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1983 video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oil's Well (a pun on "all's well") is a video game published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. The game was written for the Atari 8-bit computers by Thomas J. Mitchell.[1] Oil's Well is similar to the 1982 arcade game Anteater, re-themed to be about drilling for oil instead of a hungry insectivore. Ports were released in 1983 for the Apple II and Commodore 64, in 1984 for ColecoVision and the IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), then in 1985 for MSX and the Sharp X1. A version with improved visuals and without Mitchell's involvement was released for MS-DOS in 1990.
| Oil's Well | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Programmer(s) | Atari 8-bit Thomas J. Mitchell [1] Apple II Ivan Strand [1] |
| Composer(s) | Ken Allen |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, IBM PC, MS-DOS, MSX, Sharp X1 |
| Release | 1983: Apple, Atari, C64 1984: ColecoVision, IBM PC 1985: MSX, Sharp 1990: MS-DOS |
| Genre(s) | Maze |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The player collects oil for a drilling operation by moving the drill head through a maze using four directional control buttons. The drill bit is trailed by a pipeline connecting it to the base. Subterranean creatures populate the maze; the head can destroy the creatures, but the pipeline is vulnerable. As the player traverses the maze, the pipe grows longer, but pressing a button quickly retracts the head. There are 8 levels to play through.
ANALOG Computing said that Oil's Well for the Atari 8-bit was a "truly different and challenging" variant on the "'gobble the dots' theme", with good gameplay and graphics.[2]
Dave Stone in Computer Gaming World stated that "The action's well-paced, the difficulty progressive. While getting to a higher level is somewhat dependent on getting the right breaks — good eye-hand coordination, timing, and strategy are essential".[3]
Ahoy! stated that while the Commodore version's graphics and sounds were only "serviceable; gameplay is, in my experience, unique ... Recommended".[4] InfoWorld called the IBM PCjr version "a clever, basic game",[5] and InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers cited the Atari 8-bit version as "Sierra's trickiest".[6]
The U.S. gaming magazine Computer Games awarded Oil's Well the 1984 Golden Floppy Award for Excellence, in the category of "Maze Game of the Year."[7]
Despite already being a clone of Anteater, several additional clones borrowed the theme of Oil's Well: Pipeline Run for the Commodore 64 in 1990[8] and Oilmania for the Atari ST in 1991.[9]
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