Into Oblivion!

[Border_7]

I know Gryzor and I have blabbed on a bit about this game over the last little while - and yes, It's challenging and difficult to say the least (but being our first game - it has a special place on the mantle).


But lately it's been bothering me to the point where I just thought I've got to get this game beat and move on with my life !


Damn you Stephen Curtis.


Anyway I started mapping this darn thing. 2500 screens? You have got to be kidding me! So a few days into this, I found that darn Safe Planet! Yay - but you need to basically explore every screen in order to find all the Psyche units - otherwise you can't survive on the Safe Planet. 


Not too worry. At least I know where it is now and that just more time is needed to explore around more. BUT this is huge progress on a game that's been plaguing me for 25-odd years!


I've put a partial map on the wiki entry for anyone that cares as much as we do. 


Into Oblivion - CPCWiki

[Casual Retro]

Hats off to ya. This game drove me nuts when I was a kid. I'll be interested to see the full map when you're done.

[Gryzor]

Good lord, man, what kind of patience do you possess? Is it some drug? Are you Tibetan? Something else?


Just... wow. Even with the map, it takes a LOT of planning to get through the maze. This is much more sadistic than I thought!

[AMSDOS]

I'm so glad Kukulan has made a map for a game I need to get off my chest, I simply need to go off and complete N.O.M.A.D now. 

[Gryzor]

You get it off your chest just by looking at the map?


Argh, going to play some ST.

[AMSDOS]

You get it off your chest just by looking at the map?

As well as playing the game.  I got a little closer, it's just a pity those round blue faced blobs which bounce around aren't marked on the map and those guns fire at random which makes N.O.M.A.D that bit harder. 

[guest]

Into Oblivion, my nemesis!

Looking at your incomplete map, wholly crap. That guy who made that game is just just cruel.

Can't believe after all these years someone is having a go. What was the game designer thinking? What kid back then could finish that game?

[Gryzor]

The more interesting thing is, this is no randomly-generated maze. The guy actually sat down and designed this huge thing!!!
Maybe we should try to track him down for an interview

[dcdrac]

it would be interesting to have interviews with all the old progammers, like Raefelle Cecco, Perry etc.

[Border_7]

Look -  this is one killer maze. It gives you a bit of an insight into this guys mind - he design a real prick of a maze! Cruel and sadistic to say the least. There are huge sections that lead no where. Plenty of unexpected dead-ends. There's even a huge spiral that leads to nothing! Absolutely nothing random about this whatsoever.


And then there's the darn one-way screens which put you instantly into a different (potentionally un-mapped?) section of the maze and I still haven't figured out the transporter screen on Nonterra yet. Crikey.



But I'm not on any drugs - just coffee - but I'm not doing it all in one go otherwise I think it would kill me. Just a chunk every day or so.


I can hear him laughing as you have spent 2 hours going in one direction only to hit a dead end 


Tracking him down would be a great idea! Stephen N Curtis - where are you?


and the map has grown a little bit now too:


http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:IO_Map.jpg


I wonder if the map will actually form an artwork or shape of something...

[Spectacular101]

I found this by google searching. this game has bothered me for years - (sorry to post in Amstrad forum). I played this on the speccy and couldn't find anything out there on the web about this game. im hoping this map is the same as the version I have. I would like to have it printed on large size paper. I wonder how long it took to build that maze, that looks like an insane amount of work for the prgrammer to do back in the 80's. value for money I think so.

[Border_7]

I found this by google searching. this game has bothered me for years - (sorry to post in Amstrad forum). I played this on the speccy and couldn't find anything out there on the web about this game. im hoping this map is the same as the version I have. I would like to have it printed on large size paper. I wonder how long it took to build that maze, that looks like an insane amount of work for the prgrammer to do back in the 80's. value for money I think so.

Step right up folks - best IO Map you'll ever see. You can have a complete copy for $85. 


Every time I map a little bit more, I can't help to think what a torturing guy he is.

[Border_7]

oh and how many guests are coming out of the closet?

[Gryzor]

Yeah, this seems a popular post I tweeted about it, but still...


I actually found a programmer by the same name and probably the right age and asked him if he's the one, still no reply though.


@Spectacular101: no worries, all are welcome here! But, as for the printed map... do you have a spare tennis court to lay it out?

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

I'm glad I never bought this game!


Could the map be coloured to indicate those useless dead-end paths, and useful dead-end paths?

[Gryzor]

That'd be a nice idea...


As for the game, I think it was a budget title, so you wouldn't have lost much

Still, as I've said in other threads, I love this little title to bits. I must have spent countless hours flying around, not knowing what to do but blasting those aliens in their thousands! So I'm not holding it against the dev

[Gryzor]

Hey, I had forgotten about this!

IO REMAKE - YouTube


(from here: IO Into Oblivion Remakes | Nexus23 BrotherhoodNexus23 Brotherhood)


Thought it's a straight shooter...

[Axelay]

Hey, I had forgotten about this!

IO REMAKE - YouTube


(from here: IO Into Oblivion Remakes | Nexus23 BrotherhoodNexus23 Brotherhood)


Thought it's a straight shooter...

That seems confused.  That IO remake was a remake of the shooter
IO on the C64.

[Gryzor]

Yes it is confusing. Even so, Download link is dead...

[Axelay]

Yes it is confusing. Even so, Download link is dead...

You could always try the original C64 version!    Though I find it a bit too frustrating for my taste.

[Gryzor]

Gah! Looking for it returns results for IO the horizontal shooter... Do you have an image?

[Axelay]

Gah! Looking for it returns results for IO the horizontal shooter... Do you have an image?

Sorry, I think I misunderstood, you talked about a dead link on that page you linked to, which had almost certainly been for the remake of the C64 horizontal shooter judging from the screen shots, so that's what I was talking about with the original C64 version.  I suspect there was no C64 version of Into Oblivion.  IO on the C64 is just IO, but the c64-wiki mentions there was a budget re-release that added Into Oblivion to the title, so I guess that's where the author of the site you linked to may have got confused.

[Gryzor]

Ahhh thanks. Makes (?) sense now

[Gryzor]

...and Mr Curtis is actually the newest member of our forum, in case you didn't notice


He was kind enough to agree to a small interview over email, so it'd be nice to concentrate any questions you may have via PM, instead of asking in the open.


Or maybe not. Doesn't matter really, I feel all warm and fuzzy

[Puresox]

Nonterraqueous was the first game I bought with my own money! Thought it was great fun  . Look forward to hearing some of your thoughts about your time in the software business. Possibly ?