BBC Microcomputer System

Exile

Exile is a single-player action-adventure video game originally published for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro in 1988 by Superior Software and later ported to the Commodore 64, Amiga, CD32 and Atari ST, all published by Audiogenic. Exile's game physics engine qualifies it to be the first game to have a complete Newtonian motion model. At the time of its release it was considered to push the boundaries of what was possible on home computers, particularly on the 8-bit platforms. It remains probably the most complex game available for the BBC Micro. The game was designed and programmed by Peter Irvin (author of Starship Command, a space shoot-em-up with an innovative control system) and Jeremy Smith (author of Thrust, a game based on cave exploration with a simpler physics model). Note: The standard 32 kB BBC Model B version uses a specially defined screen resolution, smaller than full screen MODE 2. This is to free up video memory for game data - a common technique employed in complex BBC games. The simplified video hardware found in the Electron does not support this, so the additional machine-code data remains visible around the screen border.