Podcast episode profile for 148. Utopia, the creation of a nation
ericade.radio knows the chiptune and demoscene! We're the radio station playing all the best tunes from the most prominent, promising or trending artists in the scene. We also know about the artists and songs as well.
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Flashback, tracks from the past
We have covered the demo scene since 2020, and play all the great chip tune music as well. Join us to hear tracked music combined with commentary from the geek-of-all-trades: DJ Daemon. He was once known once a Daemon in the Amigaworld, and brings you stories about Amiga, retrocomputing, C64, demos, the demo scene and all things nerdy in the retro world.
We play tracker music composed on Protracker, Screamtracker, Fasttracker and Impulsetracker. It's music composed on Amiga and the retro-PC. Genres such as Chiptune, Synthwave and Retro electro.
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148. Utopia, the creation of a nation
Flashback, tracks from the past
🎧 Playlist
- 00:00 ericade.radio - Time for Flashback, tracks from the past - today with a stories from the retro past
- 00:06 DJ Daemon: It's time for another retro game story. We haven't done these for years now. So, it's something that has to be fixed right now. And today's game is Utopia from Gremlin software. Time for "the creation of a nation" in space. Because space is awesome! First out today is Barry Leitch the intro song from the game itself. Enjoy!
- 00:30 Barry Leitch - Utopia tune 1
- 07:26 DJ Daemon: The year was 1991 when Utopia was released for the Amiga, Atari and the PC. It was a bold decision, trying to cater to the Amiga platform. In this year it was in a steady decline, and the Amiga 1200 had not even been released. But I digress… This game was not the success Gremlin had hoped for. But it has been remembered by several retro gamers through the ages. I will talk more about my theories as to why it didn't succeed. But we must start with the basics. You know the game story, the game play, the graphics and the sound. But first, let's go to music. Here comes…
- 08:09 Shadabim - Element wind
- 16:52 DJ Daemon: Let's delve into the game itself. I played it on my Amiga in the early 90s. It starts with a nice clip show telling the story of the man who you will play as in the game. He is unable to stop an attack on his colony and finally gives this unfortunate order to abandon it and flee. But this is only a simulation that had no solution. He heeded Sun Tzus 34th stratagem and fled. This was the correct action and he passes the test. This is how the Kobayashi-Maru scenario in Star Trek was intended to play out by the way. And you have your Picard style administrator. Yeah, he's bald. The game starts when he is assigned the role of the colony leader on an uncharted planet. The honeymoon is soon over as the planet has a set of insectoids already living there. And as history has shown us so many times before, only one species will be left standing.
- 18:04 Melodia - Study in a0x major
- 23:53 DJ Daemon: Alright, Utopia then. It plays like a mix of Sim city and a real time strategy game. This was before that latter genre even existed. So, you have to manage the budget, the enemies, the need of the people and the QOL. QOL? Yes, the main metric is the "quality of life". It's a value that ranges between 0 - 100 and keeping it high is imperative. If it starts sinking, your Utopia becomes a dystopia. Crime rates shot up and if it sinks low enough someone will put a price on your head. If you fail this way, you meet the most mild-mannered assassin ever and then it’s game over. So keeping your people happy while funding your spy network and preparing to the inevitable war is the whole game play. You build warehouses, living quarters, power plants and airbases. Also, this is not the world of today. You have to keep a balanced budget.
- 25:12 Dippy - Diskmag dance (opl2 mix)
- 30:06 DJ Daemon: The graphics is something nice. By the standards of the day, it was a little bit stale, but have aged well in my opinion. The buildings look nice and the graphics are your typical 16bit era pixel graphics. Your council is manned by aliens and some woman that looks mostly human. It's well drawn and gives the game a visual appeal. The screens show statistics so you can fix the budget, know if people are angry and know what needs to be built next. I played the game on my Amiga 500 and it was showing its age already back then. But as far as I remember, it was running smoothly. And I had a Final Cartridge 2 that meant I could pause the game an edit the memory contents of the Amiga. I amused my little brother Philip by changing some of the game's warning. So attacks were named "Philip attacks" and he loved it.
- 31:18 JustOrb - De Honingemmer
- 35:42 DJ Daemon: The music. You know this one, it was Barry Leitch and that was the tune we started this episode with. If your pod player can handle chapters, feel free to jump back to ít and enjoy some of the best Amiga mod music there has ever been. Not to be that guy, but the music eventually becomes tedious as you only have four songs. One of them is a pretty nice but unimaginative version of Pachelbel’s "canon D". Where have we heard that before? Well, everywhere. Even some rap-song use it. Still until you get tired of it, it's nice to have in the background.
- 36:35 ASIKWUSpulse - Summer bells (in space)
- 40:22 DJ Daemon: The game is funny and engaging. You must eventually go up against those pesky bugs. To quote "Ron Perlman" from some obscure game: "War… War never changes". This means first you must have your spy network reporting on what is happening and having them at peak efficiency is expensive. Then you have to build an army. The war machine then attacks the enemies off map, and you get a report that is as detailed as your spies have a budget to do. It will take a lot of time to route the enemies, and they can and will attack you back or if you don't deal with them soon enough.
