Into Oblivion!

[Border_7]

Ok guys, the interview is up!


Forgive me any naffness, never taken an interview from anyone before!!


Stephen Curtis - CPCWiki

Fantastic stuff. IO could have been massive if Stephen wasn't so busy at the time..... !

[Axelay]

Ok guys, the interview is up!


Forgive me any naffness, never taken an interview from anyone before!!


Stephen Curtis - CPCWiki

Thanks Gryzor & Stephen for the interesting read! 

[Border_7]

Stephen - another quick question (if you are monitoring this thread).


Can you recall how many Psyche units you need to have before going to the Safe Planet? so far - without mapping every single screen, I've found 100 units (is that enough?!?).


Also - It looks like there are actually 2 safe planets! 

[Gryzor]

2 safe plantes? Either 'oops' or a great way to confuse players...

[Border_7]

2 safe plantes? Either 'oops' or a great way to confuse players...

I thought big time Oops on my part - have I started some sort of duplication? am I re-mapping ... but alas,  no. There are definitely 2 safe planets (screens). Maybe more?

[Gryzor]

_oopsie!

[Border_7]

yep, thought so. There's actually 3 safe planets... I think 2500 screens might have been the minimum 

[TFM]

What happens on save planets?

[Gryzor]

3 safe planets? Damn. I'll ask Mr Curtis when I email him again, unless he sees this post

[Border_7]

What happens on save planets?

The game ends abruptly if you haven't collected enough Psyche!

3 safe planets? Damn. I'll ask Mr Curtis when I email him again, unless he sees this post

Yeah I think this map will take months... just when I think I'm on the home stretch, bam! A whole new section of the maze opens up. There could even be more than 3 safe planets!! arghhhhh.

[Gryzor]

I think if I had persevered with this game it back then it would have carried me through the eighties and into the nineties

[Spectacular101]

I think I must have been having a relapse. I never actually played this on the speccy, it was an Amstrad. Sorry! So yeah I think it wasn't released on anything but the Amstrad. Nice map though. It is coming along nicely. Now, I just need a few spare days to play it and follow through this to completion.


Nice Curtis interview by the way. Priceless.

[Gryzor]

Thanks for the comments mate


However I think IO is actually mentioned (as missing) on WoS? Is that a mistake then?

[Border_7]

My gut feeling is WoS might have a mistake on their hands..... seems unusual for a game to be released on speccy and there be nothing about it anywhere...that, combined with Stephen's comments, I think IO is more likely than not to be 100% Amstrad only!

[Gryzor]

Just contacted Martijn, the WoS maintainer. Let's see if I hear back from him...

[Border_7]

Cool... I'm sure he can confirm that. As I'm sure it would have appeared in one of the below mags at some stage - and apparently hasn't...ever...



Popular Computing Weekly
Crash
Your Sinclair
Computer & Video Games
Sinclair User
Your Computer
ZX Computing

Games Machine
ACE

Home Computing Weekly
Sinclair Programs

[Nich]

Just contacted Martijn, the WoS maintainer. Let's see if I hear back from him...

I'm not sure if you will. Martijn is currently on a sabbatical and I don't know when he will return to maintaining WoS. There is a long discussion about it on the WoS forums.

[redbox]

I'm not sure if you will. Martijn is currently on a sabbatical and I don't know when he will return to maintaining WoS. There is a long discussion about it on the WoS forums.

September 15 2013
I'm afraid the rumours are true and I found the girl of my dreams a couple of months ago, so I'm currently away on a sabbatical.

Classic.  Wait until he marries her, then he'll be back 

[Gryzor]

Nobody missed me when I got married

[Border_7]

This one is for you Gryzor:


http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:IntoOblivionSafePlanetGameCompleteScreen.png


Phew! finally!

[Gryzor]

* Gryzor sheds a tear...

Oh man. Wish you'd video'ed yourself!

[Border_7]

oh man - you tube.... ahhhh, now that would have been awesome!


I can't imagine too many people sitting through something like that though! That's many many hours...


I must say though, I would have love some sort of spectacular ending... something other than a text message. But that's OK - we know Curtis was under the pump...

[Gryzor]

Actually, I meant a video of you. Sitting there for hours on end, pulling your hair, would be lots of fun


As for the ending screen, I agree, but then again that was the norm back then, wasn't it? I don't know about you, but it actually moved me 

[Border_7]

oh, a video of me? lol. you would have seen me slowly growing a beard and going grey! I guess that would have been cool.


It moved me too...


"This is the last in the Nonterraqueous trilogy. Good bye"


Would it have been better to leave that ending a mystery forever? Nah! Happy closure.

Just re-read the cassette "Aim of the Game". Curtis obviously had more then just erratic droids planned, as there is mention of a "race of primitive human-like creatures" ... could have been epic 


http://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/1/14/IO_Inlay_Reverse_Full.jpg

[Gryzor]

...or the guy who did marketing and copy at Mastertronic just took it and run with it


If you did a video of yourself finishing it you should also have a camera pointed at the discarded coke/beer cans and pizza boxes. Thankfully technology doesn't allow for the smells to pass through And a close-up of the tear running down your cheek as you read the final message...