moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (02/11/85)
Over the last few months, I shelled out for several games for the Macintosh, and while the majority have been at least somewhat entertaining, none have yet taken full advantage of the Mac's unique user interface. I'll elaborate on the three games I've purchased so far: SUSPENDED, by Infocom, and CYBORG and LODE RUNNER by Broderbund (sp?). SUSPENDED I'd heard from a number of people that if one liked text adventure games (i.e. no graphics, period), that Infocom was the company reknowned for producing them. Infocom makes no secret of this; in fact, they boast that their software depends entirely on the language parser. So I bought this knowing it is a "text" game, and will be comparing on it's non-graphical features. Obviously, this is a program that was built for other PC's and was converted to the Mac as quickly and easily as possible. The few menu commands are all duplicates of commands that can be typed at a point when the game is prompting for input; the mouse can copy lines from previous prompts and paste them in the current prompt line, so you don't have to retype a single command several times in a row. This is somewhat handy, but since you can only have one line in the clipboard at a time, pretty limited. It rates pretty poorly as software trying to fit into the Macintosh method of user interface, but, again, it doesn't claim to be anything other than a text game. As entertainment, I enjoyed this more than any other text adventure game I've played, but this may be due to the fact that it is not a "maze" adventure game, which I find particularly annoying with only a text interface. The basis of the game is that the player is in suspended animation and responsible for the maintenance of a planetary service center (weather control, traffic control, etc.). The player must keep everything going using six different robots, as various crisis situations arise. It is engrossing, and has kept my interest for several weeks now. The one feature of the game I believe Infocom over-hyped is their command parser. They make it sound as if it is more advanced and easy-to-use than any parser currently used. It is slightly better than others I've dealt with, but still has many occasions where it cannot understand a command unless you give it in a very specific grammar. In summary, if you like text adventure games, you'll probably like this. CYBORG CYBORG, in it's advertising, claims to have been built with the Mac in mind, and describes itself as a text & graphics adventure game; a t&g game is the same as a text game, except that for every location, a different (non-animated) picture appears on the screen. Also, it boasts of a semi-animated control screen from which to control the Cyborg. It makes a great out of the Macintosh interface with the game, and advertises itself as a full-fledged Mac game. Unfortunately, what we have here is a text (very little graphics at all) adventure game with an animated front panel that beeps and blinks and does very little else. The action of the game seems to have very little to do with science fiction (as the title would suggest). It is the standard maze type adventure game, except the same text picture is used as you proceed through the adventure. The functions and commands which can be used through the control panel (and accessed with the mouse) are generally redundant methods of giving a text command to the game. As a text adventure game, I might give this standard marks; but due to the very misleading advertisements surrounding it, I'm pretty disappointed, and thus would have you steer away from it. LODERUNNER First, a confession; during my youth, as an undergraduate at the University of Washington, I discovered a game running on a Vax 780 (VMesS) which I became addicted to, and spent many hours playing during the wee hours of the evening. Suffice it to say that I eventually grew out of this phase... until I happened to pick up a game called LODERUNNER for my Mac at the local computer shoppe. LODERUNNER and the game at the UW were obviously related; I have no idea who came first (I can guess) and could care less, but this Mac version of the game has lost none of the addictive power of the VMS version, and added quite a few features which exploit the powers of the Macs graphic capabilities. I would have to say that Lode Runner is the best game designed for the Mac currently on the market (from what I've seen). This is an arcade-type game, with the player running through multi-level mazes, grabbing money and eluding guards. The graphics are excellent, the mazes created by the writers intriguing, and the animation some of the best I've seen. My only major complaint is that the mouse is not really brought in for movement of the player on the screen. There is an option allowing the user to move the mouse in the direction you want the player's character to go; but this invariably brought me to the edge of the screen, and I had to somehow move the mouse back to the center, which moved my character in a direction I didn't want him to go in. This game takes fast reflexes, and I soon discovered that the best way to play it was by using keys for indicating directions (even with the Mouse version of playing, one still has to use some