Dino Eggs

Dino Eggs is a 1983 computer platform game by MicroFun. It was released for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and ColecoVision.

Playing a time traveler, Time Master Tim, the player's objective is to collect dinosaur eggs and rescue baby dinosaurs while avoiding snakes, spiders, and the dinosaur's mother. Being bitten by any of the first two causes the player to, after a period of time, "de-evolve" into a prehistoric spider. The mother dinosaur, on the other hand, will try to crush the player by stomping on them.

A player's first hazard is the baby dino's mother. When first arriving at a level, they have a short period of time to build a fire to keep her away. Building a fire is done by collecting several sticks present in each level and placing one stick atop another. The player then must rescue the dino's before the fire dies out or build another (or stoke the current one by adding another stick). Or they can attempt to just rescue the baby dinos while avoiding the mother's enormous stomping foot (not likely). If no fire is present, she will try to crush the player by stomping on them.

The player must rescue a number of dinosaur eggs or baby dinosaurs each level. The player does this by collecting the eggs before they hatch, or by placing special time transporting force fields around the baby dinosaurs while jumping over them. Coming into direct contact with the juvenile dinosaurs kills them, by infecting them with biological contaminants (European Measles) of the future.

Hazards on the levels include snakes and spiders. Snakes appear out of thin air and disappear again after a period of time. Spiders appear at the top of the screen and slide down to the bottom on lines of silk. Snakes can be avoided by jumping. Spiders can be avoided by simply moving out of the way to the left or right. Snakes can be killed by dropping boulders, and sometimes they kill themselves by slithering into the player's fire. Spiders can be killed by cutting (walking into) the spider's line as it slides to the bottom (presumably causing it a fatal fall). Contact with these creatures are fatal to them.

Coming in contact with either a spider or snake does not kill the player, but causes a fatal countdown to start. The player needs to get back to the transport force field before time runs out or face de-evolution (virtually, death). Returning to the force field in time restores the player's health.

Time Master Tim can also be killed by walking into his safety fire. At certain times, it can safely be lept over. At other times, it must simply be avoided.

When the player first arrives on a level, only dino eggs are present. The player can collect up to three before having to warp them back to the future and returning for more. The player may collect the "Power" power-up which will allow them to carry more than three eggs at a time. If while carrying eggs the player comes in contact with a spider or snake, the eggs become contaminated and are lost.

After a period of time, some eggs will hatch. Baby dinos emerge and the player must rescue them as well. The player can place force fields around them by jumping over them and pressing the "force field" button. This encases the baby dino in a force field that will transport them back to the future with Time Master Tim when he transports back on a delivery. Coming in contact with these baby dino's, however, is fatal to them and hazardous to the player, who must return to their transportation field in order to avoid de-evolution.

Baby dinos face more hazards than mere eggs. First of all, of course, the player must avoid them. Secondly, they must avoid the safety fire—they may accidentally wander into it. Thirdly, on higher levels, spiders may attempt to capture them and whisk them off the screen (virtually killing them).

The game's levels consist of four levels of platforms. Via ladders, players can climb up to and jump down between gaps in the platforms. The bottom platform is continuous with no gaps. The screen is wrap-around: exiting on one side, the player will enter on the other side of the screen. The player must locate all the eggs on the level. Sometimes this requires dislodging boulders that may be hiding some eggs. After collecting several eggs and/or detaining several dino's in force fields, the player may "warp out," delivering the dino's back to the future. The player will then return to a different location on the same level to attempt to save more dinos.

The player may leave a level permanently at any time (e.g. before rescuing all dino's), but gets a bonus for saving all dino's on the level before departing. The levels get progressively harder, with more snakes and spiders and fewer sticks.