tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post1849923863040170190..comments2022-12-28T13:33:39.339-05:00Comments on Matt Pounsett: The One Where I Talk About A BBS GameMSPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06592589764788936474noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-24428745017693275122019-02-07T13:34:54.493-05:002019-02-07T13:34:54.493-05:00I got a copy of EC 1.5 and tried and tried to get ...I got a copy of EC 1.5 and tried and tried to get in running with no luck. I recall reading somewhere that it only ran on real 286 or or 8086 PC. I got myseld an IBM P/S model 25 and installed it and sure enough it runs! It is a lot of fun seeing it again. Of course the unregistered copy can only play 30 turns. I might try to start an Internet BBS dedicated to EC and make it available. Now that I can actually see it again, I am also thinking of writing an exact clone of it, except leaving out the built in COM port/modem control stuff. Just a simple text based game. I would also like to make it compatible with the actual data files from the game. We shall see. E-mail: cnystrom@gmail.com.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543274387679210681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-74636805514190073992018-01-04T00:06:57.202-05:002018-01-04T00:06:57.202-05:00Back in 1991, I played EC on The Matrix BBS in Bir...Back in 1991, I played EC on The Matrix BBS in Birmingham, Alabama, where the game originated. Like you, I had printed out a large chart and was intensely focused every day after school on figuring out where my fleets would go next. I was one of the final three players of the game and sent my vast fleet to take over an opponent. Once there, I found that he had been on autopilot for the last half of the game and his planets were protected by thousands of destroyers. I was pulverized. <br /><br />By this point, the game had been going on for well over a year, and since other players were wanting to join, the sysop declared the three of us as co-winners and reset the game.<br /><br />I'm sure I trashed my map and other notes. It would be fun to go and see them again though, just for nostalgia's sake.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16477311598407527292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-50163819227622490562016-11-17T15:27:48.655-05:002016-11-17T15:27:48.655-05:00I would like to re-create EstCon. The have the doc...I would like to re-create EstCon. The have the docs, but the binaries that I have found on the net (ec150.zip) no longer run even on an emulator. I am told that the last worked on 486 processors. I am looking for other copies of the binaries, any data files, or any print outs that anyone has. Any assistance would be appreciated.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543274387679210681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-44010460794721505192016-11-08T05:11:08.357-05:002016-11-08T05:11:08.357-05:00I am looking for working EC binaries. Datafiles wo...I am looking for working EC binaries. Datafiles would be helpful, too. Even printouts of the game would be useful. Please let me know anything you have: cnystrom@gmail.com<br /><br />Thank you,<br />Chris<br />Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543274387679210681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-38821389146951731182012-07-22T15:19:40.505-04:002012-07-22T15:19:40.505-04:00I was an Esterian Conquest addict from 1992 until ...I was an Esterian Conquest addict from 1992 until about ten years later, when the last few BBSs hosting the game finally expired. I've dreamed too of resurrecting EstCon, but I have zilch programming/coding skills.<br /><br />I have toyed with a board game analogue that emulates hidden fleet movement, resolving battles with a dice-based probability system. I've always believed hidden fleet movement was the key to EstCon's allure, as it was with early 1980s "space risk" games like 'Galactic Empires' and 'Galactic Conquest'.<br /><br />Another good thing about EstCon compared to other empire-strategy games: There was a minimum of domestic policy stuff. All you needed do was set a universal tax rate, and decide what ships or how many ground-batteries and armies to build with the revenue. Everything else was strategic operations. No stupid distractions like tourism dollars or decisions about consumer goods. <br /><br />Every now and then I Google-search the web for "Esterian Conquest". Good to see a lot of folks are still reminiscing. Maybe somebody will at last conjure up a worthy successor?mitcheroohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03248742191558022038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-4977581970568698092011-09-12T15:26:46.406-04:002011-09-12T15:26:46.406-04:00yeah, I might go back to pure js/css client; it se...yeah, I might go back to pure js/css client; it seems the best way to have a wide audience, though I still find hacking a game client in js is terrible .. I wrote a bunch of fancy opengl stuff that was classy on desktopm but just doesn't work too well on webgl since browsers support is very hit or miss. Going back to straight 2d maps, well, using images is okay, even on canvas.. but if you want to use SVG for scalable artwork, I found support for that very hit or miss (especially on mobiles.) Using Canvas at all is rather risky, but I think nowadays it might be okay.. but even a year ago, Canvas was still wildly unsupported.<br /><br />*bah*<br /><br />But I might go back and work on a simple tabbed UI with basic primtivie map in js, just to keep things wide .. but in general I fgind js pretty unpleasant. I mean, using one of the toolkits makes some things easier but I found it also makes a lot of things more annoying.<br /><br />So for me, I might just go straight hand rolled js, with no toolkits :P<br /><br />Should compare notes on game design, see how compatible our designs are, if at all.<br /><br />skeezixAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-18782964340681388342011-09-12T14:38:41.866-04:002011-09-12T14:38:41.866-04:00I'm going with making the game engine some sor...I'm going with making the game engine some sort of RPC API (currently looking at python+twisted), and then stick a front end on it. The front end could be some web scriptery that generates some HTML5 (99% this is where I'll start the UI) or could expand to native clients for various computers or mobile clients.<br /><br />And yeah, we should do lunch soon.MSPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06592589764788936474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-8544819024940718702011-09-12T12:39:55.659-04:002011-09-12T12:39:55.659-04:00Pretty funny; I've been building a turn based ...Pretty funny; I've been building a turn based space wargame for a couple of years, on and off. Turns out a number of people I know of are also doing it... we all miss the old spcae romp days :)<br /><br />There are numerous commercial and indie games out there right now as well, which may satisfy.. but for me, the game is in building the engine.<br /><br />(The hardest part for this particular game thats in my mind and maybe yours.. is .. is it node.js/javascript-client, or a traditional client/serevr game with a native client and some serrver, using JSON or XML-RPC etc? Or ... etc.) Turn based games almost _beg_ to be pure browser based nowadays, but that necessarily limits a lot of things, since browsers are 'not 'there' yet'.<br /><br />I'm having babies soon so my project is mostly on hold right now, but I did get a good ways in, several times .. I built a 3d client for a cli/server model, and a basic web client for a pure browser based one, and my curren tincarnation is a hybrid of both .. local client, that does some web display from the server, to make transition to prue browser based down the road feasible. Database, SQL, all that is in place... but maybe I'll rewrite it all again in nodes.js ... hmm :P<br /><br />MAtt.. hit me up over lunch one of these days so we can geek out ;) Course, loonch is hard right now.. hmm. Email me then ;)<br /><br />skeezixAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-21028744568431494242011-09-09T20:04:30.951-04:002011-09-09T20:04:30.951-04:00This is to funny.. not 10 minutes ago I was talkin...This is to funny.. not 10 minutes ago I was talking to an old friend about BBS games :)Jim DeLeskienoreply@blogger.com