#micro fun

‘Death in the Caribbean’

[VARIOUS] [USA] [MAGAZINE] [1983]

Personal Computing, June 1983

Scanned / Uploaded by AstronomyGuy, via The Internet Archive

Today’s post is a special one! Dino Eggs, which I previously featured in a past post, was released by Micro Fun in 1983. You play Time Master Tim, a time traveler who accidentally infects the dinosaurs with measles, which turns out to be the reason for their extinction. To prevent this, he makes it his mission to travel to different ages in the prehistoric era and rescue as many eggs and dino babies as possible, while avoiding hazards like falling rocks, spiders, snakes, insects, and the most feared of them all, Dino Mom who will crush you with her giant foot unless you scare her away by building a fire.

This original, addictive and fun game quickly won the hearts of young players all over the world, including me. About a year ago I noticed mentions on my circle in Facebook about a new game called Dino Eggs: Rebirth. I was curious to see if the original programmer of Dino Eggs, David Schroeder, was involved in this, so I investigated and discovered that indeed he was! Of course I was excited to see this second chapter in the game, and waited on pins and needles until its release a few months ago.

In Dino Eggs: Rebirth, you again play Tim AND his daughter, Tam. The game is designed in an 8-bit style, and you can even choose to change the character style to the original’s more geometric design. Some new abilities have been added as well; Dino Mom’s crushing foot can now be used to your advantage by scaling up it, and the dino babies are no longer killed by falling rocks. My Steam dashboard’s proclamation of 21 current hours I have logged playing this can attest to the fact that it’s just as addictive and fun as its predecessor.

Now for the reason why this post is special:  I got in touch with David Schroeder, who graciously agreed to an interview with me! I asked him a few questions both about Dino Eggs and Dino Eggs: Rebirth, and this is what he had to say:

Me: Part of the reason for the great success of Dino Eggs was its unique concept. After its release, did you ever encounter any any other games that attempted to plagiarize it?

David: In the Apple II world, the game was hacked, modded, and distributed as DINO SMURF -- a parody of the then-popular Saturday morning cartoon characters. This hack was part of a planned trilogy. You can get the DINO SMURF story here.

Thus, I believe (and no one has disproved it yet) that DE was the first game to be modded. That is, to have a game variation created and significantly distributed.

A few years later, on the Amiga system, a European software company released the game A PREHISTORIC TALE, which was undoubtedly a copy cat of DE. In fact, I've since been in touch with one of the developers/programmers of APT, and he admits it whole-heartedly. This same fellow has translated the new DINO EGGS: REBIRTH into Dutch, so all's well.

Me: How did its success compare to your first published game, Crisis Mountain?

David: Hard sales numbers are difficult to pin down. Crisis Mountain was licensed (and sub-licensed) to half a dozen different publishers. It became clear that the company that sold Dino Eggs -- after they went out of business -- had not reported all of its sales to me. *Sigh!* But it is clear -- even based only on the levels of fan feedback today -- that Dino Eggs sold more than Crisis Mountain. About half again as many, perhaps twice. I hear from DE fans all over the world. Europe seems to be a strong area in particular. Greece. Romania. Netherlands. France.

Me: How do you think the fanbase of the game compares from the 80’s to today? Are you seeing more new fans with the release of DE:R, or does it appear to be mostly the same people in their late 30’s-40’s like me who were/are fans of Dino Eggs?

David: Regarding the comparison of fan bases -- then and now: My sense is that the majority of those who have bought DE:R have known and played DE.  But that doesn't mean they all encountered DE in 1983.  I think a lot of folks have encountered the game only through emulators, so some of them are quite young (or at least younger than the original fans).   I do think that folks now aged 43 or so form a "sweet spot" for DE fandom -- as that means they would have been ten years old in 1983.  Perfect age. In fact, the programmer of DE:R was exactly ten when he first played DE in France.

Me: Anything else you wish to add, or trivia we might not know?

David: There were two Dino Eggs packages printed and sold back then by Micro-Lab. The president of the company didn't like the purple-suited 'super-hero' image. So, he commissioned an alternative package that went more humorous. I didn't have control over any of this art. (see photos above for examples of the two covers.)

I'll refer you to my series of Featured Blog posts on Gamasutra.  They begin here: www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidHSchroeder/20150914/253502/Everything_I_Learned_About_Computer_Games_I_Didnt_Learn_at_Yale.php ..then just keep hitting "Next Post" at the bottom of each to go to the next "chapter." The posts will take you through my writing of Crisis Mountain, then Dino Eggs, and then flash forward to my thinking behind Dino Eggs: Rebirth. Thanks for your interest! David H Schroeder

***

Check out David’s articles for a more in-depth examination of the joys, trials and tribulations of the making of his games, and I encourage fans of the original Dino Eggs to check out Dino Eggs: Rebirth, available on Windows, Mac, Linux, and through Steam and Sellfy. More information at the official site: http://www.dinoeggsrebirth.com/