Temple of The Roguelike Forums

Game Discussion => Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) => Topic started by: ibazly on May 08, 2015, 10:02:33 PM

Title: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: ibazly on May 08, 2015, 10:02:33 PM
Hello everybody!

So I was thinking about this game recently, and I saw that there was a thread here (http://forums.roguetemple.com/index.php?topic=258.msg23905#msg23905) where the creator of Mission Thunderbolt offered to make it available to folks on the forum, as the thread was largely about getting our hand on this game again. What I DIDN'T find, though, was any discussion ABOUT the game itself!

How many of you have played this game? What do you think? What are some of your experiences with it?

Mission Thunderbolt was one of two games that introduced me to the genre (along with Fatal Labyrinth for the Sega Genesis) and still remains one of the most prominent games in my life - I frequently go back to it and am amazed by the complexity of all the possible interactions - one of my favourites being when I accidentally and unwittingly befriended a troglodyte by getting it out of a jam, and it proceeded to be the most useful ally I'd ever had in a roguelike. Ever.

Would love to hear some thoughts / stories about this game! Is anyone, like me, still playing it?
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: Samildanach on May 08, 2015, 10:49:50 PM
I've played it a little, but only in the last few months. I was unaware of it when it was new. So far I haven't survived long enough to have any particularly notable experiences but it seems promising.

Interested people can get it here (http://www.old-games.com/download/3974/jaunttrooper-mission-thunderbolt) - use the 'Easy Setup' download to get it packaged with DOSbox as a combined executable.
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: ibazly on May 09, 2015, 02:17:46 AM
Yes, that is where I downloaded it from originally! Do the sounds work for you? I find they don't seem to work on my computer - they're a bit laggy.
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: akeley on May 09, 2015, 10:18:33 AM
One of my first RLs, awesome game. Found it through the marvel of HOTU (http://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=4199) and been playing occasionally ever since (though also not enough to get anywhere significant).

It`s a real gem, complex and original, with an added bonus of retro-cute Win 3.1 design. I can run it straight, without any wrappers on my Win XP machine, sound also works fine.

I also recall playing the DEC original...probably on some online portal, though don`t remember where now. The sequel, Mission Firestorm is said to be even better - haven`t got around to trying it yet though. Can be found at Macintosh Garden (http://macintoshgarden.org/games/jaunttrooper-mission-firestorm).
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: Samildanach on May 09, 2015, 01:05:37 PM
Yes, that is where I downloaded it from originally! Do the sounds work for you? I find they don't seem to work on my computer - they're a bit laggy.

The sounds work for me but they do cause bursts of lag. The game will freeze for a couple of seconds and then suddenly start again once the sound effect manages to load.
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: ibazly on May 09, 2015, 07:17:23 PM
One of my first RLs, awesome game. Found it through the marvel of HOTU (http://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=4199) and been playing occasionally ever since (though also not enough to get anywhere significant).

It`s a real gem, complex and original, with an added bonus of retro-cute Win 3.1 design. I can run it straight, without any wrappers on my Win XP machine, sound also works fine.

I also recall playing the DEC original...probably on some online portal, though don`t remember where now. The sequel, Mission Firestorm is said to be even better - haven`t got around to trying it yet though. Can be found at Macintosh Garden (http://macintoshgarden.org/games/jaunttrooper-mission-firestorm).

Yeah I haven't played Firestorm either, would LOVE to though! I've tried setting up Mac emulators to do it, but about half way through realize I have no clue what I'm doing and whatever I am doing isn't working haha  :o
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: Z on May 14, 2015, 11:43:59 PM
A great game indeed!

I also recall playing the DEC original...probably on some online portal, though don`t remember where now.

Hey, that's interesting! So it is possible to play the DEC original online somewhere? Where? I thought the original, all the four parts of it, was lost...
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: akeley on May 15, 2015, 08:03:11 PM
I found that link (through TVTropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/JauntTrooper), of all places), but sadly it`s now dead:
 https://wopr.adelphos.org/systems/wopr.html (https://wopr.adelphos.org/systems/wopr.html)


But maybe somebody more familiar with the subject of terminals/telnets and all that sorcery could still dig something out the main page: https://wopr.adelphos.org/#wopr (https://wopr.adelphos.org/#wopr)

There`s more games and other stuff listed...last post is from nearly a year ago but maybe contacting some people there could work.
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: Z on May 17, 2015, 08:51:12 PM
Actually, it works -- on the main page https://wopr.adelphos.org/#wopr just click on the "WebSocket supported: Click here to login " ("If your browser supports WebSocket, you should see the confirmation immediately below.") And using telnet to connect to wopr.adelphos.org works too. Although TvTropes says that the third part is missing... it would be great if they made it work on modern computers and put it on Steam.

Thanks!
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: lightman on June 18, 2015, 11:08:14 AM
Seems to work well on wopr.adelphos.org. If you telnet, login with games / games, and you can find it under Rogue-likes. Using firefox, the websocket interface seems to work for me as well, directly from the webpage (https://wopr.adelphos.org/#wopr).

In game:
'?' will get user help menu
keypad or standard 'vim' commands will move you around (e.g. hjkl)
Ctrl-Z is the 'cancel' sequence (e.g. to get out of a question dialog, menu, etc..)

Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: akeley on June 18, 2015, 07:14:51 PM
Tried again and it does work indeed, previous trouble must be credited to my ancient & buggy install of WinXP. Grand!

Mr Lightman, I presume...the site`s maintainer? If so, is there any chance to somehow "rip" these games for offline play?
Title: Re: JauntTrooper: Mission Thunderbolt
Post by: akeley on December 25, 2017, 07:24:28 AM
So, sadly, wopr.adelphos.org seems to be dead for good now.

And yet...Getting Doomsday 2000 working on simulated Alpha OpenVMS 8.4-2 (https://astr0baby.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/getting-doomsday-2000-working-on-simulated-alpha-openvms-8-4-2/)