Exile (Amiga)

Exile
Developer: Audiogenic Publisher: Audiogenic Platform: Amiga Released internationally: 1991 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused text.

Exile is an open world exploration game about a lone astronaut lost on a complex procedurally generated planet boasting full Newtonian physics and the kind of physics-based puzzles that wouldn't be seen again in video games until the likes of Half-Life 2. Oh, and the original version of the game ran on a BBC Micro with only 32KBs of RAM. It's pretty special.

Developer Credits

In the center of the map is a copyright tag. (C) PJMI, 1991.

PJMI are the initials for the coder, Peter J.M. Irvin.

Developer Message

Between hex offsets 105 and 39E, there is a small message from the developers.

Amiga Exile. 31 September 1991.   
Copyright © Peter JM Irvin,   
Jeremy C Smith, William F Reeve             
1991.                                                

Copyright © Audiogenic 1991.        
All rights reserved.       
A lot of work went into this              
project.                                                 

Please don't rob us of our           
livelihoods.         

     ---«<------------>»---       
  ____________________________   
 /                            \ 
<THE PATH TO COMPLETE AWARENESS> 
 \  IS THROUGH AN OPEN MIND   /   
  \                          /     
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯       
     ---«<------------>»---    

(Source: Carlos Ace)

Unused Text

The game has several unused text strings:

You have killed Triax
Here is a secret passage
This is a special weapon
!null message!
She wants you badly
It has given you special powers
Serendipity
Food, not for you but for what?
---BAD EQUIPMENT---

These are only in the Amiga versions of the game and are present in the original OCS and later AGA versions of the game.

While some are from debug items (the "this is a special weapon" message is from one) others seem to have been deliberately added to create a sense of mystery and encourage exploration of the game's files. In an interview with Edge magazine, author Peter Irvin: states "People keep asking about the extra text messages in the 68000 version like 'she wants you badly', or 'you have killed Triax'. We put those there for hackers to wonder over."

(Source: Andrew Weston, Exile Tribute site)