carlton@apollo.HP.COM (Carlton B. Hommel) (05/01/91)
This message is being mailed to Delta Tao, along with my warranty
registration, and being posted to the Usenet group comp.sys.mac.games.
I head read the rave reviews on the network about Spaceward Ho!, and
decided to buy it. I called up my friendly neighborhood software store
(the one with a 2 week return policy), but their distributor didn't
carry the game.
Well, I just called them back, and urged their purchasing guy to order
it direct. The game is that good.
My phone call to Delta Tao was answered on the first ring, by a
cheerful human. Wow. I ordered the game, and wasn't even asked for a
charge card number. Double wow. The woman told me it would be a few
weeks, as they were getting a new package made up.
The package, with version number 1.2.2, is terrific. It is a double CD
box, with a 4"x4" manual where one CD goes, and the floppy, warranty,
and cover letter where the other CD goes. It looks a little strange,
seeing a 800K 3 1/2" floppy where a CD usually fits, but it is readily
available, relatively cheap package. It all fit in a tiny manila
envelope, that even fit into my PO Box. No worry about styrofoam,
cardboard boxes, etc. CD holders use tough plastic, and mine made it
through the mail intact.
Oh, yes. There even is a stamped envelope for me to return my warranty
sheet. (And payment.)
I read the manual while out walking with the kids. It is written in an
easy style, with screen shots where appropriate. It doesn't try and
teach you the Mac interface. A welcome comment was something like "If
you've used Font/DA Mover, you won't have any problem with assigning
ships to fleets." It gave me a clear idea of what to expect, and how
to play the game.
Later that night, I copied the game to my hard drive and started it up.
Wonderful feature #1:
No Copy Protection
Wonderful feature #2:
The game immediately used the entire 19" color screen!
Heck, even SimEarth didn't do that. But there they were, all the
important menus I had read about, easily viewable, and using every
square inch. All except the main galaxy window are non-modal (I think
that is the term), so that you can type directly into them, without
having to click first to get the window's attention.
The on-line help has a great implementation, but could use a little
more depth. There is a seperate window box, that magically describes
whatever items the cursor is over. I've played many "conquer the
world" games, so was familiar with the thrust of the game, but a novice
would need more verbose help about what the various game controls are.
Another wonderful feature is that I can double click on a planet name
in just about any window, and *poof* the main galaxy window scrolls and
highlights to that planet, automatically setting the subwindows that
deal with planets and their fleets.
I've only spent 2 hours playing so far, but I'm sure that I will be
impressed with the rest of the game. The ship pictures are a delight,
and the method of controlling the game by dragging bar charts is easy
to use. The sounds, picts, and menus all appeared nice in ResEdit.
The "Standard Warranty & Disclamer" page had me in stitches. Having
the type point dwindle from 12 to 2 is sooo like the cartoons. (But
even the last line was readable. Was TrueType used?) There is even a
non-standard zinger for careful readers.
Having gushed enthusiastically, here are some of the changes I would
request:
1. The highlighting of explored (but not colonized) planets is not
distinguished enough. The light blue still looks like light blue.
2. A brief section on "How to start your budding empire" would be
helpful. I figured out that I send scouts to all the reachable
planets, and then send a colony ship to the one with the best
terraforming capability / metals. Your warning on not trying to
terraform two colonies at once kept me from overextending myself.
3. Many of the ship control boxes, from the ship menu, are modal
dialog boxes. I'd really like to see a ship queue for my
highlighted planet get updated automatically.
The "list of all fleets" is a modal box. What's worse, I can't
click a fleet, and have the planet it is at highlighted. This
seems to be a glaring inconsistency in your user interface.
4. I use two Macs at home, a Mac II and a Mac Plus. It is unclear
from your disclaimer page whether I am legally entitled to plop
a binary onto each machine, and have a two person game with just
one software purchase, or if I should buy a second game box for
the second machine.
5. I've been having problems with System 6.0.7 and SpeedBeep crashing
my machine while beeping. This happened during a game, and the
"Andy" galaxy file could not be loaded. The message was something
like "Could not load Player info". I've turned off SpeedBeep, and
will collect more information if it happens again.
6. The main galaxy map redraws after a modal box dissappears. I
presume this is a Mac limitation, but, as it is the only time any
refreshing occurs, it does stand out.
7. If I want to turn the sound off, I won't hear the audible feedback
of setting a ship route. Perhaps a line could be written into the
report window.
8. The little paper seal saying "If you break this seal, you sign away
all your rights and agree to our outrageous demands", on the
outside of the case is obnoxious. I was tempted to open the case
from the back, just to leave the seal intact...
