Minima

About

Ultima III: Exodus is a 1983 role-playing game, the third Ultima game and the first published by Origin Systems. It was originally developed for the Apple II and later ported to 13 other platforms. Minima is an adventure RPG for the PICO-8 fantasy console, made as a tribute to the 8-bit Ultima games as played on the Commodore 64 and 128. It has a world map, enterable towns, 3D dungeons, combat, spells, ships and save/load. At version 1.1 it is fully playable and winnable, with its own story set in the land of Miskatonia.

How it differs from the original

It is an original game with its own plot, setting and characters, not a remake of any single Ultima. The author drew all graphics by hand and made the sound effects from memory, and the music loosely recreates parts of the Commodore Ultima III score.

Getting started

Play it online through the Lexaloffle page, load it in any PICO-8 environment via the splore utility, or download binaries for Linux, macOS, Windows and Raspberry Pi from itch.io or the GitHub releases. Pressing p (or Enter on some platforms) opens the pause menu with the basic controls.

History

The author played the 8-bit Ultimas on the C64 and C128 as a child. The idea came while porting xu4 to the PocketC.H.I.P., around the time GOG re-released Ultima IV. Version 1.1 added guild shops, more townspeople, treasure chests, harder dungeons, a tower puzzle and shrines over 1.0.

Media

Additional notes

Engine

The data-driven "Minima Engine" can be reused for other games, and at least one other game, Anteform, uses it.

Music

An alternative soundtrack by triplefox is included and can be swapped into the game file.

Build

The game is too large for PICO-8 without minification, and building it needs a special branch of picotool.