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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."

5 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Mule? What about Modem Wars? by lennywood1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think Dan should be better remembered for Modem Wars, Possibly the very first online RTS than MULE. It was great fun playing against a friend of mine in MI who was possibly the best MW player out there on my C64 at 2400 baud.

  2. Re:I remember it on the C64 by herc_mk2 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I played about a month ago (gotta love those C64 emulators...) It's still fun. Not flashy, but it holds your interest. A lot of the jokes (like when something bad happens) have lost their relevance though...

    "Modern" game designers, take note...

  3. Wasn't just multiplayer... by demonlapin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The great thing about M.U.L.E. wasn't just the multiplayer aspects (which were fairly limited on the Commodore 64, the only version I played). It was that, like all the other really great building-up games (such as SimCity or Civilization), it had very simple rules that built a completely addictive game.

    I probably played it against the computer far more than against human opponents, and it was still always a thrill.

    (BTW: for those too young to have played it, the stated example of becoming Energy Czar was almost always an appallingly bad strategy, as energy doesn't keep from turn to turn; whenever possible, I always went for a balanced smithore-crystite portfolio, with some food production thrown in. I generally speculated on crystite as well.)

  4. Re:I remember it on the C64 by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Was this game really that good, or do we just remember it as being great.

    It was good. I've lamented over the years why EA hasn't acted to reissue this game, but when I look at it... If they did it would probably be as some horribly delayed, then ultimately released as a pile of crap game. The simple formula worked. And it's probably best to just stick with playing the old C64 and Atari versions on emulators.

    BTW, as testament to it's goodness, you see original copies of M.U.L.E. clear $35 on eBay. I've tried to get a copy, just for the manual and been outbid a number of times.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  5. How much I love M.U.L.E...let me count the ways. by Lusso62 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have an Atari 800 (you know, the one with the 4 joystick ports) in my cube at work set up specifically to play one game: 4-Player M.U.L.E.

    To keep things fair, I have 4 identical Wico "The Boss" joysticks so there can't be any whining after I kick everyone's ass.

    We play every now and then... usually on Fridays after work. It's a total blast. One day, David Crane came in(you know who I'm talking about, he designed that game called Pitfall! and I guess some of the OS for the Atari) He was nice enough to autograph my Atari. Very cool. He works at Skyworks now. http://www.skyworks.com.

    MULE is the perfect game... simple rules, challenging, complex and dynamic interactions and it wraps up in little over an hour. 4-player is the best and the hardest to master because the computer players tend to get a little predictable.

    Overall, I'm a Crystite player... but Smithore can be fun if Mules get scarce. I also like to be self-sufficient, so I always have a least one River Valley food plot and extra energy to keep me going. Also, I buy all the land I can get my hands on! 9-12 plots of Crystite almost always maxes out! I will also screw you on energy and food if it betters my position. I stay in 2nd or 3rd place until the end to avoid "dickage"(the game's way of artifically leveling everybody out.)

    I've been playing the board game Settlers of Catan lately, and there are a lot of similarities. check it out here. It's great!

    Well, just wanted to confess my love for M.U.L.E. It was quite revolutionary for it's time, and I don't think there have been many games quite like it since.

    If you haven't tried it, emulators might be ok, but the best in on the Atari 800. That was the way it was meant to be played!

    Lusso62