1990 Soft Dorothy Software
Platform: Apple Macintosh
Paria was very much an Elite-inspired game, developed by Soft Dorothy Software around late 1989 and abandoned in early 1990. What exists today is essentially just a very early prototype – a glimpse of what could have become a sprawling space adventure.
“Don’t be fooled by all of the menu items in the games that follow”, explained John on his website. “Many are in fact merely stubs and do nothing when selected. That’s just the nature of quick prototyping.”
You can run what exists of the game in an emulator to see some of the promise. To start, you need to select New Game from the File menu, and you take the role of a spaceship pilot, with the design deliberately made complex to add a sense of realism and allow for strategic energy management. The left side of the console controls power creation and reserves (primary and secondary). Weapons (top right, incomplete), and defensive energy shields (bottom right) were intended to consume this energy during combat.
At the top center sits the star map, with toggle buttons to switch views for navigation. Below it is your cockpit view, where throttle controls allow you to adjust velocity – eventually revealing a planet looming into sight.
“Playing with it a bit I see that the +TH button (and ones near it) allow you to adjust your ship velocity.” John explains. “In fact if you throttle up, eventually you will see a planet approach in the cockpit view. In the case of Paria the planet flew by so fast I had blinked and missed it.”
Clicking the mouse in the cockpit fires a laser, though this is largely cosmetic at this stage – only briefly dipping your energy reserves without effect. Still, even with this minimal functionality, it’s clear how ambitious John’s design was. Notes hint at plans for an intelligent computer assistant, full 3D navigation, enemy ships, and even possible trading. Buttons marked ABT (Abort), RDIO (Radio), and DES (likely self-destruct) awaited further development.
“Could it ultimately have been Elite-levels of fun? Who knows.” reflected John. “I think though I saw what I had at that point and decided to move along to the next idea. Even a stub of a game like Paria I thought I could always return to at some later date.”
Had it been completed, Paria might have grown into a great space sim for the Apple Macintosh, but sadly we will never know for sure. Check out what remains for yourself, thanks to John’s recovery work.
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