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Wouldn't we all love to see this screen again?
Castle Gamesdomain started off with 10 games I believe. I only really played Cyber Wars back then. I am positive it included Battle Cruisers, Checkers, Chess, CyberWars, Treasure-Crypt, Quadlink, Pairs, Reversi, Mystery Monster, as for the last 1 I don't know what it was, but it wasn't Battle Thingz. Back then when you signed up you could choose you password right there at the start. When you entered "The Castle" you could chose from I believe High Resolution, Low Resolution for the screen and for the sound you could choose No Sound, Low Quality Sound, High Quality Sound.
Cyber Wars was very much different. The games allowed for you to play anywhere from a 2-player to a 6-player game with NPCs(Non-Player Characters). That was right when I started out, I don't remember if they were easy or hard. You could not play with people and NPCs, either people, or NPCs. The top 50s list was owned by Acid Lord, he had in the 3,000s while everyone else didn't or barely broke 1,000. I believe my friend got up on the top 50s with as little as 500 PTS. I don't think any of the people that we knew as good were up there yet. There was also "Nulls", which were games in which one person had no monsters, just a screen with spots for monster, but it was as if you already used all of them. This would happen randomly. Was it bad to be a null? Nope, if someone attacked you they would die, if you were the null, you won.(ZZ says the game froze when you attacked the null...I don't recall that at all, and don't think it's true) The game never froze, you could kill with slime or turret, ect. and it wouldn't freeze. Thats the only differnces I know of. From what I see in this screen shot, there was a spectator mode, I kind of remember something of that sorts.
Then there was a huge update to the games. If you didn't submit your e-mail address when you signed up(it wasnt required because you chose your own PW) then they didn't send you your new one and you name was lost. They then added four new games including Battle-Thingz. You were no longer allowed to choose resolution, ect. There was no more NPCs, or spectator mode. Cyber Wars was as we knew it. There was freezing for turrents, ranges, disrupter, disinigrator, slime, fire. Also how you couldn't use mutate an alien hatchling. Then there was nothing for a long time, until ZZ asked me to make this page with him, we did but an argument and unjustified actions by ZZ forced me to "Clip" him.
A Little History On The Gowers
As you may or may not know Andrew wrote Castle Gamesdomain. He and his two brothers(Ian and Paul) also created Runescape. I did this research a while ago, but for some reason, as what happened to some other stuff, it got deleted off the bottom of here, or I never saved it, but I remeber showing ZZ the page with this on it, idk. But the point is I can't quite remeber the names, but I sure Andrew's name on RuneScape was Andrew. I think it was Paul's name that was Mutant Mount, and Ian's name that was Ian, but I'm not sure.
The Gowers did not only create online games. They also created a few games for Atari ST and STe. I believe that ST was a personal computer, not a system. They worked under the Publisher name of "Cunning & Devious Games". Andrew and Ian both worked on "Battle Zone", a clone of the popular PC game "Worms". Another game, created by Andrew and Paul, was "Descrustion Imminent", A clone of the popular game "Doom". It was released commerically, but then was availible on their website for free(now taken down). They also made "Parallax Painter" and "Grinders" a clone of the game "Tron". "Grinders" was never released.
One Final Thought
Why was Cyber Wars so addictive?? I have my own idea about why it was. It had something some other free online games didn't have, interation with other people. But that is not the biggest one by far, I mean come on theres hundreds of games with interaction, take Runescape for example. One of the biggest reasons I think it was good was because of the lack of levels, nothing to get bored of really, I mean if you go and play Ghost Recon online there will be people who know the levels and "Good Spots". Since Cyber Wars lacked that, the only factors that contributed to winning were in my opinion: skill[65%] and luck of draw[35%]. Many believed it was the other way around with the percents, but knowing how to successfully use a Hover Ship could be more deadly then a beamed down battle mech.
Another factor was emotions. I can't think of them all but Friendship was a big one, and Trust, to name a few. Sometimes it was more fun to be a little arrogant and massacre everyone who said they were better, then to just play without having a huge ego ;). A constant strive to be the best, kept people comming back, at least it kept me going back. Another big thing was Rivalry, with the say Sabre and Joker clan, or Sabre and Anti-Sabre, added even more fun to the game. Finally the last thing I can think of is the top 50s board, you get up there and everyone who was anyone that played that game knew you, but that was spoiled by the scumbags who decided to cheat. Theres a few more things that I can't remeber, but basically I feel a game is fun if it "tickles" your emotions, at least for me. I want to read a few books about the human brain and psychology for some more info on that. Thats all for now.
