Newcomer - Has anyone heard of this game?

I was browsing through the list of the IGF entrants for 2011 when I stumbled upon this interesting game. It's called Newcomer, and this seems to be the third "incarnation" of the game, simply called Ultimate Newcomer. I didn't find any info about the game here on the forums so I thought I'd post some info here.

Apparently it's an RPG for the C64 that's been in development for over 20 years. It tells the story of a man who murders his cheating wife and the man she cheated him with. You end up on a sort of "prison island" (A immediately got a Gothic feeling).

The developers call it a "Roleplaying Adventure", because the game focuses more on interaction with the characters and the environment instead of the more combat focussed old-school CRPGs of yore. The game still uses a first person perspective, a party based combat system and the classic tile-based movement.

Here a list of features, according to the IGF page:

—-Features—-
Non-linear game design
No random encounters
Multiple levels of solutions
70-280 gaming hours for the first play-through
180'000+ words of in-game text
180+ NPC portrait GFX
130+ inventory item and gadget GFX
100+ cutscene GFX
50+ game areas
30+ level GFX packs
Animated Intro and Outro
Total game size of 2 MB

Now I'm not a huge fan of these old-school first-person RPGs (I like them, but I constantly get disoriented in a lot of those games…), but that feature list certainly piques my interest.

I believe I read somewhere that the developers will be releasing the game as a native C64 game, but they'll also sell it as an emulated version for Windows, Mac and Linux (I can't find a link to confirm it).

The problem is that I can't find too much info on the game. I've found this rather sparse official page of the game. Then there's also a page for the game at the site of the distributor of the boxed edition of the game and a small entry at the PlayThisThing blog. I can't find any other details on things such as a planned release dates or any substantial screenshots. Judging by some posts on C64 fan-forums the game got a "to be released soon" label all the way back in 2009. The submission to the IGF might be a sign that it's coming out soon though.

So does anyone know more about this game? Perhaps there are some who have played an earlier version of the game ("Newcomer" or "Enhanced Newcomer" instead of "Ultimate Newcomer")?

C64?? As in Commodore 64??? How do you have a 2MB game on a computer that can only address 64k at a time - with some of that being tied up in ROM? Why would anyone even think of making something for a platform that has been dead for at least a decade and a half?

I think it's safe to say that the C64 is no longer its target platform.

C64 is nothin'. This other guy recently released a crazy party based RPG on the Vic20
http://www.armchairarcade.com/neo/node/2813

You guys seriously haven't you ever heard on emulator before? JDR, there are actually games still being made for the C64. I'll put up a link when I get home.

@Gamesquid I'll check around when I get home. My first thought would be to check out the C64 forums.

A quick search nabbed me this

I'll do a proper one when I get home. This game sounds like something I would like.

I was using emulators before most people even knew what they were. I don't see much of a point in making a new game designed for one, but I can appreciate his obvious passion for it.

Searched around a bit and you pretty much got all the relevant info on the game. The last post is from November 1, 2010 saying it will be released soon. I would just keep checking back from time to time.

@JDR Sorry couldn't respond earlier, but I thought the same thing about new games on the C64 until I went to www.c64.com (I have no idea why I couldn't remember that name earlier ) There may not be a ton of them being made, but they're still being made which is surprising in and of itself.

I have read about (but hardly ever seen) "C64-on-a-chip" kind of mini-consoles, where the COMPLETE C64 was kind of embedded (or so I understood it) in the expanded hardware of a joystick - complete with several games.

Such a thing (and a lesson on Amazon "Marketplace" prices, too ! ) : http://www.amazon.com/Commodore-64-G…9823159&sr=1-1

The alternative would be this : http://www.amazon.com/C64-Classix-Ov…9822862&sr=8-1

Cute, but I'll never play it.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I was using emulators before most people even knew what they were. I don't see much of a point in making a new game designed for one, but I can appreciate his obvious passion for it.

As previously said, old computers/consoles often receive a lot of fan-work these days. About a year ago someone released the first NES game in 20 years, and it instantly became a cult-game.

Also, I believe that the game has been in active development for over 20 years (according to the developers). Development must have started in a time where the C64 was either not outdated yet, or only a little.

Anyway, I think it's nice of the developers to a least realize not everyone owns a Commodore 64 these days , so they're releasing a "pre-emulated" version so to speak. You don' t have to worry about finding an emulator yourself, they've already taken care of it.

Personally I don't really have a problem with it being made for an old computer. I'm a bit worried about the lack of decent sound and music (something I do care about in a good atmospheric RPG) and I don't have any nostalgic feelings about this type of games or the computer (Hell, it was discontinued when I was only four years old, and I only saw ONE C64 in my entire life), but I still think this a game worth paying attention to because it seems like a love-letter to both the Commodore 64 and cRPGs.