A note from an author
I got this in the mail:
Nice! It's always cool to hear from authors of the games. I've interviewed several and received e-mails from others, which makes me wish that I did more research about the games. For the most part, what I know is what I've read on someone else's site or in the documentation included with the games. The truth is, I haven't even played many of the games on my site. Priority one is to simply make the files available. But I digress. Robert Lancaster says that he wrote these in the middle ages. I'd probably say that in terms of computers, these would have been written well before that. What are the middle ages of computers anyway? Dos 6.22? Windows 1.x (didn't know there was a Windows 1.x, eh? It was rubbish). I think I'll go give Stained Glass a try again. But first, this:
This is my final project in Linux Programming, a great class with a great teacher. This is based on the Dance Dance Revolution games that are so popular with the kids these days. Some of the only exercise many of them get. It's my first and only text-mode game. Only works in Linux, though. If anyone wants to port it to Windows, I'll give you the source code. Just a matter of replacing ncurses with whatever handles text in a Windows terminal, I imagine. Written in C.
...I'll get that screenshot up as soon as I remember what my FTP password is.
Hi, this is Robert (Bob) Lancaster, the guy who wrote the MicroLink Games (Yaht, Shut The Box, etc) back somewhere in the Middle Ages.
Thanks for putting the site together! Text-mode games were definitely a different beast. I occasionally get the urge to write another one, but I'm not even sure what I would write one IN, unless I got my old IBM XT out of mothballs and fired up Turbo Pascal again...
I've also considered writing more modern versions of the old ML Games, but I've been considering that since Windows 3.1, so don't hold your breath.
Anyway, I thought I'd let you know about one nitpicky thing: On your page for my Otra game, you describe it as "Ye Olde Sliding tile game" or somesuch. That would more accurately describe my Loyd game. Otra is essentially a Simon-like game, and is only playable nowadays using one of the slow-down utilities.
Again, thanks for putting the site together. I went through your list of games, and found several which bring back fond memories of my days as a Shareware/Freeware author. I had snailmail correspondences with a lot of other Shareware game authors (such as the minds behind Stained Glass and Islands of Danger), and it was fun to see screenshots of their games as well.
Best regards,
Robert Lancaster
Nice! It's always cool to hear from authors of the games. I've interviewed several and received e-mails from others, which makes me wish that I did more research about the games. For the most part, what I know is what I've read on someone else's site or in the documentation included with the games. The truth is, I haven't even played many of the games on my site. Priority one is to simply make the files available. But I digress. Robert Lancaster says that he wrote these in the middle ages. I'd probably say that in terms of computers, these would have been written well before that. What are the middle ages of computers anyway? Dos 6.22? Windows 1.x (didn't know there was a Windows 1.x, eh? It was rubbish). I think I'll go give Stained Glass a try again. But first, this:
This is my final project in Linux Programming, a great class with a great teacher. This is based on the Dance Dance Revolution games that are so popular with the kids these days. Some of the only exercise many of them get. It's my first and only text-mode game. Only works in Linux, though. If anyone wants to port it to Windows, I'll give you the source code. Just a matter of replacing ncurses with whatever handles text in a Windows terminal, I imagine. Written in C....I'll get that screenshot up as soon as I remember what my FTP password is.
