Oids PC
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Fly in, take out the gun towers, land next to a jail, and carry the androids out before your fuel runs dry or you fold the ship against a cliff.
This is a PC port of Oids, the rotate-and-thrust rescue game Dan Hewitt built for the Atari ST in 1987. It's a rebuild from scratch, not an emulator. The flight model is the original's: momentum, gravity, sixteen headings of thrust, and a ship that keeps drifting after you let go of the keys. Setting it down gently, on a moving pad, with two Oids aboard and a gun tower tracking you, is the hard part.
It runs at 60fps (50fps on the Next), and there's an optional CRT filter (PC only) if you want the phosphor look. Everything else plays the way the original did, including how fast it punishes a sloppy landing.
Every planet is a small level: terrain that will kill you, defenses that will shoot you, and androids that need a lift. Pull the defenses apart, set down by a jail, load up, and get back off the surface. Refuel at bases when you can. All six original galaxies are included.
Controls
Default keys (all rebindable in the Change Keys menu; gamepad supported):
- Rotate: Left / Right
- Thrust: Up
- Fire (nuclear pellet): Space
- Nova-Bomb: X
- Shield: S to hold the bubble, Down to toggle it
- Recharge shield: R
- Pause: P
Running it
- [Windows / macOS / Linux]: [download, unzip, run.]
- [ZX Spectrum Next]: [download, unzip, copy to SD card, select oids.nex in the Next Browser]
Credits
Oids was made by Dan Hewitt and published by FTL Games in 1987. This port is an independent tribute with no affiliation to the original creators.
More information on the original game can be found here.
Port by MauS.
Download
Install instructions
Download, unzip, run. That's about it.
WARNING: Because the apps are unsigned and contain packed binaries you may get a spurious virus warning on Windows or have to deal with the Security blocker on Mac, but there's no malicious content in these game.
Operating systems just tend to be wary of apps that unpack executable code onto disk.
Development log
- PC Version tweaks and fixes44 days ago
- Oids PC 1.0.1 & Oids Next 0.9.1046 days ago
- Oids ZX Next v0.9.946 days ago
- ZX Next Version minor bug-fixes48 days ago
- Two Oids49 days ago
- Oids PC 0.9.655 days ago
- Oids PC 0.9.556 days ago
- Oids PC 0.9.459 days ago
Comments
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Any news on improvements of this great game?
Noting this has gamepad support, is it also available for an Windows X-Box controller? If so, how do I configure it?
On the Asteroid select screen, go down to the Options menu, then the Controls menu. You can redefine keyboard and gamepad bindings from there.
I did try that, but no joy - it doesn’t recognise my controller but it should by the look of the controllerdb file, it’s just a standard wireless Xbox wireless unit :/
Oh dear. I dunno then - I’m just using the standard SDL2 gamepad check.
What platform are you running it on? I’ll see if I can dig out an xbox controller and take a look. Is it an xbox 360 or OG controller?
Its just a standard XBox One Controller - this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078Y36QFJ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_titl...
I'm on Win 11.
I’ll see if I can replicate it.
Just downloaded for Spectrum Next but when I run the .nex file I just get a cat pic.
Make sure you’ve updated the latest version of the core. It’s only been tested on the latest version.
What version of the Next is it: KS1 or KS2? And how much memory does your machine have?
Its a KS1 running core version 3.02.00 . It has 768K - maybe thats the problem - Does the game make use of pages in the expanded Next ?
Yeah it does. I’ll see if there’s anything I can do about that. (No promises, but I’ll take a look.)
Had a go, here. Don't think I ever played the original, back in the day. However, I once did have Oids, but some cream from the doctor sorted that out ;)
Nice.
Glad your Oids cleared up! I find that the ointment works wonders!
This is fantastic, thank you so much!
Oids is easily my favourite game on the Atari ST - I spent hundreds of hours playing this in my (misspent?) youth, and even created my own (rubbish) galaxies.
I'm loving the PC version and also really impressed that you have it running on so many systems.
Huge Oids fan, thrilled to see this. Especially excited at the thought of playing it on my Raspberry Pi, but no idea how to install the single file onto my Pi4 running Retropie/EmulationStation, or indeed if that's even possible. Any clues?
