How to play Dune online
- Move Paul around the maze: arrow keys
- Pick up or drop items: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
What you can do in the prototype
You play Paul Atreides, shown as a simple square just like the hero of Adventure. Instead of open desert, each room is a colourful maze. The real room layouts were never written, so simple mazes were put in to make the demo work. Most characters, from the sandworms to Baron Harkonnen, use the same placeholder face graphic. Only the Baron’s guards have their own finished sprites.
Tools such as a key, a sword, a thumper and an ornithopter are hidden around the maze, some still drawn as empty squares. Only two work: the thumper briefly lures the sandworms away from you, and the ornithopter lets Paul move faster and pass over obstacles. Of the two gauges at the bottom, the blue one is water, which slowly drains and refills in certain “water rooms”; the red one counts collected spice. Running out of water does nothing yet.
Tips
- Find the first water room. According to people who have studied the demo, it is four rooms to the right of the starting room.
- Try the thumper when sandworms chase you. It is one of the few items that works.
Why Dune was never released
Atari programmers Bruce Poehlman and Gary Stark came up with the first ideas for Dune but moved on to other work, including the unreleased Atari 5200 game The Last Starfighter. Another, unnamed programmer seems to have taken over and got as far as an early playable engine. Then the video game market collapsed, and after Jack Tramiel took over Atari in 1984 he shut down 2600 game development and let most of the staff go. Dune was cancelled along with it. The code hints that a title screen, music and several game variations were planned.
Similar games to play next
- Adventure – the Atari classic that Dune was modelled on
- SwordQuest: EarthWorld – a larger Atari adventure built from rooms and items
- Haunted House – explore dark rooms and collect items
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Ewok Adventure – another unreleased film tie-in prototype