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ESCAPE FROM SATURN - v0.7 ALPHA
A game for the MAD-65
Release date: 2026-10-17
Author: Mateusz Matysiak
visit: https://mad65.codepainters.com/software/efs.html
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ABOUT THIS RELEASE

This is an ALPHA, and it is NOT a complete game. Treat it as a teaser / early
demo: a first look at where Escape from Saturn is going.

What is in it: two gameplay elements and one demo level - a fight in a single
sector (SECTOR ZERO) and the flight through the tunnel that leads out of it.
What is not in it: the campaign, the rest of the rings, final graphics, music
and the rest of the planned content. Balance, timing and presentation will
change. The alpha ends after the first tunnel with a summary screen.

Escape from Saturn is a big descendant of the classic Asteroids: a large,
wrapping world, a camera that rotates and zooms, vector graphics and - in the
finished game - a story campaign.


STORY

THE YEAR IS 2093.

Unmanned probes sent by the largest corporations on Earth discover an
extraordinary mineral in the rings of Saturn. It is given the working name
SATURNium. The material has properties never observed before - among them an
effect on the propagation of electromagnetic and gravitational waves, which
raises hopes of building the drive of the future.

Before long, small problems begin to appear near the new mining fields.
Automated ships start reporting false readings. Objects show up on radar out of
nowhere. Some craft collide with something that was not there a moment earlier.

Five crewed ships launch from the Titan station to investigate the anomaly.

You fly one of them.

Your task is to clear one region of the rings after another and press on.

Except that something here is decidedly not the way it should be.


AUTHOR

  Mateusz Matysiak  - concept, game design, mechanics and code


PACKAGE CONTENTS

  madsim.exe        MAD-65 simulator - the machine the game runs on
  roms\cpu_os.bin   MAD-65 firmware (CPU)
  roms\gpu_os.bin   MAD-65 firmware (GPU)
  roms\cart.bin     Escape from Saturn cartridge image - the game itself
  start_efs.bat     starts the game
  README.txt        this file


RUNNING THE GAME

  Windows. No installation. Unpack the archive and run start_efs.bat.

  It opens the madsim simulator with the game, with the screen rotated by 90
  degrees, as on an arcade cabinet's monitor standing upright (F12 rotates it
  back). Run it from the folder it was unpacked into: it looks for the roms\
  folder next to itself. The simulator reproduces the console cycle by cycle
  and runs at the true MAD-65 frame rate (60.317 Hz), independent of your
  monitor's refresh rate. Set the monitor refresh rate to 60 Hz for best
  results.


WHAT IS IN THE ALPHA

  The game starts with an intro screen; FIRE starts it. You have three ships.

  1. SECTOR ZERO. Destroy the biggest rocks and defeat every enemy - then the
     exit gate opens.
  2. THE TUNNEL. Fly through the gate and along the tunnel between sectors:
     dodge the rocks, collect SATURNium dust and rescue the escape pods. Your
     blaster is switched off in the tunnel.
  3. SUMMARY SCREEN. The alpha ends here. The rest of the rings is still to
     come.


CONTROLS

  You play with the left stick and two buttons: FIRE 1 and FIRE 2.

  Gamepad (plug it into the PC and it works by itself, as port 1):
    D-pad or left stick ...... directions
    top and bottom buttons ... FIRE 1   (A/Y or Cross/Triangle)
    left and right buttons ... FIRE 2   (X/B or Square/Circle)
    (both buttons of a pair do the same thing)

  Keyboard, joystick 1:
    arrow keys ............... directions
    Right Ctrl ............... FIRE 1
    Right Shift .............. FIRE 2
  Keyboard, joystick 2:
    W A S D .................. directions
    Left Shift ............... FIRE 1
    Left Ctrl ................ FIRE 2

  In the game:
    left / right ............. turn the ship
    up / down ................ speed up and slow down (continuous throttle)
    FIRE 1 ................... fire the current weapon
    FIRE 2, one click ........ switch weapon (blaster / laser)
    FIRE 2, two clicks ....... TELEPORT, a jump forward
    FIRE 1 + FIRE 2 together . EMP pulse
    boost .................... select the top speed, release the stick, then
                               push up again while the ship is still flying
                               at full speed

  Teleport:
    No need to unlock it - it is available from the start, just double-click
    FIRE 2. It costs SATURNium, though (50 units); with less, nothing happens.
    You get SATURNium by breaking the smallest rocks: they release little
    clouds that the ship collects by itself. There is no meter in the sector -
    your stock shows as faint sparks circling the ship: the more sparks, the
    more you have. The laser also runs on SATURNium (8 units a shot), and a
    full stock reduces the damage you take.

  Weapons:
    You start with the blaster only. Every other weapon has to be won from
    the enemies:
     * the laser drops from a defeated pulsar,
     * the EMP pulse drops from a destroyed EMP mine (until then FIRE 1 +
       FIRE 2 does nothing); using it eats almost all your SATURNium, but
       destroys many enemies at once,
     * a defeated spider leaves a shield.
    Loot flies to the ship by itself - just leave it nearby.


MADSIM KEYS

  Esc          quit
  Space / P    pause / resume
  M            mute / unmute audio
  F3           toggle the CPU/GPU utilisation meter (developer info)
  F11          borderless fullscreen
  F12          rotate the screen 90 degrees


KNOWN LIMITATIONS

  - This is an alpha: it is short, unfinished and unbalanced. Feedback is
    welcome.
  - Audio needs a working output device; use M to mute if it causes trouble.


RELEASE NOTES

  v0.7 alpha - 2026-10-17
    - First public alpha, shown at NRG 2026: SECTOR ZERO and the tunnel.

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