[comp.sys.amiga.games] The Colony

bjornk@bula.se (Bjorn Knutsson) (06/05/90)

In article <1759@trlluna.trl.oz> soh@shiva.trl.oz (kam hung soh) writes:
>bjornk@bula.se (Bjorn Knutsson) writes:
>>In article <MT87692.90May29030535@uikku.tut.fi> mt87692@tut.fi (Mikko Tsokkinen) writes:
[...]
>>> And I would like also to know how many of you people really play games while doing
>>>something else? If you do, do you really like those every now and then updating
>>>games with poor graphics (thanks to memory shortage).
>>
>>I do and I like them. The most important aspect of a game is NOT cute
>>graphics. It's much more important that the game is fun to play.  One
>>of my favorite games is The Colony. It multitasks, I can install it on
>>my harddisk and I can pull down it's window. Now, there are some other
>>aspects of this game that I don't like, but those would be the same
>>regardless if the game multitasked or not. The protection used is OK
>>as protections go. Now, I don't like any form of copy protection, but
>>I can see why it's needed. The solution used in The Colony is one of
>>the better I've seen.
>
>Hmm... What is this game about?  Is it a nice meaty adventure
>game?  Am I correct in assuming that the copy protection is a
>random keyword in the manual?

It's sort of an adventure. It's mouse controlled, and it has some
"action" stuff (basically blasting bug-eyed monsters). Now, the
protection used is sort of a code sheet. You need these codes to open
some hatches and start a reactor. But the protection is integrated
with the game in a way that makes it less obnoxious than the average
code-wheel protection. The program is ported from the Mac, and suffers
from this in certain situations. But it's still a game that I can
recommend. I have certainly played it more than any non-multitasking
game I own. (Of course, I don't own very many of those, and of the
ones I own, only one works with my '020 card...)

Oh, the game? Well, basically, you are sent out to figure out what has
happened on a (space) colony. You crash on the planet and then you're
on your own. You know almost nothing and, at least at first, you keep
dying without knowing why. You have a map of your own ship, but that's
about it.

>>>--
>>>Mikko "Assembler rules OK!" Tsokkinen
>>>Internet mt87692@tut.fi : UUCP tut!mt87692 : Bitnet mt87692@fintut
>
>-----------------------------------
>Soh, Kam Hung                    
>Telecom Research Laboratories, P.O. Box 249, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia 
>email: h.soh@trl.oz.au     tel: +61 03 541 6403 

---
Bjorn Knutsson        / USENET: bjornk@bula.se or sunic!sics!bula!bjornk
Stangholmsbacken 44  /  Phone : +46-8-710 7223
S-127 40 SKARHOLMEN /     "Oh dear, I think you'll find reality's on the
S W E D E N        /       blink again."  -- Marvin The Paranoid Android

new@udel.EDU (Darren New) (06/05/90)

In article <7675@bula.se> Bjorn Knutsson <bjornk@bula.se> writes:
>But the protection is integrated
>with the game in a way that makes it less obnoxious than the average
>code-wheel protection. 

That's good.  This is the way Leisure Suit Larry III does it.  The
"native guide book" contains key information that you need throughout
the program, like the phone number to call for reservations and things
like that.  Even the hint books say "Use the phone number in the add
for XYZ restaurant."    A non-computer oriented friend didn't even
realize that the book served as a copy-protection scheme.  -- Darren