Mac Gaming History Remembered 117
Thanks to 1UP/Ogamo for its feature discussing the early importance of the Apple Macintosh as a videogaming platform. The author argues: "The Mac definitely left its mark on gaming. Though it never became a gaming powerhouse, it played host to a few legitimate classics, and their ideas went on to influence developers to this day", before referencing titles such as ICOM's Deja Vu ("...has some of the wry sense of humor that [also] brightened up the best of Infocom's games") and Silicon Beach's Dark Castle ("One of the first successful action games to use a mouse for shooting things.")
Best Mac Game ? (Score:1)
Armour Alley [scene.pl]
Like all great games: simple to get into, difficult to master.
Re:Best Mac Game ? (Score:2)
Slashdot effect.
Acutally that was an Apple II game (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Best Mac Game ? (Score:1)
Marathon [bungie.org]
Better than Quake, miles ahead of Doom, and probably the scariest game I've ever played.
Dark Castle... (Score:2)
Both I and my carpal-tunnel-crippled hand respectfully disagree.
Re:Dark Castle... (Score:2)
Deja Vu was a much better game, albeit a bit simple (I finished it in one not even very long
Re:Dark Castle... (Score:1)
I spent many all-nighters in my youth playing this game. Ahh, memories.
Re:Dark Castle... (Score:1)
Look all the way towards the bottom 3/4 of the article. It contains screenshots of other notable Mac games as well.
Bolo! (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.lgm.com/bolo/
or if your a Windows/Linux user:
http://www.winbolo.com/
You shot my LGM!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:You shot my LGM!!! (Score:1)
I assume "classic" = "pre-90's" (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, I coincidentally replayed Deja Vu for the NES last night; that brought back some fun memories. I knew the three NES ICOM games were just ports, but I didn't know they were originally on the Macintosh (I assumed PC or Amiga).
Rob
Re:I assume "classic" = "pre-90's" (Score:2)
They may not be only Mac games ... (Score:1)
Re:They may not be only Mac games ... (Score:1)
i remember playing those games in 2nd/3rd grade on ancient macintoshes...
ahh.
that my friends is the smell of the good old days.
i would pay a few fingers for a good emulator and some roms. Anyone know of any?
Three Mac games we played at CMU (Score:2)
There were three games that we played a lot of at Carnegie Mellon in my time. Maelstrom (ie, Asteroids), Marathon, and Macfoxes. If only they would port Macfoxes over to OS X.
Re:Three Mac games we played at CMU (Score:2)
--
Evan
Re:Three Mac games we played at CMU (Score:2)
Balance of Power? (Score:1)
Re:Balance of Power? (Score:3, Funny)
I just started playing mac games last night (Score:1)
4 30/SE
1 SE
1 7600/132
1 quadra 700 [not sure].
I downloaded some games etc. had some fun. I'm going to set them up for the kids to play with [I have 6 kids]. Some interesting notes:
the se/30's have 40 MB hard drives. they still work. 8 MB of ram on these bad boys...16 Mhz. Amazing-and the games are still mildly entertaining. shanghai, civ, etc.
they were free-and there is some decent games for them in shar
Re:I just started playing mac games last night (Score:3, Informative)
King's Quest 5
Civilization
Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis
Sim City
Quest for Glory 1
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Deluxe)
3 in Three (a GREAT puzzle game for 10-14 y/o)
Fool's Errand (Score:2)
Cliff is in the process of making a sequel to it as well, due out on Halloween.
Memories (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Memories (Score:1)
I used to play another game, that was equally awesome but I don't remember the name. I do remember the instructions "Shoot everything, don't get hit"
any help?
Re:Memories (Score:1)
Those of you who can't equate the Mac with games, keep in mind this was before most PC clones had a mouse.
Re:Memories (Score:2)
http://www.ultra-united.com/ [ultra-united.com]
Re:saw the headline (Score:2)
Marathon is in no way related to Halo
Probably not true - the Halo logo has a small Marathon logo in it
Re:saw the headline (Score:1)
That's one thing that will never get thrown out of my Box of Old Computer Junk. I'll pull it out in 20 years and think fondly of A-10 Cuba...
Pity. (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh yeah, playing Halo on a Microsoft Xbox and Freelancer on Windows XP.
Really a pity how shallow the Mac's gaming shelf [tinyurl.com] has become. I mean, Panther wipes the floor with XP for just about everything except games.