PS the Next version flummoxed me for a while until I realised you need to use the SHIFTED cursor keys to do anything.
Are you playing the Next version in an emulator or on hardware?
And the linux version is just an executable, so as long as you can copy it onto the disk and tell the front-end where it is, it should run.
Ah, it's a 64-bit executable, so it won't work.
Which model pi are you using? I'll see if I can try a 32-bit build soon.
Raspberry Pi 4 still running Buster.
Alright. Let me see what I can do about that.
Looks like it might be a bit tricky to do a 32 bit build. I'll keep digging, but I wouldn't hold out hope... Sorry :(
Excellent! One of my favorite games on the Atari ST. Thank you!
Fantastic work, congrats! Oids is one of my all-time favourite games, so it's brilliant to see it looking and playing so well on modern platforms, and extra-special thanks for the Steam Deck-specific version!
I can't wait to try all the custom levels I made back when I was a teenager once you get that patched in, too!
Huge thanks for your hard work on this!
Have downloaded oids 9.8 for ZX Next but still says 9.7 when I load it up?
Sorry about that. I probably forgot to bump the version number. I'll be uploading a new version in the next few days in any case.
I can’t stop playing it! It’s so maddeningly addictive! Great work.
Wow! I'm stunned that there is finally a new OIDS - with editor! :) Even for my Mac! Wonderful! :)
I'm a fan and a registered user since the first hour and was in contact now and then with Kirk Baker even when OIDS.X was released (unfortunately this latest version needs a PPC so it does not work anymore). Because of poor sales he never considered an update for modern systems.
It would be nice if you could add selectable resolutions for the game window for a lager screen area! It's better to play if you have more visible space - his was a big improvement on the Mac version back then. Not just enlarged graphics, OIDS 2.0.1 even provided slightly higher resolution game graphics.
And can you add saving the set window size?
Is it possible to load the galaxies from the Mac version? I have a large collection of galaxies if you like.
Did you check out OIDS.X? Graphics and animations were improved. The people to rescue even called out (woohoo!) when the ship was nearby. The resources are in the game folder (manual/images).
https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193128/http://www.xavagus.com/
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/27110-oids-x
as there is no video of OIDS.X on YouTube I recorded a short game I played on my old iBook…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6593Dv0F4NE
I won't be including the graphical enhancements from Oids 2 and Oids.X because they won't port cleanly to the ZX Next, but I have been looking at the extra maps from them.
Watch this space.
Oh, and that's a good idea about remembering window size. I'll add that into a future release.
Thank you for remembering the window size! 😀 Unfortunately it does not remember size when starting again on my Mac. A resolution select for a larger viewing area would really be nice on modern systems… 😎
I think the editor would benefit a lot from mouse support.
What do you say about adding the call outs of the oids when the ship is near?
The shooting sound has a high pitch that is a bit hurting the ears. The sound of the Mac version was a bit more pleasing.
The Spectrum Next isn‘t able to display the slightly more detailed objects and the added background tiles?
Somehow it would be cool if you could do a Mega65 version, too. Have that machine, just wonderful…
I'll double-check the window size storage, and I'll look at adding mouse support.
I'll have a think about adding some of the extra non-ST features, but I really want to keep it ST-authentic as that's the version I'm most familiar with.
And no, the ZX Next has limited resolution so I wouldn't be able to use the higher res graphics in any case.
And no chance of a Mega65 version - I don't know that any programming for that machine at all. However, I'll probably be releasing the source code at some point, so hopefully someone can do that.
many thanx, very much appreciated!
Enhancement are always nice, that was the reason for OIDS.X back then - I’m still sad that Kirk never ported the code to the modern machines…
I always thought that the Next supports higher resolutions like the Mega65…
It does have a hi-res mode, but it wouldn't be suitable for Oids.
Featured! :) https://www.indieretronews.com/2026/08/oids-pc-brilliant-thrust-like-game.html
Yay!
noice
Excellent!
Very nice game!
Nice video. I see there are some sound issues. Were you running on an emulator? CSpect?
Yes, Cspect.
Ok. I use the MAME emulator for development and testing.