Back on 13-MAR-2017, I posted this to the Apple II Enthusiasts group in response to Tom Porter's question about what I was working on..
( Sorry, I will get some HyperLinks is here at some point.. )
Tom, I have a Lot of Thing I want to do... All based on Networking existing Games and making some new ones... On Multi-Platforms..
I have a yellow legal pad with lots of Notes...
Networking Transportation Layer:
Uthernet II, Lantronics UDS-10/100/1000, NIC for C64 and Tandy CoCo not designed yet.
Networking Application Layer:
Menuing Protocol ( most likely a light weight HTML ) with PUT/GET
Games Protocol:
2D and 3D support for Synchronizing the Game Space between the Server and the Client.. Version 2 would add Game Bootstraping.. Let you Select the Network Game you want to play, Download it if is needed ( you could save local copy if you want ), then download the Game Space and Synchronize, again with Multi-Platform Support.
Internationalization of Menus and Games:
Make the Games have ALL the text is separate Files/Images.. Your Client will report your Language Preferences, from 1st to 5th, ( I am supporting 5, right now ), and if the game is available in Finish, French, Spanish and English, and someone like Jorma, you might have Finish as #1, Swedish or Danish as #2 or #3 and English as #4 or #5..
Utilities:
IRC, File or Disk Copy, ( Share a program or Disk, directly with someone ),
Nada-Net Router/Bridge... Let you network multiple Apple ][s with Nada-Net and then Route/Bridge them to the Internet.
The ability to Register a Machine ID, and then assign ALL the Attributes ( that you might want to share ) about a given Machine, so when you connect to a Game Server, it knows what your Hardware is capable of.. I am thinking of have a Registry, so you can sign up for a MACH_ID, currently at 56K - 1, ( 0x0001-0xDFFF, 0x0000 is Reserved ), and for those that don't want that "overhead", 8K -1 ( 0xE000-0xFFFE, 0xFFFF is also Reserved ) to be dynamically assigned by Server.
So far I have, ( list FAR from Complete ):
MACH_ID ( a unique, 16 bit number for your specific system ),
ARCH_ID (e.g. Apple ][, Apple ][+, Apple ][+ Clone, Apple ][e, Apple //e, Apple ][e Clone, Apple //c, Apple //c+, Apple ][gs, VIC-20, C64, C128, Tandy CoCo 1/2, Tandy CoCo 3, Sinclair ZX-80, Sinclair ZX-81/TS1000, Timex-Sinclair TS1500 [ 16 RAM Assumed ], ),
RAM_ID, ( Base RAM, e.g. 4K, 8K, 12K, 16K, 20K, 24K, 32K, 36K, 48K, 52K, 64K, 128K, 192K, 256K... 512K )
RAMX_ID ( Extended RAM like the RAMWORKS cards),
RAMS_ID ( Apple Slinky RAM, some of the Commodore RAM Disk type devices ),
STOR_ID ( Cassettes, Floppies, Hard Drives, SSD, etc... )
PHRE_ID ( Par Printers, Ser Printers, Modems, Sound Card, Video Cards, I/O Cards, Nada-Net )
"General Audio Format" ( or "Generic Audio Format" AKA ".GAF" )
Audio File that is MIDI like, in that it will be "translated" for the Audio Hardware on the Local Machine..
UPDATE!!!! I discover on the CoCo Crew POD Cast there is a Format called VGM, and it supports a Lot of Sound Chips.
No Use making a Standard when it appears that a decent one is already available..
"General Video Format" ( or "Generic Video Format" AKA ".GVF" )
Video File that is Sprites or Graphics, in that it will be "translated" or Rendered for the Video Hardware on the Local Machine..
( YES, I left Atari's out.. I don't have any, but they could be added.... )
Game I am looking at Networking, ether Hack the originals, or make Clones of them:
( There are "Text Only", T, Text/Graphic Mixed, T/G, "Graphic Only", G )
( T, T/G, or G ) Generic Maze Games
( T/G ) Dungeons of Dagorath ( CoCo Game, probably First, First Person "Player/Shooter".. )
( G ) Starcastle
( T ) Hunt the Wumpas
( T ) Adventure/Colossal Cave
( T/G ) Odyssey, the Complete Apventure
( T/G ) Eamon
( G ) Auto-Duel
( G ) Elite
( T/G ) Castle Wolfenstein
ADD YOU Favorite Here!!
New, Networked Games:
Re-Imaging a game like, Star Castle, but in 3D, ( Working Name "Outpost Alpha/3D" )
Instead of Walls of Rings, you have Walls of Spheres.. There is 3D Control over the Attacking Ship and the Star-Castle )
And the Outpost might be manned by another human, rather than the Machine..
Remember the Flight Simulators?? How about the Military Ones?? ( F14, F15, F16, F117A ). and "Attack Sub 668"??
How about a Common Game that lets ALL of them "play" in the Same Game Space... Add F18s, Air Craft Carriers, Destroyers, Helo Carriers ( with operational Helos )..
The Game Space computer could operate "play" ALL positions, or None, if there is enough Human Players..
http://retrochallenge.markoverholser.com/
For the next RetroChallenge, I am "scaling back" to having a Four to Six player game with Apple ][s or Tandy CoCos as the Clients, Text Only. Probably a limited version of Adventure/Colossal Cave , just to get it working.
