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Networked Games
Posted by: equant on 2007-10-25 16:34:38 Are there any network games for B&W macs? Appletalk or TCP/IP? It'd be fun to play a game across the internet on a couple of SE's or Pluses. Just curious what exists. Thanks, Nathan
Posted by: macgreg on 2007-10-25 17:40:37 From memory Bolo is playable on B&W Macs. Definitely better in colour though.
Posted by: alk on 2007-10-25 18:39:34 Indeed, Bolo does play via AppleTalk or TCP/IP. Spectre should play over AppleTalk. I wouldn't count on there being too many TCP/IP games for B&W AIOs, though. Peace, Drew
Posted by: Scott Baret on 2007-10-25 20:41:53 Wagon Train 1848...networkable Oregon Trail. I've never seen it in action though, only have read about it in books.
Posted by: RadioPatrol on 2007-11-09 09:26:40 Marathon Series ....
Posted by: MacJunky on 2007-11-09 12:41:50 .. not on black&white screened Macs.
Posted by: Anonymous Freak on 2007-11-09 22:50:25 NetTrek is the one. I remember playing this on Mac Plusses that were networked together at the local Museum of Science and Industry back in middle school; then later on networked SEs in the high school computer lab. Yeah, there are others, but this is a fully playable game on an 8 MHz 68000 in black and white. P.S., you might also want to check out Spectre.
Posted by: equant on 2007-11-09 23:09:59 NetTrek is appletalk right? Not TCP/IP?
Posted by: Anonymous Freak on 2007-11-10 20:07:12 Correct, both NetTrek and Spectre are AppleTalk. (They do work over Ethernet, but over EtherTalk, the AppleTalk-for-Ethernet protocol, not TCP/IP.)
Posted by: CaryMG on 2007-11-14 07:51:45 Here's a website devoted to that very topic > "NetWorkable Mac Games" :b&w:
Posted by: equant on 2007-11-14 07:59:31 Nice link; thanks. Interesting that NetTrek isn't on there.
Posted by: CaryMG on 2007-11-14 10:00:21 You're welcome ! Here's what "NetTrek" 's creator has ta say .... Way back in 1982, there was this 'hot' new computer known to us Apple employees as the 'Lisa'. Lisa had a real bitmapped screen that was fairly large and a real pointing device that resembled what Xerox had done in the late '70's. When I saw the Lisa (I was working at Apple, so I was privy to the secret new computer), I knew it was time for NetTrek. I had seen a similar game on the Xerox Alto II computers several years earlier. Of course, I wasn't thinking NetTrek, more of a MacTrek or MTrek. NetTrek, the name, came later... I tried to get the first version of NetTrek done for the Lisa, but there was this even newer computer in the 'pipe' that was more affordable and even better. This was the Macintosh. It didn't really start out as affordable, but it was cool. The major problem was that you still needed a Lisa to program anything for the Mac. So, after putting off a major roof replacement on my house and I got my own Lisa for doing that NetTrek thing for the Mac. The first version of NetTrek for the Mac was written entirely in assembly language as I was originally an assembly guy for the Apple II, so hey, why not for that new 68000 processor. Bit by bit more of the programming was added in Pascal (there wasn't any C compilers until later; besides the ROM routines in the Mac were written [and still are somewhat] with the Pascal compiler in mind). Since the first versions of NetTrek were multi-player games only, I needed other people to test it with me. (It's really hard to handle 3 or 4 computer mice at the same time) I got this idea to put a shareware message in the info screens, just in case one of my trusted testers thought that it was OK to send it to their friends. Of course, this happened and NetTrek was now a shareware game. Really, I never intended on selling it, or even doing shareware. I just wanted people to play the game... By about 1985, early 1986, there was another Mac in the works at Apple (known as Milwaukee) that was a color version. Wow, color, on a Mac. Oh no, that meant that I needed to write new routines to draw to the color bitmapped display. OK, start over. After many hours of trying to write quick code that would draw to the display, I determined that the routines in the ROM were actually faster than anything I came up with (until later). In 1987, the Macintosh II was released and with it was version 2.5 of NetTrek. I don't think anyone has a copy (other than myself) of this version as it was the direct grandfather of the now existing version known as NetTrek- the Real Version (version 3.0). For some unknown reason, I decided to go along with my friends and ship the commercial version with a [now] defunct company, Premier Technology. Nope, I never really received any of the money they collected by selling this version. Now, maybe it's time to resurrect and revive NetTrek for those players who want it again. If ya wanna email 'im ta ask for it here's his email address > randy@fatlion.com :b&w:
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