ChemStation's - ChemInvaders Game
Solutions
Story line
You are sitting in front of a brand new 7890 GC on a boring Friday afternoon and waste your time with endless method developments. Starring at the computer screen by looking on the online plot monitor only to find out, that the peak of interest is doomed in the infinitive horizons of noise. Two hours and some injections later, by waiting for the last peaks to elute again seven minutes behind the time line, you remembered your boss saying "We need faster analysis times, so go ahead and reduce the runtime by a factor of 10, at least! That's a nice job for your new machine on a Friday. Isn't it?". Yeah, what a beautiful idea for a Friday morning -the day has 24 hours and if that's not enough we can add the night on top-. After letting your mind wander for another hour you suddenly awake. You were trapped alone in the lab and something strange happens. The Chemstation screen turns into a starry sky of deep space where an armada of faulty columns and IVE's (invalidated equipment) tries to infiltrate your analysis data. There is no way out, you have to fight to protect your results or you will stay forever in the lab. The battle is near. Load the injector turret with calibration samples and hide yourself behind the GLP (Good Laboratory Praxis) bases. Hopefully your GLP methods are good enough to survive...
In-Game Screenshot
Play the first embedded game found in an analytical science software package ever.
Game Details
The game is embedded in every 32-Bit version of Agilent Technologies Multitechniques and OpenLab ChemStation software for GC, LC, LC/MS, CE, CE/MS and A/D instruments (check external link). Working multitechniques versions start from B.01.01 released on 2nd. September 2004 and go up to the latest version B.04.03 SP1 released on the 6th. March 2012. Also, all so far released OpenLAB CDS ChemStation Editions (Dec. 2017) are working. Likewise, all existing patch levels are operational too. Older 16-Bit A.xx.xx versions and also all GC/MSD Productivity ChemStations or MassHunter didn't contain the game.
To start playing, follow the instruction below or look inside your subscribed Welcome to iNews newsletter. The game is directly loaded into the main ChemStation window and populates one menu line with <File|Restart> and <File|Exit> game commands. It is a one player game with High Score table, button control, 800x600 - 256 colours graphic and 11 KHz, 8 Bit, Mono sound output.
Move your base (injector turret) along the bottom of the screen with the left or right arrow keys to shoot the endless waves of aliens marching towards earth. To fire the laser base push the space bar. There are four shields (GLP) that you can hide behind, but eventually they will be destroyed by enemy missiles or by your own laser fire. The aliens' descent quickens as you eliminate them. Shoot the flying saucer for extra points. The game is over when the player's laser base gets hit three times, or when the invaders overrun the baseline.
Game Objects
No Chemstation at hand?
Try out the free Space Invaders clone. Space Invaders OpenGL is a 2D/3D game based on the old arcade classic. Single executable for direct play fun without installation. Free source code and download available here.
ChemInvaders | SpaceInvaders | Description |
 |  | Laser Base |
 |  | Shield / Bunker |
 |  | Invader 1st. wave - 10 Hit Points |
 |  | Invader 2nd. wave - 20 Hit Points |
 |  | Invader 3rd. wave - 30 Hit Points |
 |  | Flying saucer - 50 to 150 Hit Points (selected randomly) |
 | Top ship - never used because animated GIF can't be displayed |
Tips & Hints
- The High Score table is saved in a normal text file under ..\Chem32\CORE\highscore.txt. Edit it and you will be the lab hero :-)
- If you start to control the laser base, it will move continuously up to the screen border. Use the Up or Down arrow key for a direct stop to get the best shooting position. The maximum fire rate is around every two seconds. Therefore don't use the spacebar to stop movement, or you will loose time until you can fire again.
- In contrast to the original Space Invaders, the alien waves are moving only one row down when they have reached the left side of the window border.
- You will start with full lives (3) at every new level.
How to play?
Follow the instructions below to enter the activation command and start playing...
Start ChemStation...
Enter the command shown in the picture on the left into the ChemStation command line and press <ENTER>. The command line is the white line just above the status line at the bottom of the screen. If this line is missing, please go to the menus and select the entry <View|Command line> to toggle its view. If you get an error, check the spelling of the command you entered and/or compare the supported versions.
<click picture to enlarge>
Play ChemInvaders...
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