with light-cycles, or 'Tron', games. I must've written more Tron games than any other category of software.

With that in mind, I like to think that Tron Fortress Classic is the ultimate light cycles game, bar none. It's loosely based on Team Fortress Classic, which was a first person shooter team based game. What that actually means is:

• It's team based, red vs blue.

• Each player chooses their class: soldier, sniper, medic, etc.. Classes each have their own special ability, speed, and number of starting shields.

• It's round based. Each round is won by either eliminating the entire opposing team or capturing the flag. To capture the flag, drive off the gap at the enemy's side of the screen and then return to the gap at your own side.

• It's crazy fast-paced team play fun! People who weren't particularly geeks used to come to my house to play it after highschool. No kidding.

I could include a screenshot, but the game doesn't look hugely interesting. So instead I'll give a rundown of the classes:

• The Scout is faster than anyone else, and can 'jump' over other tracks. They aren't allowed to capture the flag, though, and start with no shields.

• The Engineer can place barriers to thwart enemy flag-capturing efforts.

• The Sniper has an attack that cuts across the screen in an instant. They're potentially very effective, but great precision is needed.

• The Heavy Weapons Guy is slow, starts with a huge pile of shields, and has a very mencing shock-wave-like attack.

• The Demo Man can drop mines and detonate them by remote. They're handy for defence.

• The Medic is a great team player. They can shoot a player's track to give them a shield, or shoot their light cycle to kill. They also steadily gain shields.

• The Soldier is the fastest class allowed to capture the flag. Their special ability is to 'sprint' for a short amount of time, and they start with a few shields.

• The Spy is a master of espionage. They start amongst the enemy, not on their own side. They can turn invisible at will, and when they become visible again they are camouflaged in enemy colours.

I should probably explain that a shield allows you to pass through an enemy line (or weapon fire) once. Also, that all weapons fire and other attacks only work if they hit the very tip of a line -- the light cycle, in fact.

And there you have it. Ladies and gentlement, I give you: Tron Fortress Classic!

Download: tfc.zip

Note that it needs to be run under DOSBox or on an old DOS machine.