FATAL EXCEPTION

FATAL
EXCEPTION

A lost 1993 arcade game, full of bugs. Fix them to finish it, and find out why it was never released.

Coming soon to itch.io

The title screen: FATAL EXCEPTION, INSERT COIN, copyright Ergodic Software 1993.

The game is broken. You're the one fixing it.

Saturday morning, and a parcel you weren't expecting: an arcade board, a prototype from a company you've never heard of. Ergodic Software, 1993. It was never released. Nobody seems to know why.

You hook it up. It boots. It plays, for about five seconds, and then it crashes.

Every bug stops the game dead and shows you the line of code that broke it. Change it, run it, and play on, a stage further each time. And the further you get, the more you want to know: who made this, and why did they never finish it?

Play. Crash. Fix.

  1. Stage 1: the ship flies through a purple cave, shooting a wave of enemy fighters.

    1 Play

    A proper 16-bit-style shoot 'em up: waves, bosses, power-ups, a high-score table.

  2. The monitor, black, with a red error: FATAL EXCEPTION, SHIP OUT OF BOUNDS.

    2 Crash

    Then something the game didn't expect happens, and the whole board falls over.

  3. The debug monitor showing a few lines of simple code, one of them highlighted.

    3 Fix

    Find the line that threw, change it, run it, and see if it flies. No coding knowledge needed: if you can spot what's wrong, you can fix it.

Screenshots

The workbench from above: the arcade board, a supergun, a USB flasher, a box of bits and a coffee, with the story told alongside. Stage 1's boss, the Creek Tumbler, a pale cave snail, with its health bar along the bottom. Stage 2, the desert at sunset: a wall of mines with a gap in the middle. Stage 3, an ice cavern with icicles, and a band of colours sweeping across the screen. Stage 1, the purple cave, mid-fight.

What's in it

  • A story you play at your own pace, around a 16-bit-style shoot 'em up.
  • No coding knowledge needed: the code is how you play, not what it's about.
  • Hard enough for shmup fans, with an easy mode and a hands-free mode for everyone else.
  • An arcade mode once you've finished it: every stage, every bug fixed, for score.
  • An original acid house soundtrack, played live in your browser.
  • Plays in your browser. No install, no internet needed once it's loaded.

Get it

FATAL EXCEPTION is coming to itch.io: play it in your browser there, or download it and open it on any computer with a web browser.

Coming soon to itch.io

Contains flashing lights (with a warning and a reduced-motion option) and references to drug culture.