Bugout! was an unfinished shoot-em-up I'd designed with Garry Kitchen's Gamemaker waaaaaay back in the summer of 1988. Inspired by Airborne Ranger on the C64 and Alien Syndrome at the local arcade, it was the biggest project I'd done with the software at that point, and a great number of planned-in-advance items (like a title screen, hex playfield, music etc.) were meant to be incorporated into the thing. Unfortunately, my programming chops then were average, and only a bare functional skeleton was completed before I ran out of memory (and high school/girls intervened).In 2003, I'd converted the original floppy disks to emulator-readable formats, uploaded the lot to the Internet, and promptly forgot about them. Then, after recently encountering a 2017 'playthrough' of the game on YouTube, I decided to look at the old code again, and set thirty years of newly-gained knowledge to the task of getting it down as I'd originally envisioned. And a few fun-filled months later, here is the final result!
You start at the bottom of a 64 level mine, which has a variety of monsters inhabiting it; from slimes to various undead and those who worship them. Race to the ladders to escape the floor, but be warned! the only way out is to flood the mine. You’ll find pumps scattered through the levels of the mine, more than you will need — but enough to drown you.Various items have been left to assist you, starting with a few medpacks, oxygen tanks and Holy hand grenades. There are limits on what you can carry, but the more items the more likely you’ll survive. Somewhere above are more supplies and a crowbar, which does extra damage against your foes! Occasionally a map is found, it only shows the layout not the location of items, monsters or exits.Each pump raises the water level an equal amount. The game movement is turn-based, but the water level is on a timer. Once you are underwater, every so many steps can cause damage, using the oxygen tank will increase your damage-free step count. Oxygen can be multi tapped to charge up steps.Beware the Slime… the mid-levels are infested. Once a slime sees you, it replicates until it blocks all ways out. A Holy hand grenade can help, but once there is more than 4 in your path — pray the stairs are behind you!A tip: you can use the spacebar in-game to advance the turn. Sometimes forcing the monster to move will give you a better chance in combat or blocking them. Pre-Game you can use the left/right (a/d) keys to scroll through the various info screens.