Absolutely fascinating, and I'd never even heard of this story. Thanks so much for writing about it!
I will say, though, that I grew up in the (real) BBS era, and I miss it sorely. Between the door games, downloadable content (esp games you could run on your own computer), and the fumbling friendships with people with odd "handles" (a term, I believe, that came from the early Citizens Band radio craze) was just incredibly cool.
Best of all, due to the expense (in those days) of long-distance calls, most folks on your favorite BBS were usually local to your area, which led to some very awkward but amazing meetups (face to face), sometimes between people of wildly disparate ages. I still remember going to one BBS pizza restaurant meetup, wondering which person was "ArchMage5" and if their looks would match their online personality.
After I read this story my first thought was... "I must play this game". Probably in no small part because the concept reminded me so much of Hypnospace Outlaw, which I also loved. (and since THIS game was featured, I could see Hypnospace featuring in 2019...)
Just to leave some breadcrumbs for any other Mac users out there: I run High Sierra still (I know, I know) and neither the native version nor Wine worked that well for me. The native version had no sound, and on Wine I couldn't enter capital letters (which becomes a blocker later). I ended up spinning up a Windows 7 VM on VirtualBox and it seems like it should be fine.
Thanks for a great series so far, Aaron -- I look forward to the latest entry every week!
Absolutely fascinating, and I'd never even heard of this story. Thanks so much for writing about it!
I will say, though, that I grew up in the (real) BBS era, and I miss it sorely. Between the door games, downloadable content (esp games you could run on your own computer), and the fumbling friendships with people with odd "handles" (a term, I believe, that came from the early Citizens Band radio craze) was just incredibly cool.
Best of all, due to the expense (in those days) of long-distance calls, most folks on your favorite BBS were usually local to your area, which led to some very awkward but amazing meetups (face to face), sometimes between people of wildly disparate ages. I still remember going to one BBS pizza restaurant meetup, wondering which person was "ArchMage5" and if their looks would match their online personality.
Good, good times!
For those looking for more, I strongly recommend the 1986 game Portal. It’s probably the first one in the genre and a thoroughly great game.
After I read this story my first thought was... "I must play this game". Probably in no small part because the concept reminded me so much of Hypnospace Outlaw, which I also loved. (and since THIS game was featured, I could see Hypnospace featuring in 2019...)
Just to leave some breadcrumbs for any other Mac users out there: I run High Sierra still (I know, I know) and neither the native version nor Wine worked that well for me. The native version had no sound, and on Wine I couldn't enter capital letters (which becomes a blocker later). I ended up spinning up a Windows 7 VM on VirtualBox and it seems like it should be fine.
Thanks for a great series so far, Aaron -- I look forward to the latest entry every week!