In this, the very first show of 2021, Dean, Chris and Mads talk about their experiences playing December's game club game Exile on the BBC Micro. Thanks to all of our Patreon’s who made this episode possible. William E Rimmer Ninjixel TJ Andy Hudson Ricardo Engel Adrian Nelson Alastair Barr Straight2Video RoseTintedSpectrum Matthew W James Bentley Wiedo Belochkin Tony Parkinson Gaz H Mal Woods Zach Glanz Richard Rogers Cane and Rinse LamptonWorm Salvio Calabrese Mitsoyama Rhys Wynne Clint Humphrey MARK BYLUND Paul Ashton Chris Rowe Jon Sheppard Laurent Giroud Martin Stephenson Aaron Maupin Jim-OrbitsIT Jon Veal Thomas scoffham Andy Marsh Patrick Fürst Laurens Andrew Gilmour Stephen Stuttard Matt Sullivan Magnus Esbjörner Darren Coles Garry Heather Edward Fitzpatrick Nick Lees Blake Brett   Q and A with Peter Irvin. Q: Where did the concept of the game come from? Was it influenced by earlier videogames? A: The concept for Exile started as just the idea of a man with a jetpack exploring an underground cavern system, having to solve problems to progress, fighting off hostiles. It wasn’t influenced by other games, more from TV/film - like Star Trek, Blakes 7, Forbidden Planet. Q: Was the game built around the plot or did the mechanics of the game come first? A: The mechanics came first and we kept adding stuff to the game engine until we knew what the limits were and how far we could go with the resources available. The plot crystallised over time, after we worked out what could be achieved, then we had to populate the map to match and make a playable game. Major way points were decided, like the Rune Door and Triax’s lab, and the scattering of other puzzles, equipment and encounters designed to get the player equipped to pass through these way points. However we sometimes had “we could add this cool thing” moments and had to include that - like the digital speech on the large RAM BBC micro version. Q: Nowadays, there is infinite memory to craft a story and provide lots of context for the game. That was not possible for you. How early did you develop the idea of a novella? A: To include a novella was decided quite late in the day. Yes, it was a way to help explain the game back story better but it was also a way to add perceived value to the game, and reduce piracy - the thinking being that people would pay more and pirates would think they were missing out on important stuff if they did’t have the full package, though I’m not convinced by that. Q: How much of what you and Jeremy learned from Thrust did you carry forward into Exile? A: With Thrust, Jeremy showed that implementing physics well - gravity, thrusting, multi-body mechanics - was actually rewarding for the player; it was pleasing just to fly around. We were both interested in physics so that had to be a big part of Exile, and a lot of time was spent getting the physics engine right - all the acceleration rates, gravity, impacts, wind forces, floating, etc work in balance and to feel ok but coded with very little memory. Q: Were there any interesting alien life forms that you prototyped but had to cut? A: There were a few but the details are lost to me by the passing of time. Most memorable now was a dog - which was to be the player’s faithful companion, helping out as best he could. He was included from the beginning as it came over from an unfinished game I was doing before Exile called “Wizard’s Walk” - a wizard travelling down a long pretty cave populated by hazards. The dog used too much RAM for its graphics in Exile - it needed extra frames due to walking up diagonals. It also had to be indestructible, and manage to get around the map as well as the player or the game wouldn’t work, so it ended up being removed and we put in Fluffy which was small alien bundle of pixels and trivial code to control. Q: Some game reviews show screenshots that are clearly from a different game map. Were review copies sent out that were radically different or were these more likely pi