jhg@Apple.COM (James Glanville) (01/15/91)
I spent Friday afternoon at MacWorld to check out what's new in the Macintosh World. Of course what I was really looking for -> new Mac games. In particular, I had hoped to run into * Strategic Studies Group - makers of Halls of Montezuma, Panzer Battles, (both great games) and the American Civial War ( which I was hoping to check out. Does it Really Exist?). If SSG was there, I didn't see them. * Next I wanted to find the Broderbund/Maxis booth to see if the Mac versions of the new City Scenarios was available. Unfortunately, I never made over to the booth to find out. * And, I didn't see to many game makers at all! But, I did quite unexpectantly run into "Delta Tao Software, Inc." They're the makers of the 24-bit MacCheese color program. I started to check that out, when I spied in one corner an SE labaled "Strategic Conquest 3.0" - What!!! Delta Tao has taken over Strategic Conquest, fixed a few bugs, improved the Computer strategy (and the computer no longer cheats above level 12), and vastly improved the shape and variability of islands and the world map. I bought the "upgrade" on the spot for $15. While I was doing that, the Delta Tao person asked if I had seen their other game. " What other game?" I naively asked. "Spaceward Ho!" Spaceward Ho! It's sort of an interstellar strategic conquest or empire game. It's multi-player (upto 10 people and 10 computer opponents). Basically, you start out with a planet and your mission is to colonize as much of the galaxy before your opponents do. When you colonize a planet, you can use your money resources to "terraform it - make it livable so your colony population grows", "mine it - mine the metal to build more ships", and "build ships - make more spaceships". You can also design your own colony ships,attack ships, and defense satellites. And you can invest money in improving your technology for weapons, shields, jump drives, and miniturization. The price - $30 !!! Needless to say, I spent most of Sunday playing and exploring this game. It's great!!! I don't know if Delta Tao's software is generally available yet. Their address is: Delta Tao Software, Inc. 760 Harvard Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Delta Tao apart from running into their booth and becoming a happy customer. They seem to be bent on producing quality Mac software (and games) with mimimal packaging and affordable prices. - James Glanville Internet: jhg@apple.com Engineering Product Management AppleLink: jhg Apple Computer, Inc. phone: (408) 974-7726
taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) (01/15/91)
James Glanville writes: > I spent Friday afternoon at MacWorld to check out what's new in the > Macintosh World. Of course what I was really looking for -> new Mac games. > ... and, I didn't see to many game makers at all! That's because they were mostly at the Consumer Electronics Show, the same weekend, in Las Vegas. While most of the game news was from Nintendo, Sega, and so on, there were a number of PC and Mac game vendors exhibiting their wares... (I was more interested in the new video game systems, so I didn't spend too much time looking at Mac/PC games. Sorry!) -- Dave Taylor Intuitive Systems Mountain View, California taylor@limbo.intuitive.com or {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor
rsvp@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (R. Scott V. Paterson) (01/16/91)
How about Spaceship Warlock? Some CD ROM booth was showing what looked like a pretty amazing graphical interactive science fiction adventure. The sound and graphics were truly amazing and the crowd around the booth was quite large. I had to wait about ten minutes until I could get close enough to see well. I also heard that it would not be shipping until March. The flyer that they were giving out looked interesting. I went on Friday and my roommate went on Saturday and didn't see the display, so perhaps they weren't showing it all the time. Anybody know any more about it? hope those CD ROM player prices fall soon. By the way, what are good prices on CD ROM players. I saw one at the show for ~$675... -Scott rsvp@dartmouth.edu
mce@tc.fluke.COM (Brian McElhinney) (01/23/91)
jhg@Apple.COM (James Glanville) writes about Strategic Conquest 3.0 and Spaceward Ho! > > I don't know if Delta Tao's software is generally available yet. > Their address is: > > Delta Tao Software, Inc. > 760 Harvard Ave. > Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Both packages are available from Delta Tao; their phone number is: 408-730-9336 I talked to one of the software guys for a while, and I`m very impressed. Delta Tao stepped in when Strategic Conquest was no longer available (after PBI when bankrupt, and Premier was sued for non-payment of royalties). They improved the game, fixed bugs and added compatibility (Multifinder, the new sound manager, and System 7). Mostly because they enjoy the game. They do not believe they can make a living writing Mac games. I agree with them; it's a tiny market. But they do intend to occasionally issue new games. If you care about games for the Mac, this is the kind of company you should support. I ordered both the upgrade to 3.0 and the new Spaceward Ho! game, sight unseen. It's money well spent. Brian McElhinney DISCLAIMER: I have nothing what so ever to do with mce@tc.fluke.com Delta Tao Software; I just like what I hear.