Lode Runner 2020

About

Lode Runner is a 1983 puzzle-platform game developed by Doug Smith and published by Broderbund for the Apple II, with gameplay similar to 1980's Space Panic; it was one of the first games to ship with a built-in level editor. Lode Runner 2020 is a C++/OpenGL remake of the original Apple II Lode Runner (based specifically on its NES port) and its sequel Championship Lode Runner, running on Windows, Linux, and in the browser via WebAssembly, with a separate Android port. It includes all 150 original Apple II levels (versus the NES port's 50), auto-saves progress, and supports screenshot and gameplay-video recording. Status is marked finished, though the author lists remaining polish items like collision-detection tuning and mobile touch input.

How it differs from the original

Compared to the NES version, controller mappings differ, the whole level is visible without scrolling, collision detection was reimplemented from scratch (enemies now stop rather than endlessly circle a ladder), and enemy movement is recalculated every frame instead of every few frames. It also marks fallen-through trapdoors, visually changes enemies' appearance while they carry gold, adds a level timer, and drops the original's attract-mode demo.

Getting started

It's playable directly in the browser via the project's website, or built from source with CMake after cloning with submodules; the desktop build needs GLFW, RTAUDIO, libogg/libvorbis, and GLAD, with FFmpeg required only for optional video recording.

History

The author describes it as their first complex programming project, restructured multiple times as they learned along the way.

Media

Additional notes

Credits note

The graphics were extracted from the original NES cartridge, and the guard AI logic was ported from another open-source Lode Runner remake rather than written from scratch.