7103_3654@uwovax.uwo.ca (09/19/90)
What started all this....
Short Excerpt from "My Life Story":
On April 1, 1989, I ran home from the computer store with an Atari
1040ST; my very first computer! As I quickly learned the computers
without software were not that amusing, I took to hanging around
computer stores to see what there was to buy. When my focus settled
on games I realized the awful truth: commercial games are primarily
written for @*~'%# colour monitors!
One year and one month later, it occurred to me that not only was I
shunning computer stores and their commercial software, but that I
was now having trouble finding enough time in the day to play all my
games. Sigh...
Well, that's how it is. There are quite a few monochrome games out there
and many are free! A large percentage of them find their way over from
Germany and some kind bilingual soul takes time to translate them into
english.
Below is my list of all the monochrome games which I've run across since
April of 1989. I've organized them alphabetically into two groups. The
first group contains games which run on both colour and mono monitors. The
games in the second group run on mono monitors only. I've also added
information about the games -the version number (if known), the name of the
archive in which I found the game (if it differs from the name of the game),
the locations where I remember seeing a copy of the game, etc...
The locations where the game can be gotten will be given by one or more
of three letters:
"L" denotes my local BBS 'LUST' (London Users of STs) 519-432-5514
"A" denotes the ftp site 'Atari.archive.umich.edu' (141.211.164.8)
"C" means that the game appeared on comp.binaries.atari.st (and
so it will be available at many archive sites, including
Atari.archive.umich.edu)
I don't claim that these letters are exhaustive, but it will give people
a place to look.
PLEASE NOTE: The descriptions given with each game reflect my personal
bias; as well, some of the games I've rarely played. I've tried to write
a little about each game to give the reader some idea. So don't just go
by my assessment of a game, try it!
If I've missed a mono PD or shareware game which you've enjoyed playing,
please let me know. I'd like to make this list as complete as possible
and will post it again sometime down the road.
Adele
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Adele Fraser | Bitnet: 7103_3654@uwovax.bitnet
Dept of Mathematics | Internet: 7103_3654@uwovax.uwo.ca
University of Western Ontario |
London, Ontario, Canada | Phone: (Math Dept)
N6A 5B7 | 519-661-3638 x 6539
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----------------------- COLOUR AND MONO GAMES------------------------------
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (C)(atc.arc) Be an air traffic controller without
endangering real lives. Several different scenarios available. Shareware.
BOLO (L and A) A commercial quality breakout type game. Excellent. Lots of
attention to detail. Also look for the program 'Bolofix'; this program
will adjust Bolo to play at the correct speed on North American monitors.
Bolo is mouse driven.
GNU GO (C and L)(version 1.1) Play a game of Go against the computer.
GREED (C and L) Game of strategy. The entire (well, almost)
screen consists of row after row of numbers (0-9). You move the cursor
over this array of numbers leaving a black trail. You can never cross
this black trail, neither can you leave the array. Stepping on a number,
say 6, moves you 6 places further in that direction. The object of the
game is to leave a longest trail possible before you run out of legal
moves. Public domain.
KENO (L) This seems to be some sort of betting game. Unfortunately, the
rules are not included.
MEGAMAZE (A and L) A 'Gauntlet' type game. With your sword and magic
missiles (arrows?) try to find (and fight) your way out of a maze.
There are many objects which will help you and many monsters which will
try to hinder you! Game requires a joystick. Shareware.
MEGAROID (L and A) Really nice remake of the popular video game Asteroids.
NETHACK (C and L)(version 3.0) I love this game! Nethack is a substantial
"Dungeons and Dragons type" game. Has an amazing level of intricacy.
There is a group "rec.games.hack" devoted to discussing the game and
strategies.
SPACEWAR (L and A)(version 3.1) Two player game, one person is the USS
Enterprise and the other commands a Klingon ship. Players try to annihilate
each other with torpedoes and phasers, but be careful to avoid the sun....
SOKOBAN (C) Push barrels around a maze and into a holding area. The catch
is that you must get behind and push the barrels and cannot pull them;
thus one must be careful not to move barrels so that they become 'stuck'.
