Baldies

Baldies is a 1995 real-time strategy video game developed by Creative Edge Software and originally published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar CD. It was later ported to the PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Macintosh. In the game, the player manages a community of Baldies in order to build structures, increase their population, and create weapons to fight against enemies known as Hairies. There are four classes of Baldies and each structure has specific properties to assist the player. Its gameplay combines strategy with simulation and god game elements. Up to four players can participate in a multiplayer mode via local area network (LAN) on PC. Baldies began production in 1993 for the Amiga platform, intended to be published first by Mindscape and then by GameTek. It was spearheaded by Creative Edge founder David Wightman, who served as lead programmer and designer. Wightman designed the game''s concept to have the depth of the god game Populous (1989) and accessibility of the puzzle–strategy game Lemmings (1991). The original Amiga version received a demo published as covermount with an issue of CU Amiga magazine, but was never published until it was ported and finished on Jaguar CD. Ports for 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Amiga CD32 began development but were never released. The game garnered generally favorable reception from critics; praise was given to its novel style and level of gameplay freedom given to players, though the simplistic graphics, learning curve, and controls were a point of contention for reviewers. It was followed by Skull Caps (1998). The player can assign Baldies one of four job classes, indicated by the color of clothing representing their current role. The role of all Baldies can be changed by dropping them into the corresponding room of a house. Dropping Baldies into a house''s bedroom is the only way to breed more Baldies. Red Baldies are workers that generate energy to terraform the playfield. Once four big houses are constructed, they can grow angel wings that let them fly. Blue Baldies act as builders of houses, barracks or laboratories. They can prevent structures from falling apart during a disaster. Grey Baldies function as soldiers to fight against Hairies. They can be equipped with weapons outside of barracks. White Baldies work as scientists at laboratories, making weapons and inventions by experimenting with animals that roam the playfield. Each structure has specific properties to assist the player. Without any kind of structure, the player is incapable of breeding Baldies, develop inventions or fabricate ammunition.