by Jeremy Condit

“Mac Games on the Internet” is back in its third column, after having produced a list of the top ten Mac games sites in the first article and a list of the best Marathon sites in the second. Well, it seems that Marathon has garnered the most support from the majority of Macintosh enthusiasts who have access to the Internet, but there are also several pages of interest for those who enjoy some of the other first-person- perspective games available, such as Dark Forces, Doom II, or Descent. None of these games have a truly significant Mac-based presence on the Internet, so it would be difficult to fill an entire article with Web resources for any one of these Mac games.

So, I’ve decided to dedicate this third article to “other” first-person-perspective games that have found their way to your Macintosh. I’ll start with a few Web pages that are dedicated to 3D games in general, and then I’ll toss out a few of the best URLs for each game. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for the next time you venture out to the Internet. Naturally, if you’re looking for Marathon stuff, check the July 1996 article.

Also, remember to look at the MacGames.html file in the Essentials folder on this CD. It contains loads of links to Mac games sites on the Internet along with brief descriptions.

3D Games Pages

• Dave Coufal's Macintosh 3D First Person Games Home Page <http://www.mit.edu:8001/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/d/c/dcoufal/www/marathon.html>: This page is probably the most thorough and exhaustive listing of 3D games resources on the Internet. It has a page for every 3D Macintosh game imaginable with links to all the pages, demos, and files the author could find. The rest of this article will detail the best sites for several 3D games, but if you don’t find what you’re looking for in this list (or even if you just want to see what’s available or what will be available in terms of 3D games), visit Dave Coufal’s page.

• Killer 3D Mac Games <http://www.grayphics.com/3dmacgames/>: The “Killer 3D Mac Games” page is less of an index and more of a “Marathon Central” for games that aren’t Marathon. This page is home to several other pages, each dedicated to a specific game, providing links and other info. Many of these pages are well-done, and you’ll find links to some of them later in this article.

Doom/Doom II Pages

• id Software <http://www.idsoftware.com/>: id seems to have moved on to bigger and better things (read: Quake), but I still feel compelled to mention this site. Gotta love the title: “id Software... Please mind the corpses.” Also, check out GT Interactive, the distributor of Doom II and Hexen: <http://www.gtinteractive.com/>.

• DoomGate <http://doomgate.gamers.org/>: The DoomGate is one of the largest and most comprehensive Doom sites on the Web. Granted, it’s maintained by PC folks, but it’s simply too large and too comprehensive to be overlooked in this article. And that isn’t to say they deny the existence of the Mac; it’s clearly intended to be a cross-platform Doom site. The URL above is a new one (it recently changed), so there may be a bit of construction here and there. By the time this article reaches you, though, I’m sure it will have settled in a bit. Anyway, if you want some of the best Doom levels or hints on id’s levels, this is the place to be. By the way, the old address is <http://doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu/>. Also, DoomGate suggests <ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/> for those in search of the latest PC WADs, but if I were you I’d check their list of mirror sites first.

• MacDoom Review Home Page <http://www.voicenet.com/~reeltime/mdr.html>: MacDoom Review is a regularly distributed e-zine for Macintosh Doom (and Hexen) enthusiasts, and you can find the latest issue here. Even more important is the MacDoom Review News Feed, located at <http://www.voicenet.com/~reeltime/mdr/mdrnewsfeed.html>. This page lists up-to-the-minute info about Doom, id Software, new add-ons, and anything Doom and Macintosh. If you can’t wait to get the newest WADs or utilities, visit this site regularly.

• Jason's MacDoom Home <http://www.calweb.com/~jasonmb/macdoom/>: Not a bad page, actually. Simple, easy to navigate, and quite up-to-date. There’s a very good editors page with summaries of all the available editors, converters, and patches.

• Hi-Lites <http://www.ime.net/~elf66/>: This page seems to be quite thorough, though the graphics can get annoying. The most prominent feature of this page is the WAD of the Day page, where a new WAD is posted, with screen shot and description, each and every day.

• Sheri & Dan’s MacDoom Page <http://www.dnaco.net/~beavis/macdoom.html>: This used to be my favorite Doom page. Well-done graphics and easy-to-navigate pages abound. There’s a list of some of the best WADs available, autotyped to Mac format and ready to download. Don’t look here for Doom engine updates, though. The latest, according to this page, is 1.0.2. Hmm...

