Firefly

Firefly is a video game in the action genre developed by Special FX Software Ltd. and published by Ocean Software Ltd. originally released in 1988. It is currently playable on Commodore 64.

In the game, you, as commander of the Firefly, must destroy the 'mechanoid system frame' that your enemy has created by destroying its energy source.

The frame is represented as a grid of squares or sectors. Ultimately, you must reach and destroy the energy source, at the far right of the grid, whereas at the beginning of the game you only have access to the 'dead zone', at the far left of the grid, and the immediately adjacent squares. This can be expanded as described below.

Planetary sectors are systems with planets in them, and you cannot enter them as they are the enemy's main colonies, so they are too well defended. Therefore, they block the way.

Unbuilt regions can be taken over, making them part of the dead zone, bypassing the 'intrusion detection' alarm system. The system consists of the cursor switching between 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' symbols, and you must press the fire button when 'thumbs up' is displayed to take control of the system. A thumbs down scrambles the squares on the grid.

The main part of the game takes place when you try to take over an occupied area. Here the game is a shoot-em-up, where you can move freely in two dimensions, and shoot your enemies. Your ammo orbits around you, and when you shoot it takes a moment to come back to you, so you can temporarily run out of ammo if you shoot too fast .

In an occupied area there are 4 energy points that you must destroy. To destroy an energy source you must collect 4 zokas, or leftover energy units from it, then enter, and select a thumbs up while the cursor alternates between it and a thumbs down. The cursor alternates faster at successive energy points.

Teleports can be used, to move between zones, but when you try to use one, your ship rotates while pointing at a set of alternating green and red dots in a circle. You must press the fire button 3 times in a row, when the ship is pointing at a green dot, and the ship will spin faster each time.

If you take too much damage, your ship explodes, and you lose a life, and re-enter the grid, with the area still occupied. However, if you successfully destroy all 4 energy points, the occupied zone becomes part of the dead zone when you re-enter the grid.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.