keys interactively). I am not sure how one *could* bring the mouse into use here, but it would be nice. The best feature of this game is that after you've gotten through all 100 mazes that come with the game (don't hold your breath), you can build ones of your own. The game has standard Mac edit feature, and with the Mouse, it is extremely easy to build a maze and test it out. I suspect that people playing this game could come up with some very challenging mazes to run, and I'll be interested to see if any appear over net.sources.mac. At any rate, it is a thoughtful and innovative feature to the game, and it shows the people who wrote LODERUNNER for the Mac were thinking of the abilities of the host machine. Also, the price is the lowest of the three games review, which is the capper. SUMMARY It looks as if, in general, games built strictly for the Mac have not come about, though LODERUNNER should point the way to several interesting methods of game-building for the Mac. The main problem seems to be how to incorporate the Mouse into the play of the game; the Mouse just does not substitute well as a joystick or a track ball (unless the position of the marker on the screen is not a limitation, as it is in LODERUNNER). A game with good graphics and animation, with an imaginitive and engaging concept, could make it in the market; but the feature which would truly make it worth playing is a way to use the Mouse to control play, in a logical and smooth manner. Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. UUCP: {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \ {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
gordon@uw-june (Jamie Green) (02/12/85)
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) writes:
Unfortunately, what we have here is a text (very little graphics at
all) adventure game with an animated front panel that beeps and blinks
and does very little else. The action of the game seems to have very
little to do with science fiction (as the title would suggest). It is
the standard maze type adventure game, except the same text picture is
used as you proceed through the adventure. The functions and commands
which can be used through the control panel (and accessed with the
mouse) are generally redundant methods of giving a text command to the
game.
Take a look at "Transylvania" by Penguin Software (and perhaps others by the
same company). Each setting has a well-drawn picture associated with it,
taking up about 1/3 of the screen. You can move the basic four directions
by clicking on the appropriate arrow beneath the picture, as well as typing
in the direction (I don't mind redundancy in commands myself), and the inven-
tory is in a menu.
First, a confession; during my youth, as an undergraduate at the
University of Washington, I discovered a game running on a Vax 780
(VMesS) which I became addicted to, and spent many hours playing during
the wee hours of the evening. Suffice it to say that I eventually grew
out of this phase... until I happened to pick up a game called
LODERUNNER for my Mac at the local computer shoppe. LODERUNNER and the
game at the UW were obviously related; I have no idea who came first (I
can guess) and could care less, but this Mac version of the game has
lost none of the addictive power of the VMS version, and added quite a
few features which exploit the powers of the Macs graphic capabilities.
Yes, I too became addicted to this game at the ol' UW. And yes, they are
related. The Vax version came first, then Doug Smith (the author) decided
to translate it to the Apple II. Next thing we heard was that he had sold
it to Broderbund and was making $70,000 a month. Who says games are a waste
of time!
Here is a technique for using the mouse to move your man (shown to me by
the 8-year-old boy across the street; I'm so embarassed!): just "lead" the
fellow with the pointer, keeping the pointer pretty much on top of the running
figure. That way you never have a problem with running into walls. (Aside:
I agree, though, that the keyboard is better...)
It looks as if, in general, games built strictly for the Mac
have not come about, though LODERUNNER should point the way to several
interesting methods of game-building for the Mac. The main problem
seems to be how to incorporate the Mouse into the play of the game; the
Mouse just does not substitute well as a joystick or a track ball
(unless the position of the marker on the screen is not a limitation,
as it is in LODERUNNER). A game with good graphics and animation, with
an imaginitive and engaging concept, could make it in the market; but
the feature which would truly make it worth playing is a way to use the
Mouse to control play, in a logical and smooth manner.
Games strictly for the Mac do exist! Take a look at all the games by Videx
(Fun Pak, Mac Vegas, MacGammon). They all use the Mac interface extensively,
and it is even possible to put the keyboard away and use the mouse for every-
thing! They are, in general, very well-done programs that follow the Mac
guidelines logically and completely, and have excellent graphics. As for
arcade-type games, I agree that a joystick is needed; the mouse simply will
not do for most things.
The Great Green Arkleseizure {decvax,ihnp4}!uw-beaver!uw-june!gordon
Jamie Green gordon@uw-june.arpa