ST CONCENTRATION (C and L)(St_conc.arc) Plays one to four people. Based on
the popular TV game show. Here you have 80-100 cards lying face down.
You turn two cards over at a time and trying to pick them identical. The
point is to remember the location of as many cards as possible while
looking for their partner. Nicely done. Public Domain.
TESS (C) This is 'Beyond The Tesseract V2.0p' a text adventure game.
From the docs: 'The scenario for the adventure is meant to be vague.
Once the adventure has been completed, the scenario will become clear.
This adventure is abstract and a bit on the technical side. Detail
knowledge of the technical background is not necessary, although it
will make the adventure more enjoyable.' Public domain.
ULARN (L) A Dungeons & Dragons type game that's simpler and quicker to
learn than Hack or Moria. For days when you don't have the patience to
play Nethack or Moria carefully.
UMORIA (C)(Version 4.87, I hear that version 5.0 is being beta-tested now)
A substantial Dungeons and Dragons type game. I haven't played it often, so
I don't know how it compares with Nethack. My feeling is that Moria is a bit
slower paced. A popular game, there is a group 'rec.games.moria' devoted
to discussing Moria.
WANDERER (this will be posted to "A" in the near future. It's not quite
finished being ported.)(version 3.2) Off you go wandering through cavernous
areas picking up diamonds left and right. You must pick up all the diamonds
before advancing to the next screen (there are over 60 screens in all). This
diamond collecting business is not that straight forward -each screen is
effectively a puzzle. You must figure out how to get at diamonds without
trapping other diamonds and without getting eaten or killed. Program has
online help. Fun and challenging.
YAHTZEE (this will be posted to "A" in the future. It's not quite finished
being ported.) This is the game of yahtzee for the Atari ST. The program will
take up to 6 players, some of which can be the computer itself. Program has
good online help. Public domain.
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--------------------------- MONO ONLY --------------------------------------
ALFRED'S KISTENLAGER SCHIEBERIEN (L)(Aks.arc) Push barrels around a maze
into a storage area. Looks to be the same game as Sokoban but with much
nicer graphics. This game is in German, but comes with an file English.txt
which explains the game.
ANDURIL (L) Try to find all the pieces of the broken sword while searching
through the maze. (If you've read Lord of the Rings, you know what
'Anduril' was.) Public Domain.
AWARI (L) Play a traditional African pebble game against the computer.
Program contains the rules. Easy to learn the rules, not so easy to beat
the computer! Shareware.
BANDWURM (L and A) Guide a worm around a playing field so that it can eat
little pellets. As it eats pellets the worm GROWS. Trick is to successfully
navigate the worm without having it run into walls or itself; this task gets
harder and harder as the worm gets longer and longer.......
This German program comes with a file English.txt which tells you all you
need to know.
BOUNCING BOUBLES (L and A) (Bouble.arc) An excellently done space invaders
type game. Rules flash on the screen in German, but you will have no problem
noticing which keys do what. Be careful of running a screen saver while
playing this game; my experience has been that after 3 minutes, my screen
saver comes on and then Bouble crashes. Game played with keyboard or joystick
(the keyboard is faster).
COLUMNS (C and L) A tetris-like game, but harder. There are falling columns
which are built up of 3 blocks. Each block can have a different pattern.
You can rotate the 3 blocks (change the order of the pattern) and you can
also move the column left or right. When the column falls on the heap and
there is a sequence of 3 or more blocks with the same pattern, then these
blocks disappear. Public domain.
DRACHEN (C and L) (version 2.0) German version of the game of Mah Jong.
The idea is to pick up tiles two at a time. Only tiles which match may
be picked up together. To add spice to the game, you play against the
clock. Excellently done. Look for a file "Drachen.eng" which explains the
rules in english. Mouse driven.
EXTENSOR (A and L)(version 3.3) A "Tron" style race game; select different
obstacle patterns, number of drones, variable or constant speed, etc.
No docs. If you don't have a joystick you can use the cursor keys as well
as <a> and <q>. If using a joystick, move it up or down to change speed and
left or right to change direction. Catchy music. May not run from a folder.
