HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rbrewer@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Robert Brewer)
Subject: Re: Minotaur
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:50:26 GMT

How do people feel about this game? I bought a copy, and playing a two player
game was nifty the first few times, but then it gets boring. The graphics and
complexity seem good, but gameplay is pretty poor.

The person I was playing with found what appears to be the ultimate strategy.
Start out with max strength. Run around looking for chests, ignore anything that
isn't 1) Durandal or Excalibur, 2) Etheral Plate or Aegis of Zeus, 3) Shadow
Gate or Dimension Door. If you ignore all other things, you will find that you
will almost always find the best weapon and armor while your opponent is still
piddling around. Then you cast Shadow Gate or Dimension Door and pound on them
until they die.

I don't see how anyone could successfully play a Wizardly type character. Even
with maxed intelligence and the Tome, casting the most damaging spell is peanuts
compared with a few bashes with Durandal or Excalibur. Perhaps there are secret
techniques that give spellcasting an edge, but if not there appear to be
severe game balance problems (i.e. why ever use spells)

It seems like it would be fun to set traps and such, but you always die if the
other person uses the Grunt strategy above.

Another beef: inventory management must be the worst case of interface design
I have ever seen. I find it very hard to set up my items the way I want them,
and to get at them in an emergency. And if you spend time organizing your items,
your opponent is grabbing better items.

Has anyone made a list of secret cool things in Minotaur? Like which spells do
what on which symbol and secret items?
--
Robert S. Brewer                                 rbrewer@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: eebonar@sn01.sncc.lsu.edu (Dave Bonar)
Subject: Re: Gretzky Hockey Demo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: eebonar@sn01.sncc.lsu.edu
Organization: News and Views from LSU
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 21:52:11 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-23380]: sn01.sncc.lsu.edu

In article <1992Nov23.182340.17410@cognos.com>, heeschv@cognos.com (Brian VanHeesch) writes...
>WHO CARES!!!  this game SUCKS!  I mean if they're trying to sell the game
>using the demo as free advertisement--well, I'm sorry but I'd rather watch
>paint dry than play this game.  Black and white?  Overhead view?  come on
>get with the program, with games like Out of this World, PoP, Lemmings,
>and even 4d Boxing (even though its a port) who would buy WGH?  My advice
>is to rewrite the game to be ice level "HIT the ICE" style.  We're not
>playing these games on VIC20's anymore.

	First off, I know nothing about the game in question.  But I do
know what I like so I feel like I should respond.

	Brian, I think you're going overboard.  As I said, I don't know
if the game in question is an arcade game.  However the titlee and description
lead me to believe that its a hockey reply game.  If so, I don't care about
graphics really.  I'll gladly settle for a quick playing game that gives a 
good feel of what happens in the sport over one that gives absurd results but
looks cool.

Dave
__________
Dave Bonar
eebonar@lsuvax.sncc.lsu.edu
__________

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: Kevin Harris <KHarris@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Falcon MC Demo; sad, sad, sad....
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A72D21823301250D@wolfgang.nrl.navy.mil>
X-Xxdate: Mon, 16 Nov 92 14:59:30 GMT
Organization: Software Perspectives
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d12
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:59:25 GMT



I downloaded the demo from a FirstClass BBS in Los Altos.  I agree that
the window is small and that not supporting large monitors is bogus...but
it is a pretty neat simulation to say the least.  The sounds are pretty
good.  However, the mouse control could be a little better.

Nice array of weapons too.

Understand, this is nothing compared to HellCats or even close to what
F-18 Hornet is going to look like, but it is an improvement over the
original FALCON.

Kevin Harris
KHarris@aol.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: cfranz@iiic.ethz.ch (Christian Steffen Ove Franz)
Subject: Re: Suggestions for Armor Alley v2.0!
Organization: Dept. Informatik, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, CH
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:06:56 GMT

In article <1992Nov13.150357.1505@oakhill.sps.mot.com> matth@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Matthew Holle) writes:
>I have a suggestion that hasn't been posted yet.  Make Armor Alley 2.0
>3d!  In reality, Spectre is only 2d because you are playing on a flat
>playing field (there's no y-component movement).  In addition, Armor Alley
>is also only 2d because you don't have any z-component movement.  The
>ability to have x, y, and z-component movement would be far step beyond
>any Mac game I've seen.
>

Yes, I'd love to see this. There once was a game for the PeeCee that
simulated an attack 'copter. You had to fly through a great 3D data
base, engaging tanks, men, missiles etc. Good polygon drawing but
very hard to fly.

