Exile (1988 video game)

Exile was a computer game that first appeared on the BBC Micro home computer in 1988. For its time it was one of the most complex games that were released on a home computer (8- bit). It is by far the most extensive game for the BBC Micro.

History of development

It was designed by Peter Irvin (who also wrote Starship Command ) and Jeremy Smith (author of Thrust ) programmed. The game was later ported to the Commodore 64 home computer, Atari ST, Amiga and CD ³ ². The Amiga and Atari ST versions of the game were implemented by William Reeve. Tony Cox began porting the game from the Amiga to the Amiga CD32.

The programmer Jeremy Smith died a few years after the development of the game Exile in a tragic car accident. Peter Irvin still works as a game developer.

Years after the publication of the source code of the BBC Micro version has been reconstructed on disassembly and analyzed.

Action

The player assumes the role of Mike Finn, who is sent to the planet Phoebus to save a group of survivors who are being held prisoner by the insane scientist Triax. The scientist appears briefly at the very beginning of the game to steal from the spaceship from Finn an important piece of equipment.

Places the play action

Besides the two spaceships Perseus and Pericles, the player finds much tunnel and cave system. The following are the names of these caves and tunnel systems are named, the deeper they are from the planet's surface:

Aurora, Honeycomb, Lyre, Eridanus, amaranth, Rune, Hamlet, Inferno, Sarawak, Puck, Nemesis, Orotund, Bigwig, Waters, Sulaco, Artesian, Carrion, Eclipse, Gemini, Madrigal, Zephyr, pogrom, Drey, Behemoth, Yarrow, Nebulous, Loganberry, Laager, Ferro, Askance, Aquila, nidus, Blackdown, Abscond, Diapason, agamas, Vendetta, Scorpius, Brazil, Okhotsk, Tutelary, Eros, Palermo, Aeolus, Esplanade, Fury, Antipodes, Hades, Eyre, Pascal, Hydra, Hercules, Cassandra, Cetus, Triton, Acheron, Zeppelin, Kielder

Technical Background

The game contains both other characters with whom the player can interact, as well as an environment with its own gravity, wind, fire, water, explosions, etc. The player needs within the game always new energy for his weapons and his jetpack, the it can collect in different places. The character can not die: Should it the power go out, then he is beamed back to the starting point of the game.

For the BBC Micro an extended version was released to the basic version of the game yet, which were intended for systems with an expanded memory. In this version also sound effects were included.

Others

Exile is also the name of a shareware computer role-playing game trilogy by Spiderweb Software.