Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computergame

Underwater kids computer game?

keribear — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:06:35 -0800

Another Old Computer Game Filter: Underwater treasure finding for kids circa 1995? Help! So my memory has waned a lot more than I thought. I have fond memories of playing this computer game at school with my friends when I was 12 years old or so... but I think the game was actually aimed at younger kids, maybe 8-10 or so. All I really remember about this game was that you swam underwater (you may or may not have been a fish, in fact) and searched for lost treasures. I think there were three treasures per level, maybe? And there were rainbows - lots of rainbows. A pretty froofy game, actually - we girls played it to kill time, but the boys thought it was just ridiculous.

I have no other hints, except that it would've been played on an IBM machine - probably Windows 3.1. I've seen Metafilter identify some really obscure movies & games - and I REALLY hope you guys can help! Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where I might download it or a similar game. Thanks! :)

Please help me get my game on

orange swan — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:55:18 -0800

Part II of this question. I now know where to find the game I want to play, but I cannot get it working on my computer. Please help. I can download the file and unzip it without problems.

I've also downloaded DOSBox, mounted a C: drive on it, and run install in that. So far so good, but when I try to run qg1old.bat there, I get a message that says "unable to change to QG1Old" and it won't let me type in anything after that.

I've tried installing VDMSound. Then I ran Sierra with VDMS as he said to. This resulted in my getting a VDMS Launchpad window with the message "Loading 'VDDLoader.dll'... and then nothing. It just sits there.

I've tried installing DFend. When I try running the game from there, again I get the "unable to change to QG1Old" and it won't let me type in anything after that.

What should I do next? I have WindowsXP.

Game Nostalgia

3FLryan — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:47:56 -0800

Help me remember the name of a '90s Windows "educational" computer game. There was this cool game that I played on the computers at school in 6th grade. It was a game where you designed these little critters and put them on the screen, and could group them by pressing different buttons.

Like, say you made 13 guys with yellow skin and 8 guys with 3 eyes. You could press a button to instantly separate them, or rearrange them or whatever.

The play area took up most of the screen, but there was a bar on the right that held all your options as far as making guys.

I believe it could also simulate battle or something, as I remember there being a sort of container or something on the right holding your guys that didn't survive the last round of "battle", which wasn't really battle...or something. I'm pretty sure the little dudes never moved on their own.

You could come up with lots of crazy combinations and sort through them quickly to make diverse groups of...whatever they are, I can't remember.

Sorry I can't give more information, but I don't remember much about it other than it was a blast. I have no clue what the name was or even how to search for it on Google (I've kind of tried).

I was in 6th grade in '97-'98. Another popular game was TessleMania.

(I'm in the US)

Thanks!

Should have stuck to eating paste.

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:30:09 -0800

Help name the first computer game I ever played. In preschool. Circa 1985. A few sketchy memories inside. I think it was in color.

I think it was played on a computer whose form factor featured the disk drive situated beneath the monitor.

I know it featured canals, as in those of Venice. Waterways surrounding buildings.

I think the objective was to either situate your crocodile in the canal below a window from which a hippopotamus would jump, or maybe to avoid this happening. Maybe it was a gondola and I thought gondolas were crocodiles.

It's entirely possible that there were other stages and I just never got to them. I don't recall being too adept at the gameplay.

That's it.

What is this pc game?

stresstwig — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:35:51 -0800

What is this old computer game that was a top-down open space shooter? Note: I am fairly confident it is not Escape Velocity. I think this would have been about the mid-late 90's, for Windows--
It was an open space world, in which the entire map (vast) was mapped by two coordinates, vertical and horizontal. You had a standard space ship, and the game hinged upon missions which usually involved fighting, going to other areas designated by a planet to fight, etc. The things I remember vividly are: during a fight, you could allocate shield power to different areas on your ship (front, back), you could go into a hyperspace mode which was incredibly fast and necessary for long travel. Also, I remember the first cut-scenish thing after completing a certain mission had a hooded figure.

Looking for an old text-based RPG magical game.

mrbloo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:13:37 -0800

I'm trying to find an old computer game that we used to play in school (probably around late 80s). It was a text based RPG with puzzles and magical items. Here is what I remember about it;

* The game was text based but colored even though the graphics was somewhat primitive.
* The bottom 1/4 (or 1/5) of the screen was where the text of the story was. The rest was a pixel drawing of a scene. It wasn't animated either.
* It was story based (old rpg probably..) with items, and puzzles.
* I remember the scenes including a forest, and magical items.
* I'm not quite sure if there was a wizard in the game, or a castle or a princess, but it was very fantasy-like.

I've done some research, and found "Enchanted Forest", but I know it isn't that for sure, there weren't any attributes to the character you played (not that I remember..) Any input would be much appreciated, thanks!

Balance in MMO Economies?

