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Apple Businesses Entertainment Games

Glider PRO Becomes Freeware for the Mac 46

Posted by pudge from the apple-should-drive-more-companies-out-of-business dept.
sasha328 writes "Original developer of Glider PRO releases the game as freeware. This has come about from the collapse of Cassady & Greene. I wonder if he'll consider releasing the code for the games." Ah, I used to love this game. It's still good.
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Glider PRO Becomes Freeware for the Mac More

Glider PRO Becomes Freeware for the Mac

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  • oh well (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tirel ( 692085 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @11:36AM (#6589108)
    For those who have never seen the game before; the purpose of this game is to guide a glider through various rooms in order to collect the 6 magic stars. In order to do so, you must avoid obstacles, such as enemy gliders, bouncing basketballs, jumping goldfish, water drips, and running into walls, shelves, or falling on the floor. The glider moves by trading height for distance. It is controlled by the direction keys (default), or you can define the key control. Floor vents and candles give you the chance to increase your height. The candle causes special problems; if you get too close, you'll catch on fire. Besides collecting the stars, you also collect points. Points are collected by running into clocks (they actually work and tell the correct time), and also by passing through rooms. It was a really good game too (sigh, I miss my mac, had to sell it ;()

    • Re:oh well (Score:3, Informative)

      by analog_line ( 465182 )
      There's a windows version listed at the bottom of the site. I'm currently playing that, and putting the OSX vesion on my laptop. Woo hoo!
  • This has made my day, I played Glider PRO for a bit and thought it was a cool game but a bit aged and not worth buying. But now it's freeware,...

    yipeeeee!
    • would you call PacMan aged?

      it's possible people don't realize this glider is not *that* improved over the one i spent many hours playing (and creating boards for) on my Mac SE way back when. The most obvious evolution to the game is..... color?

  • Open Source? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @11:43AM (#6589168) Journal
    Having it freeware is awfully nice, but it'd be even neater if he decided to open source it so that it could be ported to Linux and other operating systems.

    John Calhoun (author of Glider PRO) used to use a nude as his logo back in his Soft Dorthy Software days.
    • I email a request to him.

      calhoun * mac.com

    • Re:Open Source? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by subuni ( 264682 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @02:28PM (#6590874)
      Back in the late 80's / early 90's, john calhoun did release the source for his various games. So there is a possibility that he may release the sources for these updated versions, who knows. Somewhere around here on an 800k disk, I have the LightSpeed Pascal source for Glider v2.02.

      <cheap plug>And there is an open source clone, written in Java at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jglider/. It's currently playable, although it is lacking some features (enemies -- toasters, fish bowls, helocopters, etc). It certainly needs new graphics as it's using the old black&white images. And the ability to read in existing House files would be great. Someday, I'll get around to fixing/implementing all of that :)</cheap plug>

      • Re:Open Source? (Score:5, Informative)

        by tritone ( 189506 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @07:52PM (#6593236) Homepage
        John Calhoun is one if the first shareware game developers for the Mac. A lot of programmers, including myself, derived inspiration and source code from him. His code for Glypha IV, a Joust-like game, is here [idevgames.com].
        A carbon port of Glypha III is here [idevgames.com].

      • Java Glider (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Pius II. ( 525191 ) <[moc.duolci] [ta] [p0_ygoloib_seel]> on Friday August 01, 2003 @08:39PM (#6593454)
        Just in case you want information regarding the house file format or the way the Glider is to move (exact pixel values), mail me. I decrypted the house format and built an GliderHouse->XML converter (hey, just 'cause I could :-).
        Never had the nerve to actually finish implementing the actual game, what with those 144 types of objects and all.
      • John Calhoun's email is: calhoun1@aplle.com I emailed him about open source (out of curiosity from the Glider PRO club), he said "No, there are no future plans for updating the game.....blah, blah, blah" and he's not releasing the source code. Pity, coz a bunch of us wanted to edit the program and add some more bad guys..... Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/penguin127sgliderpro club or http://wake-up.to?gliderpro for more info -Splash

    • Re:Open Source? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dave1212 ( 652688 ) on Saturday August 02, 2003 @12:42AM (#6594286) Homepage
      John Calhoun (author of Glider PRO) used to use a nude as his logo back in his Soft Dorothy Software days
      ---

      That was in the first Glider. Inspired by thoughts of the boss cat clawing my plane out of the air, I opened it in ResEdit on one of my old machines (a IIci) and grabbed the PICTs.. copy and "Create New Document from Clipboard" in GraphicConverter. Over the LocalTalk network to my Power Mac 7500, then over ethernet to my G4 and the web, here's the pics for your enjoyment.


