Ultimate Newcomer - A C64 RPG

skavenhorde said:

I don't think I'm allowed to say when they're going to release it, but I can say it won't be that long of a wait.

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Good news. I've really been in an Old-School mood lately. I've been trying to have another go at Ultima V (I'm having a LOT of trouble with it), Eye of the Beholder (My lack of orientation skills makes me dizzy), Wasteland (The lack of sound disturbs me) and Ultima Underworld (The interface is just… horrifying), so I'm really lookin' forward to the game.

Also, I found this excruciatingly slow intro of the game on YouTube. As I said, it's very slow paced (I hope this is because the game is being read from a physical disc. As far as I know Ultimate Newcomer is the first version of the game that will be released as a digital download alongside a physical release), but I thought the production values were really high and the music was great too! Plus, it's the first video I've seen from the game. I've had no luck finding a gameplay video yet.

The English isn't all that great though.

"This word… sounds like… degrading a man's feeling…"

But I suppose it sort of fits the "old-school home-brew game" atmosphere that's all over the game.

Keep in mind that the video is from "Enhanced Newcomer". "Ultimate Newcomer" may have slightly enhanced English and perhaps some faster loading times.

I know exactly how you feel. I got so excited about this game I loaded up the C64 version of Wasteland. It wasn't as hard to do as I remembered and, imo, the graphics are better on that one. That might just be nostalgia talking, but I never did care for the artwork in the DOS version.

I can't play the DOS version of The Bards Tale at all. The art is too messed up.

Sounds like you get more value from this than any new AAA RPG……….

Perhaps games would be better off 20 years in the making?

GothicGothicness said:

Sounds like you get more value from this than any new AAA RPG……….

Perhaps games would be better off 20 years in the making?

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http://www.newcomer.hu has been down for a couple weeks, hopefully the project is still going.

Current project status:

3 known bugs left ...

MAHAMAN

Looks like this was almost released in 2012 but private beta testers (alpha testers?) discovered a game breaking bug at the last minute.

In 2013 this was said:

Holid said:

Frustration because of the huge amount of bugs inherited with the original code base made the project get stuck by late summer. Now we are gaining momentum again, I am doing research into new ways of optimization and tweaks that would let me insert the patches that until now I could not fit in because several parameters already reached their limits.

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The last news was from 2016 and an Enhanced Newcomer (with the caveat that its buggy) was returned to sale but it looks like they pulled it.

https://www.protovision.games/shop/index.php?cPath=31&language=en

It looks like they update their Facebook page quite regularly.

https://www.facebook.com/ultimate.newcomer/

Anyone speak Hungarian?

Been waiting a long time for this one. Another decade won't hurt.

Its a crazy era. The whole thing would have had to be written in assembly.

Hi guys

Just noticed this and I think a few things need to be clarified regarding my 8 bit lovechild.

As it was mentioned, I am responsible for the original and the enhanced version of Newcomer as a designer and scripter. Then came the idea of the ultimate version which was actually playable 12 years ago. No kidding. I myself played and won the Hungarian version. It seemed to be perfect. The guy responsible spent another 5 years to polish and finish it when the testers finally found a very very serious issue regarding retreating from combat. By that time, I think he was fed up with the project and frustrated, he turned to other things in life. He occasionally says the game will be done one day, but I don't think it's gonna happen.

Now here comes the twist.

As you may know, I've been working on Tortured Hearts for 10 years now and it's near beta. Really, I'm not kidding you. Spent over 40000 hours on it, so I want to finish it under any circumstances. And I will, no worries. I'm not adding new features, I'm just testing and polishing it. It's big, it's complex and I'm basically alone.

However, there are days when I have to wait for other people to implement or fix a very crucial code issue for me and I can't do anything else. In order to waste no time, I started the PC version of Newcomer this spring using lots of tech developed for Tortured Hearts. The combat and other controls will be similar, for instance. I'm using placeholder graphics at the moment, but the story system, the conversation system, the inventory are all done already and more than half of the game areas have been built from planes and cubes. These areas are actually accessible and playable, the interactive objects are working as intended.
The main problem will be the actual graphics. It is not clear yet how I'll be able to put this together, but I'll diligently work on the game as best as I can.

Until then, stay tuned for Tortured Hearts.

If you have any questions about Newcomer, feel free to ask.