>
>(...)
>
>Oh, one more thing, we found that using fixed point math didn't cut it
>after a while because the loss of precision compounded after about 15
>minutes of complex rotations and the wire-frame object started to
>convolute.  Instead, we found that we would have to use floating-point
>data.  This posed a serious speed problem, especially for Macs without
>a 6888x.  

Mhhh. This is actually not true. I have written and published a free 3D
package for programmers (available at sumex and umich) that uses fixed-
point arithmetic and works well. Your problem was probably that you 
transformed the object and then transformed the transformed object. This
is of course very dangerous. The better way is to save the translation,
rotation and scaling in different matrices and then operate them on
the original untransformed object prior to drawing. When having an object
that does not move relative to another object (like the hand of a robot
that needs to be moved with the arm's end) it can be proved that three
matrices suffice for any movement (one for translation, one for rotation,
one freeform for anything that has to be done if order-dependent).
This way, no detoriation of accuracy can occur and this method is actually
only slightly slower than transforming a transformed object.
And it is faster if you use fixed-point arithmetic over non-FPU real
numbers.

>                                        matth@oakhill.sps.mot.com

Cheers,
Christian



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christian S. O. Franz                 |                   cfranz@iiic.ethz.ch
ETH Zuerich, Swizerland               |                    
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: paulr@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Paul Russell)
Subject: Re: Hellcats!!
Organization: University of Sussex
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 11:53:36 GMT

From article <By14JA.H8p@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, by jimi@cso.uiuc.edu (Devin Nickol):
> Keith_A._Lichtenauer@uu0570.foggybottom.com wrote:
> : If you have Resedit, you can bring those two best men back to life.
> : Open the hel1 resource.  Then choose player score data.  On the  very
> : right is a list of pilots (alive and deceased).  When you find the names
> : of your dead pilots.  To bring them back to life,  count four lines down
> : from the first ltter of the pilot's names.  In the section with the
> : hexnomials you find the number 0001.  0001 means "dead", 0002,0003,0004,
> : etc. mean POW, MIA, etc.  Change it to 0000.  This should bring the
> : pilot back to life.  
> : 
> : If you have Q's, leave a reply to this message and I'll eventually get
> : back to you.  I found a document called "Hellcat Tips" on a BBS.  It
> : explains resurrections along with many other secrets. (ctrl "s") try it.
> : Foggy Bottom - your FirstClass Mac connection in Washington, DC
> : 
> 
> 
> the help file is available for ftp on sumex-aim.stanford.edu in the games dir.
> 

Also, you can FTP a little utility called 'Hellcat Rescue' or some such from
sumex-aim.stanford.edu which cuts out all the hassle with ResEdit...

//Paul
-- 
| Paul Russell              | "Some instructions have legal operation codes |
| Experimental Psychology   |  but try to perform nonsensical operations.   |
| Sussex University, Falmer |  These are called insane instructions."       |
| Brighton BN1 9QG, England |             -- Motorola DSP 56k User's Manual |
Organization: Junior, Design, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games,misc.forsale
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 15:07:45 -0500 
From: Kenichiro Tanaka <kt12+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: WHICH VIDEO GAME SYSTEM TO BUY? (SEGA GENESIS, SUPER NES,....)
	<1992Nov22.210234.6476@cheshire.oxy.edu>

On 22-Nov-92 in Re: WHICH VIDEO GAME SYSTEM..
user Thomas V. Leavitt@cheshi writes:

>If you want a system that will play awesome games, in higher resolutions,
>in all styles, as well as do lots of other fun stuff like sampling, 
>MIDI, and art, then there is simply no alternative to the Amiga... it is
>the only major computer system that has a decent broadbased game selection.

