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Mac Games in DevelopmentApril 14, 2000
Brian RumseyIn this edition of my column, I am taking a look at some games
that we can expect to see within the next year or so. Almost anyone
who has any interest in computer games has probably heard of giants
such as Halo, Oni,
and WarCraft III. Because
games like these and a few others are so well known, they don't need
my attention -- not to mention that a lot of people are probably sick
of hearing about them. I have tried to find a variety of lesser-known games which appear
worthy of anticipation. In addition to being a bit less known, a lot
of these games at least fit the Low End Gaming designation, to one
extent or another. While I wouldn't expect to see many of them
running on a Quadra, they should be a little less power hungry than
some of the big-name games. Speed Demon II:
Road Rage (SD2) is a driving game which will be published by
Cerberus Development. Mac game fans may be familiar with SD2's
predecessor, Speed
Demon. SD2 follows the original in concept: "a race to the death
across the United States," according to its website. You compete with
other cars along Interstate 90. SD2 is expected to include
multiplayer as well as single player action. SD2 will include changes
under the hood which will make it a more modern game than the
original, the biggest of which is that it will support the main types
of 3D acceleration. System requirements and/or recommendations will
probably something like this: Power Mac with 32 MB of free RAM,
preferably at least 132 MHz clock speed, and 3D acceleration
recommended (but not required). This game is expected to be released
in the calendar year 2000, but I was not able to find anything more
specific. Uberhocken,
a computerized version of air hockey, will be released by Cajun
Games. Although Uberhocken does not look like it will have
spectacular graphics, it should be interesting to see the first game
of this type on the Mac (at least that comes to my mind) since the
classic ShufflePuck, which I used to play on a Macintosh Plus.
Uberhocken will add some variants to air hockey, such as bumpers
(like in pinball) and teleporters. Uberhocken will also include
multiplayer capabilities. No specific system requirements are given
or hinted at. I would hope that this game will run well on any
604. Lance
is an upcoming role playing game from The Alchemist Guild. It is
expected to be published by Fantasoft,
publishers of the legendary Mac RPG, Realmz.
The website for Lance notes that this game will be Mac only. Lance
will be primarily, if not only, a multiplayer game to be played over
the Internet. I have been eagerly watching for Lance for quite a
while, and it looks like it may be nearing completion. No release
date has been set, but Lance is in "the final stages of development,"
according to the website. No system requirements have been set yet,
either. My guess is that most Power Macs should be able to run this
game. As a big RPG fan, I am definitely anticipating the arrival of
this game. Atlas: Gift
of Aramai (Atlas) is another role-playing game. Atlas is
being developed by Freeverse Software. This game looks like it should
have some fairly decent graphics. It could also have a pretty good
soundtrack. There are some MP3s of music from the game available on
the website. Atlas looks like it will follow the standard RPG formula
of having a band of adventurers who travel together. I was not able
to discern whether this game will be multiplayer. Apparently, there
will eventually be multiple scenarios for Atlas, with Gift of Aramai
being the first. The information I found did not specify whether this
game will be turn-based or real time, but my guess is real-time. This
game will require at least a Power Mac. This game could be released
within a month. Eternal
War (EW) looks like something of a combination of WarCraft
and Civilization. EW is being developed by Past
Tree Inc. You must advance your civilization through time, much
like in the Civilization series, while also managing several
resources. The interface and fighting sound like they may be similar
to WarCraft, probably real-time. EW will support up to eight computer
or human players. An index of screen shots can be found here:
http://www.pasttree.com/eternalwar/ssarchives.html.
This game looks like it will have some pretty nice graphics. Eternal
War is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2000. Preliminary
system requirements include: Power Mac at 132 MHz or greater, 32 MB
RAM, 1024x768 graphics, 4x CD, and 300 MB hard drive space. This game
should definitely be worth checking out. Grimoire is yet
another RPG, this one under development by Elysium Digital. Grimoire
is inspired by the legendary Wizardry series of role-playing games.
