ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/BBS/MEZZ410E.ZIP/PRODUCT.TXT

Text File | 1992-11-08 | 11KB | 202 lines

ROSTER OF DEVONLINE PRODUCTS --
----------------------------

Unlike many other DOOR authors and DOOR writing groups, DevPal MetroNet
Communications places much more emphasis on research and development of new
projects and on product debugging and reinforcement than on selling our
products. This has fortunately given us a solid reputation for providing
top-notch software and friendly, personal support... not just to our
customers but to anyone requiring assistance or having questions about our
products.

Unfortunately, regrettable side effects of this are:

        a) a certain lack of product promotion, on our part

        and

        b) a lack of knowledge concerning all of our product lines, on the
           part of sysops.

This list of short blurbs is a little step in improving our product pro-
motions so that you, as an intelligent and discerning sysop, will be more
informed concerning our products, both current ones and ones which are very
close to completion. We hope that you will continue to send in your
suggestions for improving our online games and ideas for the creation of
more online games, as we are deeply committed to both the continual im-
provement of our own products and the advancement of BBS-related software
technology in general.


ARM OF THE DRAGON :

        AotD is the introductory BattleTech(tm) simulations online game that
        has brought the excitement and complexity of 'Mech warfare from FASA
        Corporation's combat system to online (and offline) game players the
        world over. AotD was the first online game released to bring home
        the action of huge war machines to game players before any other
        software house, and AotD remains the premier game of this genre.

        The AotD game itself is now in its third edition, and although
        development for AotD/3 has effectively ceased, related products and
        a "successor" to AotD are currently being developed and are going to
        be released shortly. Our AotD development team is hard at work to
        match a GUI-like environment for game players with the universality
        of BBS communications to bring about the same suspense derived from
        DevOnline's 1984 AotD/UNIX game to the DOS arena.

ARM OF THE DRAGON II, Battle Trainer :

        This is the first product in the new development line of
        BattleTech(tm) simulations from DevPal. It takes several concepts
        engendered in AoSS (see "Avatars of Screaming Steel") and expands
        upon them while blending in the most definitively complex storyline
        ever developed for an online game!

        AotD II is now undergoing extensive design and coding, and selected
        AotD registrants have already been selected as beta testers for this
        product. Stay tuned to us for further news on this exciting game,
        because there is MUCH more to come!


AVATARS OF SCREAMING STEEL :

        AoSS is DevOnline's entry into the Simple Personal Combat Category
        of online games, with a post nuclear war holocaust theme and an
        involved combat scheme. AoSS introduces several new ways of
        conducting exciting combat, including a revolutionary approach using
        the concept of anticipating your opponent's moves and offering a
        special method in which to enter in your combat actions.

        AoSS will soon sport an online player vs. player mode that will
        expand the excitement of personal combat to new heights, as well as
        some cleaner, more crisp playability. Coming soon in the next
        revision of AoSS!

COHERENCE :

        Coherence is not a single game, but rather a series of cyberpunk
        online games following an ultra-dark storyline (very much in keeping
        with the cyberpunk genre). Coherence brings the nightmarish gloss
        and glamour of the rogue themes of cyberpunk into a cutting-edge
        sharp focus that will engulf your players in its intimations of the
        stormy near-future on Earth. Our Earth. Of only a few years away...

        The Coherence Project originally began in 1988, with the AI guru
        Alexander Wei at the head of the development team. However, because
        of unexpected production and integration delays and the even more
        unexpectedly demise of Dr. Wei, none of the games in the Coherence
        line were ever released to the public. In early 1992, the Coherence
        Project was reopened by a some of Dr. Wei's friends and proteges,
        and the first Coherence game, BLACKJACK 20/40, is due out shortly.

FLUMEN MUSAE NOVAE, 2nd Edition :

        One of the first DOS online games produced under the DevOnline
        banner, FMN was also the first fantasy wargame and true role-playing
        game available for play on BBS's. This game was originally produced
        for WWIV systems (way back when the only BBS program to support
        "DOORs" was WWIV). Although the original rendition is no longer in
        circulation, an updated version for all major BBS programs will be
        making its appearance very soon, bringing back the mystery and magic
        that -is- Flumen Musae Novae, the River of the New Muse!