Re:Pity. (Score:1)
At home my macs are called Tycho, Durandal, and Leela. Thanks, Bungie.
Mouse Stampede! (Score:3, Informative)
You can try it on a Mac here: Mouse Stampede [motu.com]
Jason Linhart wrote the game, but I got the job of drawing most of the icons. I'm particularily proud of the swiss cheese, it's pretty hard to draw something legible in a 16x32 space in two colors!
Re:Mouse Stampede! (Score:2)
Honestly... (Score:2)
Re:Honestly... (Score:2)
Re:Honestly... (Score:1)
Somewhere things went terribly wrong for Jobs and company.
Although I wasn't a developer around that era, from what I've heard it was mostly because Apple was extremely tight-fisted over access to development tools and APIs. They still primarily wanted the Mac to be taken seriously as a business and education computer, so it was tough to convince them to even let you try to write games for it.Re: (Score:2)
Re:Honestly... (Score:1)
The sad thing is that you probably didn't play them on a Mac. You probably played them first on an Apple II e and then the (color!) IIgs.
In my grade school, us little kids were allowed to touch any macs, if they existed.
No More (Score:4, Funny)
Whatever its contribution in the past, Apple is a gaming platform no more. As a Mac user and a semi-avid gamer, I really miss one aspect of my old PC - the über availability of games.
Anyone seen this [redvsblue.com] parody? It's right on the money.
"The PC is so... so confusing! You go the store and there are like.... racks and racks of games. But on the Mac, there are just six!"
--J
Re:No More (Score:2)
That said, I still play older games using ScummVM or the wonderfully updated Myth II and StarCraft on my Mac. But it's not the same.
Maybe I need to hook up a used machine to my TV... hmmmm...
Re:No More (Score:2)
Nor can I play Myth II on an Xbox or DC. :)
All these posts (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Two words: (Score:3, Informative)
My God, did I play alot of Shufflepuck Cafe. I worked in a Software Etc. where we had a Mac Plus on display and that game got me through many a long, customer-free shift.
I can still hear the big, scary, fat dude that was the last opponent laughing at me when he got the puck past me.
Re:Two words: (Score:2)
The Day After Tomorrow (Score:1)
Hopefully the mac will return (Score:2)
Bah! (Score:4, Interesting)
Kids these days...
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
I wonder how hard it would be to make a modern port, and how it would stack up to modern RTS...
Re:Bah! (Score:1)
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
And let us not forget... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:4, Insightful)
And Doom was developed on a NExT workstation. Yes, NExT was from the same guy as the Apple II. But there is a HUGE difference between a NExT workstation and an Apple II....
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:2)
You mean that steve jobs guy? Yeah it's easy to forget about him.
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:2)
Just out of curiosity, do you have any links to sources for this info?
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:2)
Re:And let us not forget... (Score:1, Redundant)
Damn, Doom on an apple 2?
IMTO/.
prince of persia (Score:1)
eudas
Re:prince of persia (Score:1)
Re:prince of persia (Score:1)
Major omission (Score:4, Insightful)
Bolo (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to share a flat with an Apple employee, and was friends with another Apple employee. Whenever they had to travel for business, they all used to take PhoneNet boxes for their PowerBooks (PB170-180 era) so they could play networked Bolo in the waiting lounge at the airport.
Just think how far we've come. And the irony of having their wireless networking offering called "Airport" makes me wonder if this was a common phenomenon for Apple globally.
Cyan (Score:2)
Re:Cyan (Score:1)
Marathon (Score:4, Interesting)
best line - 'They're everywhere'
They're everywhere? Bah! (Score:2)
Re:They're everywhere? Bah! (Score:2)
I've said for years... (Score:5, Insightful)
Shufflepuck Cafe
Dark Castle
Crystal Quest (it was a sad day when this stopped working when I upgraded to "MultiFinder")
BattleGirl (anyone tell me how to make this work on OS X and I'll be your friend forever)
Snood
Escape Velocity series
Re:I've said for years... (Score:2)
Basilisk.
Re:I've said for years... (Score:2)
Re:I've said for years... (Score:1)
It's been taking a long time, but there is a remake of Dark Castle, with the originals slated to be included in the release!
http://zsculpt.com/website/games/darkcastle3/da r k
Another Omission (Score:3, Interesting)
I never did own a Mac back then, but I always enjoyed using others' for games. I don't think anyone has mentioned the (shareware?) arcade shooter Solarian II. Haven't played it since 1999, but now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind a quick game or two right about now ...
