Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!galen!leue
From: leue@galen.steinmetz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: The Manhole
Message-ID: <12879@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 5 Jan 89 14:28:11 GMT
Sender: news@steinmetz.ge.com
Reply-To: leue@galen.UUCP (Bill Leue)
Organization: General Electric Research & Development Center
Lines: 27
Keywords:

I bought my 6-year-old daughter "The Manhole", a large commercial
HC stack which implements a sort of adventure game environment,
complete with sounds and some simple animation.  I like the concept
and the artwork -- it's a large, interesting environment to explore; 
not a shoot-em-up.  My daughter likes it too.

However, I am a bit distressed with the instability of the product.
(I think it's Rev 1.2).  It often hangs the computer (mouse moves,
but no responses to any clicks), and also the sound often gets lost:
you'll come into a "room", and a sound of some sort will play.  Then
later in the game, you'll enter the same room, do the same thing, and
no sound will play.  The absence of the sound is often a prelude to
the eventual demise of the system.

My question to the net is:  how does the stability of this product compare
with other commercial HC stacks?  Should the bugs be blamed on HC itself,
or are they specific to this product?  Has anyone else experienced similar
problems with this product?

Please note:  This is NOT a flame at the manufacturer!  Overall, I still
like the program, and would recommend it for young children.  (Warning:
it takes up a lot of hard disk -- it is delivered on 4 800k disks, each
one nearly full.)

-Bill Leue
leue@ge-crd.arpa,  uunet!steinmetz!galen!leue
These opinions are mine alone, not those of the GE Company