eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) (02/07/90)
Archive-name: next-mazewar/29-Jan-90 Original-posting-by: eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) Original-subject: NeXT MazeWar available for anonymous FTP from sutro.sfsu.edu Archive-site: sutro.sfsu.edu [130.212.15.230] Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) You played the initial release of NX_VOID and are eagerly awaiting the "networked multiplayer version" ... You've been playing Tetris for hours, and are so frustrated you just want to kill someone ... You've been innundated by whiney claims from commercial vendors about how difficult it would be to port their applications to run on the NeXT, and they're not even going to try because not enough people have NeXTs, and people aren't rushing to buy NeXTs because these weak-kneed companies won't commit to supporting it. You've endured a chorus of X11 fanatics who want everyone else to suffer under their shackles. PFFPT! ENOUGH ALREADY. MazeWar ranks as one of the all-time classic computer hacks--and one that few people have seen in its original form. Some that did were responsible for the video arcade games popular in the early 1980s. Now a new generation can enjoy MazeWar. Christopher A. Kent wrote a version (posted to comp.sys.sun) that, with the help of others, supports SunView, X10, and X11. I've taken it, fixed a few bugs in the original code, and produced a version that will run under NextStep. Now there's a software "Rosetta Stone" showing how EASY it is (and it IS easy) to take applications written for other workstations and turn them into native NeXT applications running at full speed--and using the superior capabilities of Display PostScript. Unlike the other versions, which need to be run from a shell, this is a complete NeXT application that can be launched from the Workspace. This program also illustates how NeXTs can cooperate with other workstations on the same network--it's protocol-compatible! Up to eight players can participate in each game, and there can be independent games concurrently on the same network. This is not shareware--it's yours for FREE. Complete source code is available for your perusal and optional modification, and you can reuse my work in your own applications without royalty. THIS SOFTWARE IS OFFERED ON AN AS-IS BASIS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. I have made two compressed tar files available for anonymous FTP on sutro.sfsu.edu: MazeWar.tar.Z MazeWar and mazefind executables only MazeWar-source.tar.Z Complete sources and documentation To compile on non-NeXT platforms, just edit the Makefile as needed. There's a tremendous amount of software that could benefit from the same sort of approach I've taken. In a matter of months the NeXT could go from "no software" to The Machine That Does It All and then some. YOU can help make NeXT #1. -=EPS=- ===== LATE ANNOUNCEMENT ===== WARNING: The option to use broadcasts to find other games in progress does not work on subnetted networks. You can still play the game, but you have to explicitly specify which machines will be participating. mazefind will always indicate no players. This is a late discovery (we didn't use subnetting at SFSU until last Thursday), and not in the release notes. I'll leave it up to the archive sites to decide whether to accept this version; it was to have been a "final" release. =============================