Huh?!  What about the PC-compatibles?  (oh, am I allowed to say that on
the Mac group?  :)  All computer stores I've been to have shelves and
shelves full of PC games.  It's pretty much a habit for me by now to
head for the farthest corner of the store where they have their little
shelf showcasing their piddly selection of Mac games. (this is usually
right next to their even suckier selection of Amiga games).


Ken
From: auerbach@doc.bmd.trw.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: HELLCATS: Mission Leyte Gulf
Date: 19 Nov 92 18:04:44 GMT

It's here! It's here!!!!!  I've got the disk in my grubby little hands!!!!

Now, can I be patient for 5 more hours until I get home?  I wonder if the boss
would buy a quick flu excuse?

Probably not...:(
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: sh002b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Red Dragon)
Subject: Rise of the Dragon query
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 23:07:39 GMT

Hi. I was wondering if someone could help me out in the game "Rise of the
Dragon" After I dress Blade up, and get the mayor's daughter's picture, what
do I do? I go outside, past, the doors, that open vertically(I didn't know
how else to express their motion.) and then what? I just stand their
watching the helicopters, and the airplanes. I can't go anywhere.I know that
the mayor tells me to go somewhere, but how do I get there?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: jon3@quads.uchicago.edu (Jason Jones)
Subject: Re: Minotaur
Reply-To: jon3@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 06:20:08 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.005752.22701@news.Hawaii.Edu> rbrewer@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Robert Brewer) writes:
>Yes. But, if you make your only goal in the game getting a magic weapon, you
>can do it in nothing flat (like 1-2 minutes). The second you have a magic
>weapon, you find your opponent and hammer him/her. The only defense appears to
>be to go for the magic weapon too, and then it is merely a race to see who can
>find one first (not much fun).

If you show up next to me one minute into the game, I'll eject immediately,
using any of: Dust of Disappearance, Portable Hole, Rod of Banishment,
Forcewall, Mirror of Lost Souls, Ethereal Plate, Feather of Levitation,
Lethargy, Daze, Inverse Space, Ring of Metamorphosis, Wavestick, Mask,
Aegis of Zeus, Blink, Scepter of Transposition (with someone else), or
Dimension Door (to someone else).  99.9% of the time, I will find AT LEAST
one or more of these items before you find a magic weapon AND a
Dimension Door or Shadowgate.

If you show up next to me two minutes into the game with only Durandal,
I'll rock your world.

>...my point is while you are busy looking for
>the multiple components of your evil scheme, I will have found Excalibur and
>then you will be toast.

Remember, I'm not running around only picking up items which fit my one
"evil scheme", like you are.  I'm picking up everything.  By the time you show
up with your magic sword (and nothing else), I'll have all sorts of things.
Minotaur is a game of making the most of what you have.  I witnessed a battle
where a wizard carrying only the Aegis of Zeus, a Fumble and a Phantom
Sentinel (and NO WEAPONS!) beat a Barbarian with Durandal in the final room

>Actually I did some experiments with high-lore chars. Even with the super
>lore chars (like you describe) and the best damage spells, you only do as much
>as one or three chops with a magic weapon.And since it is a lot faster to find
>a magic weapon than to gather up the spells, find the lexicon, and find the
>right rune, playing my strategy will win because it is faster.

There are only two magic weapons in the two-player maze, and there are lots
of damage spells.  Spells are long range.  Spells always hit.  Spells do
way more damage than you think.  It's funny, but around here we think the
two-player game is biased towards spellcasters ... maybe we should have
a big 3 Mages vs. 3 Barbarians rumble (though my favorite character in
a multi-player game is an Acrobat).

Jason.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: trwagner@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Ted Wagner)
Subject: Hellcats and Graphic Simulations...what gives?
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 23:54:53 GMT



	I own a legal copy of Hellcats.  But, have never been notified
by Graphic Simulations that there were new scenarios or that it was
available for purchase!  

	This seems like very poor software support if you ask me.
Do they have a new marketing tactic?

