"Real time" games
Laura Proctor
I've been thinking about "real time" games, which changed based on the
player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
player did nothing.
Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
Were there any that unfolded over a period of _more_ than one day?
Were there any that could be set to correspond with _real_ time? (So, for
example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
wet cat
Laura Proctor wrote:
>
> I've been thinking about "real time" games, which changed based on the
> player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
> player did nothing.
>
> Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
IIRC, "The Journeyman Project", a graphic adventure, was such a game.
(It came free with the machine I'm using right now. Not a bad game, if
you like that sort ... I kept wanting to type in text to control events
instead of clicking the mouse on the screen ... it made me glad to find
that text adventures are still alive and well.)
Wonder Boy
"The Hobbit" and "the Crack of Doom" on the C64 were two such
games, I believe... Of course, there's a bunch more...
-jon
"I hate my sig file."
Torbj|rn Andersson
ldpr...@interport.net (Laura Proctor) wrote:
> I've been thinking about "real time" games, which changed based on the
> player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
> player did nothing.
>
> Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
>
> Were there any that unfolded over a period of _more_ than one day?
>
> Were there any that could be set to correspond with _real_ time? (So, for
> example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
A few things that come to my mind ...
In Deja Vu (ICOM Simulations, I believe), there was a store selling
guns and ammo. If you played the game on a Sunday - at least in the
Macintosh version - the store would be closed.
Nethack (see rec.games.roguelike.nethack) keeps track of the phase of
the moon, the time of the day and whether or not it is Friday 13th.
I've seen at least one arcade game where you would see a Christmas
tree if you played it on Christmas Eve.
_
Torbjorn
Mark Green
In article <lproctor-230...@lproctor.port.net>
lpro...@interport.net "Laura Proctor" writes:
> I've been thinking about "real time" games, which changed based on the
> player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
> player did nothing.
> Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
> Were there any that unfolded over a period of _more_ than one day?
> Were there any that could be set to correspond with _real_ time? (So, for
> example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
A very old C64 game called "Eureka" had timed-input, although it was
usually used for time-limiting puzzle solutions.
"Demoniak" would assume a WAIT if you typed nothing for a long time
(something like 40 seconds), and would rerun the character AI. Not
significant most of the time, but could be annoying.
Afaik, Inform can support timed-input with assembly-level coding, but
not reading the system clock (but then, I have a rather old Inform, because
finding all the bits and pieces you have to download (binary, libraries,
examples, manuals in readable format, all in different directories, all
CPU versions mixed up) to get a complete distribution got pesky real
fast).. can it do that now?
Mg
--
Werner Punz
lpro...@interport.net (Laura Proctor) wrote:
>I've been thinking about "real time" games, which changed based on the
>player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
>player did nothing.
>
>Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
>
>Were there any that unfolded over a period of _more_ than one day?
>
>Were there any that could be set to correspond with _real_ time? (So, for
>example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
I don't know of any historic games which do exactly the surrounding in
real time, although the Spellcasting games were close. For every
action you used about five minutes and the world around you acted
independently depending on a time scale.
There has been a really interesting release resently which does more
or less real time. The Last Express. From Jordan Mechner-The designer
of Karateka and Prince Of PersiaI+II. Despite that it doesn't have
real time it has sort of real time. The surrounding acts around you
more or less independently of you(like real life).(In this case the
Orient Express and its passangers). The whole game goes over two or
three days and is sort of a murder-mistery thing. Its one of the most
interesting games I've played in a long time due to the excellent
historic detail and setting and due to its story.
BTW. This game is available for PC and Mac within the same Box!!!!
Werner
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Mikko P Vuorinen
In <uc97mgp...@Tunis.DoCS.UU.SE> Torbj|rn Andersson <d91...@tunis.docs.uu.se> writes:
>ldpr...@interport.net (Laura Proctor) wrote:
>> Were there any that could be set to correspond with _real_ time? (So, for
>> example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
>A few things that come to my mind ...
>In Deja Vu (ICOM Simulations, I believe), there was a store selling
>guns and ammo. If you played the game on a Sunday - at least in the
>Macintosh version - the store would be closed.
Really? I played the Amiga version and the store was always closed. Once,
though, it was open, but never again.
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`____c 8__/((( + Dilbon@IRC + Decathlonissa.
Kayrun
Wasn't Border Zone in "real time"? I've only played bits of it, but I
remember the clock made me nervous....
Gunther Schmidl
Yes, it was - and the third part was utterly unplayable without having
played several times and doing things before "knowing" about them in
replays just to get to the assassin in time...
--
+------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
+ Gunther Schmidl + "I couldn't help it. I can resist everything +
+ Ferd.-Markl-Str. 39/16 + except temptation" -- Oscar Wilde +
+ A-4040 LINZ +----------------------------------------------+
+ Tel: 0732 25 28 57 + http://linz.info.at/students/gunther.schmidl +
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+ Gunther...@jk.uni-linz.ac.at - remove "SPAM" before replying +
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Kayrun <kay...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970526003...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
Mike Schulman
In article <19970526003...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
kay...@aol.com (Kayrun) wrote:
>Wasn't Border Zone in "real time"? I've only played bits of it, but I
>remember the clock made me nervous....
>
Yeah, Border Zone was "real time". I like to think about moves for
a while, and I kept getting arrested on the train at the beginning
before I had time to do anything.
Carl Muckenhoupt
Mark Green wrote:
>
> In article <lproctor-230...@lproctor.port.net>
> lpro...@interport.net "Laura Proctor" writes:
> > player's input, but had events that advanced in real time even if the
> > player did nothing.
> > Can anyone think of any? (Interactive fiction or computer games in general.)
> > Were there any that unfolded over a period of _more_ than one day?
> > example, 7 AM in the game would correspond to 7 AM in real life.)
>
> usually used for time-limiting puzzle solutions.
> "Demoniak" would assume a WAIT if you typed nothing for a long time
> (something like 40 seconds), and would rerun the character AI. Not
> significant most of the time, but could be annoying.
There's a puzzle in Timequest that can be solved by not typing anything
for a while, as I discovered by accident. You can also type "meditate",
but waiting is much cooler.
BTW, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Border Zone yet. The
Z-machine's time functions were created pretty much solely to support
the realtime elements of this game.
--
Carl Muckenhoupt ca...@earthweb.com
EarthWeb http://www.earthweb.com/
her...@stratos.net
if you did nothing.
Torbj|rn Andersson
Carl Muckenhoupt <ca...@earthweb.com> wrote:
> BTW, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Border Zone yet. The
> Z-machine's time functions were created pretty much solely to support
> the realtime elements of this game.
Heh, I just assumed someone had already mentioned it. Or that someone
would.
And you just proved me right, too. :-)
_
Torbjorn
Julian Arnold
In article <uc9soyy...@Minsk.DoCS.UU.SE>, Torbj|rn Andersson
<URL:mailto:d91...@minsk.docs.uu.se> wrote:
> Carl Muckenhoupt <ca...@earthweb.com> wrote:
>
> > BTW, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Border Zone yet. The
> > Z-machine's time functions were created pretty much solely to support
> > the realtime elements of this game.
According to Hans Persson's history page:
Hex
By Geoff Larsen. For BBC. "Witchcraft in a cornish village in 1902."
This game has "real-time".
Geoff Larsen wrote some games with The Quill for the BBC. I remember
reading that they were very good, but have never seen one. Are they
available anywhere? (I've searched with AltaVista, but no luck).
Jools
--
"For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand
ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me
from ever completing anything." -- Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"