Here is a tribute to one of the earliest robot/spaceman characters in video games - the player character from the Commodore 64 version of "Chimera" by Shahid Ahmad. As the player, you explore a mysterious and threatening space ship, attempt to destroy it and escape.
Chimera was one of the first games to include digital voice samples, not just the typical bleeps and bloops of games of the mid-80s.
This paper toy version of the Chimera player character can hold a Wrench, the first tool to be collected in the game.
Shahid tells the riveting story about the development of this game, brimming with coffee, XORS, friendship, hardship, opportunity, and triumph. There are also detailed explanations and asides on how programming and logic turn computer code into a pulsing, exciting game that one can play.
Note: You will need to have a Twitter account to log in and read all 7 chapters.
Download
the Poplocks version of the Chimera C64 character and you can print out a template on
one page of card-stock, cut it out, fold and assemble your very own
version of this paper bot!
Alternately, print out the 3 pages for the enlarged, 160% scale version.
Full-color instructions are included to help you cut out and assemble.
You
can print the pattern on US Letter or A4 card stock paper. Make sure
your program for printing PDF files is set to print at 100% scale with
no set margins (Chrome Browser defaults to the "margins" setting, which will shrink the print out!). Printing works fine in
Adobe Acrobat as well, naturally.
A 5/8" circle punch will help
out as always, allowing you to quickly cut out clean circles for smooth rotation
of all of the Poplocks joints.
For the 160% scale version, there are very few commercially available 1" circle hole punches with enough "reach" to cut out the hole, so you may have to remove each hole with a craft knife and scissors.
