What I’ve been waiting for since soon after I got a computer is finally here: We can now play M.U.L.E. on the internet. M.U.L.E. is renown with gamers and game developers alike for its non-zero sum game strategy and simple interface. M.U.L.E. pits 4 players in a Monopoly-like experience that simulates planet colonization, dealing with economic principles such as supply and demand, price theory, economies of scale, learning curve theory of production, diminishing returns and more. Now keep in mind that M.U.L.E.’s interface only includes Atari joystick controls, 1 control stick and 1 button, meaning no keyboard to actually input numbers, but it still manages to handle a complex economic production and trade system. Also keep in mind that multiplayer games with multiple levels of interaction came decades ahead of its time with M.U.L.E. in 1983. Expect more on the game itself later.

An online friend from a M.U.L.E. forum put some time and effort in and figured out how to work an Atari emulator, Atari800Win, using Kaillera, a net connection system, to play M.U.L.E. over the nets. The end result is a zip of all the needed files that’s under a meg large and a budding online community that we are trying to expand. Notable is also that it’s possible to play with all 4 human players, which is exicting since the less AI in the game, the more unpredictable the games get.

Of course this is only for Windows machines, so we’ll have to see if we can get this working with any other OS.