Starship Discovery

Starship Discovery is a 1st-person space flight simulator for the BBC Micro.

The interplanetary spacecraft Discovery is to embark on a voyage to distant Saturn, a journey of some three years duration. During that time it is possible that minor repair work may need to be carried out on certain parts of the ship.

Discovery is equipped with single-astronaut EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) pods to carry out deep space repairs. This simulator tests the ability to pilot an EVA pod through eight progressive levels of difficulty before the Flight Training Crew will give clearance for the Saturn mission.

Played from a 1st person perspective, the EVA pod has 6 degrees of freedom control consisting 6 separate jets consisting of pitch, yaw, roll, forward, lateral, and vertical movement. These have 9 levels of power, and must be shut off when not wanting to be used. The player also controls 2 manipulator arms that can be moved up, down, opened, and closed. The instrument screen provides information on EVA pod forward, lateral, and vertical speeds, as well as rate of change. The instrument panel also displays remaining fuel and horizontal and vertical angles to and from Discovery to allow for safe return to the ship. All successful missions must end with a safe ship docking.

There are 8 levels of mission difficulty, and the player receives a score based upon their performance. This score must be sufficiently high to receive a promotion to the next level.