It will have a first-person interface. Grimoire calls itself "The
Ultimate Computer Fantasy Roleplaying Game." It has been in
development for several years now, but according to its head
developer, it will be finished by the end of the year. Grimoire does
not look like it will have multiplayer capabilities. I would guess
that it will be happiest with a 100 MHz or faster processor. Grimoire
will be distributed as shareware. Riddle
of the Sphinx (ROTS) looks like it could be one of the most
beautifully detailed games to hit the market in some time. ROTS,
which will be distributed by Dreamcatcher
Interactive, features pre-rendered graphics which have been
painstakingly modeled after real places in Egypt. The plot of the
game is that one of your friends has discovered a scroll containing
the solution to the Riddle of the Sphinx, but by opening the scroll,
a curse has been released, and you have been called on to solve the
problem, because he has been killed. In addition to rich graphics,
the game will also feature an Egyptian-inspired soundtrack. ROTS will
be one of the first games to be available on DVD as well as CD. ROTS
is expected to be released this spring. ROTS will certainly require a
Power Mac, but of more than that I am not sure. Chronicle of
Ekan (CE), published by Flair
Interactive, is described as "a console-style shareware RPG for
the Mac." This game will not be such a heavyweight in multimedia as
some of the other games I have mentioned. This game was developed
with Apple's HyperCard, bringing back a wave of memories for me. It
will run on 68040-based computers, although a Power Mac is
recommended. While CE was written in HyperCard, it has used various
add-ons to HyperCard which support features such as color and
QuickTime movies. Based in a science-fantasy universe, CE uses RPG
standbys such as turn-based combat and the concept of building up a
party with which to adventure. CE's web page has a demo available,
which is described as "primitive". After trying the demo, the game
seems interesting, although I am glad that the demo is classified as
primitive, since this infers that improvements will still be made.
Release is expected by May. These games are a few which I am looking forward to seeing. If you
think of others, please let me know -- maybe I know of them, maybe I
don't. If I feel the need, I will do another column featuring several
other upcoming games. If it seems like I have included a
disproportionately high number of adventure and role playing games,
it is true that RPGs are a genre which I like quite a bit. However,
quite a few other people must like them also, especially game
developers, because frankly, more of them seem to be in development
than most other genres. Note to readers: sometime in the future I am thinking of doing a
column on game soundtracks and sound effects. If you think of certain
games which you feel have to be mentioned, let me know. 
- <this article available in a printer-friendly
version>
Recent Low End Mac Gaming Columns- Games for '030s, 5/26/00. A look at
games that run nicely on the old 68030-based Macs.
- Gaming on '030s, 5/11/00. There's
still some life in those old '030s -- and upgrades can be quite
reasonable.
- Is the Mac a gaming machine?,
4/26/00. Brian provides a very thoughtful answer to this
question.
- Mac games in development, 4/14/00. A
look at eight games currently being developed for the Mac.
- Mac game sequels, Brian Rumsey, Low
End Mac Gaming, 3/27/00. New games are great, and earlier versions
will often run well on less powerful Macs.
Other Recent Columns on Low End Mac- Mac ownership, Scott
Atkinson, My Turn, 5/30. Mac OS X threatens our sense of
ownership.
- Why Macs are different,
Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive, 5/30.
- Is a Mac better than a PC?,
Eric DeStefano, Mac Metamorphosis, 5/25. "While Mac OS is not the
fastest operating system, it definitely wins for ease of
use."
- A history of font
technologies, Jonathan Ploudre, My Turn, 5/25. All about
bit-mapped, Postscript, TrueType fonts, and anti-aliasing.
- Is Video CD a real alternative
to DVD?, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 5/25. "Video Compact Disc
(VCD) lets you watch movies on Macs or PCs that don't have DVD
drives."
- A computer I understood, Cheryl
Hanna, My First Mac, 5/23. "Here was a computer that I understood
without translation."
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