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Salon on M.U.L.E Creator Dani Bunten
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."
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.
"Modern" game designers, take note...
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.)
As I recall, this was referred to as Edu-Tainment, which fell out of favor when faced by the likes of first person shooters and one-on-one combat games. I still play M.U.L.E. on a 64 emulator and have hacked it various times over the past 15 years. I've had it play as many months as I like, usually by 18 you can see some actualy economic cycles develop, though in the c64 version there's some issues with the money cap. I don't recall which one, but one value rolls over at 32678, the other value does at 65536, which can make for some radical changes in ranking :-)
Still, it's one of my all time favorites. And it Dani was ahead of her time, then those who enjoyed the game, like I did, were also.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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.
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.
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
(With all due respect)
That's not a game developer chick! That's a man baby!
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
I don't think there's any doubt that computers have raised the single player game to levels previously unimaginable.
We've gone from puzzle games, crosswords, solitaire and such to fully immersive interactive worlds like Grim Fandango and IL2.
I, for one, think that there's too *much* emphisis on multiplayer these days, to the extent that single player is often totally ignored.
However, all that being said, whether you *think* you are acting socially or not, a multiplayer game of Counter-Strike is an entirely different, ummmm, ball game, just because you *know* those are actually other people out there.
And while I may spend many, many, *many* more hours driving Grand Prix Legends in solo mode it's the online racing against real human beings that gives the game the spice that has allowed it to remain the king of Driving Sims for over 4 years, in a world where a game more than one year old is considered dead.
I'm a geek and a Buddhist. I deeply revere hours spent in solitary concentration and contemplation, even in my recreational hours, but I am *not* socially averse or inept either.
If you think Thoreau was a hermit than if you read Walden for the first time you'll be likely to proclaim him, as did one Amazon reviewer, a "fraud." Thoreau posed an experiment in reducing human living to its bare essentials. He considered social interactions to be one of the things that man cannot truly live *entirely* without and remain a man.
He strove to find the right *balance* between solitude and social interaction.
So should you - and so should game designers.
KFG
Don't you hate that, when at the last minute the guy moves his joystick and runs away from you and you're like "Wait Wait! I'll pay more!" and you keep running and running but you just can't catch him and then bang the auction is over.
I hate that.
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
But my favorite computer game, before I really got into computers, was leisure suit larry.
Guess I had a lot of growing up to do.
I'll get around to it someday. Until then, don't forget to buy condoms before you go to the hooker! Ken sent me!
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
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
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