Shadowcat on 9/1/2008 at 03:11
...goes off to investigate said game.
Um, no. No it was not. What on earth made you think it might be?
gunsmoke on 9/1/2008 at 14:53
I might have misunderstood what Exile/Nameless is like. What is the gameplay like?
NamelessPlayer on 9/1/2008 at 20:48
Quote Posted by Shadowcat
The busy bods at (
http://www.ovine.net/) Ovine by Design (who have brought us the excellent Imogen, XOR, and Cholo remakes in recent years, among others) have completed their (
http://exile.ovine.net/) successor to Jeremy "Thrust" Smith and Peter "Starship Command" Irvin's "(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile_(arcade_adventure)) Exile" -- the legendary physics-based arcade adventure that was one of the last high-points of gaming on the 8-bit BBC Micros (and was subsequently ported to the C64 and some of the 16-bit machines of the day).
Apparently they've had a legal issue with the name "Exile", so the game now sports its original subtitle as its main title, which amusingly means the game is named "(
http://exile.ovine.net/) The Nameless".
With physics-based gameplay now all the rage, it's worth taking a trip down memory lane to relive one of the first (and certainly the most complex) games to really do such things in earnest -- 20 years ago.
(And if The Nameless is easier than its forebear, I might actually manage to finish it :)
That's the Exile I'm familiar with, the one that gets mentioned on Amiga forums everywhere. (And the legal issue regarding the title also reminds me of what happened with Star Control II and the UQM project.)
The physics engine is well ahead of its time, certainly the Trespasser of its day(only not in 3D and probably not as bad of a game in most people's opinions). I just wish there was analog control so that I don't send myself flying left or right at full speed when I just want to go somewhere slowly, especially when I'm carrying an urn full of water that I can't let hit anything lest it spill its payload. (I'm past that now, though I'm at a point where I don't know what the hell to do not far afterward...)
I'll be sure to check this remake out...after I finish the Amiga AGA version. (It's not like UQM where much of its original inspiration is apparently untouched save for the code so that it runs on platforms other than a 3DO and has some of the PC version's features back. This remake has substantially changed graphics which will likely give me whiplash between the various versions, though I could say that in reference to the Amiga AGA version, which looks nothing like the OCS/ECS version, which both look different from the C64 version, and which all look leagues better than the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron originals...)
Shadowcat on 10/1/2008 at 00:06
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
I might have misunderstood what Exile/Nameless is like. What is the gameplay like?
Simply jet-packing around with a full inertia model made it different to everything else, even without taking the puzzles into account. The simulation gave you the same intuitive benefits that you can get with modern physics engines (e.g. if you wanted to head down a vertical tunnel with wind rushing up in the opposite direction such that your jet-pack was not enough, you could grab hold of something really heavy, stagger over to the tunnel entrance, and let gravity do the rest).
In short, if it didn't have a full physics model, then it wasn't like Exile :)
gunsmoke on 10/1/2008 at 13:56
OK, now I get it. HERO had a helicopter backpack. It obeyed physics laws, namely inertia, gravity very well. Like if you were in a low-ceilinged 'room' w/lava on the floor and spikes on the roof, you would have to slowly tap the button(aka give it gas) to stay above the lava and below the spikes. You would travel in a sideways "S" pattern doing this.
gunsmoke on 17/1/2008 at 10:42
Just for general info, The latest Sam and Max episodes always get an exclusive, one day early release via GameTap. That is where I usualy play them.
Matthew on 22/1/2008 at 11:15
I would edit out that second-last paragraph if I were you.
Quote Posted by TheOutrider
remove ... the legally-dubious (sorry) abandonware sites
