Hall of Fame Game M.U.L.E. To Be Ported To PC

DebateUSA writes "If you ever played the game M.U.L.E. on the Atari or Commodore computer systems in the early 1980's, there's a company producing a new version for the PC. " Ah, resource allocation.

Comments

NES version?

[shadowcabbit]

If I recall, there was a version of MULE ported to the NES back in its heyday-- actually, I'm sure of it. It was one of the flagship 4-player titles for that system. Anyone play it?

Re:NES version?

[coupland]

Unfortunately I've never played the NES version, but I do have a copy of it, still in the original shrink-wrap. Back then all the box art was elaborate artist conceptions that bore absolutely no resemblence to the "ball-and-paddle" graphics of the time. I doubt anyone would have bought the game if the front cover had included screen shots. :P

Re:NES version?

[Foochar]

Actually, yes I did. I forget all the details, but I remember spending many an hour playing the game.

Re:NES version?

[Kedyn's Crow]

Yeah, I remember wasting 3 or 4 hours a day on this
interesting game when I was a kid. It's too bad my NES
dosn't work anymore.

Re:NES version?

[jgerman]

Yep. incredible game, probably my favorite NES game ever, I never got to play it on any other system, so I don't know how it compares but we used to play the hell out of the NES version. I still play it on Dreamcast now and again, and it's still good. I'm glad to see that it's being re-done, I've wanted to find time to port it to linux for a couple of years now.

Re:NES version?

[Rahga]

Uhm. Dude.... they STILL use elaborate artist conceptions. All these 3d games that feature the lead characters on the cover? Even those use re-worked models that are far more extravagant than the in-game versions. Then there's the inclusion of scenes and characters that are often cut from the final versions of the game, or completely off-the-wall art ("Sonic Adventure", anyone?).... A whole lot of bargain PSX titles that are just now being released by groups like AgeTec skip the art department altogether and head straight for stock photography. A pool game? Get a stock photo of a pool table. A BMX racing game? Stock photo of a biker jumping a hump.

Re:NES version?

[Dephex Twin]

I remember loving this game. One of my friends discovered it, and we never knew this was a remake of a classic computer game. I had the NES Satellite, so we could take advantage of the 4-player fun (along with Kings of the Beach, Super Off-Road, Gauntlet 2, etc). The M.U.L.E. graphics were pretty basic, but they were enjoyable anyway. The game itself was what was so great.

It was a great change of pace, very different from the NES games at the time... good to see the game living on.

mark

Re:NES version?

[Danse]

Hmm... I remember when this came out for NES. I had played the C64 version, so I knew the game rocked. I was pretty much broke, so I just rented the game. I introduced my step-brother to it and we started playing at about 9 that evening. Well, we played, and played, and played, until we heard our parents alarm clock go off at about 6:30. Then we freaked and hauled ass to bed before they noticed we'd been up all night. We skipped school that day, needless to say. Hmm... good times :)

Re:NES version?

[stripes]

Uhm. Dude.... they STILL use elaborate artist conceptions

Right, but back then it was common for the back of the box to have no screen shots, or screen shots from a different (better looking) version of the game (like the C=64 version rather then the Apple II version...)

Re:NES version?

[claygate]

Yes i've played it. I own it and the 4 score. True, the graphics through off even some of my greatest Nintendo buddies who were capable of going friday afternoon to sunday night straight on Coke and the NES in 4th grade. I was always a glutton for these types of games; setting up colonies/cities and trying to win/take over the next colony. This was however very simple, except for your monthly Mountain Wampus hunting expedition. Everyone waited in anticipation for the destructive meteor impact or comical M.U.L.E. going insane. Wow thos Multi Use Labour Elements brought hours of fun. I've only ever achieved the "goal" twice though. Thats reaching 100,000 points. Nothing different happens at the ending which sucks, it just says "you've suceeded" instead of "Your colony failed and not many passing trade ships stop by". I probbaly came within 1000 points of winning about 100 times though. This ones for the braves... WELCOME BLUE FLAPPER!

Re:NES version?

[coupland]

Nice troll, but you quoted me out of context. I didn't say "Back then they used elaborate artist conceptions." What I said was:

Back then all the box art was elaborate artist conceptions that bore absolutely no resemblence to the "ball-and-paddle" graphics of the time.

The cover art for "Serious Sam" is a stylized rendition of gameplay. The cover art for M.U.L.E. for NES is a painting of a man standing over his vanquished foes with an American flag in his hand with an alien landscape as a backdrop.

Quoting out of context is fun and all for free karma points, but your logic is still flawed.

Re:NES version?

[Rahga]

Bah, karma smarma, I just felt like ripping on today's product :P ....

Hmmm...

[nsanit]

I played that game (M.U.L.E.) for hours on end on my C64. However, I dont think I could do that anymore, I need a little more to keep me interested.

fond memories

[bluecalix]

M.U.L.E. is truly one of my favorite things in the universe. (Hopefully Dani is in one of the places in heaven reserved for true genius.) This could signal the appearance of a new black hole in my schedule. I just hope they keep the same music.

Re:fond memories

[Jim Norton]

No, the only heaven Dani Bunten Berry (aka Dan Bunten, AKA the man who is apparently no longer a man) is in right now is the one reserved for drag queens.

Re:fond memories

[ackthpt]

There's the possibility I've logged more hours playing M.U.L.E. than anyone else on Slashdot, along with Impossible Mission (which I usually finished but just kept trying to better my time).

I've installed CCS, the C64 emulator on my laptop and have recently logged several more hours in pursuit of Crystite and the Mountain Wampus, too bad the sound is cruddy and blanks out from time to time. So conditioned was I to playing M.U.L.E. and eating spaghetti, I pretty much have to have a plate of noodles and pasta sauce to make the experience complete.

I've also explored the code and data areas of the game, back in the day and recently, to extend gameplay to beyond 12 months, where it starts to get interesting, if you play hardball with your fellow planeteers.

I'm planning my own take on M.U.L.E. this summer. I'll take a stab at doing it in Java to make it available to more than just the Wintel crowd. I'll probably be asking for playtesters, on a variety of platforms, and some assistance when I get there.

One last thing, the theme music was and still is the best ever for any video game. Ever found yourself humming it? :)

Re:fond memories

[CaseStudy]

She wasn't a drag queen, you idiot.

Re:fond memories

[CrystalFalcon]

I find myself humming the M.U.L.E music from time to time, as well as the Archon music. Remember Archon? First time ever you saw the Electronic Arts logo? Anyway, it had a really cool theme music for the time. :-)

Re:fond memories

[divbyzero]

Hum it? I frequently find myself falling into live improvisations based on it, on the piano and synth.

Re:fond memories

[billh]

So, don't leave us in the dark. How do you extend game play beyond 12 months? If I theoretically had a copy of the 64 game, and I theoretically had a disk/hex editor, what would I need to change?

Re:fond memories

[ackthpt]

I'll try to forward you the bits to do this. One small, yet annoying matter. Your cash is actually stored as both a signed and unsigned 16 bit integer. This means you have to be careful with longer running games, as you could sell so much inventory that you roll over. Probably an afternoon's hacking would resolve this, simply find an unused bit of memory and write a better routine to allow full unsigned 16 bits, however, once you get up to the 32767 level, it's only a couple turns until you hit the rollover at 65535.

If you find creative ways to fritter away your money you can avoid this and ultimately drive your fellow planeteers into losing land.

Clearly 12 months is sufficient for the average player, but 18 brings out economic cyles which they evidently coded in, but don't really get warmed up and going in the building phase, i.e. first 10 months.

My particular take on the game would be to allow 12,18,24, or even longer matches where more balancing events can come into play. Perhaps increase the playfield. My goal is to design a generic engine and then taylor out a few gamesets, which are true to M.U.L.E, then let include a few standard new sets and then leave a simple interface for the user to define how they'd like to play and save those. Finally include multiplayer network capacities, but all this in good time.

Re:fond memories

[Jim Norton]

That's right, he was a she-male. Or a he-female ... or a ... ahhh ... screw it, I have no idea WHAT he/she/it is ...

