Raid on Bungeling Bay

A 2D game with an overhead view that allowed you to control to destroy the facories of the Bungeling Empire.

Background

This was the first video game designed by famed SimCity and Sims creator, Will Wright. Brøderbund published it for the Commodore 64 in 1984 and the NES and MSX computers in 1985.

Gameplay

The game is displayed in a 2D overhead view of the terrain which was a bit more complex than in other games at the time. Basically this is a simple war zone shoot'em up. The player controls a helicopter that takes off from an aircraft carrier. The player needs to control the helicopter to bomb six factories scattered across islands on a small planet that is occupied by the Bungeling Empire (the usual villains in Brøderbund games). The player must also fend off escalating counterattacks by gun turrets, fighter jets, guided missiles, and a battleship. A hidden island was placed in the game for the player’s helicopter to reload their weapon on.

The game offers an interesting insight into the design style of Will Wright. The islands and factories in the game behaved in a manner which closely resembled SimCity. Over time, the factories would grow and develop new technologies to use against the player. There were also visible signs of communication between the islands, such as supply boats moving between them. In order to beat Raid on Bungeling Bay, the player must prevent the factories from growing by bombing all the factories as quickly as possible, keeping them from advancing their technology. If left alone for too long, the factories would create enough new weapons to overwhelm the player.

Will Wright continued to develop the editor for Raid on Bungeling Bas as his own personal toy. Because he enjoyed it so much and he did vast amounts of research on urban planning/construction and found that many others, like himself, may enjoy building cities in a video game. This led to the creation of the famed SimCity games.