Maybe I missed it in the comments but was I the only one to run Wildcat! software for their board? I loved Wildcat!
A look at my BBS Software from '93
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Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#62Maybe I missed it in the comments but was I the only one to run Wildcat! software for their board? I loved Wildcat!
I ran it too! Was so much fun right before the time the internet connectivity expanded past universities.
I ran the BBS because otherwise I had to dial into Chicago (long distance - ha, what a concept!). For me it was much cheaper to just run a multiline BBS, and then read news on my own computer that sat in the basement!
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#63The late 80s/early 90s BBS scene was an amazing time for me. I was in high school and I've never been as interested in computers and communications as I was then. I never ventured into the "dark" side like OP--I was too scared of my parents--so I ran a legit FidoNET BBS using the RemoteAccess BBS software and the Frontdoor mailer (and later, Maximus and BinkleyTerm). The most amazing thing about it all was that it wa…
> Doing Fido over TCP/IP just doesn't feel the same. It's way too easy.
Do you remember ZMH? Zone Mail Hour? If you had a public BBS, you had to disallow logins during ZMH, so that your phone line was reserved for netmail and echomail delivery.
I was just a lowly point, so I didn't have to bother with that crap. 2:201/274.9 representin', yo.
The funniest part about the star-shaped network was that it was more of a feudal society than a democracy. And of course it devolved into political fights among the lowly nodes and points who thought the stupid RCs and NCs had way too much power over the network and wanted it to become more democratic, but since the coordinators (Did you call them stars in zone 1?) footed the bill for the long-distance message deliveries, it was usually their way or the highway.
Funnily enough, Sweden abolished the concept of long-distance calls sometime in the 90s, which drastically undercut the power of the controllers. :-)
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#64Just gonna drop this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PJcABbtvtA
"Have you ever paid a toll booth without slowing down?", and then he slides his credit card through a thing in his car!!! :-D :-D
I mean, they got the prediction right, but their implementation is so so wrong!
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#65Anyone play TradeWars 2002? That's what I was doing in '93 on my BBS.
Yes! I've tried over the years to create a TW2002 clone, but I always stall out at the economic system. I've also tried to recreate Barren Realms Elite / Solar Realms Elite, but Amit lost the source code to that, too. Reverse engineering BBS games is hard! Maybe Legend of the Red Dragon would be easier... [Edit: I'm aware that there are TW2002 games out there right now, but those tend to be web-based, and I wanna do…
Ditto actually.
I mean, ultimately that's what Eve Online is, a massive TW2002 "clone". Only everything made better.
I think the problem with an economic system is you need enough people to do it properly, or you have to figure out some kind of 'fake' where it can be dynamic enough for the concept of cross-space trading work, but also not be entirely unrealistic.
I did learn a lot about event-driven programming, state machines, and the telnet protocol however.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#66I ran a BBS back in the 90s called The Game BBS, it was hosted out of my bedroom in Colorado. I'd love to find an old backup, but I doubt I have one.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#67How old were you when you wrote this? Looks like a big system - was this your first major project? I seem to recall OS/2 and a C compiler cost money back? How did you get to be using those, through work or did you buy them? Why did you choose OS/2 - did you consider any other alternatives?
"I seem to recall OS/2 and a C compiler cost money back? How did you get to be using those, through work or did you buy them?" His new user questionnaire asked new users to identify/define several warez release/courier groups. I don't think he was licensing software ...
FLT is Fairlight and RZR should be Razor, but I can't remember what the last three were. Oh god the nostalgia.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#68I wrote a thing in Turbo Pascal that would convert Prodoor (Proboard) mailbox files to RBBS mailboxes. Or the other way around, I can't remember, but not both directions I don't think. Anyway, I uploaded it to several boards back then I think someone who was a retired Navy officer used it on their own board. I also think the Prodoor people may have used several of the ideas possibly, but in all the archives of BBS software, I haven't been able to find it. Oh well! Turbo Pascal was so much fun, and reading the RBBS source was a great education at the time when long distance phone calls were expensive.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#69Anyone play TradeWars 2002? That's what I was doing in '93 on my BBS.
My (online) social network got hooked on Diplomacy. Originally adjudicated via email. Then we found an automatic adjudicator, that ran as a door, but it kinda sucked. And someone in the group wrote a better one, which then got reasonably popular.
I still miss those days.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#70Anyone play TradeWars 2002? That's what I was doing in '93 on my BBS.
Yes! I've tried over the years to create a TW2002 clone, but I always stall out at the economic system. I've also tried to recreate Barren Realms Elite / Solar Realms Elite, but Amit lost the source code to that, too. Reverse engineering BBS games is hard! Maybe Legend of the Red Dragon would be easier... [Edit: I'm aware that there are TW2002 games out there right now, but those tend to be web-based, and I wanna do…
What are the TW games out there right now? I was not aware!
I've dreamt for years about licensing TW to make a mobile version consistent with the gameplay of the BBS days. Before scripts. I don't know if you fall in love with the first games you play as a kid, but 25 years later, I still yearn for a 6 month TW bang with a corp of 4 friends.