Encounter

Synapse Software released the game in North America. Encounter! Is similar to Atari, Inc.'s 1980 arcade game Battlezone, but with much faster gameplay and large, sometimes screen-filling, scaled bitmaps instead of wireframe models. It was re-released by Atlantis Software for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 as a cassette budget title. Versions for the Amiga and Atari ST computers followed much later, in 1991.

• Title — Encounter! • Genre — Shoot 'em up • Platforms — Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST • Designer — Paul Woakes • Publisher — * Novagen Software • Synapse Software • Atlantis Software

• Illustration — A blue sphere fired by the enemy saucer in the distance is heading toward the player. The goal of Encounter! is to eliminate all of the enemy saucers and kamikaze drones in a flat level. Enemies appear one at a time, highlighted on the radar below the main view, and a counter shows how many remain to complete the level. Pillars block shots and can be used for protection from enemy projectiles. When the enemy counter reaches zero, a portal opens containing obstacles to avoid reaching the next level. There are three difficulty settings.

Encounter! was the first game written by Paul Woakes. With his own company Novagen Software not founded yet, he was looking for a publisher. In 1983, he called Bruce Jordan who was owner of the Birmingham Atari Centre and asked him he would be interested in helping him publish Encounter!. Bruce Jordan agreed, and Novagen Software was formed (initially as Paul Woakes's own company and Bruce Jordan's company was engaged on a 'percentage' for publication, sales and distribution on Novagen's behalf). Encounter! was released early 1984, and it did sell well, with the Atari version charted higher and longer than the Commodore 64 version, although C64 did extremely well in Germany.