- 41:09 Juice - Cryptomnesia
- 44:43 DJ Daemon: Are there any bad sides to the game? Well… When the bugs have been eliminated, the game goes on autopilot. It spams you with requests to fix various shortages. You also must fight the quality of life issues that popup. The there is not much going on. It has the same problem as Sim City without its obvious solution. In Sim City, you can always bring cool disasters to spice things up a little. Then you rebuild the damage until you get bored and bring another disaster along. I once blew up a nuclear power plant in Sim City 3000. The area was forever irradiated. Utopia brings no such solution to the table. It's just tedious at this time. And when you have played all maps with different bug enemies, it does not offer that much replay ability. But in small doses, this game offers many hours of great nation building.
- 45:55 Fear of dark - Labrat funk (Mesdup)
- 49:24 DJ Daemon: So why didn't it become a classic and legendary game? Here is my take of it: it was released before RTS was a thing. RTS stands for "Real time strategy". And Utopia plays as "Prototype" for such a game. Games like Dune, Red alert and Command and Conquer gained popularity soon after and prospered in the a time span between mid-90s and mid-00s. It was released to the PC but does not have seen such a big impact. A sequel was released, but I don't know much about it. The Amiga went away in 1994. It was in a steady decline even back then. So there were not much that could be done to save it. Also, it kind of didn't really look like games like Sim City or Civilization. It was a novel idea that went under as it failed to be interesting in the long run. But for me it was easy: I loved the game. It was exactly my kind of game with a mix of management, strategy and real time war. It may not have been a game that stood the test of time, but it kind build legacy of its own. Music, you say? Yes!
- 50:58 Shatty - Theme of Simon Belmont
- 54:22 DJ Daemon tells you that most of the music was made in 2025 and 2026.
- 54:42 Fear of dark - Hell freezes over
- 58:09 DJ Daemon leads you into the good night with the last song.
- 58:24 Nikku4211 - Aquatic ambience
🎤 Production Notes
Going back to producing episodes with some storytelling. You know like we used to do back in the day.Errata: the administrator is not really bald, I just remember him as such. He is pretty Picard, though.Insight: Kobayashi Maru was a scenario presented to Star Trek captain James T. Kirk. It was not winnable, but the captain hacked the simulation and won it. Utopia's counterpart does not play out that way at all. I'm just saying.Colophon: None. That's exact name of the game.
📝 Transcript
It's time for another retro game story. We haven't done these for years now, so it's something that has to be fixed right now. And today's game is Utopia from Gremlin Software. Time for the creation of a nation in space, because space is awesome. First out today is Barry Leitch with the intro from the game itself. Enjoy!
The year was 1991 and that was when Utopia was released for the Amiga, Atari and the PC. It was a bold decision trying to cater to the Amiga platform. In this year it was in steady decline and the Amiga 1200 had not yet even been released. But I digress. This game was not the success Gremlin had hoped for, but it was remembered by several retro gamers throughout ages.I will talk more about my theories as to why it didn't succeed. But we must start with the basics. You know, the game story, the gameplay, the graphics and the sound. But first, let's go to music. Here comes Shadow Beam and Element Wind.
Let's delve into the game itself. I played it on my Amiga in the early 90s. It starts out with a nice clip show telling you the story of the man you will play as in the game. He is unable to stop an attack on his own colony and finally gives his unfortunate order to abandon it and flee. But you see, this was only a simulation and it had no solution. He heeded Son Tzu's 34th strategy and fled.This was the correct action and he passes the test. I guess this is how the Kobayashi Maru scenario in Star Trek was actually intended to play out by the way. And you have your Picard style administrator. Yeah, he's bald. The game starts when he's assigned the role of a colony leader on an uncharted planet. The honeymoon however is soon over as the planet has its own set of insectoids already living there.And as history has shown us so many times before, only one species will be left standing. Time for some music, it's Melodia and a study in AOX Major.
Alright, Utopia then. It plays like a mix of SimCity and a real time strategy game. This was before the latter genre even existed. So you have to manage the budget, the enemies, the need of the people and the QOL. QOL? Yes, that's the main metric and it's called Quality of Life.It has a value that ranges between 0 and 100 and keeping it as high as possible is imperative. If it starts sinking, your utopia becomes a dystopia. Crime rates shoot up and if it sinks low enough, someone will put a price on your head. If you fail this way, you will meet the most mild mannered assassin ever and then it's game over. So...to keep your people happy while funding your spy network and preparing for the inevitable war that the whole game will be about. Well, you build warehouses, living quarters, power plants and air bases. Also, this is not the world of today. You have to keep a balanced budget. But we have to go on with some more music here. It's Dippy and Disc Mag.