So... (Score:3, Funny)
Spectre VR!!!! (Score:1)
Man that was a fun game. Too bad DOOM came along and stole all the thunder
Re:Spectre VR!!!! (Score:1)
Re:Spectre VR!!!! (Score:1)
umm... (Score:1, Troll)
Now you're just making stuff up.
Dark Castle (Score:2)
All it did was remind me of how bad I was at throwing rocks at rats on screens 2 and 3.
(if somebody happens to have the URL available and can post it before I dig it up, I promise that you'll ruin my productivity for the weekend)
What was that *very* old game... (Score:1)
Re:What was that *very* old game... (Score:3, Informative)
Brian Wilson (one of the authors) even posted the source [codeblaze.com]
One of my old faves, as well.
Re:What was that *very* old game... (Score:1)
Now, if I only had a mac on which to run it...
CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN (Score:1)
Citadel (Score:2)
Entirely drag and drop inventory system and visible character statuses on character icon, and pixel-by-pixel character movement in icon combat area (as opposed to block movement like Ultima). Monster combat was done in a different window than the dungeon view (which was like Wizardry) and had a targeting circle around your character to show range.
Drag 'n Drop inventory is everywhere in RPGs nowadays, but back then, every
Crisis Mountain? (Score:2)
Fortunately my first gaming memories of Macintosh gaming rests solely with Ultima II, which is just a tad bit better.
I liked Dark Castle, but played it more on different systems (Still have it for C64 and Genesis) than the mac, and I still think I liked Uninvited and Shadowgate better than Deja Vu.
Risk... (Score:2)
Some stuff came later, what was that one that had an early rendition of Dilbert? Like "MVOD", moving vehicles of destruction?
And Weslyan Tetris.
And Milles Bourne, loved that.
Never had a mac but loved 'em.
Myst... (Score:1)
Abuse was not a FPS (Score:2)
(from the article:) From Dark Castle, then, descends the modern first-person shooter. Mouse-look is essentially a 3D rendition of what Dark Castle did in two dimensions (although Abuse refined the concept into something more readily recognizable as the precursor of first-person point-and-shoot). See what you want to hit? Point the mouse at it and do it. Point, and click.
Sorry guys, you totally missed it. 'Abuse' was not a first-person-shooter. It was a 2D side-scroller along the theme of the movie 'Alie
Re:Abuse was not a FPS (Score:1)
FrAbs is a Free Abuse clone. It's still lots of fun. I'd love to see the TCP/IP networking work...
Indie games for Mac (Score:2, Informative)
Blitz Max, a variant of Blitz Basic [blitzbasic.com] comes out on OS X in a couple of months' time, meaning a small but growing army of coders should be putting stuff out for the Mac soon (especially since they just have to recompile the code they've already written for Windows -- no port costs to worry about).
Gallery of stuff created with Blitz [blitzbasic.com]
Re:What the hell? (Score:2)
Nope [redvsblue.com]
Re:Mac Gaming History Remembered... (Score:2)
Where do you think Bungie came from? They coded only for the Mac for years. I beieve that Marathon II was ported to Windows 95 at some point... but it wasn't until Myth: The Fallen Lords that Bungie looked for a presence on both platforms. And, even then, they coded on the Mac and then ported the games and tools to Windows.
Even Halo had its first public preview at a Macworld years ago. It wasn't until Bungie sold out (and the founders split, with Pet
Re:Mac Gaming History Remembered... (Score:2)
Re:Mac Gaming History Remembered... (Score:2)
You may not see the influence, but it's there. It's akin to keeping in mind that Miles Davis studied classical musicians at Julliard - you don't need to know Beethoven to appreciate Davis's work, but Davis's work wouldn't be the same without that influence.
You didn't have to play the games for my argument to be val
Re:Mac Gaming History Remembered... (Score:2)
Sometimes it's clear that a game maker probably said "lets do DOOM, but 'better'". Like how Diabolo was an *admitted* work to get NetHack w/ then modern graphics (and some other changes).
But other instances, when the influence is subtle, it's hard to know what was a definite influence, what was probably co-influenced by a common ancestor, and what might be a seperate independent invention. Video games have
Re:This should be funny actually (Score:2)