Who's more the idiot? Me? Or the one who respects a half-man/half-woman THING? Hmm?

It's not a port, it's a remake

[Flounder]

The article covers a game called Space HoRSE, which has multiple species and multiplayer support via hotseat.

If you're gonna report a story about a port, then make sure it's actually a port, and not a remake. Remakes, even using the same title (re: Hasbro Asteroids) aren't the same as the original, they always monkey with it, and it's never the same.

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[fruey]

DebateUSA writes "If you ever played the game M.U.L.E. on the Atari or Commodore computer systems in the early 1980's, there's a company producing a new version for the PC.

From where do you go from "new version" to port? The article doesn't say it will be a port either...

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[SkyLeach]

"From where do you go from "new version" to port? The article doesn't say it will be a port either..."

RTFT: "Hall of Fame Game M.U.L.E. To Be Ported To PC"

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[fruey]

oops...

if (nocoffee) then
cat slashdot post > /dev/null
elif (coffee) then
cat slashdot post > /.
fi

hehe

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[spideyct]

The original M.U.L.E had multiple species - I believe there were 8 (you selected on by choosing a direction with your joystick).

The original M.U.L.E. had multiplayer via hotseat (you could play 4 players with only 2 joysticks on a C64).

So, I'm not sure what you are referring to that makes this a "remake". Sounds to me like the same game.

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[stripes]

If you're gonna report a story about a port, then make sure it's actually a port, and not a remake. Remakes, even using the same title (re: Hasbro Asteroids) aren't the same as the original, they always monkey with it, and it's never the same.

FYI the old "Foo 2000" series on the Atari Jaguar always had a "classic mode" that was fantastically close to the original - as close as anything that didn't just emulate the arcade hardware was going to get at any rate....

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[Anonymous Coward]

The _original_ M.U.L.E. was on the Atari 800, which had 4 joystick ports.

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[Anonymous Coward]

A few months ago I decided a wanted to play mule on my pc. I found a number of free 'mule inspired' games, so I downloaded them to give them a try. After playing a few of the clone games I discovered that the game engine was all wrong, the stragities that use to work in the original just did not work anymore, it was not the same game. I was disappointed with the clones.

I then downloaded a C64 emulator and played the original, after a 15-20 year hiatis, I was impressed by how well the game engine was ballanced, thought out and how fun it still was, even with the cheesy graphics. I played a few games over a week then put it on raid file server to play again in another 10 years.

I would gladly pay for the game on pc, if it was based on the same engine code, the reverse engineered versions just don't feel right to me. Too bad the orginal author was so obsessed with piracy to keep the game alive.

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[Anonymous Coward]

You used your +1 bonus to post that useless bit of stupidity?

Shame on you! I hope you're really f**king embarassed now.

Re:It's not a port, it's a remake

[stonecypher]

> So, I'm not sure what you are referring to that
> makes this a "remake". Sounds to me like the
> same game.

Space HoRSE is neither a remake nor a port. It is a ripoff. Think of Rise of the Triad, compared to Wolfenstein. It's got no apparent new stuff (maybe a few more races and events), the market model looks virtually identical (they're even using the players' pictures' positions on parallel lines as indicators in the market scene! good thing they changed from horizontal to vertical... ), et cetera.

Link to another MULE PC clone in the works.

[mtadd]

Check out Terra 2200. This one's dev status hasn't changed recently, but I keep checking the site anytime I've got an inclination for M.U.L.E. in 3D.

Is it possible?

[angelo]

But does Space Horse actually look worse than M.U.L.E. on the Atari? I'd rather drag out the ol' 800XL and play it in its original format.

(Gets M.U.L.E. theme stuck in his head) oops.

And why did they change the name?

[wowbagger]

I have to wonder - why change the name, and the name of the resources? What was wrong with "Multi-Use Labor Element", chrystite, and smithore?

OK, I could understand if they changed the name of the planet (irata) for obvious reasons, but do they think the rest of the changes will protect them if EA decides to press the point?

Re:And why did they change the name?

[Rogerborg]

• why change the name, and the name of the resources? What was wrong with "Multi-Use Labor Element", chrystite, and smithore

"Inspired by the 1980's classic, M.U.L.E" they say, which is just about the most stupid thing they could have done. It's clearly not licensed, it's a commercial product, and they've just tried to make money off of EA's trademark. Arguably, they are flat out passing off, something that Slashdot has just happily contributed to by calling this a "port". Note that Gamespot are very careful not to do this.

It is possible to produce a commercial "inspired by" version of a classic game if you're careful to not make any claims about what you're emulating. It doesn't matter if every magazine in the world calls your version a "XYZ clone", as long as you don't try and leverage someone else's trademark, you're safe. But it looks like Shrapnel reckon that the M.U.L.E trademark is abandonware, or they just don't understand what they've done. EA's nose has been tweaked, and now they can either throw a lawyer or ten at protecting their trademark, or they can admit that it's lapsed. Which is more likely?

At the very least, EA will be able to get Shrapnel to stop mentioning M.U.L.E. And if EA can show that they have any plans to produce their own port, they can ream Shrapnel for cutting into their market, even their potential market.

I don't necessarily think that's right or fair, it's just what's going to happen. EA can make Shrapnel dance like organ grinders' monkeys now just by throwing a few lawyers at them. It looks like Shrapnel doesn't have any big corporate backers to fight their corner for them. Damn shame, but they've kind of brought it on themselves.

And incidentally (or otherwise), isn't that an AT-ST walker they're using for cover art? Now they're tweaking the nose of Lucasart? Oh dear. :(

Re:And why did they change the name?

[bittmann]

Proposed changes to deflect criticism:

Name the planet "swodniw".

Instead of a random pirate attack, antitrust lawyers will invade, reducing the settler's "freedom to innovate". At that point, collusion becomes illegal.

Instead of the MuLEs randomly going rogue, large chunks of the environment will inexplicably stop producing resources, requiring a visit from an expensive Multiphasic Seismic Cascade Emitter before production will begin again.

Small, flightless seabirds known as "xunil" will appear after a predetermined number of turns. This will greatly increase production (especially of food and energy), but will drastically reduce the ability of any one race to amass ore. This threat can only be controlled or eliminated vi a single player constructing and controlling a "NET", and somehow persuading all other players to agree to participate in the "NET's" useage. However, if those players do so, they will find that their productivity will decrease markedly, while the player controlling the "NET" will go on to rule the world.

Of couse, there will be random, persistant and frequent instances of viral outbreaks, worm attacks, etc...

The game will end at after a random number of turns, upon which the planet will explode for no adequately explored reason, forcing a reboot.

*That* should be good enough to protect them agains any possible lawsuit...

Re:And why did they change the name?

[rdarnese]

So what if we put a space ship on the cover that had nacelles on it, is it then a cruel attempt to steal from Star Trek. Or what if we put a mechainzed robot with big guns, oh no we're trying to steal the Mech Warrior license. Give me a break it is an original peice of art done by the developer of Space HoRSE. We give credit to the original game, if websites make a mistake and call something a port, that is not something we can control. Todd Gillisie (the author) intended for this to be a true M.U.L.E. clone at the start but in the end he ended up with a game that is in the same vein but has his own tweaks as well. If your expecting a true M.U.L.E. port you'll have to wait until EA decides they want to do something like that in the future. I mean otherwise how many mid 90's FPS games were basically DOOM with a few new skins, or how many early RTS games were Dune II or Warcraft with different units.

Re:And why did they change the name?

[Schnapple]

One tactic often employed is to make your game a hell of a lot like another game, especially if that game invented or defined the genre, and (hopefully) refine/improve the gameplay, etc. Then when the critics compare your game favorably to the game you were trying to emulate/improve upon (and you can always find at least one who does), you make sure to place that quote in large letters in your ad.

For example, back when MYST clones were all the rage, every adventure game had at least one critic's quote on their ad saying "better than MYST!". Same for DOOM clones or, more recently, Civilization clones.

