Sanctuary Software Studio, Inc. formed in 1994 as an independent game studio. Four friends with day jobs and a desire to work long nights connected to build a game from scratch. It was the rock band era of game development defined by shareware, bulletin boards, and 256 color VGA graphics. Our plan was simple: build a game, release it as shareware, shop it to publishers, and leverage the results to sign a development deal for our next game.
The shareware version of BACKLASH – A Turret Gunner Simulation hit bulletin boards, AOL, MSN, and CompuServe in late 1994. Shareware publishers jumped on the free version, putting floppies in stores and adding it to popular shovelware collections. The full version released in 1995 on 3 x 3.5″ floppy disks, still shipping out of the basement. Beaucomm Interactive picked up the game for commercial publication with distribution by Madacy Entertainment. The modified BACKLASH – Assault on Omicron Station shipped on CD-ROM, hitting store shelves in 1996. In 1997, the team went to CES Chicago to lock down a publisher for game #2 and ink a deal on some contract game work.
And by then the Internet happened. The future of software was interactive, graphical, and seemed a lot more interesting than making games. Good news – we already had a team in place.
Play the Game
BACKLASH is now freely available for anyone interested. Play it in a browser on your favorite retro gaming site or on your preferred mobile emulator.
- BACKLASH Installation Media
- Unzip the archive
- Run install.exe
- BACKLASH Ready to Run in DOSBox
- Unzip the archive
- Run backlash.bat
Go with the DOSBox version unless you remember how to configure extended memory and sound board interrupts. Run DOSBoxPortable.exe directly instead of backlash.bat to change settings.
Screenshots
Mines in an Asteroid Field?
Developer Artifacts
While the source code and tools were lost to the Click-of-Death, a selection of development materials survived in the physical archives.
Manual for v1.20 Full Release
