Slordax: The Unknown Enemy
| Industry | Software, Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Slordax: The Unknown Enemy |
Slordax: The Unknown Enemy is a vertically scrolling shooter designed for MS-DOS, released by the software company Softdisk in 1991. Showcasing 16-color visuals combined with fluid vertical scrolling, it represented a technical achievement for PC titles during that period. Created over September and October 1990, the development team comprised programmers John Carmack and John Romero, designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack. This project was their initial collaboration prior to departing Softdisk to establish id Software.
Plot
Centuries ago, the Slordax launched a campaign to dominate the cosmos. Anticipating their resurgence, the Intergalactic Defense Alliance (I.D.A.) sends a pilot aboard a RedDog Adaptive Strike Ship to eliminate enemy strongholds within the Slordax domain before their forces can reorganize.
Gameplay
The game features five distinct levels, such as navigating an asteroid field and traversing planetary terrain. Players collect capsules dropped by foes to enhance their weaponry. Upon completing all stages, the game restarts with heightened difficulty settings.
Development
Created at Softdisk by Carmack, Romero, Hall, and Adrian Carmack, Slordax was their first joint effort. John Carmack engineered the game’s engine, introducing smooth vertical scrolling of 16-color graphics—a significant advancement in PC gaming technology. Romero handled the remainder of the game's programming along with developing the TED (Tile EDitor) level editor, originally built for Slordax but later utilized in 33 published titles.
Tom Hall contributed by proposing the name Slordax, crafting the narrative, and designing half of the levels; Romero was responsible for the other half. Adrian Carmack produced all artwork except for the title screen. The project reached completion on October 31, 1990.
During development, John Carmack improved the scrolling capabilities to support horizontal movement. Without informing Softdisk, this innovation was employed by the team to develop their own title, Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons. On February 1, 1991, they officially founded id Software.
Release
Initially distributed in 1991 by Softdisk as part of their Gamer's Edge bi-monthly subscription series, Slordax was later included in The Lost Game Collection of ID Software, which compiled several games created by id Software under contract. In 2021, Ziggurat Interactive reissued Slordax on Steam and GOG.com, making it accessible to contemporary PC audiences.