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Salon on M.U.L.E Creator Dani Bunten

Posted by michael on from the wish-i'd-spent-more-time-with-my-computer dept.

douglips writes "If you're a hacker of a certain age, chances are you played M.U.L.E. Salon is running a story on M.U.L.E. creator Dan[i] Bunten. Ahead of her time, she insisted that games would be most enjoyable when they involved social interactions rather than just flashy single-player action and graphics."

14 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"she"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    You don't have to. "She" was a transexual.

  2. M.U.L.E. Clone by Serra · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a link to a pretty good M.U.L.E. clone named Space HoRSE. Not quite the old version, but you can try the free demo for nostalgia's sake.

  3. M.U.L.E. is just perfect by Jacek+Poplawski · · Score: 5, Informative

    M.U.L.E. is one of the best games ever.

    It has very interesting rules: with other 3 players you land on planet Irata (read backwards!) and start colonize it. Every turn you get and buy new plots, then put artificial mule on it. You not only decide what to produce, but also set price for buy/sell. There is true economy there!

    Please notice year this game was released. Please notice hardware it runs - just 64KB of RAM! It's extremely playable and contains multiplayer support (wihout net of course). I don't know _any_ good clone of that game.

    To be honest I started playing with Atari800 code, to play M.U.L.E. with my girlfriend (two joysticks support!).

    M.U.L.E. is just perfect. Like NetHack or DOOM.

  4. Reason why I liked M.U.L.E. by Tikiman · · Score: 4, Informative
    One reason I liked M.U.L.E. was because the goal of the game was ambiguous. You could be a nice guy and sell food and energy at reasonable prices, or you could a ruthless jerk, screwing everyone by hoarding smitore and buying M.U.L.E.'s to just let them go. It was awesome!

    Also if anyone is interested, see this text preservation of the M.U.L.E. Manual, particularly the text on the back cover, and see the cover art here. Hilarious!

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. M.U.L.E. had the best music ever by DennisZeMenace · · Score: 4, Informative

    For the nostalgic :

    http://www.denisleroy.com/atari/mp3/Mule.mp3

  7. Re:I remember it on the C64 by Saige · · Score: 3, Informative

    Exactly - Dani Bunten was transsexual. It happens more than you'd expect in the computer realm. I think Slashdot had an article about a year or so ago about someone who had made a huge advancement in the computer field, then disappeared due to being transsexual, and her for the longest time not taking credit for the work she did as "he".

    --
    "You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
  8. Information for fans of M.U.L.E by afflatus_com · · Score: 5, Informative

    The M.U.L.E. scene is alive and well, even now many years after its release. Ah planet IRATA (which was Atari spelled backwards).

    While there is no GameSpy planetmule.com website for M.U.L.E, I strongly recommend World of M.U.L.E as the best starting point.

    The Strategies is insightful, giving the designer's own ways of beating their enemies.

    For the diehards, there is screenshots of the long-lost sequels: namely the Deluxe Amiga version, as well as "Son of M.U.L.E." which Dani discontinued because of EA's desire to add guns and bombs to her creation.

    Finally, is Dani's email letter to the site shortly before her death.

    A brilliant creator, I wish she was still around making great works.

    --

    -----
    Cast a Cold Eye
    On Life, on Death
    Horseman, pass by
    --W.B. Yeats' gravestone
  9. One of Dani's last published interviews by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 4, Informative

    right here.

  10. Modem Wars! by pumpkinheadgiant · · Score: 4, Informative
    I must confess that I never played MULE in my com64 days, but I am very familiar with Bunten's work. My favorite of all time has to be Modem Wars. I lost many many hours to this game.

    Commanding upwards of 30(?) independently-programmable robots across mountains and through forests while under the fog-of-war (no enemy sightings unless your units do the sighting) all in real time! Vaguely based on football metaphor, each side also had a ComCen unit, which was effectively your quarterback. To lose this unit was to lose the game. The Comcen could also launch massively destructive missles, or attempt to shoot down said missles.

    All of this in real time, all over a 1200-baud modem. Wow!

  11. Older articles about Dani by savetz · · Score: 3, Informative

    A 1985 interview with Dan from Antic magazine
    A 1985 review of M.U.L.E. from Creative Computing

  12. Re:Wasted time by nomadic · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yep, 7CoG was an awesome game. Kind of hard to avoid killing the natives though; if they touched you they died, so you had to pacify them by giving them gifts while running away from them to make sure you didn't accidently kill any.

  13. Dani's game's still being played and developed by Dangrdav · · Score: 2, Informative

    Command HQ is still being played. A version 2 and V3 came out allowing random maps to be created and internet play. Global Conquest (dani's last commerical game) now allows 4way play over the net and a new WinGC is nearing completition. We worked out a deal with dani years ago to redo the game in Windows. There is a very long story to tell about that . The project just sat for years since we had no budget and of course programers have gotta eat! We added new artwork (better then original thou nothing compared to commerical quality) and of course native internet play for 4 players. Here is a link with some screenshots http://www.concentric.net/~Dangrdav/GCsite/global_ conquest30.htm If anyone is interested in helping on the WinGC project let me know as there are plenty of loose ends left to tie up. There has been talk about redoing CHQ for Windows, I know who has the current rights and source code to make it happen if anyone is interested. Just drop me a note.

  14. Re:Global Conquest! by Dangrdav · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well Global Conquest Lives...here is info and screenshots of WinGC http://www.concentric.net/~Dangrdav/GCsite/global_ conquest30.htm