Oh, and for what it's worth, Dani Bunten said in an interview just prior to his/her death that he/she had pitched a remake of M.U.L.E. to EA for the modern systems of the day, but when EA insisted that there be some sort of weapons in the game (M.U.L.E.'s with frikkin' laser beams attached to their heads!) Bunten balked and the idea was abandoned.

Oh, and this isn't the first attempt to (re)make M.U.L.E. for the PC, this page has a metric ton of them.

Re:And why did they change the name?

[CaseStudy]

(I'm not a lawyer yet, and I don't know the facts of this particular case. This ain't legal advice for anyone.)

If EA sues, they'd have to show that their copyright or trademark has been infringed. You can't copyright game rules (as opposed to the textual expression of the rules), but you can copyright the text, graphics and music in the game. This is why Linux can have things like Freeciv and that Warcraft clone. "M.U.L.E." may still be a trademark of EA, in which case they can't use the name.

(If you're a Slashdot DMCA troll, go crawl back under your bridge. Doesn't apply here.)

Re:And why did they change the name?

[Danse]

And incidentally (or otherwise), isn't that an AT-ST walker [shrapnelgames.com] they're using for cover art? Now they're tweaking the nose of Lucasart? Oh dear. :(

Ever see the original art for the M.U.L.E.? It looked like an AT-AT. I think they're just paying homage to the original in that respect.

Re:And why did they change the name?

[Rogerborg]

• Give me a break it is an original peice of art done by the developer of Space HoRSE

Sure, if you like. You're saying that this isn't just one of these with the guns removed and little shoulderpads added? OK, I believe you. Really, I do. No, really. Look at the straight face.

Please, if you do work for Shrapnel, ask your lawyers about the Lanham Act, specifically the snappily named "Title 15, Chapter 22, Subchapter III, Section 1114". Specifically, do as another poster suggested here, and quote Gamespot as saying that H.O.R.S.E. is a M.U.L.E. derivative. Don't claim it yourself!

Sure, EA might overlook it, but you don't want to be worrying about that, right? You just want to develop great games. Fine, develop a great game and then sell it on its own merits. Don't try and piggyback sales off of EA's trademark, which is really what you're doing here.

Re:And why did they change the name?

[Danse]

Since EA only owns the name "M.U.L.E.", and doesn't currently own any of the game's content or design, I don't see that they would have any case. Shrapnel isn't calling it by EA's trademarked name, so I think they're in the clear. As for the AT-ST thing, well, as I said in my reply to your other post, that's because the original M.U.L.E. used the AT-AT as its inspiration for the look of the M.U.L.E.

Nintendo

[pclinger]

There was also one that was out on the original Nintendo. If you bought a 4 controller adapter for it (and had 4 controllers), you could have four people all playing MULE.

MULE seriously was an awesome game, I can't begin to count the number of hours I lost to it!

Re:Nintendo

[wulfhere]

You could also play up to four players with one controller. My family was so addicted to it that we kept and paid for the copy we rented from the video store. By the time I got an NES, you couldn't find M.U.L.E. in the stores anymore...

M.U.L.E. is the reason I my GPA dropped to ~2.0 in middle school!

Re:Nintendo

[wulfhere]

Ugh. Looks like the joke is on I me. :-P I will blame my terrible grammar on the excitement at the thought of playing loved old game again!

M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[Soulslayer]

I find it interesting that this got posted so near the C64 streaming audio story as there were a few mentions of M.U.L.E. in those threads.

Last time I played M.U.L.E. was about 4 years ago at the GenCon Game Fair in Milwaukee, WI (the RPG convention that TSR started); and it still holds up rather well. It may be simple, but it is a blast to play.

However the highlight games for Atari machines has to be MIDI Maze for the Atari ST. 16 player networked multiplayer first person shooter over the MIDI port. Basically you ran around a maze as a giant brightly colored smiley face and shot other smiley faces. Simple, but a lot of fun. I don't know if the are doing it anymore but the Milwaukee Atari club was maintaining a collection of Atari's just to run a MIDI Maze competition at GenCon almost every year.

If you go to GenCon see if you can hunt them down in the computer concourse.

Re:M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[Troed]

MIDI Maze rocked!

Even more fun was that people didn't understand the concept of different ground from different sockets .. I was at more than one "copyparty" where people fused their MIDI-ports due to that "little problem" ... hehe

Re:M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[TaliesinWI]

Alas, GenCon '01 didn't have MIDIMaze, or if it did, I couldn't find it. Last time I DID play MidiMaze at GenCon, I recall that the 16 Ataris they had cobbled together were in barely working shape, and to top it off there was never more than four or five people running around in the mazes at once - which really kills the experience IMHO.
As for M.U.L.E., it's pretty much the sole reason I haven't consigned my Atari 800XL to the scrap heap - every so often I drag it out and give it a whirl. Now if I just had LOCAL friends I could get hooked on it - all my old geek friends seemed to have moved to a warm southern state. .

Re:M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[Soulslayer]

*stares suspiciously at your nick*

Ok I am thinking you are an old friend of mine as too many little bits seem the same (repeat GenCon attendee, friends moved to a southern state, TaliesinWI as a nick). As a test do these two MIDI Maze related things seem familiar?

"Says says says:"

or

"Chris!? Chris!? What kind of a name is Chris!?!"

Re:M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[TaliesinWI]

Four words:

Strike Commander exorcist bug.

Four more words:

Radio controlled Death Horizon.

Re:M.U.L.E. and MIDI Maze

[Soulslayer]

ROFLMAO

It IS you.

heh

Always amusing to bump into an old friend on Slash. But I must chastise you for getting a Slash nick so late. #454205? You will have to wait till you're 60 years old to moderate. ;P

A clone, not a port

[Lumpish Scholar]

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/gilligames/Space_HoRS E/index.htm

Inspired by the 1980's classic, M.U.L.E. ... Original music from Data-Regeneration Project [so, no, *not* the original theme, sigh] ... Mature gamers will instantly recognize the similarity between Space HoRSE and the classic PC game M.U.L.E., developed by Ozark Softscape and published by Electronic Arts in 1983.... EA has no intentions of giving up the rights to the brand name M.U.L.E.

It does have the "multi-player on one computer" feature that was so much fun. All in all, though, we'll see. (Maybe Cowboy Neil could review it for us?)

Re:A clone, not a port

[Anonymous Coward]

(Maybe Cowboy Neil could review it for us?)

Funny, usually Cowboy Neil would be last choice for anything. ;)

A bit obvious...

[carm$y$]

... but the old game is avalable in a lot of places, like this.
Combined with vice, you can relive your childhood... :)

opensource could do it better

[wbg]

so ppl. with sdl out there why hasnt anyone stepped up and made a remake of mule with better graphics than this graphically sucking commercial game.

dont let mule end like this...

Re:opensource could do it better

[hitchhacker]

don't worry, it's in the process. SDL + openGL and IRC-like networking layer under it. The IRC stuff is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. (Been working for almost a year @ 30kloc so far).

metric

Re:opensource could do it better

[Carmody]

so ppl. with sdl out there why hasnt anyone stepped up and made a remake of mule with better graphics than this graphically sucking commercial game.

I would love it if the new one also came with a clone of the original. Yes, I know it won't happen. But you say "graphically sucking" and I say "differently rendered." I have such a fond affection for the old graphics... the way the M.U.L.E. moved, the way the aliens moved... Even the blocky font of the "OVERALL YOUR COLONY WAS A SUCCESS"

Re:opensource could do it better

[Jonny Ringo]

Some one has, and from the looks of it you better get in there and help him. :-)

http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~taur/mule.htm

For god's sake!

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Don't screw this one up. It's one of my fav games of all time (the other being MissionForce CyberStorm) but I can see it now: Making it real time, making it a resource rush tank rush type of game.

The temptation to muck this game up by 'improving' it will be too great.

I'll stick with the original methinks.

L.A.M.B.

[reynaert]

Josh Cogliati is working on a reimplementation in Python called L.A.M.B. -- Land Access Mechanized Bot. There's still a lot of work to do, tough.

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Henry V .009]

Wow, what a small world. I checked his web site. I knew his wife in high school.

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess he is moderating today.

Re:L.A.M.B.

