Gamer's Den is Open!!! From: george@starnine.com (George Cook) Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 16:56:50 +0000 =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+^+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ DEN NEWS ISSUE 1 MAY 25, 1994 =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ > > > > WE ARE OPEN < < < < Gamer's Den is proud to announce and offer service for the first of many Play-By-Electronic-Mail games - VGA Planets! Anyone able to send and receive Internet email or who has an account with CompuServe can play VGA Planets games to their heart's content. TABLE OF CONTENTS Den Notes What Den News is all about Thanks to the playtesters Teasers Player letters Spotlight: VGA Planets VGA Planets service is ready for you! Ruckus Battle of the Titans Quotes World-wide Gaming We have players everywhere! Local time Credit Cards Visa and Mastercard soon On The Horizon Phoenix In Playtest (To Be Named) - Contest Odyssey Moving Forward Want To Join? Info on playing at the Den See Ya Soon! DEN NOTES Welcome to the first issue of "Den News", Gamer's Den's electronic newsletter containing up-to-date information provided by players and staff about the goings on at our gaming club, affectionately called the 'Den'. Though "Den News" is a monthly newsletter, issues may come out slightly earlier or later depending upon activities at the Den. It is published by the Den staff. In case you don't already know, Gamer's Den is a commercial Play-By- Electronic-Mail (PBEM) company, dedicated to providing entertaining multi-player games through an affordable and reliable gaming service. Playing PBEM games is as simple as sending and receiving electronic messages containing turn submissions and results. The games are turn- based and not real-time, so you can play at your convenience on your own computers without having to pay huge fees for on-line service connect time. We hope you find "Den News" fun and interesting to read. We will post any Den player letters we receive - space and content allowing. If you are so inclined, we offer free gaming credit to the author of any articles published. Just drop us a line with your ideas. You can contact Gamer's Den staff on the Internet at support@den.com and on CompuServe at 73613,3472. For additional information about playing games at the Den, you can get readmes by sending Internet email to info@den.com or downloading the file INFO.DEN in library 15 of CompuServe's PBMGAMES forum. Players should periodically re-check the readmes to find out about the latest and greatest features. Finally, we'd like to thank all the playtesters, past and present, that have helped us test our offering. Almost a hundred folks have given us a hand by reviewing documentation, testing our gaming service, and joining playtest games. We appreciate the time and energy you have donated - we wouldn't be here without you! TEASERS Aptly named! We will post Den player letters in this column, but since this is our first issue, we don't have any yet! SPOTLIGHT: VGA PLANETS We now offer VGA Planets gaming to all Den players! There are always VGA Planets games open, and you can join and create games based on options you specify. Pick your racial preferences, turn frequency, and game type. Games accept player positions on a first-come first-serve basis. All new game signups give a player a position in a new game. Best of all, turns only cost 50 cents! VGA Planets is the open-ended space conquest PBEM game written by Tim Wisseman. It has huge followings on the Internet and CompuServe. The game features an MS-DOS graphical color interface. You command one of eleven races with a planet, a starbase, two ships and a dream of galactic dominance. For more information about how to signup and play VGA Planets, send Internet email with a subject of 'readme' to the vgap@den.com or download the file INFO.PLA posted by 73613,3472 in library 6 of the PBMGAMES forum on CompuServe. As of this writing, there are a couple of games that need a few more players to startup. Game 1 processes once a week on Fridays and will start with 3 more players, and game 6 processes three times a week every Mon,Wed,Fri and will start with 4 more players. Or, if you prefer, create your own game with a 'signup'. The playtest games 2-5 are filled and running smoothly. If you and your friends want to play a private game, send us a note listing the players and the configuration options you want the game to use. We will happily set it up for you! RUCKUS -- Battle Of The Titans! The two remaining players in the first VGA Planets playtest game (#2) are blasting each other with everything they've got. Before the game started, the players were on speaking terms. Now we're not so sure... -- Quotes > I am Homer of Borg. You will be assimi... Ooh, donuts! [Umbriel-2 - Phoenix] > You can get a genuine amulet of Yendor by doing the following: <MORE> [Jupiter-5 - Phoenix] > This is a test, for the next turn this planet will conduct a test > of the universal broadcast system. This is only a test. > ... > This has been a test of the universal broadcast system. > Had this been a real universe, you would have been instructed > where you could go!