Public Domain.
GO BANG (L and A)(version 3.1)(Gobang.arc) Play against the computer by
trying to get five of your stones in a row. Game also known under the
name Go-Moku and is played on the traditional Go mat. Freeware.
GO UP (L and A)(goup.arc)(version 1.0) A nicely done 'Lode Runner' clone.
Plays slightly different than 'Runner's Revenge' listed below, so get
both! There is a working level editor. Plays one to four people. Play
with either mouse or joystick.
KRABAT (L and A)(version 0.0a) Play chess against the computer. The pieces
are nicely constructed. Krabat looks for the folder 'Pictures' in the root
directory.
MACPAN (L and A)(macpan1.arc or Macpan.lzh) German mono version of Pacman.
Play with either a joystick or the keyboard. There is a special two-player
option whereby both players are playing at the same time while
competing/cooperating for points. The main screen has been translated;
as well, there is english file outlining the game. Public Domain.
MINES (C and L) Mines is a game of strategy concerning the safe crossing
of a mine field. The field is a rectangle of 16 by 16 squares. Some squares
contain a hidden mine. The only clue given about the position of the mines
is the number of mines within 1 square distance of your present position.
Try it!
OPUSNR1 (L) A vector graphic fly-through shoot 'em up maze game.
PATIENCE (C and L)(Version 2.13) A well thought out program with an excellent
demo mode. Play up to 6 different versions of solitaire. Originally in German,
there is an English patch available.
POOLMONO (L) Pot as many balls as possible before losing your three goes.
PUZZLEPUZZLE (L and A)(puzzle2.arc) German Jig-Saw puzzle game with a twist.
Completing a puzzle is like taking a step in a maze; depending on which
of two buttons you choose, you go to a new puzzle and step further into
the maze. The idea, I think, is to solve your way out of the maze. The
puzzles you complete are actually 'linked' to one another in a clever
way. Fun. Shareware.
RISK or RISKY (L)(Risk.arc is the Dutch version; Eng_risk.arc is the english
one) Very similar to the board game Risk. Try to conquer geographical
areas by moving your armies around (you can tell that I haven't played this
often). Up to 6 players are allowed and they can be any combination of
humans or computer generated players. The english (translated) version
has only one map, the Canary Islands; whereas the Dutch version includes
other maps. Look for a file "Feud.arc", this is another (english) map for
Risky. The game comes with an editor so you can create new scenarios.
RUBIC'S CUBE SIMULATOR (L and A)(rubic.arc)(version 1.2) Simulates playing
with a rubiks cube. Now when your mechanical cube breaks, you can run to
your computer. Comes with lots of options; however, I haven't tried it.
RUNNER'S REVENGE (L and A)(Runner.arc) A Load Runner type game; get all the
eggs lying around the 'maze' without the bad guys catching you. Run up and
down ladders, dig holes in the ground to trap the bad guys or to allow you
to pass through the floor to the next floor. Lots of strategy involved
as well as good reflexes. A well done game. The game comes with a level
editor which doesn't work in TOS 1.2 (I presume that it works in 1.0.). The
game works in higher levels of TOS. Runner looks for the folders "sounds",
"screens", and "sprites.img" in the root directory. Game requires a joy stick.
STETRIS (C) This is Tetris for the ST. Move falling objects so that they
land creating a solid surface. Nicely done. Created by the same person who
made columns. Public domain.
SUPER BREAKOUT (A and L)(Sbreak.zoo) This is a must-have! Monochrome
version of the popular breakout games. Includes every option I've seen
in ANY breakout game and over 200 screens. Includes an editor so you can
create your own levels. Game is mouse driven.
TETRIS and TETRIX (C) Two more Tetris clones. Tetris has more options,
even a "robot" to help you play. Tetrix is a somewhat more primitive version
with "keyboard graphics".
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Adele Fraser | Bitnet: 7103_3654@uwovax.bitnet
Dept of Mathematics | Internet: 7103_3654@uwovax.uwo.ca
University of Western Ontario |
London, Ontario, Canada | Phone: (Math Dept)
N6A 5B7 | 519-661-3638 x 6539
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