[jrincayc]

Who are you?
Josh Cogliati

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Henry V .009]

Guess what Henry V .009 means, and I'll tell you. How is Elizabeth, by the way?

Re:L.A.M.B.

[jrincayc]

I sense dark hair, a desire to manipulate people, and a short stature, and a closeness to ivy.

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Henry V .009]

Complete strike out, I'm afraid. Was that someone I knew from Albuquerque?

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Henry V .009]

But then again, who stole the show in Henry IV?

Re:L.A.M.B.

[jrincayc]

Difficult to say if you knew, without knowing who you are.

Re:L.A.M.B.

[Henry V .009]

I imagine it's rather certain that I did not know Henry V, even without knowing who I am.

However, I'm getting a little tired of this game. I just watched Mulholland Dr. this morning, and I feel like I can't take any more games about identity and logic puzzles. And since you didn't guess...

I haven't heard too much about our classmates, expect for Michael Yellot's suicide a while back, unfortunately. I didn't know him so well in school, and don't know that Elizabeth did either.

Hopefully your wife is doing fine. And like I said, it's a small world.

MULE?

[Anonymous Coward]

This game was made by Microsoft.

Re:MULE?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would someone tell Mr. "Underrated Moderator" that the parent post is complete bullshit, please?

Joysticks

[gotan]

One thing that was putting me off from playing M.U.L.E on a PC (via emulation) was the lack of proper joysticks. I don't think the (analog) PC-joysticks are up to the job (they are unwieldy and don't have clearly defined directions), ideal would be an atari type joystick (i prefered the competition pro with microswitches for directions and metal contacts for the buttons), a game-pad would be the closest equivalent, but i find them too fiddly. There are some adapters out there to connect atari-type joysticks to a pc, and also some do-it-yourself-pages, but then i could just dig out my old C64 and see if it still works ...

Re:Joysticks

[kcurrie]

Wicos rule supreme! I've still got a couple, and these things are RELIABLE! Wico made arcade sticks as well, and the quality shows.

Re:Joysticks

[Zathrus]

Ok, I never played M.U.L.E., but I've never understood why people whined about PC joysticks... yes, they generally sucked. The analog joystick port stinks. But if you want clearly defined directions, the keypad has 8 very clearly defined ones and is pretty darn intuitive to use.

That said, most of the good joysticks nowadays are USB, not analog gameport. They're digital, but generally have enough resolution so that they function as well as a traditional analog joystick (or steering wheel, or throttle, or whatever). Look at Gravis, ThrustMaster, Saitek, and even Microsoft for some good joysticks. No, they're not as simple as the Atari joystick, but I always found the classic Atari 2400 joysticks to be rather dodgy myself (easily broken, not exactly accurate, etc.)

Re:Joysticks

[karnal]

I haven't really tried out a lot of joysticks for the PC, however, since I have been in to console gaming for about 10 years, I've grown to like certain controller setups.

The Playstation controllers, are, by far the best controllers (warning -- this is my opinion. I'm not trying to start a war.) Unfortunately, the only company I've seen come close to the usability of the PS1/2 controllers is Gravis, and their gamepads.

Now, with that said, Gravis' gamepads suck. They have the same basic feel as a playstation pad, but since they don't have distinct "up,down,left,right" without rotating a huge round pad, I just never had very good accuracy. Consider playing one of the SNES emulators with SF2 turbo. Playing with a gravis controller is like playing russian roulette -- you never quite know which direction you'll take.

I recently purchased (ebay) a controller adapter, and it's made life SO much easier. It adapts the PS2 controller (or PS1) to your USB port. Before then, I had thought about building the Parallel port adapter for the same controllers, but found this one for about 15$, and figured that was worth about 1/2 hour of my labor (in getting the parallel one working)....

So, now I'm truly happy. Does anyone else out there particularly LOVE a controller? I've not found a native PC joypad/joystick that has moved me....

Re:Joysticks

[Anonymous Coward]

With VICE on Linux-2.4, it's no problem to
run two good old digital joysticks connected
to the parallel port using a simple adapter:

/usr/src/linux/Documentation/input/joyst ick-parport.txt

Indeed -- what about four player?

[michaelmalak]

Three and four player modes were one of the main attractions in my opinion. Can this be handled on a PC?

Re:Indeed -- what about four player?

[gotan]

On the C64 (which had only 2 "joystick ports") aditional players can use the keyboard: in M.U.L.E. you only need a joystick when outfitting your plots, which is done one player at a time, so he can grab the joystick when it is his turn. The rest of the game is auctions and a kind of "firebutton" action (grabbing new plots being the most important). For those actions 2 buttons are sufficient, so it's no problem to have two players share the keyboard (three is a little awkward), if the keys are choosen with a little care (so their status can be determined independent of other players keys).

I don't see, why multiplayer couldn't be handled in the same manner on a PC, if you have less joysticks than players. Since i played some gltron sessions in 4-player mode i expect it to work rather well even ...

Re:Indeed -- what about four player?

[jgerman]

Nope, the nintendo version could, but today's pc's are just not up to it. ;) Of course they can, the NES version allowed you to play up with up to four people using the same controller, no reason pc games can't. Plenty of them did back in the day. I remember games where both players used different sides of the keyboard to play multiplayer.

DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[somethingwicked]

If my text rendition of the theme doesn't do it, you might get your head pulsin' groove fix here

M.U.L.E Theme

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[Novus]

Or how about this version of the M.U.L.E. theme?

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[Azghoul]

Dude, thank you!

That really made my day, I may put that on replay all damn day long.

Hmm... actually, now it's going to be stuck in my damn head all damn day, thanks for nothing!!

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[somethingwicked]

If someone could locate the actual music, with the "stomping" instead of the drums and such, they would be the coolest for sure

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[subsolar2]

M.U.L.E. brings back memories ... one of my favorite game tunes!

You could try my favorite rendition of the tune at http://www.chiptune.com/files/mp3/maybebop-05-mule . p3

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[CrystalFalcon]

Hell, I even have this tune for my mobile phone. I've been waiting for the first guy to recognize it -- the count so far is zero.

I thought I was too geeky at first until I noticed this post. Thanks :-)

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[CrystalFalcon]

Christ. That was one of the more horrible versions I've heard :-)

Cool of sorts, but... NOT what I had expected. I had expected the original audio...

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL :) That was great.

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[Kedyn's Crow]

I wasn't able to find the orignial theme, but I was able to find a cool remix

Re:DunhtDuhDuhDUH...DUHDuNaDuhNaNa..DunhtDuhDuhDUH

[Sax Maniac]

That's the sorriest ass MIDI I ever heard, with about as much musical sensibility as a jackhammer. And it's also missing one voice, which in a four-voice song is 25% of the harmony.

Try this one instead.

PLaTYPUS

[pomakis]

MULE was good, and I'm sure HoRSE will be even better, but personally I'm going to hold out until someone implements PLaTYPUS (Personalized Labor Tool Yeilding Previously Unavailable Smithore)!

Buncha clones, including one open source one.

[CrazyDuke]

There are actually several M.U.L.E. clones out there. I recall one called M.U.L.E. 386 that was looked promising (when you could get it to work) but was discontinued in the early 90's. Apparently there is one that was developed buy a guy, but dropped in 2000 because he did not have the time to finish it, and it is open source. Anyone want to adopt it?

Here is a link to a page that lists multiple clones, including the open source one.

Re:Buncha clones, including one open source one.

[i0lanthe]

Niftykeen. It's the entry that says

Overall, Toni Räsänen has programmed a very nice clone. Moreover, he is willing to share the sourcecode with everyone who is interested in continuing the project (under certain conditions, of course)! Hence, if you'd like to continue his excellent work, you should visit Imagination's homepage (http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~taur) to get the sourcecode and all further details.

I downloaded the code to get the "further details". The file opensrc.doc has info on its license, which seems to be basically "You may do any modifications you please, as long as we (the original authors) are credited for original work, and end user is informed of your modifications. ... Do feel free to use any code of the game for your own programs, as long as I am (or, if not me, the author responsible for the code you use, is) credited." This file also mentions that the game is written in DJGPP C.

ok, now somebody port this puppy to Linux and PalmOS... ;-)

Planet name

[Novus]

Does this port have the dreaded planet Tfosorcim instead of Irata? Or even better, the paradisiacal planet Xunil?