( ) [Umbriel-2 - Phoenix] > Oh give me a home / Where the primitives roam ... [Umbriel-2 - Phoenix] > The Thoraxia continue the quest of the mighty Thorax of the Claw. > We seek both mithril and claws. Those who aid us will be > generously rewarded. Those who who oppose us -- their claws > will adorn some of our lesser halls. [Jupiter-3 - Phoenix] WORLD-WIDE GAMING We were very surprised and pleased to find that our playtest games contain players from all over the world. Though the majority of folks are in the USA, players in the UK, Portugal, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan are helping out! To provide a friendlier environment for everyone, Gamer's Den is adding support for time-zones, so players will see turn due dates in their local time rather than Pacific or GMT. CREDIT CARDS The Den expects to offer credit card payments shortly. This should prove an attractive alternative to checks - especially for non-USA players. ON THE HORIZON -- Phoenix In Playtest Phoenix, a close-ended PBEM space game of diplomacy, exploration, economic expansion, and military conquest, has over 60 players involved in playtest across 4 games. Things are proceeding along nicely, and we expect to release the game in mid-June for everyone to join. We'll keep you posted on the playtest games when they really heat up. One of the playtesters is writing a few articles about the game for Flagship, a gaming magazine. The biggest news about Phoenix is a new turn fee - only $2.50 per turn, and half the cost of previously advertised. Sol games, described below, are even cheaper! Single player games - 'Sol' games - are about to be introduced, and at $1.00 per turn, they are designed to provide an effective way to learn the rules and racial strategies. Turns are processed at whatever pace the player desires, and you can stop playing the game anytime you feel satisfied. To win a Sol game you need to conquer the entire galaxy of about 55 planets. Though everyone should eventually win a Sol game, the trick is to win quickly. You will soon be able to get a copy of the 200+ page Player's Guide for free by ftp on the Internet and in a zipped file in the PBMGAMES forum on CompuServe. For those who prefer a printed copy, they will be available from Gamer's Den for $15. Dan Moen of What Software is finishing up the browsing functionality of his Phoenix Ambassador, a graphical MS-DOS PC player interface. It will be distributed to all Phoenix playtesters within a month. He's spent a great deal of time on the program and it shows. -- (To Be Named) - Contest In a couple of months we will start the playtest for our upcoming WWII strategic combat game based in the Internet's Empire. Empire Guru Dave Pare and Jonathan Lee have been working full time for over a year on it, and they are in the process of enhancing the player interface for the PC platform. There is a naming contest for the game, and anyone with a creative bent is encouraged to send us your top 3 names to use. If your selection is actually chosen, you will receive 10 free turns of the game! If you want to find out more about the game so you can come up with suitable names, contact us. -- Odyssey Moving Forward Many folks are asking when Odyssey, the strategic fantasy game, will be ready. Unfortunately, there is no date yet, though playtest should begin sometime in the Fall. Den staff have been actively working on it, and they are picking up steam! It will be worth the wait. WANT TO JOIN? If you are reading this and you are not playing at the Den yet, you should signup! It costs you nothing to join, and you receive two free turns for any game service offered, right now this includes VGA Planets and (soon!) Phoenix. To find out more about signing up, you can send Internet email to info@den.com or download the file INFO.DEN in library 15 of CompuServe's PBMGAMES forum. SEE YA SOON! Well, sorry to say, but that's all for now. We will see you in about a month with the next issue. By the way, if anyone is planning to go to Origins in July, please stop by our booth and say hi! -- Phoenix, Copyright (c) Garrett, Goodman, and Woods 1988-1994 All Rights Reserved =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ===+ GAMER'S DEN +=== =====+ PO Box 390755 +===== ==+====+ Mountain View, CA 94039-0755 +====+== =====+ Internet: support@den.com CompuServe: 73613,3472 +===== ===+ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +=== =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Up