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     Post subject:How did you get into Uplink and Onlink?
    PostPosted:Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:31 am 
     

    Joined:Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:23 pm
    Posts:40
    Hello World,

    With the wonderful developments of late (0.2.5 released!!) I got to thinking about how I find myself still playing this (admittedly awesome) game and where this thing that gets me so excited began (for myself).

    I created this thread as a place where people could, 12 years later, post or guess about when and why they got started with uplink/onlink and are still here.

    ---

    Personally I was in highschool when Uplink was released. I don't remember how exactly I heard of it but I assume it was by PC Gamer, which I read frequently through the late 90s and perhaps the early 2000s. I was also heading up a gamehacking group at the time so it's possible that the word got out there.

    I played the demo and thought it was awesome. I didn't have a credit card or checking account yet so I know it was 2001 or early into 2002 that I gave money to my parents so they would buy Uplink from Introversion for me. When that CD came in the mail it was like gold to me. I grew up playing games and I remember the reference card for when you create a new agent being a pretty cool throwback. Then a couple months later I was reading on the Introversion forums and someone said something cool happened if you took apart the CD case :D

    I continued to re-install and play the game for years and it was sometime in college that I discovered Onlink, probably from the introversion forums or a mod-list. I remember being back in town from college and sitting in the waiting room at a doctors' office with my laptop and testing a fresh release. In that version the security systems of targets were a bit out of control - using a memory scanner/editor I gave myself an abundance of funds and bought the bypass HUD right away and the best bypassers I could. I went to do a mission, though, and the bypassers wouldn't work. I did a probe and the target system was running something like firewall v7! So I went back to the Uplink marketplace and now v7 of the bypasser was available. I go to a new target, and they have proxy v11! Eventually I think it got up to firewall v17 and the marketplace didn't sell anything that high.

    Around that time there was an opening for a writer with the Onlink crew. I applied for it and I think I was in the running but then I think I started partying 24/7 at school and forgot about it. I came back a year later and couldn't log in to my forum account so I had to create this one. By that time it seemed development had slowed, but now ...

    The long awaited continuation of public releases has resumed!! So in celebration, share how you learned of Uplink and Onlink here and perhaps why this game is so attractive to you.

    On that last item ... there are a few reasons. One - this game is still graphically current (IMO). I introduce it to friends and don't bother saying "if you can get past the graphics" like I have to from other games of the early 2000s. Also, I've come to make infosec my profession so the topic is somewhat dear to me. But above all, it's just an awesome timeless game that Onlink continues to make even better


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     Post subject:Re: How did you get into Uplink and Onlink?
    PostPosted:Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:46 am 
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    Joined:Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:21 am
    Posts:581
    I first saw a link to the Uplink demo on the Newgrounds BBS, if I recall correctly. Then I found out about Onlink some years later after testing out some other Uplink mods. There isn't really much to it.

    Now, why is it so addictive... I dunno, I guess mostly because it's hard, but not insanely so. Also, the peer pressure of game over for making even the slightest mistake always kept me on the edge, making the whole experience even more interesting (I never make save backups, even nowadays). And I guess because, unlike most games, it makes you work hard for your fun. You have to dig, you have to suffer, you have to cry in the corner of your room all night long, to find out how to get through all of it. But in a challenging, puzzling way. Additionally, sometimes it's fun to just mess with a random person's life, knowing there won't be any real life consequences because of it (just like running over pedestrians in any GTA).

    The soundtrack is pretty rad too. :classy:

    And, c'mon guys, don't be afraid to admit it. I like it because it's fun to pretend I'm da 1337 |-|4x00r from the f00t00re, and I know y'all do too to some extent. 8)

    _________________
    I'll see you on the dark side of the (ferrous) moon.


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     Post subject:Re: How did you get into Uplink and Onlink?
    PostPosted:Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:49 pm 
     

    Joined:Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:23 pm
    Posts:40
    Quote:
    Now, why is it so addictive... I dunno, I guess mostly because it's hard, but not insanely so. Also, the peer pressure of game over for making even the slightest mistake always kept me on the edge, making the whole experience even more interesting (I never make save backups, even nowadays). And I guess because, unlike most games, it makes you work hard for your fun.
    Totally. I've been playing long enough where I essentially can do whatever I want once I build the necessary cash but regardless it's consistently exciting to try and get out sometimes. I get paranoid sometimes just using interNIC so I'll nuke various common hops because I feel like the other hackers in the game might be too smart :sleazy: The choice, customizing and upgrading of the different gateways is neat too.
    Quote:
    The soundtrack is pretty rad too. :classy:
    So true ... do you know any artists that make music like the uplink music?
    Quote:
    And, c'mon guys, don't be afraid to admit it. I like it because it's fun to pretend I'm da 1337 |-|4x00r from the f00t00re, and I know y'all do too to some extent. 8)
    Haha of course, but not from the future now - I believe it's set in 2010. The hardware make the game still feel futuristic, but otherwise the business model of Uplink wouldn't be surprising today (except they probably wouldn't be on the stock market :D )


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