(insert any system) already has M.U.L.E.

[derrickh]

You can play MULE on everthing from a Dreamcast to the NUON DVD player using a trusty Atari 800 emulator. I don't see how getting a PC version with gee whiz graphics is news or stuff that matters.

D

Re:(insert any system) already has M.U.L.E.

[Azghoul]

I have an idea. Start your own site, so you can decide what matters and what doesn't. Then we can all log on to your site and whine about it. Won't that be lovely, hmmmmmm?

Does it have the theme song?

[Anonymous Coward]

This project is pointless unless it has the theme.

pooka-POOKA pooka-POOKA pooka-POOKA POOKA POOKA

It's actually better looking than I assumed it would be. I assumed a remake would be a 3-D RTS with FPS elements and first person perspective, featuring the voice acting talents of several third-rate and/or Star Trek actors.

Re:Does it have the theme song?

[Danse]

Heh. Why? So they can cash in on the big rush of 15-year olds that just have to own the remake of a game they never played the original of? :) I would assume that anyone that HAD played the original would laugh off such a remake, so that couldn't be the reason.

Now, if only....

[Anonymous Coward]

Alternate Reality would make a comeback...

Re:Now, if only....

[Anonymous Coward]

People are too lazy to take the time of mapping out stuff on 64x64 graph paper anymore. It would be done FPS style and would majorly suck.

I hope that Philip Price *doesn't* redo AR...that would totally wreck it.

mmm, progress

[yatest5]

System Requirements:

Then: Atari or C64

Now: Pentium 200 MHz, 32MB RAM, no more than 120MB HD Space, DirectX 8 Compatible 16MB Video Card, CD ROM, DirectX 8 compatible Sound System, Mouse

clones

[Jacek Poplawski]

First of all - M.U.L.E. is one of the best games in history, just like NetHack or Civilization.

You can find few clones in the net - but it's for DOS or Windows. I couldn't find any clone which will run in Linux. I thought about writing SDL clone myself, but this is a lot of work (the hardest parts for me is AI and drawing sprites) - and I am not sure if arcade parts should be still in game.

Do you know any Open Source M.U.L.E. project I could join?

To find information about game, and clones list enter page:
World of M.U.L.E

Re:clones

[Anonymous Coward]

"I thought about writing SDL clone myself, but this is a lot of work (the hardest parts for me is AI and drawing sprites)" Yeeeessss! Of course you will! That's why you're busy boasting on Slashdot and not coding, isn't it! If I was given a dime every time I read:

• "I'm going to write it myself"
• "I've been thinking about this for a project of my own..."
• "Shouldn't be too hard to code..."

- then I'd probably be able to retire now. Yeah, you're such an 3l33t linux hacker!

Re:clones

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, buddy. You can go fuck off and die now. What the hell have you contributed to the world, other than your obviously charming personality?

Re:clones

[Anonymous Coward]

"You can go fuck off and die now." Oooooooooooooo! Handbags at dawn! HAHAHAHAHA!
You sad twat!

Ahh, M.U.L.E.

[magi]

I still have some deep-rooted sticker marks on my old tv to mark the positions of resources.

Re:Ahh, M.U.L.E.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sticker marks? I always used markers (which made for cleanup easy)

Man I hope they don't screw it up

[eison]

The official remake/sequel/port of MULE got canned because the company doing it insisted on adding weapons, and the author (thankfully!) wouldn't allow it. ( Source: Read in a game mag interview that I can't find now, and mentioned separately at Retrogaming Times )

But, if the original designer's new version had to be scrapped due to unacceptable monkeying with it, what are the odds of this knock-off *not* monkeying too much, especially given that sufficient monkeying might give them some legal protection? So, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Re:Man I hope they don't screw it up

[jgerman]

I've been trying to imagine for the last couple of hours how on earth you could add weapons to this game...

Re:Man I hope they don't screw it up

[Danse]

From what I understand from reading a few M.U.L.E. sites, EA only owns the name "M.U.L.E.", not the game's content, that reverted back to the author. So as long as you don't use the trademarked name, you should be able to create an exact clone.

I'll buy it if it is any good!

[bluGill]

I'll pay for this, if it is as good as the orgional.

Note however that it must work with WINE Best would be a native linux version. Just so long as I can play it on my systems without paying theMicrosoft tax

M.U.L.E. is the best damn game ever

[Anonymous Coward]

I wasted hundreds of hours playing this game as a teenager. I loved it. I'm gonna mine me some smithore and do some major price fixin!

Elite port

[Anonymous Coward]

Now how about a port of the C64 game Elite?
I wonder how they fit all that game into 64K.
Freaking amazing.

Re:Elite port

[Jacek Poplawski]

Now how about a port of the C64 game Elite?

There is a Frontier, then First Encounters. You can also find one clone (in development) on Sourceforge.

Re:Elite port

[Ayon Rantz]

Now how about a port of the C64 game Elite?

Blasphemy! Go wash your mouth out with soap.

What you're trying to say is, of course, the BBC game Elite. Just because it has been ported to a dozen or more (inferior ;) systems doesn't mean it originated on any of them.

Re:Elite port

[Anonymous Coward]

It [the BBC version] has already been reverse-engineered and ported:

http://home.clara.net/cjpinder/elite.html

Have fun!!

ll

Xunil

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahhh yes.... the wonderful planet Xunil where, to do your production, you have a choice of 50,000 different M.U.L.E. clones, all of which are at version 0.2 and are only capable of producing a subset of the available resources!

MULE passed me by

[cheekymonkey_68]

I see all the mentions of MULE being a classic game and especially a decent multiplayer game

What I don't see is anyone really commenting on what made MULE a classic game ?

For those of us who've never played it can someone summarise what made it so special?

Oh well in a few weeks I'll have the time to boot up my old Amiga and see what its really like

To my shame I have an Amiga version of MULE that, I've never got round to playing, roll on holdiay time !

Well to be hoest I took one look at the screenshots on the box and it didn't look very exciting. Guess the illustrations can't have done the game much justice as I never bothered to play it (doh).

Re:MULE passed me by

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason MULE was so kick asss is that each player had different strengths and weaknesses, which played out well. Also, the relationship between food, energy, smithore, and crystite was unique, but it could be manipulated. Instead of playing the game as enemies, a few friends of mine tried to get the highest score. Part of our strategy was to run up the price of smithore. We did this by using more mule than we needed. After we would load up our plots of land, then we would get a mule, load it with food, and inadvertantly click in a bad spot on the screen which would cause our mule to run off. Overall, this would cause the value of smithore to go through the roof. My friend as I would play two players at the same time.

Our best score was 225,000..

Has anyone ever found the wombat? Look at those blinking eyes in the mountains. What an awesome easter egg.

Re:MULE passed me by

[cmpalmer]

My friends and I were addicted to M.U.L.E. for quite a while. To me, what it had going for it was:

• simple mechanics -- you do everything with a four position, single button joystick, including the auction.
  
  
• great multiplayer -- we would make under-the-table deals with each other to help out or team up against another player. It was like mini-Diplomacy. The fact that it could get your blood boiling while involving no violence whatsoever (unless you got in a fist fight with your friends) is amazing. Double-crossing, deliberate sabotage, "let's team up and beat the computer", etc.
  
  
• just enough randomness -- to make you cuss like a sailor when your MULE wandered off or a storm disrupted your production on a crucial turn. That's actually what I remember most, cussing the game and cussing each other - there was more trash talk than an Unreal Tournament marathon.
  
  
• the auction -- the cleanest implementation of an auction I have ever seen. It was great to run the price up on commodities and listen to everyone bitch and moan, or step back and starve the other players.
  

I'm sure I'm looking back at it through rose colored glasses, but if it has network multiplayer, I may lose my job :-)

Re:MULE passed me by

[Nurlman]

You make a good point-- for all the nostalgia being thrown around on the topic of old computer games, it might be nice once in a while for someone to summarize for those of us who weren't there.