• Hell on Mac! <http://haven.ios.com/~bookers/Doom.html>: This page is loaded with Netscape 2.0 goodies, and can take a while to load. Oh, and it also crashes Netscape on my PowerMac 7500/100. I’ve heard it’s rather large/comprehensive, but I’ll just give you the URL and let you decide. Finally, save your documents first.

• Demon <http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/jknight/demon.html>: This homepage is dedicated to a Doom editor called Demon. Pick up the latest version here.

• Deimos Homepage <http://www.io.org/~mikado/deimos.html>: Another editor home page for those who want to make sure they’ve got the latest version of their Doom editors.

Dark Forces Pages:

• LucasArts <http://www.lucasarts.com/>: Mother LucasArts. Demos can be found here, as well as info on the upcoming (and oh-so-spectacular-looking) Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight.

• Dark Forces for the Macintosh <http://www.primenet.com/~bradman/darkforces.html>: This is the place to go for Mac Dark Forces stuff. The maintainer of this page has written a Dark Forces editor, which is available here. This page also has a huge list of downloadable third-party levels, though they’re lacking descriptions.

• Killer 3D's Dark Forces Page <http://www.grayphics.com/3dmacgames/darkforces.html>: This Dark Forces page is based in the Killer 3D Mac Games pages mentioned above. It has the compulsory list of links/editors as well as some third-party levels (one line summaries provided).

• Tola Dalton’s Dark Forces Page <http://www.best.com:80/~dalton/DarkForces/>: This Dark Forces page has been around for ages (primarily PC-oriented) and is very well-organized. It provides links to pages describing the game as well as third party editors, levels, FAQs, and even Mac stuff. This is a must-see!

• Ackbar’s Main Frame <http://www.muzik.com/ryloth/ind1.htm>: According to the author of the Mac DF editor, this is the place where most PC levels arrive. This is a frames-based index of levels with a little Mac content and a misguided love of italics.

Hexen

• Raven Software Corp. <http://www.ravensoft.com/>: These guys originally made Hexen for the PC, though they’ve had little to do with the Mac port and don’t mention the Mac at all in their pages. Nevertheless...

• MacHexen Underground <http://www.gac.edu/~bgustafs/hexen/>: Wow. I’m impressed. A very slick, nicely designed set of pages. It’s a little short on content, but that seems to be a result of general lack of Hexen add-ons rather than an oversight on the part of the maintainer. There’s a huge WAD file that apparently works with the demo, in case you want to see more of what Hexen can do before buying. If you want MacHexen stuff, look here first!

• Beyond Hell! <http://haven.ios.com/~bookers/hexen.html>: This is one of the largest MacHexen pages I’ve seen, with lots of pages dedicated to weapons, monsters, etc. This page may help you decide if you actually want to go buy the game. Careful, though, it’s loaded with lots of Netscape 2.0 stuff (genuine Hexen music plays on the title screen), so it can be quite slow. It’s maintained by the same guy who set up the “Hell on Mac!” Doom page and it shows.

• The Unofficial MacHexen Homepage <http://www.grayphics.com/3dmacgames/hexen.html>: Another page based on the Killer 3D pages. It hasn’t seen an update in a while, but it does have a list of demo download sites. Most of the internal links are invalid due to a recent move of the Killer 3D pages and a lack of updates. If you’re clever, though, you can modify the links and look at the pages anyway.

Descent

• MacPlay <http://www.macplay.com>: Again, here’s the obligatory link to the game’s creator/publisher. This is the place to be if you want the latest Descent info or updates. Also, check out Parallax Software’s home page at <http://www.pxsoftware.com/>. They have some downloadable levels for Descent 2, though they’re targeted at the PC world.

• Mac Descent Page <http://rescomp.wustl.edu/~wzenfell/descent/>: A simple, informative, and unpretentious Descent page aimed at Mac folks. There’s not a lot of Descent info to be made available right now, but what is available can be found here. Keep an eye on this site, especially if Descent fans start making new levels...

Well, that about wraps it up for Mac 3D games. Of course, there are plenty more pages out there for the games mentioned above, and as you can see from Dave Coufal’s page, there are plenty more to come in terms of Mac 3D games. I hope you find what you’re looking for in the list above, and once again, I urge you to check out the MacGames.html file in the Essentials folder and then write me if you have any links to add. You can write me at <afn02635@afn.org>.

‘Til next time!
As usual, comments or suggestions relating to this article are welcome. You can send me e-mail at <afn02635@afn.org>.