7th March 2003, 5:22 PM
I've played Inner Space, well I think that's what it was called. The size of the game depended exactly on the number of folders and files you had on your computer. The whole thing was an overhead 2D shooter. You went "into" your computer, and you would design a ship and join a side. Then you would choose a folder on one of your disks, and collect "icons". Each file is an icon, and as long as it's not virus infected, it was free to collect as cash money. As you went from folder to folder, a nice relationship system started developing between other CPU controlled players. It was the most online feeling of any offline game :D. Some would ask for help, others would chase you around from place to place. Depending on your actions and your team affiliation, you could make enemies or friends pretty quickly. It was really quite seamless, and I was impressed. I even managed to get a few people on teams that totally hated my team (the teams were things like the pirates, who's general philosophy is to steal, or the enforcers, who were a special team charged with arresting criminals) to be at peace with me and me alone. Some of them changed sides. Early on I tended to really get a lot of allies angry, and I'd find them suddenly part of one of the rebel teams or just out to kill me. Then there's the whole goal, gathering the 4 forces with which to face your inner demon in a non-existant "empty" folder. It was really a fun game. I wish they had actually made an online version of it. The whole team setup really was the best part. Of course, an online version would require some people to modify their "file list" (the files themselves aren't touched, the list would just be based on your files, thus it's hardly a security risk just because they see a list of files on your computer, no worse than actually typing a txt file listing your folders and files) in case they didn't want others to know of specific files and folders. On another note, "the law" of the game requires destruction of any and all icons that have become infected (by the way, all the "icons" will display the icon found for that file, if there is an icon built into it, like EXE or DLL or ICO files).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)