MULE, however, was a game I recall from my childhood. Both the idea and the execution were quite simple-- the premise was that you were part of a 4-person colony on a distant planet called "Irata." (Get it?) The game proceeded in 12 rounds-- each round began with a land grab, in which each player would select a parcel of land on the planet's surface, although some parcels were more desirable (and thus, more contentiously sought after) because of the natural resources they contained. Once the land grab was completed, each player would have the opportunity to exploit the resources on his or her plots of land by purchasing, equipping, and deploying MULEs ("multiple use labor elements"-- i.e. robots). Each parcel could be used to either grow food, generate energy, or mine Smithore.

After each player had his or her turn to deploy MULEs, the game yielded a harvest on each parcel, depending on the suitability of each parcel for the use it was put to, various economies of scale, and random events that increased or decreased the production of certain goods planetwide or on a local level. Phase 2 of the round-- the auction-- then began.

Each commodity was placed up for auction, and a player could either elect to buy or sell that commodity in that round. Thus, if you produced only food, you'd need to buy energy during the auction, since you need energy to run your MULEs. While the colony maintained a store which bought or sold excess quantities of each commodity at fairly reasonable prices, because of supply and demand, predatory buying or selling, or a disaster at the store, players would often find that the store was out of stock and their fellow competitors were the only source of necessary commodities. Consequently, you would wind up paying exorbitant prices demanded by the monopolist with the goods. In this regard, the game rewarded, at least on the surface, highly cutthroat play. I say "on the surface," because the game also required the players to achieve a colony-wide level of success by the end of the game, and a player who extorted his fellows might become the richest player in the game, but the colony might be declared a failure overall, making the victory phyrric.

That's the general outline of the game, although there were lots of little touches that made it more complicated. The reason most people recall t fondly was because it was because it was a game that required some critical (and fast) thinking, but was designed to support lots of different strategic approaches-- you could be a land baron, keeping other players from obtaining important parcels, even though you never developed them yourself; you could focus your strategy on one commodity and hope to control the market; you could play a balanced approach; you could screw people surreptitiously, etc. The game was simple to learn, and primitive in its execution, but was conceptually rich and rewarded those who planned ahead. It also introduced a lot of interesting competitive economic concepts like economies of scale, supply and demand, monopolies, etc., that had not been incorporated into computer games before. And although the graphics were primitive, the characters involved had a whimsical feel to them and it had a funky little theme song that was catchy.

Re:MULE passed me by

[Anonymous Coward]

the wombats arent easter eggs. you could actually go hunt for them and make some money in your spare time. gambling in the pub was about as lucrative though.

Re:MULE passed me by

[jgerman]

Don't forget that it was different. As far as the NES world went (that's where I played it) it wasn't the same old platform game, or top down shooter. It required strategy, and cooperation of the other players. Not only did you want to come in first, you wanted to do so while making the colony as a whole successful.

Re:MULE passed me by

[Twister002]

Well for me, M.U.L.E. was the forerunner for most of the modern RTS games. It was also one of the first games, at least in my world where the sky was a dark blue with a light blue border and lots of askterixs in the sky, that had real replayability. Most of the games I had play up to that point were either maze type games or scrollers, same levels at the beginning, same bad guys in the same spots. M.U.L.E. had more randomness, not to mention the best theme song, at least until Commando came along.

Re:MULE passed me by

[dacarr]

Ah, yes, I miss that day. I used to play MULE on a friend's Atari 800 after school. But now, in my ripe old age of 27, where I still remember cutting my teeth ona TI 99/4a, I wonder: will we see a Linux port of this game? (Of course, if there _is_ one, I might even see it on sourceforge, yesno?) -Dennis Carr

Re:MULE passed me by

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds pretty original then, time to get out the old disk and see what the fuss was about.

The only comparable game I've seen would seem to be the PC version Avalon Hill Civilisation board game (quite unlike Sid's adaption)

Thanks for explaining why everyone seems to go on about the MULE game.

Re:MULE passed me by

[madmancarman]

You could always grab the Atari 800 emulator for *nix and many other platforms. That way you get the exact experience instead of being at the mercy of a port.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi

Stinkin clone

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually played the hell out of MULE back in the day, and I read somewhere that there was a guy doing running a beta test for a MULE clone. The game is called Space Horse, was actually worked on by one guy and tested by a bunch of bored people. I played it for a little bit and still may have the beta on my computer somewhere. It's not bad for a one man project, but it's not MULE either.

~Purple Packer

Wumpus

[akiy]

Will we get to hunt the Mountain Wumpus again?

Thanks for the interest guys...

[rdarnese]

Hi, my name is Richard Arnesen, and I work for the publisher of Space HoRSE. Just wanted to say thanks for the mention of the game. Youu can find out more about out company at www.shrapnelgames.com. P.S. Just now looking through the comments, if you have any questions besides that just drop me a line anytime...

Links to the disk image and an Atari 800 emulator

[madmancarman]

A couple months ago when I dug out my trusty Atari 800 from storage (running consistently for 21 years now) and started playing M.U.L.E. again, I did a little searching via Google and found a good write-up at ClassicGaming.com that included an Atari disk image for M.U.L.E., the manual, and a decent PC emulator (Mac folks can get an Atari 800 emulator at emulation.net). It's not perfect, but better than not being able to play at all. (Don't forget to grab the Atari system ROMs as well!)

While I've often dreamed of an update to M.U.L.E. (or Archon), I question whether simply updating the graphics and adding new cutscenes can really enhance the excellent gameplay. M.U.L.E.'s gameplay was such that the random events every turn could throw off the balance of the game just enough to give any player the opportunity to take the lead within a couple turns (there were only 12 turns in the game, each representing a month). There's nothing quite like making the richest players pay over $200 per unit of food because they're starving. Besides that, it had arcade and strategic elements (try figuring out which plot of land you're going to grab at the beginning of each turn can be somewhat stressful) along with a certain 8-bit charm that probably won't translate very well to the modern PC.

I'll definitely grab the demo, but that's only if EA doesn't sue them out of existence first...

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi

Damn I love that game

[j-turkey]

Let's all hope to god that they get the mosic right (not to mention the Mountain Wumpus).

-Turkey

Gravis Gamepad

[nuggz]

I have a Gravis gamepad.
On/off inputs, uses the analog joystick port
left or right handed switch, 4 buttons, or 2 buttons and 2 auto fires.

Even came with 2 extra sticks for the thumbpad, and a copy of Commander Keen (can't remember which one)

Re:Gravis Gamepad

[shannara256]

> I have a Gravis gamepad. ... came with ... a copy of Commander Keen (can't remember which one)

That would be Keen 4, part one of the "Goodbye, Galaxy!" triology: Episode Four, Secret of the Oracle. I've got the Gravis disk right here...

Remember, 12 inches make a foot, and the time to commit forbidden acts is when the moon is shining....

Are you insane?

[freeweed]

You mean more like 1.1Ghz, 256MB ram, 700MB HD space, 32MB geforce2, dvd-rom.

I've actually seen MINIMUM system requirements similar to above for new games.

Re:Are you insane?

[yatest5]

Are you insane?

Er, no, I was talking about the min requirements for this game specifically..!

There already was a PC version

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a PC version of MULE by EA--I used to play it way back when on my original IBM PC (hey, two 360K floppies and 256KB RAM)!

Check out http://www.eidolons-inn.de/mule/mulevers.htm. I remember my friend had it on the PCjr, but I could have sworn we played it on my PC as well.

Man! Those system requirements!

[schwatoo]

Pentium 200 MHz, 32MB RAM, no more than 120MB HD Space, DirectX 8 Compatible 16MB Video Card, CD ROM, DirectX 8 compatible Sound System, Mouse

I'm screwed! I've got way more than 120MB HD Space! Going to have to install more stuff to make less room for it.

PC = 3D engines, older computer = Simple yet cool.

