The number of online services and users is continually rising, with new services being created everyday. But most haven’t been catered toward Macintosh games. Outland is a unique new service exclusively for Macintosh gamers, a specialized service to bring together Mac gamers across the country. While it doesn’t have the broad chat areas, huge reference libraries and notable personalities hanging about, it does its job well. Spaceward Ho!, chess, backgammon, cards, and a couple of unique games are all available here, giving the service a good start. And, for the future, Outland is actively recruiting game designers for their service, even providing development information and software to encourage participation. It is an interesting service, which has a great deal of potential.
Background
Outland was officially announced at MacWorld in Boston in early August 1994. Started by Bill Lipa, Dave King, and Alex Beltramo, Outland is dedicated to bringing the best multiplayer strategic, action, roleplaying, board and card games to users. The creators started by working on a multiplayer network game of their own, a fantasy RPG. In the process, they saw a potential to create a place where many multiplayer games could be made available. Thus the beginning of Outland was conceived.
Setup and Logging on
For direct connection, Outland uses client software, available free from FTP sites like sumex or directly from the company. The latest version is 1.2.2. The client allows the user to connect by modem or by telnet through the Internet. You will need a Macintosh supporting at least 256 colors, with a 68020+ processor and System 7.xx. The Outland client itself takes up 750k of RAM, but other client applications for the games will require more. I suggest 3-4 MB of RAM would be suitable for best performance. Also, the client and accompanying files takes up a little over 3 MB on your hard drive. You can also access the Outland through your Delphi account, by booting up the Outland client and accessing your Delphi account so it can provide telnet access for you. In fact, any service that provides telnet capability should work.
Once installed, you can start your connection. A phone number is provided if you choose to use a modem, and the telnet address and port number are included for telnet access. There are a number of modem drivers and tcp tools available, so there should be no problem in accessing the network regardless of your hardware and software setup. When connecting, you may get a notice saying you have an older version of the client. If so, you can download a new copy then and there, and restart your connection. After the connection is established, you will be asked if you are a new or registered user. If new, you are presented with a scrolling screen with the license information. Unfortunately you can’t print it out unless you cut and paste. Finally, you enter in your address, phone number, account name and password, and billing method. Then you’re set.
Interface and Environment
Outland uses a simple interface for moving around, but has very different looks once you enter a particular area. The starting screen consists of one scrolling field with pricing information and another with a listing of the areas open for visitation. To go to an area, simply double click on its name. You enter a waiting area for the game (called the Lobby) which shows who is in the area with you and allows you to enter a game or, in some game areas, start your one by yourself. Each game area also has a chat board where you can arrange or talk about a game in that area.
There are not a lot of whistles and bells here yet, but what is available works. Typing messages is as simple as typing what you want to say and hitting return. You leave an area by quitting that particular game client. And, you are rarely more than 2-3 clicks away from the main area. Simple, but very workable.
Each of the games has a different interface, with some better and some worse. The best is Spaceward Ho!, a commercial product by Delta Tao. Other notable games include Hearts and Reversi. Others, like Galley or the chess game, look crude or very simple, regardless of how they play.
Content
New online services from small startups often lack content, but Outland has more than meets the eye. There are several independently produced games here, most the quality of good shareware with the boon of networked play. Chess, backgammon, Reversi, hearts, Galley ( a game of combat on the high seas), and Backstab, a game based on the old ATAXX game by Atari, where you steal your opponents pieces while he is taking over yours . Most of these games require another human opponent, like Backstab and chess, while understandable, it would be great to play a short game with the computer while you wait to see if others log in. As subscriber numbers increase, this will eventually be less of a problem. The smaller games play very well, however, and have good speed, and have adequate to very good graphics. I was especially impressed by the chess game. It asked me if I was formally rated, and allowed me to check on my opponents win/loss ration and to see if he or she was ranked. That is very helpful in a game where skills vary so widely. Technically, I experienced no crashes or problems whatsoever, even using MacPPP to get access. Sound and gameplay were fine as well.
The coup of having networked Spaceward Ho! available is by far the greatest strength in terms of content. Without it, Outland would be a much weaker service. The version is 3.0, and it works very well. The initiator of a game can set time allotted for turns, whether alliances are possible, and the galaxy size, shape, etc. Others can join in right away or later, taking over a computer player. This can be dangerous, as the computer AI may not leave you a very good position. It was however, great fun to finally match wits with a human opponent, even if I started out in a horrendous situation. I was most impressed with this game. Adding a game like BOLO, or one of the Doom games when they enter the Mac market, will help considerably as well.
Communication
A key part of any online service is communication with others on the service and the sysops. Here the size of Outland is a great benefit. In addition to the chat areas, there are message boards on different game topics and some directed at the sysops, for troubleshooting, suggestions, or account problems. From scanning the messages, it looked as though queries were answered promptly, and apparently with success, as I did not see a recurring subject line indicating an ongoing or difficult problem. So for now, at least, you should have good support and near direct access to the decision makers and programmers.
Future/Expandability
For Outland to survive, it must grow, and steps are being taken to do just that. Outland has a very friendly policy toward independent development for creating new games or adapting existing one. They provide a development guide and Connection and Data access libraries of Think C code and functions to help development. They even provide a sample how - to on creating an application, using a Tic-Tac-Toe game as the example. Payment is based on royalties tied to the amount of time individuals spend playing a particular game. It will be interesting to see what develops here, and how active this area becomes. I hope it doesn’t lead to a large number of games that take a long time to finish.
Future expansions from new developers and established ones are already on the way. Outland will support Spaceward Ho! 4.0. Also, it will add two graphic and text rpg’s, poker, Go, and Bridge very soon. The folks at Outland are also talking with the creator of BOLO, and hope to add that to the list of games soon.
Value/pricing
Outland recently changed their pricing from $2.50 an hour and two hours free to $9.95 month for unlimited use and 5 hours free to start. This is not bad, but you need to be a Spaceward Ho! fan to get your money’s worth here, at the moment. When more people sign on (and they will, I am sure), better opponents will make games like chess and hearts more challenging. More games will also add value, though I wonder if the price will go back to an hourly rate as more people join. Broader discussion groups on Mac games, such as those carried on here major online services should help as well.
Summary
Outland is a surprisingly easy to use and robust system of networked Mac gameplay. I must admit I was more than a little skeptical, but I found myself hanging around longer than I expected, talking and playing. If Outland can successfully adapt some of the more popular network games and develop some engaging new ones unique to their system, they should rapidly increase accounts from there present level of approximately 1500. And, while value is centered around how much you like Spaceward Ho! for the moment, Outland is committed to broadening its scope of games. For our benefit as Mac gamers, I wish them wild success.
Outland Game Network
405 El Camino Real, Ste. 224
Menlo Park, CA 94025
800/PLAY-OUT - Tel
Next month we’ll be looking at another new Macintosh game network, Omni Games.
