I was thrilled to have permission to port Asterax and sent off an email to Michael. He responded with official permission to port the game to any modern platforms I wanted. During the conversation on the phone, he told me that Anne Fullerton, the graphics artist behind the game later became, Anne Hanson (his wife!). They both are fond of the game and are excited to have it modernized. He offered to look for The graphics were originally rendered from povray. Michael offered to look for the source code and povray files but was unable to find them (unsurprising really, considering that it has been more than 14 years since it was published).
So, I need to take stock of my available resources. He mentioned that, typical of classic mac applications, the sounds and images were stored in the resource forks of the game files and application. So, I have no source code but I do have sounds and images available. I also have a couple old macs and the SheepShaver classic mac emulator, which will allow me to play the game for comparison along with taking screen shots and screen caps of game play.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Search
After I graduated from high school it was on to college to get a computer science degree. I had been programming since I was 12 and this was just the next step. During college, I dabbled in game development a bit, building tic tac toe, and tetris many times. At one point the thought came to me that, since I didn't have a lot of ability in the design and art department, the best way for me to get some experience working on a game that had a nice look would be to port an existing game. Asterax jumped out at me for its simplicity and yet still being very fun to play.
I started to do some research on the game. I quickly found out that it was developed by Arvandor Software and that Asterax was its only game release (in 1994). I also found that the company represented a group of students from Stanford University and chiefly, the developer, Michael Hanson. I search the web for clues and found a email for Michael from Stanford. Promptly, I drafted up an email asking for permission to port the game. I don't remember if I got a returned undeliverable on that or if there was simply no response, but either way I failed to find a way to contact him.
This began several years of attempting, occasionally, to find a way to contact Michael. If I am remembering right, my first attempts were mid to late college which would put my next clue at more than 2 years later. In January of 2007, I found information indicating that he was working for a networking related company named Reactivity. I went to their site and found an email or him. I sent another request for permission to port the game. This one was bounced and upon calling the telephone number listed on their site I got a message that the number had been disconnected.
Almost another 2 years pass again and, in August of 2008, I make another research attempt and find a news article indicating the Reactivity had been bought by Cisco Systems. "That explains the disconnected phone," I thought. I find a linked in profile that indicates Michael now works for Cisco. Having been unable to find an email address for him there, I called up the Cisco corporate number and asked for him by name. The receptionist put me right through. I explained how much I enjoyed his game and he was pleasantly surprised that it was still making an impact on people and surprised I had tracked him down. He was heading to lunch so we didn't talk for long, but he said he would be glad to give me rights to port the game and gave me his email, so he could respond with official permission by email.
I started to do some research on the game. I quickly found out that it was developed by Arvandor Software and that Asterax was its only game release (in 1994). I also found that the company represented a group of students from Stanford University and chiefly, the developer, Michael Hanson. I search the web for clues and found a email for Michael from Stanford. Promptly, I drafted up an email asking for permission to port the game. I don't remember if I got a returned undeliverable on that or if there was simply no response, but either way I failed to find a way to contact him.
This began several years of attempting, occasionally, to find a way to contact Michael. If I am remembering right, my first attempts were mid to late college which would put my next clue at more than 2 years later. In January of 2007, I found information indicating that he was working for a networking related company named Reactivity. I went to their site and found an email or him. I sent another request for permission to port the game. This one was bounced and upon calling the telephone number listed on their site I got a message that the number had been disconnected.
Almost another 2 years pass again and, in August of 2008, I make another research attempt and find a news article indicating the Reactivity had been bought by Cisco Systems. "That explains the disconnected phone," I thought. I find a linked in profile that indicates Michael now works for Cisco. Having been unable to find an email address for him there, I called up the Cisco corporate number and asked for him by name. The receptionist put me right through. I explained how much I enjoyed his game and he was pleasantly surprised that it was still making an impact on people and surprised I had tracked him down. He was heading to lunch so we didn't talk for long, but he said he would be glad to give me rights to port the game and gave me his email, so he could respond with official permission by email.
Beginnings
I began my journey many years ago, around 1995. As a youngster (middle school aged) I used to play Asterax on an old Macintosh Performa 410, if memory serves me. It was amazing and I could play for hours. The game was clean and responsive. It included some strategy in addition to the arcade action. For example, when you collected the crystals you could buy upgrades for your ship and various other things. I continued to play it from time to time as the years passed.
My father was a bit of a collector of old macs and let me play with an old color classic, which was past its prime. I loaded up many old mac games (like Bolo, oh the memories!), including Asterax. It had a two player (not networked) mode where you could play with a friend, sharing keyboard space. I played it with my brothers for many enjoyable hours and introduced it to my friends. For me, it was the Asteroids of my era and platform. I don't remember seeing Asteroids until later in life.
My father was a bit of a collector of old macs and let me play with an old color classic, which was past its prime. I loaded up many old mac games (like Bolo, oh the memories!), including Asterax. It had a two player (not networked) mode where you could play with a friend, sharing keyboard space. I played it with my brothers for many enjoyable hours and introduced it to my friends. For me, it was the Asteroids of my era and platform. I don't remember seeing Asteroids until later in life.
Inspiration
I spent some time last night and this morning reading Jordan Mechner's Old Journals about creating Prince of Persia (the original of a series of action games). I am, strangely, interested in computer history. One area that is especially interesting to me is computer game development. Throughout the blog entries that Jordan digitized from old, handwritten journals he was keeping when he was first creating Prince of Persia, he describes his struggles and triumphs.
I became inspired to chronicle my journey of porting the classic asteroids-style arcade game, Asterax. Since I am starting this mid-journey, I will be describing the past happenings for a few posts, and then we can get to the present.
I became inspired to chronicle my journey of porting the classic asteroids-style arcade game, Asterax. Since I am starting this mid-journey, I will be describing the past happenings for a few posts, and then we can get to the present.
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