[tcc]

How many hours you spent on your commodore 64, amiga, atari ST, on a LAME game by today's standard? I can't count how many hours I played M.U.L.E, or speedball, pinball fantasy or star control.

Why? Simplest idea sometimes are the coolest. Some games have a high level of complexity and are awesome simulators (Mech warrior series to name one), PC titles aren't all bad and some are quite addictive and are a good investment (i.e. Quake 3, you pay once, you get a zillion of mods after), but in comparison with the "pre-PC-DOOM" age, the % of titles that are addictive today are way lower than it was before.

How many people did it take to code something like burger time, how many people did it take to code a game like SOF for example? I'm sure there are more total hours played on burger time than on SOF, and forget about the "it's been there for 20 years", let's see if people are even going to remember that game in 20 years.

Anyways, this is good news, put M.U.L.E with today's level of complexity, and you could have a kick-ass title.

I'll believe it when I see the Swamp Wampus..

[Anonymous Coward]

Until then...

LOAD "MULE",8,1

taxi

Dani Berry is rolling in her grave

[blueskyred]

Look, if you are going to ripoff one of the most forward-thinking games of all time, at least have the decency to credit the source.

I'm not talking about EA, I'm talking about Dani Berry (who was known as Dan Bunten at that time). She created Modem Wars, Command HQ, Global Conquest, and M.U.L.E. She was an innovator of multiplayer online games in the 1980's. She was way ahead of her time, and it is a shame that just as the games business was ready for her again, she lost her battle with lung cancer (July 1998).

Re:Dani Berry is rolling in her grave

[rdarnese]

We are well aware of Dani's work and reputation. Global Conquest is one of my favorite games as well. It's an oversight that she is not mentioned on the product page, I'll look into correcting that, but the trademark is with EA so we have to mention them when we talk about the game.

Archon update

[Anonymous Coward]

The Toys For Bob guys (who did Archon, Star Control, Star Control 2, etc.) did a PSX game called "The Unholy War" that had certain similarities to Archon. Arcady 1-on-1 combat in the context of a larger turn-based strategy game.

"Remake" is pushing it ....

[Greedo]

... and not a very good one at that, it appears.

The screenshots look horrible, like someone just bought a book to figure out their war3z copy of 3D-Studio. They've used new music and, personally, the old theme song was one of the best game themes at the time. Oh yeah, and it looks like the HoRSE in question is the offspring of an AT-ST from The Empire Strikes Back.

Those three reasons (plus the fact that Shrapnel Games' can't even get the survey on their site to work, and the music folks' site spits out ASP errors) are enough to turn me off. I'd rather dust off my C64 or Atari (or fire up an emulator) and play the original.

(Or I could dig out the floppy disk with the "inspired by MULE" game I wrote in Atari BASIC. Looks like it would be as much fun.)

Re:"Remake" is pushing it ....

[leshert]

Oh yeah, and it looks like the HoRSE in question is the offspring of an AT-ST from The Empire Strikes Back.

How ironic, given that the M.U.L.E. in the original was modeled after the AT-AT from the same movie. :-)

Re:"Remake" is pushing it ....

[rdarnese]

The survey works, but for some reason perl is doing something funky. If you check afterwords you can see the results and it added folks votes to the poll. Won't matter soon anyway we're moving unto a new server soon, this one is old and is falling apart. Should be on the new server later this month.

Archon.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a clone of good ol' Archon for X-Windows:

http://xarchon.seul.org/index.html

Yeah, I'd love to see a modern-day 3D-graphics update to the game.. but I think it's one of those games that can't really have any other elements added to it without screwing it up -- I've always been under the impression that the original Archon was a good game only due to fluke.

Oh, lookee here too. An official enhancement that's currently in development. (Looks crap):
http://www.curvesoftware.co.uk/archon/

Re:Archon.

[CaseStudy]

Well, there was Archon Ultra a few years ago, but that was generally regarded as worse than the original.

Doesn't look as good

[flipper28]

I think the fancy graphics destroy the real game behind M.U.L.E - I'm sure people who played on the C64 would understand this - maybe some should make a pda version (with c64 graphics!)

There are emulators? Can someone tell me more?

[Carmody]

I can play M.U.L.E. now? You mean I've wasted all these years not playing when I could have been?

How does one go about setting up their PC to play M.U.L.E. ? Where are the programs I need?

I remember M.U.L.E. on the NES

[Anonymous Coward]

I was in fourth grade. My parents had just gotten a divorce and I was a young, pissed off geek. I didn't have a computer yet, but I had my NES.

My mom got a job at Snoopy's Diner and she'd bring me a Snoopy Burger every day after lunch. No wonder I got so fat back then; those four meals a day are brutal.

Then there was M.U.L.E. I'd grabbed it at a used game exchange in St. Louis. I played it for hours. I played it while eating my Snoopy burger. I played it while my sister yapped on the phone to her the guy she lost her virginity to.

The game was an art form for me. The logic was simple enough to be mastered. I'd start as a human, the most difficult race to play. Then I'd go for the land by the river--ya GOT to get those farms up. I'd buy the land at the auctions with all the greed of a Monopoly player on his first trip around the board. After handling the logistics, I'd hunt that blinking, chiming black dot--the Wompus. A quick round at the pub always gave me a little more pocket change.

I never played M.U.L.E. multiplayer. After all, I had no friends that year. Every hour spent on that game was another hour I wasn't outside facing my fears or inside feeling sorry for myself.

I'd like to see a new version. Shiny graphics are neat :)

Re:I remember M.U.L.E. on the NES

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice troll technique. Good follow through. A-

This poster's name secretly replaced with Folgers Crystals

I have it on the N.E.S.

[Razzious]

I bought the game back on the C64. About a year ago I saw it on ebay for the NES. So I dusted the ole bitch off and have enjoyed it many times since. However the NES has become unstable. If anyone knows how to make it actually turn on when the game is inserted and pressed down. For some reason it clicks on and off several times and I have to keep playing with it before it EUREKA, and works.

Also, I will look into how hard it would be to make a ROM for the cartridge..never tried it, but would be happy to pass it around if I can figure it out. The NES version was a little cleaner than the C64, but still had all the idiosyncresies of the old skool.

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[jgerman]

How to get a NES system to play when it's not working. Sheesh don't you know anything, you blow on it. Usually on the game itself, but everyone had their own ritual. ;)

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[Danse]

LOL :) Yeah... I remember all the voodoo type stuff we tried when the NES was actin flaky. Always blow on the cartridge. Push it down and pop it back up a few times. Then hit Power. Repeat as necessary.

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[jgerman]

The funny part was that it worked. My method was to blow hot air on the cartride with my mount right up on the end. I was convinced that the humidity of my breath was what was making it work ;)

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[CYberPhreak]

See, i have this problem too... I take it out and blow in it several times, then blowing into the NES itself... it still won't work.

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[Danse]

Hmm.. that's similar to my stepbrother's method. Maybe ya'll were on to something :) He always did seem to be able to get it working faster than I could.

Re:I have it on the N.E.S.

[feceus]

If you spray the cartridge connector with Windex(tm) and keep plugging/unplugging a cart in for a min or two then let it dry for 20 odd minutes, it'll work great. I restored three systems using this method and they all work infinitely better than before!

Re:Links to the disk image and an Atari 800 emulat

[Carmody]

There's nothing quite like making the richest players pay over $200 per unit of food because they're starving.

Ah, you were one of THOSE people, eh?

I was one of the people who would keep holding the food out of their reach. LET THEM STARVE! I was even known to take the last M.U.L.E. out of the pen during a Smithore crisis, and just let it run free.

Space Empires IV

[glinden]

The publisher, Shrapnel Games, has a few other interesting titles. Particularly good is Space Empires IV, a Reach for the Stars or Masters of Orion II-like galactic conquest strategy game. There's a good review of it on GameSpot.

Articles about original M.U.L.E.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here are some articles about the original version of M.U.L.E.

Artistry in Electronic Gaming
Interview with Dan Bunten, designer or M.U.L.E
Home Computer Games Grow Up

7COG?

