Re: Why No MULE For The Apple II?

[Linards Ticmanis <ticmanis@gmx.de>]

heuser.marcus@freenet.de wrote:

> On the one hand I don't think that analog joysticks would work well
> in this kind of situation (though the game could be adapted for it,
> naturally) and on the other hand the multiplayer aspect for obvious
> reasons wouldn't be the same (one person using a joystick, the
> other using the keyboard?).

That was the way it worked on the C64: Two persons at the joystick, the
other two at the keyboard.

But of course the C64 has a host CPU scanned keyboard matrix. So it's
easy to read multiple keys at the same time if you arrange them in a
smart way so that they don't interfere with each other.

On the Apple I don't think there's an easy way to detect two
(non-modifier) being keys pressed simultaneously. Also on the II+
there's no way to tell if a key is being held down; an important thing
for M.U.L.E. auctions.

This pretty much rules out simultaneous four-player action on the Apple,
unless you'd use additional hardware, such as two pairs of paddles with
some adapter to get them to work all at the same time, or maybe a
6522-based digital joystick adapter card.

-- 
Linards Ticmanis