Prebought this last week. It's incredibly accurate to the original 8 bit versions. The only nitpick I have so far is a) I don't know how to use the 'mouse' (clicked macbook trackpad, but can't quite figure it out?), and b) the background 'grey' may be 'right' (as originally displayed on CRTs), but seems a bit dark on my current monitor.
Music is great, animations, characters, text... it's all there. So well done. Looking forward to trying 'online' version later.
A hearty thanks to you for making this. I had so so so much fun reliving some great memories I had with friends so many years ago. Your attention to so many tiny details is truly appreciated.
Color values when comparing to old systems is not a definite thing. Between the television / monitor used, the settings on that monitor, the video format standard (NTSC, PAL), and even the run of hardware (for example, it's said even C64 VIC chips made just years apart output slightly different colors).
The color values used mostly come from a slightly altered atari800 emulator color palette. I think it's the case of the palette values the original authors used ran on the dark side because of the brightness effect that CRT televisions had at the time.
That being said, I plan on adding a setting to increase the brightness of all colors (besides black).
I remember getting a pirated copy of this game many years ago. A friend at school would give me bootlegged disks and this was one of the games. I would just get the disk, and no instructions. I think I played it a little, but didn't get into it. I didn't really understand how to play. Maybe I had seen a review in a magazine with some details.
My Dad was an economist. When he saw this game, he was really impressed by the interface. He thought it had some really interesting ideas, like the auction mode. If I remember correctly, he thought it could help as a teaching aid.
I wish she had kept Bunten's website up; I spent hours reading it. The Seven Cities of Gold really had an effect on me, probably hundreds of hours of play.
A funny story about Seven Cities of Gold. My friend and I both had a copy, no manual. The "food" counter showed how many days left before starvation. I was a calculated number based on how many soldiers and food units you had.
My friend showed me how to get more food. Just stand in a village and let the natives attack. The food counter would rise. I had to explain it to him that is was rising because his soldier count was decreasing. Once he realized that, he had to restart.
I didn't want to bring up the issue but now that you mention it Dan(ielle)'s daughter Melanie seems to prefer to call her dad "Dan" http://ozarksoftscape.com/dans-legacy.html
Thank you for sharing Melanie's perspective, it's clear she holds deep respect for her parent. It can be more complex from that perspective, let's indeed leave it at that side then.
In public discussions it's generally best to use Danielle Berry, the name she chose. This respects her identity, provides accurate historical context, and importantly, offers a role model for those exploring their own gender identity.
It also fosters 'trans literacy' - understanding and respect for trans identities. As a fan of both Wendy Carlos and Danielle Berry since childhood, I've not only had the chance to enjoy their boundless creativity but I also learned so much in addition to that.
Shouldn't she / we all have our individual rights respected on these matters - the power over how to define one's own identity, both in life and how we are remembered after death?
As a fellow fan, I try to respect her autonomy and honour her legacy by using her chosen name: Danielle (Bunten) Berry.
I try to stay as respectful to the identity people choose for themselves and less of what the identities people impose upon others.
While I generally will refer to this individual as the late Dani Bunten, I 1000% respect the identity that both Dani Bunten gave herself as well as her surviving children. Because what we think about D. Bunten is paltry compared to the importance of a surviving child.
And Melanie's perspective is absolutely in line with Dani Bunten's chosen identity. For every conversation about this subject concerning Dani Bunten, someone absolutely needs to provide this link to her archived website discussing this matter:
To Dani Bunten, Dan Bunten (him) created M.U.L.E.. It's not wrong or disrespectful to follow one's chosen identity. But again, in most contexts (not speaking with Melanie), I refer to this individual as Dani Bunten because I also respect trans people (in general).
> Shouldn't she / we all have our individual rights respected on these matters - the power over how to define one's own identity, both in life and how we are remembered after death?
Incidentally: No, I think one's legacy is necessarily defined by others, and ignoring Kafka's last will, for example, was a good call.
But for the sake of the argument, even if we grant Bunten full control over Bunten's identity, I don't think we'll arrive at any coherent narrative or style guide. Just take the final quote from Bunten's wikipedia entry, where Bunten talks about Mr. Dan Bunten and Ms. Danielle Berry as if they were roles in a play. That's quite compatible with retaining the birth name for acts performed under that name, which includes making MULE and fathering children.
The 'roles' she mentioned don't negate her transition, but highlight the journey she underwent.
Kafka's case differs greatly, as it's about work publication, not personal identity - let's not conflate the two.
It’s actually 'Kafkaesque' to use Kafka’s example while overlooking his own struggles with identity and societal norms - issues that resonate deeply with many on a trans journey.
You are inadvertently highlighting the importance of understanding and respecting individual identities and experiences.
Dani wanted to be called Dani - she suffered a lot to transition at a time when people weren't very understanding or supportive, and it's disrespectful to refer to her by her deadname.
Itch.io has a section where install instructions are supplied but it looks like you don't see them until the files are actually downloadable and only after clicking the button to download.
Zips with EXE and APP (Mac) files. Unzip and click the MULE icon.
I didn't bother until this game was released but the Itch.io desktop app does a good job at making install & launch easy (Steam-ish). And it will update when updates come available--and they will be!
Just some feedback. Remember, I'm just one dude.. others may have other thoughts.
I don't know what itch.io is. Never heard of it, and I've been using Linux exclusively for 20+ years. Others may or may not know of itch.io.
I take it, that it helps you deploy like steam. Great! But from my side, I wasn't even remotely aware I was installing an 'itch.io' version of an app! Or what that means!
When I look at buying from a random website, from a company/person I've never heard of before, I like to know:
* What are the install requirements (eg, dependencies / packages / software required, to run this software) I think you added something here? Or did I miss it before?
* What I have to do to install and get up and running
There's no indication of any of this on this website. Not even a remote hint.
Even on the Windows side, it just says 'windows 10 or later'. Does it work on arm?
I really don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, I like that you did this. A lot. I hope you the best!
Thanks for the feedback. It's hard to strike a balance between too little and too much info. And I'm definitely someone who tends to present people with a wall of text. I did the leg work to ensure it works on most Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
Some of the info is there, but Itch.io might present them after a couple clicks or in a drop down.
But I see what you are saying. I think I might add a couple posts to the forums and link to them on the main page. I could go into depth about which versions of OpenGL are required, etc..
you get one download file. an exe on windows. a .app file on mac (I think). I just downloaded the mac file, moved to applications, and ran it. starts up just fine.
some link to 'rules' might help, but it's about as 100% close to the original as I can imagine for the 'local' player mode. the 'online' mode seems to need to talk to some server or have an open port, and I just keep getting 'unable to reach server' message. but local single player mode is OK enough for now for me against computer players.
hopefully author will update that itch.io page with a bit more info.
Thanks for the suggestions. I considered making a manual of sorts but didn't want it to delay releasing the game any further--and like you mentioned, it's basically MULE.
The readme file supplied in the downloaded ZIP file does outline some of the new menu elements and a few other aspects.
The "server unreachable" message is a response to the list servers being unable to connect to your local host after you have started a locally hosted online game.
The "remote host" feature is one that is currently not getting as much love as it should--I set up a small handful of servers in different regions to host games for people so they don't have to bother with their router.
Probably mostly nostalgia, for me anyway. Spent many hours with my best friends playing this. It's like a Space Monopoly Survival Turn-based Sim with a finite number of turns. Which is kind of a cool feature, the typical game is 20-30 minutes depending on how drunk your friends are.
Music is great, animations, characters, text... it's all there. So well done. Looking forward to trying 'online' version later.