      The info screen [paulprobert.com],

      and here's the loading screen (the girl in the image, quite beautiful, ended up on one of my early bands' tape covers, no worries John, it was never sold): Soft Dorothy Software [paulprobert.com]

  • Runs under XP Pro! (Score:5, Informative)

    by jezor ( 51922 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @11:47AM (#6589205) Homepage
    The older version of Glider 4.0 actually runs fine under Windows XP Pro, notwithstanding the warnings on the site.

    Looks like a fun distraction. Now, if someone would port it to PalmOS 5.0... :) {Jonathan}

  • wine? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by wscott ( 20864 )
    I can't get the Windows version to work on Wine.

    Anyone else have any luck?

    It is a fun game.

  • a fond memory from my monochrome youth (Score:5, Funny)

    by krog ( 25663 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @12:14PM (#6589504) Homepage
    can't beat 2-bit nudie splash screens! [chello.at]

    Glider+ 3.1.2 ruled my ass, although not quite as hard as Falcon.
  • Crystal Quest came from this company too right? It came out on the mac as well as the Apple IIgs. I WISH that game would be released as well too.

  • What is that music? (Score:2, Informative)

    by bobrk ( 62170 )
    I've played Glider for years, and was impressed that there was an OS X version.

    But the big question for me is "What is the name of that song?"
    • I don't know but I made an MP3 to enjoy on the go. 1:33 of pure auditory bliss. Soothing action action action.... [cthome.net]

    • Re:What is that music? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It's original. FWIW, I play around a bit with keyboards, guitars, etc. At the time Glider PRO was coming together, I think I had maybe a dozen little "pieces" on tape. I listened to all of them while playing the game and it was pretty clear right away which one "fit". I chopped it into four "stanzas" or whatever and then had the basic music. Empty segment (bass prominent) idles until you move room to room, then the music rolls up on the next stanza. Moving between floors (or via vents I believe) causes

  • Serial number (Score:5, Funny)

    by MacGod ( 320762 ) on Friday August 01, 2003 @02:36PM (#6590956)
    The Application is still the original one, and thus it asks for a serial number. This number is included in a serial number.txt file.

    Man, that filename looks familiar.... I'm pretty sure most of my software comes that way!

    For all you lawyers reading this, yes that was a joke!

  • The B+W version was beautiful (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I remember playing glider on a friend's old mac plus- it was one of the great old, elegant Macintosh games, along side Dark Castle and one called Manhole (no goatse comments, please). The color version doesn't look as pretty, but it's fun, and it was the first piece of software I bought for my first mac. Isn't there a level editor out there for Glider? This seems like one of those games that could age very well as freeware.

    • Yes, there was an editor that shipped with an earlier version of Glider.

      The first game I bought for my Mac IIsi was Glider 4.06. The disk included a little application called Room Editor 1.04. You could create your own house using the Room Editor. It took quite a bit of time to create a series of rooms that was as playable as those that shipped with the game.

      Thank you John Calhoun for releasing this as freeware!

    • no OS X level editor..... meow (Score:4, Informative)

      by johnpaul191 ( 240105 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @02:47PM (#6608826) Homepage
      from the link above:

      Glider PRO for Mac OS X does not have a house editor (it was never ported to OS X). The Mac OS 9 version is still the only way to create new Glider PRO houses (sorry).


      that's a shame... the level editor was indeed much fun.

  • Worth it just for the original Mac startup sound.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Saturday August 02, 2003 @05:51PM (#6597071) Homepage
    I bought it, ages ago. I always loved the style and the artwork--would you call it Preraphaelite, or maybe just faux Rider-Waite Tarot card style?

    I haven't doublechecked to make sure this is in the downloadable freeware version, but one of the lovely things in the original Slumberland house was a room containing a Mac Plus. By directing the glider properly you can turn it on--and you hear the original Mac "department-store chime." That will bring back memories for those who recall how exciting it was to hear that instead of the typical dull square-wave "beep" that was then the norm.

  • glider isn't everything (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MrFreak ( 204353 ) <(moc.ksidyppols) (ta) (yppols)> on Sunday August 03, 2003 @02:40AM (#6598776) Homepage
    This is all well and good, but when am I finally going to see a Mac OS X version of Stunt Copter?

    (Here;s [tripod.com] a link to the Classic version.)

  • Forget about Glider Pro... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bennomatic ( 691188 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @02:31PM (#6601187) Homepage
    What about Armor Alley? Now that was a great game!
    • Never forget Glider PRO! It's freeware now! lol Though I do agree that Armor Alley is a good game... You can get downloads for a heck of a lot of [Macintosh] games at http://mac.the-underdogs.org Ah, freeware games.... You gotta love 'em! Armor Alley's there if you want to download it.... -Tash

  • Yay (Score:4, Funny)

    by luekj ( 692478 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @09:39PM (#6603186) Journal
    YAY DUKE NUKEM FOREVER IS FINA......

    Oh wait. Nevermind.

    I just get jumpier and jumpier these days...

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