METRO-MAGAZINE :

        What Metro-Mezzanine (see later) does for BBS carousels, Metro-
        Magazine does for online magazine reader DOORs. Instead of you, the
        sysop, having to mess around with an esoteric online magazine for-
        mat and a lot of disgruntled users who can't understand why there's
        this terrible need on the part of the magazine editors to encrypt
        their magazine so that it can only be read online, MMag takes a very
        user-friendly approach to online magazines: make as much of it easy
        to handle as ASCII text and leave the indexing technique as simple
        as possible. By using DOS' own file hierarchy, MMag enables anyone
        with their own favorite text reader (or the TYPE command) to read any
        article in a MMag-format magazine. And users can read the magazine
        online as well.

        MMag now allows for the selection of articles according to their
        8-letter maximum filename allotment, so that the maximum number of
        articles allowed in any magazine designed for MMag is truly
        astounding, surpassing the previous 9,999,999 exponentially. There
        is also the ability to download the copy of the current magazine
        issue from within MMag using the popular ZModem transfer protocol.
        And, for the editors of magazines, the ability to create tiered
        issues is now available, so that there is no need to design one
        large table of contents; instead, issues may be divided into topical
        sections, each with their own articles... you can subdivide as far
        as you wish!

        Slowly but surely, MMag will be updated with even more easy-to-use
        controls to make reading and retrieving articles convenient for your
        readers. After all, isn't that what online magazines should be
        about?

METRO-MEZZANINE :

        "A BBS carousel? What's that?" Thousands of BBS users from all over
        the world have paused at the sometimes bewildering and definitely
        exciting Ghostwheel that has graced the entrypoints to DevPal
        systems for over a decade. A BBS carousel enables the enterprising
        sysop to run more than one BBS program on a phone line. It also
        allows a sysop to add a special flair to his system that makes it
        truly unique, even though the particular BBS programs used on that
        system may not have many options that allow customability.

        Metro-Mezzanine helps to bring together any front-end/mailer program
        (like BinkleyTerm, FrontDoor, QFront, and many others) and any
        number of BBS programs which accept command-line options in a
        coherent manner which enable users, upon login (and at other points)
        to choose to access one BBS program (and, depending upon the BBS
        programs, even switch between BBS programs!). No other product
        offers such configurability at the same registration price, or even
        beyond!

        Now, Metro-Mezzanine operates on thousands of BBS's and metronets
        the world over, introducing users to the wonders of multiple BBS
        operations and superb unhampered file downloading everyday. Don't
        be left behind: get in on the action!

MILLIWAYS REVISITED :

        Back in the early 1980's, there was a fascinating online game called
        Milliways Casino. Although there was no flashy graphics nor a
        super-complex plot to help drive the players onward, it offered
        easy-to-play casino gambling games and a quirky story which
        nevertheless embodied the American Dream. Now, DevPal has endeavored
        to bring back Milliways, but flavored with DevPal's distinctive
        playfulness. Oh, the games are there... but, what are they? And who
        are those people?!?

        Milliways Revisited is coming soon to DevOnline distribution sites
        near you.

PEREGRINE, Reforging the Galactic Trust :

        This is one of the few online games which has a strong following
        even BEFORE it has been released! Peregrine is currently still in
        alpha-testing stages, but many sysops and users have "peeked" at
        technical documents and source literature pertaining to this game,
        and they have fallen in love with this interstellar conquest/trading
        game. If your players enjoy the concept of a science fiction online
        game but are sick and tired of the blandness of Trade Wars and its
        clones, Peregrine may be your cup of tea. Coming soon to a DevOnline
        distribution site near you!

TERACORPS :

        This is a simple corporation management online game in which players
        control mighty megacorporations attempting to become the first
        teracorporation, the greatest among many. Developing resources and
        eliminating opponents are just two of the interesting facets of
        play in TeraCorps.

        A networking module is an integral part of the TeraCorps system,
        allowing several BBS's to participate in interBBS activities by
        allowing players to send agents and/or troops against each across
        several BBS's!

        TeraCorps is coming soon to a DevOnline distribution site near you.