Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!udel!princeton!phoenix!clye
From: clye@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Christopher Lye)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Need a Graphics/Animation package
Message-ID: <10464@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 18 Sep 89 00:09:41 GMT
References: <19601@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Reply-To: clye@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Christopher Lye)
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 53

In article <19601@unix.cis.pitt.edu> scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Steven J Owens) writes:
>
>	Okay, here's a chance for all of you Mac aficianados to prove
>how good Macs are.  What I'm looking for is in essence very simple.
>Basically a sort of "adventure game construction package."  In simple
>terms, once somebody else has spent an hour or three putting together
>the components, the software should enable my friend to go through
>two stages:
> 
>	1]  He uses the mouse to build a little map of rooms and
>hallways and so forth, and places obstacles in the hallways.  This is
>done map style.  
> 
>	2]  Then, when he's done, somebody can simply progress through
>the map, in 3D, and move along these rooms and hallways and so forth.
>The ability should be there to have fairly sophisticated art - but only
>in a sort of "picture" format.  Animation would be nice, but not
>essential.  The ability to put in things for the player to have to
>"fight" and/or defeat, and the ability to have objects that the player
>can carry around, would also be nice.  The more the merrier.  
> 
>	Anybody heard of something that does this?  PD, freeware or
>shareware would be great.  A commercial package with a reasonable price
>would be good.  FTP'able or e-mailed would also be terrific.  Any
>takers?  C'mon, here's your chance to show me how terrific the Mac is.
>From what I've heard the things I want to do aren't all that hard to set
>up, but I'm no Mac programmer, and neither is my friend.

Sorry, but an application that builds adventure games is not what makes
a great computer, especially in the case of the mac, Fortunately for you
though such a program does exist on the mac although I don't promise
that it will do everything you want it to do.

The one that immediately springs to mind is WorldBuilder by Silicon
Beach software. It was written expressly for making your own graphics
adventure games and I've seen very impressive results. It is a piece of
commercial software but i am not sure of the price, try calling one of
the Mail-order places.

Another alternative is HYPERCARD, which is fairly easy to get ahold of
although its status is not precisely public domain. I've seen some
stunning adventures done in HYPERCARD but I believe there is a problem
with saving games. For a great example of a HYPERCARD adventure try
finding a copy of DeathMall 3000.

There may be other alternatives and you might consider asking some of
the local talents on the net. Glenn Andreas who wrote that great PD frp
"THELDROW" occasionally reads and posts here.     

If your friend has the money, World Builder seems like a good
investment.

Chris Lye