Hyyah! Spaceward Ho,
Carl Hommel
carlton@apollo.hp.comdawg6844@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Dan Walkowski) (05/01/91)
I have tried several veriosn of SpeedBeep in the past, and haven't gotten any of them to work as they claimed. They always interfered with some (more useful) program. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Dan Walkowski | To understand recursion, Univ. of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci. | you must first understand recursion. walkowsk@cs.uiuc.edu |
johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Erik A. Johnson) (05/01/91)
carlton@apollo.HP.COM (Carlton B. Hommel) writes: >My phone call to Delta Tao was answered on the first ring, by a >cheerful human. Wow. I ordered the game, and wasn't even asked for a >charge card number. Double wow. The woman told me it would be a few >weeks, as they were getting a new package made up. > [etc. Lots o' praise for Delta Tao and Spaceward Ho!] I agree wholeheartedly! I just got mine in the mail today (well, yesterday now ... the first game lasted a while! :-) I must say that I am quite impressed with this strategy game! >The package, with version number 1.2.2, is terrific. Are you sure its 1.2.2? Mine says 1.1.2. >It is a double CD >box, with a 4"x4" manual where one CD goes, and the floppy, warranty, >and cover letter where the other CD goes. It looks a little strange, >seeing a 800K 3 1/2" floppy where a CD usually fits, but it is readily >available, relatively cheap package. It all fit in a tiny manila >envelope, that even fit into my PO Box. No worry about styrofoam, >cardboard boxes, etc. CD holders use tough plastic, and mine made it >through the mail intact. Yea, I thought the packaging interesting also. Neat idea. >The "Standard Warranty & Disclamer" page had me in stitches. Having >the type point dwindle from 12 to 2 is sooo like the cartoons. (But >even the last line was readable. Was TrueType used?) There is even a >non-standard zinger for careful readers. Ditto! :-) >Having gushed enthusiastically, here are some of the changes I would >request: >2. A brief section on "How to start your budding empire" would be > helpful. I figured out that I send scouts to all the reachable > planets, and then send a colony ship to the one with the best > terraforming capability / metals. Your warning on not trying to > terraform two colonies at once kept me from overextending myself. I much agree here too. When I first started up, I was almost overwhelmed. I was not quite sure how to begin the game. But it didn't take much fooling around (isn't that how most of us learn to use Mac software? :-) to get going! 3 cheers for Delta Tao! Just my $.02 :-) Erik A. Johnson, Graduate Student \ Internet: johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering \ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign \ AmericaOnline: ErikAJ
mrx@dhw68k.cts.com (Mark Murphy) (05/01/91)
carlton@apollo.hp.com writes: >8. The little paper seal saying "If you break this seal, you sign away > all your rights and agree to our outrageous demands", on the > outside of the case is obnoxious. I was tempted to open the case > from the back, just to leave the seal intact... Man... lighten up! I thought it was funny. But seriously... I agree with you. This game is hot! I hope they continue to update SpacewardHo and come out with other fantastic games! -- +-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ | Real Life: Mark F. Murphy | What kinda beer do you like? | | The Net: mrx@dhw68k.cts.com | Heineken!? Intercourse that doo-doo!! | | The Desktop BBS: 714-491-1003 | Pabst Blue Ribbon!!! |
lorner@ecst.csuchico.edu (Lance Orner) (05/02/91)
In article <1991May1.083102.6585@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Erik A. Johnson) writes: >carlton@apollo.HP.COM (Carlton B. Hommel) writes: >>The package, with version number 1.2.2, is terrific. > >Are you sure its 1.2.2? Mine says 1.1.2. So does mine. So I called Delta Tao about this, and they said that the latest version is 1.1.2. >>It is a double CD box... > >Yea, I thought the packaging interesting also. Neat idea. When I first opened the package it came it, I was nearly scared half to death seeing this CD box, and thinking that I had just purchased one of those new CD-rom games, and I don't have a player! After looking closer there is a sign on the box that says it uses a 800k disk, but I can see that if this box was put on a store shelf, people might pass it up at first glance as a CD-rom game. Otherwise, I like it because it's small, neat, and doesn't take up so much room on my shelf. But it's an absolutely fantastic game that has kept me from getting any work done at nights now. It's a lot more interesting than any other games of this sort, including Strategic Conquest 2.0 (haven't tried 3.0), while a lot of the small, tedious details that can plague other games have been dealt so they don't slow up the game. Now, back to my game... -- Lance M Orner | To get a hold of me -- Computer Engineering | --from Internet: lorner@ecst.csuchico.edu California State | --from America Online: Caradoc University, Chico | --from Eighth Ave.: "Hey! Lance!"
moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) (05/02/91)
Just a note to add my voice in the praises for SpaceWard Ho! and Delta Tao. Good work all around, and I like the way they run the company. SPACEWARD HO! has kept me playing a computer game into the wee hours for the first time in years. >>The package, with version number 1.2.2, is terrific. > >Are you sure its 1.2.2? Mine says 1.1.2. My package said 1.1. What improvements does the READ ME file say have occured since 1.1. "Don't make me use this." "Oh, not the mime. *Anything* but the mime." --- Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM Manual UUCP: {uunet, uw-beaver, sun, microsoft, hplsla}!fluke!moriarty CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind... <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>