SpecialK — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:48:33 -0800

Game Design: In an MMO, how do you build an economy that will 'balance' itself? Obviously, having solid inputs and outputs are one thing, and balancing those inputs with the demand for the item, but what other things need to be taken into account? I can't seem to find anything that's *written* on economy design in an MMO game, but I know that it's always been a big issue and has caused the downfall of a few -- E&B to name one. So as I start to experiment with code in this genere, I'd like to try to get this right the first time. ;)

I suppose this is true for any artificial economy, and I don't know much about the microeconomics that are necessary to write all the business logic.

Half-remembered DOS game from the early '90s

Johnny Assay — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:00:40 -0800

Can you help my sister & me identify this half-remembered DOS game? While my sister & I were chatting the other day, we got on the subject of the Marines. I started humming the Marines' Hymn ("From the Halls of Montezuma"), and this twinged a memory in my sis of an old DOS computer game. Here's what we can remember about it:

The theme music was the Marines' Hymn. This much we are certain of.
The name of the game may have been Captain something or Commander something.
There was no save feature, so you had to play through the entire thing in one sitting if you wanted to beat the game.
The game was quite possibly a side-scroller or a top-scroller. We seem to recall that some of the enemies looked like beach balls.
We were playing this game on a DOS machine in the early '90s. It was almost certainly shareware.

Not much to go on, I know, but if any site can recall this bit of computer nerd ephemera, it's Ask MetaFilter. Any thoughts, folks?

What was the best computer game I've ever played called and how can I find it again?

limitedpie — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:50:11 -0800

What was the best computer game I've ever played called and how can I find it again? Somewhere around 1998-2000 I downloaded a shareware game (I think it was for Apple, but I also had a Windows machine then so it might have been for windows.) Help me find it again! Game description inside. Each screen / level in the game was a factory of one sort or another. I think one factory was donuts, and you had to fill a box of them. When you'd complete the task of one factory, the screen would change and there would be a completely different kind of factory. There were conveyor belts, and other misc switches and toggles to get everything moving just right. There were also holding tanks for partial parts of complete widgets. What was this game! Thanks for any help you can give me.

Fun simple competitive good-looking multiplayer computer games?

shivohum — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:45:52 -0800

What are the most addictive, not-too-hard-to-master, good-for-casual-gamers multiplayer computer games out there? Cool graphics appreciated. Strategy games preferred, but not required...

Vietnam War computer games

chef_boyardee — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:27:14 -0800

Do any strategy / pseudo-strategy computer games exist for the Vietnam War? Or are they all just shoot-em-ups?

Looking for an old Apple game

Godbert — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 08:46:21 -0800

I'm looking for the name of an old computer game, that ran on an Apple IIe (I think). This was back in first grade, so with the passage of around 15 years, details have faded somewhat.

The game had you controlling a character as you walked around a city. There was a big park in the middle of it. I can't remember why you walk around (I believe monkeys are involved), but when you do, you have to watch out for things like manhole covers.

I've been trying to find out the name of this game for years, and all attempts at searching have failed. A few friends of mine seem to remember the game vaguely, so I don't think I made too much of it up.

Find an old DOS Civil War Simulator

kenneth — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:00:06 -0800

Help me find this old DOS computer game. The talk of SkiFree reminded me of a favorite DOS Civil War simulator that was called, get this, Civil War Simulator, CWS.exe. It was a turn-based game, with multiple armies (Jackson, McClellan, Grant, Lee, etc.) that started out in certain cities and the player (as either north or south) moved the troops around to various battles, which were won based on numbers of troops, supplies, skill, location, etc. You could split or fuse your armies to take on more opponent's armies or fight them better and more. Unessential details: It was freeware/donationware/postcardware, I think. I remember it was written by a guy in Knoxville, and that it might have even stopped working after a certain date. Anyone remember this game, know who wrote it, or know where I can find it?

A PC Game Involing Gangs from the Late Eighties

dbarefoot — Wed, 11 May 2005 16:49:30 -0800

I have very fond memories of playing a graphically-simple game in the late eighties or possibly early nineties. It was set in the future, in a plague-ridde, post-apocalyptic America. You were a gang leader, and your job was to assemble gang members, vehicles and guns and essentially deliver America from ruin. There were two modes--a map of America and then a tactical view for vehicle to vehicle battles. The game featured fairly detailed resource management. I remember that there were five kinds of troops, each starting with the letters A through E (D was definitely dragoons). I also recall that if you stopped by the California city where the game was developed, you could get your vehicles super-charged. Any takers?

Brain-Break Computer Game

Hands of Manos — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 08:05:13 -0800

I'm looking for advice on a computer game that would allow me to put work aside, and give my brain a break.

A few things to note:

-I freelance illustrate. So the only boss I have to worry about is me
-I exclusively use a laptop that can only run 3d games at low settings (but it works!)
-FPS games give me motion sickness
-Sim games are fun, but sometimes the micromanagent and replay value is low.
-RTS games are great, but replay value is a must if I'm going to sink 50 dollars into it.
-MMPORGs: I love them, but i don't love the tedious time you have to sink into them to level up.
-Are gameboys a way to go instead?

Any suggestions?