-- 
         Swallowing your pride rarely leads to indigestion.
         A hard thing about business is minding your own!
-trwagner@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu   &    trwagner@kiwi.ucs.indiana.edu-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Leslie.G.Wardwell@dartmouth.edu (Leslie G. Wardwell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Mac game developer seeks advice
Date: 16 Nov 92 18:10:26 GMT
 <1992Nov15.162707.1@cubldr.colorado.edu>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a6@newshost.dartmouth.edu

> [1] Do I need to support black and white?

I wouldn't buy a game today if it did not support color. When I wrote
Cribbage Tutor and Classic Trilogy (Cribbage,Hearts,& Whist) I knew my
target group would include many older, retired folks who knew the card
games and who most likely would own MacPluses and SEs, so I supported
both B/W and color. You can test the pixel depth and switch pics
whenever appropriate.

> [2] Can I make System 7 a requirement?

Again related to the above most users of Pluses and SEs are not going
with 7 and there are still A LOT of those Macs out there. I think you
would lose a large market share if you required color and 7.0!

> [3] Is a game window the size of a Classic's screen big enough?

I don't see it as a problem either. You can do a lot with a 9" screen
and it's upwardly compatible.

> [4] Do you buy Mac games?

Yes.  I was a big Dark Castle fan, but I no longer have idle time with
a 1 year old.

>    If it were shareware, I'd probably ask for $15.

Shareware isn't going to fill your bank account and probably neither
will commercial publishing. SoftStream publishes my apps and a
publisher will pay for advertising and catalogs etc. and even though
royalties may look small it still means something more reliable than
shareware. Commercial games can still be priced low enough $24.95 for
wide circulation.

> [5] What are your feelings on copy protection?

I do not approve at all.

> [6] What types of games do you like?

Arcade, card, all types. I'll try any game at least once from Dark
Castle to Daleks.

> [7] So, do people now of days want games with a team of 80 artists or a simple,addicting fun game?  (I guess that's a leading question.  :))

As I noted above, people enjoy all types of Mac entertainment.

Les Wardwell
Author of Cribbage Tutor and Classic Trilogy, SoftStream International
From: joshua@sun.lclark.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Star Wars  --  A solution!
Date: 24 Nov 92 04:48:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Nov24.044805.5749
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR

As I see it, those of us interested in the Star Wars game are being
shafted by a company who is paying us no mind. Broderbund no doubt has
it's reasons for taking Star Wars off the market, and for not re-releasing
it. (An excellent possibility which was mentioned on this group was that
they may be legally required to not distribute it freely (think lucasfilm
. . . think licensing agreements . . . think lawsuits))

In any case, we have no choice but to pirate it. I doubt that Broderbund
is paying enough attention to us netters to notice, but who wants to get
nailed with a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar piracy suit?? Obviously, we
cannot put it on an ftp server such as sumex-aim, stanford would get it's
tail sued off.

However . . .
picture a mac. running ftpd (ftpable off sumex). possibly in some mac lab
of a university. online for about an hour. on, say, december 25th at midnight.
just set it up with a couple of floppies, and run.

You know and I know that there's no way of tracking that. Probably. Publicity
could be done through a program like NewsWatcher which doesn't require that
you go through your actual unix account.

I would do it, but I don't have a copy of Star Wars.

How about it?


"to each according to his need, from each according to his ability."
From: ajiang@lonestar.utsa.edu (Alexander X. Jiang)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Space Quest help
Date: 16 Nov 92 01:36:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: ringer.1992Nov16.013614.11036
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

In space quest III, I got to the Planet Ortega, and managed to drop the
detonator into the generator (should i do this? what good it does?) and jump
back to my ship using the pole.  Now, where i supposed to go?  I've got back
to the burger place and back to Planet Phleebhut, but seems, nothing changed
and not much to do.  I've even tried to take the other guy's ship in Monolith
Burger's, but no luck.  Please help.
From: Robert.T.Warfield@dartmouth.edu (Robert T. Warfield)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Rise Of The Dragon Tips.
Date: 20 Nov 92 13:05:40 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0b1@newshost.dartmouth.edu


  If you need any help on R of the D please e-mail me. I will help as
much as I can.

