[net.games.hack] PC Hack update - trying to close the floodgates !!!

carl@ncr-tp.UUCP (Carl Kuck) (04/24/85)

" As you read the scroll, you become confused.  Call it: UNIX* manual "

   I would like to thank everyone who has expressed interest in PC Hack.  I
never expected the sheer volume of response I recieved!  Unfortunately, the
game is not yet ready for release, and probably won't be for another month
or two.  So, ***PLEASE***, no more letters!!!  We'll let everyone know via
a posting when we decide to make it generally available, the method of
distribution, etc.  In the meantime, I would like to bring everyone up to
date on our progress.

   + Save is now partially working.  Unfortunately, saving games at lower
     levels generally exhausts disk space on a 360K floppy.

   + The 'f' and 'F' command prefixes still don't work, but we're hot on
     the trail of the bug.

   + Two wands (known as "infinite loop" and "divide overflow") still don't
     work correctly, but the rest of the wands, scrolls, and potions seem to
     be correct.

   + We are adding color and special characters to the version for the IBM PC.

   + One of our playtesters has made it down to level 20, before being killed
     by a cockatrice.

I will make another posting in about a month or so, giving another progress
report and our preliminary ideas for distribution.  In the meantime, remember:

" Real programmers don't play rogue, they fix the bugs in HACK ! "

Note to Andreas Brouwer:  I'm sorry you didn't feel that the PDP-11 version
was fit for distribution.  Without it, PC Hack would have been just a gleam
in my eye!  You may have saved countless machine cycles that can now be used
for real work! :-)
 
-- 
     Happy Hacking, Carl  (carl@ncr-tp)

" Ask me no questions and I might not tell you any lies ... fnord ... "

tsc2597@acf4.UUCP (Sam Chin) (04/29/85)

<>

I have been using Don Knellers PC HACK for a few days now and it is great!
quite bug free so far. It is also available on the CURA bulletin board in
Brooklyn, NY at (718)-624-9141 and on the PCPI bulleting board in NYC, NY
at (212)-924-6598. I brought up a version on my S-100 MS-DOS system which
is attached to a H-19 terminal so it should work on a Zenith HZ-100 too.
I created a ANSI version which should run on a Rainbow or other ANSI
terminal but I have yet to test it on anything other than the H-19 in ANSI
mode. When I can be sure, it will be posted on the DECWARE bulletin board
at (212)-535-8924. Give it a few days. I would like to put it on dec-marlboro
but I don't have direct ARPA ftp access. Perhaps some kind soul will put
it there after it appears on DECWARE. What would be nice is to make PC HACK
read a standard TERMCAP entry and configure itself ... well if I have time.
If there is sufficient interest in the HZ-100 version. I will try to arrange
some way of transmitting it - perhaps to info-hz100 at ut-ngp.

                                          Sam Chin
                                          allegra!cmcl2!acf4!tsc2597
                                          tsc2597.acf4@nyu