[ahde]

The same dudes that made M.U.L.E. made a game called Seven Cities of Gold. The game rocked on C64 but playability was completely destroyed on the PC version which introduce some extra *ahem* features

I'd like to see them remake "Worms?"

[McSpew]

Does anybody besides me have fond memories of another EA game for the C-64 called "Worms?"?

Up to six players could play. Essentially, the game was played on a hexagonal grid. Each player's "worm" would start out from the origin point at the center of the screen. When a worm encountered a new situation, it would pause and wait for the player to pick a direction for it to go. From then on, the worm would remember that command and repeat it.

At the beginning of a game, the worms are constantly pausing and waiting for instructions, but after a few runs through the order, the worms are self-guiding for a while. As worms travel through the points on the hex grid, the points turn into vertices. A worm claims a vertex by completing all the paths into and out of the vertex. A worm dies when it heads into a vertex and completes it without an out path, or when it collides with another worm at a vertex.

At the end of the game, when all the worms are dead, the player whose worm has claimed the most vertices wins.

I thought it was a pretty cool game and I've never encountered anything like it since.

Re:I'd like to see them remake "Worms?"

[Kwil]

There is a free online version of that game available somewhere. I found it on one of my hunts through the net.

I'll see if I can find it again and post the link up here.

Re:I'd like to see them remake "Worms?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I'am really interested in that game, I would really appreciate it if you could find this game.

Re:I'd like to see them remake "Worms?"

[Kwil]

Hah! Found it again..

http://www.netives.com/Games/Wormz/index.njsp

Have fun!

This is NOT a port

[thunker]

"...inspired by the classic game M.U.L.E. from the 1980s."
Big difference.

Atari 2600 version

[loggia]

There was an Atari 2600 version of M.U.L.E. I am 80 percent sure of it. Can anyone corroborate?

Re:Links to the disk image and an Atari 800 emulat

[madmancarman]

Ah, you were one of THOSE people, eh?

I was one of the people who would keep holding the food out of their reach. LET THEM STARVE! I was even known to take the last M.U.L.E. out of the pen during a Smithore crisis, and just let it run free.

That was one of the best parts about the tournament level - people (especially the computer) usually tried to produce Chrystite, and if you could get enough of the mountain ranges, you could choke them on M.U.L.E.s pretty easily. Personally, I always liked producing plenty of energy after buying all of it up from the store so that no one could produce anything.

I've been trying to teach some of the nastier tricks to my girlfriend, but usually when we play, she's the Flapper so she has a bit of an advantage.

I spent 10 minutes in class one day trying to explain it to my students, and a couple of them downloaded it and started playing it. I wish the Atari 800 emulators had multiplayer over TCP/IP, but then I probably wouldn't get any work done.

God I love that game.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi

And what does EA have to say about this?

[dghcasp]

There's been numerous attempts in the past to make MULE clones, but EA has always put the kibosh on them. Despite not having any obvious interest in doing anything with the property, they seem pretty adamant that nobody else can do anything either.

Kinda like kids that outgrow playing marbles but refuse to give their old marbles to their younger siblings because "those are my marbles!"

Re:And what does EA have to say about this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, this is the same company that owns the rights to Ultima 7 and still wants to market it, but doesn't want to make it actually playable on any current computers or allow anyone else to do so.

Hum a few Bars

[ackthpt]

Hum it? I frequently find myself falling into live improvisations based on it, on the piano and synth.

It might be a sign that you're really a geek if you start dancing to it - Do the M.U.L.E. da-dooda-dooda da-dooda-dooda doomp da-doomp doomp da-doomp...

Colonization Re:7COG?

[StefanJ]

Sid Meir once told me that his game "Colonization" was a tribute / sequel to "Seven Cities of Gold."

(I actually noted the resemblance when I saw Colonization at a trade show booth. Meir, who was lurking nearby, was pleased that someone recognized the connection.)

The official port of Seven Cities to PC sucked. Man, was that offensive.

Wasn't there some license trouble ?

[JensR]

I remember when the remakes for Atari and Amiga were made, that they couldn't make a version for PC, because IBM bought the rights to port it to the PCjr.
I don't know if the rights are available again...

Re:Wasn't there some license trouble ?

[Orthonormal]

I actually own the IBM PC version of MULE. I used to play it on the original IBM PC. The music suffered of course, but otherwise it was the same game. I think you're right, and it was IBM that published the PC version and not EA. I still have the 5-1/4" floppy somewhere but it would require a slowdown utility to play it.

Re:Wasn't there some license trouble ?

[sunspot42]

Remakes for the Atari? M*U*L*E was developed for the Atari 800. It was ported to the C64, PCjr and NES later (in the case of the NES, much later).

Are there any Atari 800 emulators w/ net play?

[Anonymous Coward]

MULE over the net could be wicked fun, though it would help to have some sorta voice communications. While its not bad as a single player game, multiplayer mule is a heck of a lot more fun imao.

And for those who thought the graphics were pretty crappy, try the Atari version instead of the c64 or NES. Its somewhat better if you ask me.

1980s!?

[Bill Kendrick]

I first played M.U.L.E. on my Atari in the 90s ;)
Noone ever wanted to play it with me, though, so I never got into it. :^(

An update was planned by the original developer

[lightspawn]

(in an old article from Gamasutra.com) :

There's a story about Dani that I know contains an element of slander, but it's too good to pass up: (I'll try to correct the slander afterwards)

At one point Dani was negotiating to do a new version of M.U.L.E. At the same time, she was also in the middle of her transformation, which, of course, included the surgery, and everyone who knew her well was secretly wondering about it. Soon afterwards, at some industry function or another, Russell Sipe, then publisher of Computer Gaming World, came up to her. "Well?" he asked. "Did you go through with it?" "No," Dani said. "I decided not to."

Russell was taken aback. "Really! Why not?"

"Well, they wanted to put guns and bombs in there, and I just didn't want that."

"WHAT??!!!!!" said Russell, utterly flabbergasted.

Of course it was all straightened out a moment later. Russell had been thinking about the life- changing, utterly irrevocable business of losing one's genitals.

Dani, characteristically, had been thinking about game design.

Come on mods...

[Anonymous Coward]

That was funny. Just take it as an inevitable SNL reference and leave it alone :)

The real thing is available here

[nadaou]

Running in DOS with a C64 Emulator:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?i d=668

[the-underdogs.org abandonware]

MULE MP3's

[lsd4all]

Ah, the good ol' days of getting sterile from the TV RF and the poorly shielded Commodore 64. God Bless the 6581 SID Chip

Acapella version of MULE theme

Almost original version of MULE theme

On the 8th day, God made the SID and rested

Re:MULE MP3's

[Qrlx]

THANK YOU THANK YOU I remember the game but couldn't remember the song.

Alas, too bad that MP3 scrambles your brain, especially on those higher notes. I would love to listen to the theme song again but my head would surely explode.

Will the new version of MULE include a RIAA provision to protect my legally-mined crystite from the pirates?

go to this classicgaming link

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but this link has everything you need to play in on Atari800win. In my opinion it plays just as good if not better than it did on a real Atari 800. Don't waste your time with the NES version as it is no where near as good.

http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/mule.shtml

M.U.L.E. over TCP/IP?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised to see no one else has commented about this.

Wouldn't it be KILLER if M.U.L.E. or this upcoming Space HoRSE had multiplayer over Internet enabled? Imagine logging onto some sort of centralized server, a la, MS's Zone, and starting up some MULE games with people there. It would rock!

Then again, a drawback would be the latency of the 'Net, because of how time-sensitive the auctions are and whatnot. But still, to have that feature in the game, would be so MONEY.

Re:Links to the disk image and an Atari 800 emulat

[t0qer]

Actually,

The source for atari800win is freely availiable. You could use
kaillera for the netcode and voila instant atari netplay goodness. I've been wanting to play ballblazer 2p across the net for a while now :)

Maybe you should make it a senior project for your students to get it done :P

Re: Blatently Offtopic discussion

[jrincayc]

Feel free to email me. My email address is easy enough to find (enough spammers can find it). I will gladdly forward anything you want to Elizabeth. Elizabeth's email is also possible to find, but it is not as easy.