**********************************************************************
* Arthur, king of the Britons    * King of the who?                  *
* King of the Brittons!          * Who are the Brittons anyway?      *
* I am, you are, we all are the  *                                   *
* Brittons and I am your king!   * Well, I didn't vote for you.      *
**********************************************************************
Robert T. Warfield@dartmouth.edu
From: mem10@po.CWRU.Edu (Milton E. Moskowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: At the Carnival
Date: 16 Nov 1992 23:16:12 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: mem10@po.CWRU.Edu (Milton E. Moskowitz)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


Greets.
	Got a question -- what configuration does At the Carnival require? 
I've got 7.1 w/ 32 bit turned-on, and it keeps crashing on me.  I went back
to system 6, and it crashed even SOONER than it did under system 7...  I'm
very confused.  Does anyone else have problems running this (and yes, I did
try without any init's under both 6 and 7)...  
	Either e-mail or post, I read the group like 12 times a day!  Thanx!
-- 
Milton E. Moskowitz         mem10@po.CWRU.edu       IRC Operator Warlock
"We close our eyes and the World has turned around again.  
 We close our eyes and dream and another Year has come and gone." -Boingo
"Happy Happy... Joy Joy" "I'll teach you to be happy!" -Ren and Stimpy
From: al862@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Brent D. McLean)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Harpoon Designer Series Question
Date: 16 Nov 1992 11:31:02 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: al862@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Brent D. McLean)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc4.ins.cwru.edu



	It has been mentioned that installing Designer Series creates
new battlesets of the designer series scenarios, rather than integrating
them into the original battleset. I'm curious as to what happens if you
don't own all the battlesets when you install the Designer Series. If
you have two battlesets, like myself, do you get 4 battlesets appearing
in Harpoon (2 original & 2 Designer versions) or do you get 6 battlesets
(2 original plus the Designer versions of all 4 battlesets)?
Furthermore, if you have the Scenario Editor can you make scenarios for
battlesets you don't have if you have Designer Series? Just wondering.

 
-- 
 Brent D. McLean                     -  "I'm at the corner of Walk and 
 al862@cleveland.freenet.edu         -       Don't Walk..."
From: din@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Clarence Din)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Bane patch
Date: 19 Nov 92 22:17:18 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Nov19.145152.6572@smab.se> ralf@smab.se (Ralf Lundberg) writes:
>jvessey@husc10.harvard.edu (Jonathan Vessey) writes:
>
> [ingenious solution to the "I can't stand looking at black on blood
red problem]

Has anyone tried color scanning the pages and changing the blood red
color to something else (like yellow or white) and  printing it out?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarence K. Din
Information Systems Specialist III, Dept of Chemistry, Univ of Pennsylvania
din@gradient.cis.upenn.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have my toys (D-50+M-EX, SR-16, TurboDuo, SNES, HP48SX) and you don't!  Nyah!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: bc15@ellis.uchicago.edu (The Vampire Lestat)
Subject: Prince of Persia
Reply-To: bc15@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 08:03:34 GMT

Hi, can someone please tell me how to get past level 3 on Prince of Persia? 
Thanks!

						Ben

-- 
					

						Longshot
			           Transcending the Realm of Probability
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: Ken Wilkens <wilkens%nmr@venus.ycc.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: Leyte Gulf
Organization: Yale University
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1a2
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 12:12:32 GMT

Leyte Gulf is not an upgrade to Hellcats, what it is, is 8 new missions
you can fly! (you have to have Hellcats to use it). The new missions
includes the use of six 5" rockets and 2 bombs or torpedeos! Along with
the new weapons the Zeros are smarter and the frank (KI-84) is faster
than you so watch out for them! So if you find it easy to shoot down
planes in Hellcats get Leyte Gulf and be humbled!

Ken
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Distribution: world
From: Keith_A._Lichtenauer@uu0570.foggybottom.com
Organization: Foggy Bottom / Washington, D.C.
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 20:17:32 EST
Subject: Re(2): Prince of Persia - annoying copy protection?

I found a program on a BBS (Twilight Clone) called PoP patcher, which
gets rid of the protection. (for anyone not familiar with Resedit)
Foggy Bottom - your FirstClass Mac connection in Washington, DC