Nodes of Yesod
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| Nodes of Yesod | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Odin Computer Graphics |
| Designer(s) | Steve Wetherill, Colin Grunes, Stuart Fotheringham, Paul Salmon, Fred Gray |
| Release date(s) | 1985 |
| Genre(s) | Maze; Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | N/A |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Elan Enterprise |
| Media | Cassette |
| Input | Keyboard, joystick |
Nodes of Yesod is a video game developed and published by Odin Computer Graphics in 1985. The game is very similar to Underwurlde, which was released a year earlier.
The game was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Elan Enterprise and ZX Spectrum platforms. Versions were also planned for the BBC Micro and MSX platforms but these were cancelled.[1]
On the ZX Spectrum, the game came in separate 48K and 128K versions. The latter had improved title-screen music, in-game music and additional synthesised speech.
A sequel, The Arc of Yesod, was also published the same year.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Charles "Charlie" Fotheringham-Grunes, the apprentice saviour of the universe, has been asked to find the source of mysterious signals from the moon which turn out to be a black monolith (a homage to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey). Charlie promptly volunteers for the task of going to the moon and finding the monolith.
[edit] Gameplay
Nodes of Yesod is a flick-screen platform game. The player controls Charles Fotheringham-Grunes, who is dressed a little like an astronaut (although he seems to be wearing ordinary clothes alongside his helmet and air-pack). Starting on the moon's surface, Charlie must venture into the caverns below and retrieve eight alcheims (which look a little like coloured crystals) in order to find the monolith.
Charlie can perform a rolling-jump in order to make his way around the caverns and can jump quite high, doubtless thanks to the moon's low gravity. However falling from great heights is still dangerous and will cause him to lose a life.
[edit] Lunar mole
Before venturing into the caverns, Charlie needs to search for a lunar mole on the moon's surface. Once he has collected one of these creatures, he can release it in the caverns when required and it will chew-through any walls it can revealing new areas of the maze.
[edit] Muggers
Once Charlie has collected an alcheim, it appears on his status panel at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, there are "muggers" in the caverns (who look like red astronauts with jet packs). If one of these touches Charlie they will steal alcheims meaning Charlie will have to find them again.
[edit] Monsters
There are two kinds of monster in Nodes of Yesod - harmful and non-harmful. The harmful creatures float around the caverns and will sap Charlie's strength if touched. The non-harmful creatures won't do Charlie any damage but will cause him to bounce around (similarly to the creatures in Underwurlde) and are thus a nuisance.
[edit] Trivia
- The central character's double-barrelled surname is taken from the surnames of two of the artists - Stuart Fotheringham and Colin Grunes.
- Stuart Fotheringham, one of the artists on Nodes of Yesod, claims that an earlier finished version of the game had been programmed but was lost in a Microdrive crash and the game had to be re-written from scratch. He claims that the second, published, version was inferior to the original.[2]
