Hmm, seems like a few too many bugs for now, especially for a 1.3.1 version... awesome game though. I think once a few things have been worked out, like the music issue, and the typing issue, then I might pay the registration fee.
Also, is there any chance that some convenience features can be added? Here's a little bit of a list:
1. Arrow keys should work.
2. There should be keyboard shortcuts (for example, command-A to select all, or command-C to automatically open File Copier and copy the selected file, or the Delete key to automatically open File Deleter and delete the selected file)
3. A save function would be nice, although with a game like this it also might make it too easy. Maybe restrict its use somehow. Until then I just have to back up my user file every now and again.
4. Allow a few shortcuts for bouncing... for example, have a "randomly bounce through every public server" button that lets you insert a random series of bounces through all of the public servers. This could be after InterNIC or UTS, and before your destination.
5. Have a way to highlight important locations on the map
6. Make the map less cluttered by abbreviating the labels. For example, instead of saying "e-Trade Solutions Public Access Server" it could say "e-Trade" and have a color-coded dot. Perhaps a blue dot for a public server, a green one for an internal machine, and orange for banks or something.
7. Allow you to change the text size. Right now I have to set my iBook's LCD to 800x600 to read everything, but that makes it fuzzy. At 1024x768, everything is sharp but it's way too small. If the text size could be made bigger, I could have the extra screen area and sharpness provided by 1024x768 but I'd still be able to read.
8. Have more help in the tutorial. As it was, I was completely lost when I was done with it and I had to come here for help. Perhaps at least point you to InterNIC as a good starting point to find lots of public servers to bounce between. The help topics in the Uplink Internal Services are good, but perhaps they could be expanded upon just a bit for those who have never played before.
9. Minor speed/performance improvements would be much appreciated.
10. Maybe make it a tad easier to copy, move or delete multiple files at once. Deleting is easy provided you know how to work the console, but the others are tedious tasks that would be much quicker with some sort of drag-selection thing.
11. Allow prioritizing of various tasks for the CPU to handle. Being able to change it is great... but it would be nice if I didn't have to up the Password Cracker way above the Trace Tracker every single time I use it. I'd like to be able to set very low, low, medium, high, and very high priorities to certain programs, so whenever I open them, they automatically use as much CPU as I want them to and I don't have to adjust them.
12. Allow saving of multiple routes in persistent memory. Right now, you can save one route until you quit the game. When I re-launch the game later, I have to reset my route, which takes forever because of the inefficient display on the map view. And if I make a mistake, there's no way to go back so I have to start over from the beginning again.
Anyway, I don't know if this is the exact right place to put this, but it seems somewhat okay. Also, I don't know how much control the Ambrosia guys really have over this. I mean, it would be great if they could just take the port and streamline it into a really kickass game, but if that's not possible I'd like to know so I don't get my hopes up. And it may not be technically possible to do some of the suggestions I listed. I mean, if separating the music from the sound effects are so hard, imagine what it would be like getting that other stuff to work!
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Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
-Edgar Bergen