The graphics is something really nice. By the standards of the day it was a little bit stale maybe, but it has aged well in my opinion. The buildings look nice and the graphics are your typical 16-bit era pixel graphics. Your console is manned by aliens and some woman that looks mostly human. It's well drawn and gives the game a very visual appeal.The screens show statistics, so you can fix the budget, know if your people are angry, and know what needs to be built next. I have played the game on my Amiga 500, and it was showing its age already back then. But as far as I remember, it was running smoothly. And I had a final cartridge too, which meant that I could pause the game and edit the memory contents on my Amiga.I amused my little brother Philip by changing some of the game's warnings to text you know. So attacks were named Philip Attacks and he loved it. Well that's the story so far. Next up is another song, it's just Orb and the Honing Hammer.
The music, you know this one, it was Barry Leitch and that was the tune we started this episode with. If your pod player can handle chapters, feel free to jump back to it and enjoy some of the best Amiga mod music there ever has been. Not to be that guy, but the music eventually becomes tedious as you only have four songs in the game. One of them is pretty nice, but in...Well, what should we say an unimaginative version of Pachebel's "Canon D". Where have you heard that one before? Well everywhere. There are even some rap songs using it Still until you get tired of it.
The game is funny and engaging. You must eventually go up against those pesky bugs. To quote Ron Perlman from some obscure game, War never changes. This means you first must have your spy network reporting on what's happening and having them at peak efficiency is expensive. Then you have to build an army. The war machine then attacks the enemies off map.and you get a report that is as detailed as your spies had the budget to do. It will take lots of time to route the enemies and they can and they will attack you, well, if you don't deal with them soon enough. We are going on with Juice and Cryptomnesia.
Are there any bad sides to the game? Well, when the bugs have been eliminated the game goes on autopilot. It spams you with requests to fix various shortages. You must also fight the quality of life issues that pop up. Then there is not much going on.It has the same problem as SimCity did without its obvious solution. In SimCity you can always bring cool disasters to spice things up a little. Then you rebuild the damage until you get bored and bring another disaster along. I once blew up a nuclear power plant in SimCity 3000. The area was forever irradiated.Utopia does not bring any such solutions to the table. It just gets tedious all the time. And when you played all maps with different bug enemies, it does not offer that much of replay value. But in small doses, this game offers many hours of great nation building. Well, time to go on with Fear of Dark and elaborate func.
Why didn't it become a classic and a legendary game? Well, the reviews were raving and a lot of people liked the game. But here's my take of it. It was released before RTS was a thing. RTS stands for Real Time Strategy and Utopia plays like a prototype for such a game. Games like Dune 2, Red Alert and Command and Conquergained popularity soon after and prospered in the time span between the mid 90s and mid noughties. It was also released to PC but did not seem to have that much of big impact. A sequel was released but I don't know much about it. The Amiga went away in 1994 so it was in a steady decline even back then. There were not much you could do to save it.Also, well, it kind of didn't really look like games like SimCity or Civilization. It was a novel idea that went under as it failed to be interesting in the long run. But for me it was easy. I loved the game. It was exactly my kind of game with a mix of management, strategy and a real time war. It may not have been a game that stood the test of time, but it kind of...built a legacy of its own. Music you say? Yes, let's listen to Shary, a theme from Simon Belmont.
It's time to say goodbye for now. We'll be back in a week. You're listening to flashback tracks from the past and I'm DJ Daemon. Most of the music you heard today was from 2025 and some of it was also from 2026. We are going on with Fear of Dark Hell Freezo.
Leading you into that good night is the last song of the episode. That would be Niko 4211 and Aquarik Amiens. See you in a week and remember that we are available on Ericade.Radio.
Play History
- 🕘 2026-06-06 11:00:02
- 🕘 2026-06-01 15:00:06
- 🕘 2026-05-27 12:00:03
About the artist Flashback View all tracks ›
"Flashback, tracks from the past" is the current name of the podcast. Now with tracked music from nearly all platforms (including Amiga, Atari, PC). We also speak about the retro past, present the artists, talk about old games and review demo parties.
🎧 29,165 plays on ericade.radio
🎙 The people behind the podcast
He got his Commodore 64 in 1989 and his first Amiga in 1990. A huge fan of tracker music and have had a long standing dream to create a radio show playing that kind of music. In 2020, that dream came true and in december Amiga Flashback started as a podcast. It was later renamed Flashback, tracks from the past and here we are.
He is also an orga for Swedish demo party Edison and a total retro nerd.
He was actually a listener from the time of the first ericade-station in the 00s. He came back as a listener in 2020, when the station restarted. Later he voluntered to build the new website of the station and also joined as a cohost of the podcast. He runs his own site called the Retro spirit.
Fellow retro geek and creator of great music on his daw.
He describes himself like this: "Pure 8-bit chiptunes! All Tekmann music are solely made on Gameboy units modded to perfection... No computer producing just pure chiptune bliss ;)".
A true retro geek and sysop from the 90s. He lives with his family in Sweden and enjoys sharing his passion for retro computing and music. He is sysop for Swedish BBS "This old cabin".
Created a report about Impulsetracker for us in 2022. Also voiced our messages for christmas 2022 in co-operation with the Retro spirit.
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The home of retro computing and retro gaming music. Streaming 24/7 with shows and podcasts about retro computing, retro gaming, demo scene and all things nerdy in the retro world.