Ohai.

So.. I played this back in grade 8.. which was like.. 8 years ago. XD

How many people still play this? XD

Welcome to WinBolo!

Interest in the game has dropped off a bit, with most of the old-timer players transitioning into more productive lifestyles. However we still have a pretty active player base of about a dozen so there's usually at least one game going on at any time of the day.

In theory the game could become popular again once we get it running on Linux and OS X.

You can usually find a winBolo open game happening during the day.

If you're a mac user, there's some exciting stuff happening at www.xbolo.org. Some very skilled developers are building bots and noobs are showing up to learn the game. The player skill level is below-average by winBolo standards, but will rapidly improve with practice.

XBolo is very similar to winBolo, but with some promising enhancements. Gameplay is a bit different and it still has some strange bugs, but no more than winBolo IMO. For one thing, you can play for very long periods without the server hanging.

XBolo has a kickban feature. Not sure if it works, or how well, because xBolo players are considerably more mature than in the winBolo universe. It may be because most of us are older and quite a few played classic Bolo in the 90's.

you came on to a winbolo forum thread to promote a rival game.....

We actually have about two dozen active players, hood. That's 200% more!

Xbolo might be nice and all, but what we really need is a cross-platform client that can unite all forms of bolo and winbolo players.

wow, you seriously posted on here about xbolo like that? seriously? That's pretty retarded.

Min

Min,

I meant no disrespect for winBolo, its creator, or its players. I also think categorizing xBolo as a 'rival' game is wrong. Winbolo, xBolo and nuBolo all share a common Bolo heritage. I get excited any time someone tries to recreate Stuart Cheshire's timeless game regardless of which platform it's authored for. If there was some way to implement it on smart phones, I think it would really take off again.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were common server/client protocols so every platform could play together? We'll never get there if we regard the 'other' camp as rivals.

I'm grateful for winbolo. Back when it was shareware I paid my shareware fee. I can't play it on my mac, though, unless I boot Windows. Like many mac users, I prefer staying on the OSX side as much as possible, so xBolo is happy news.

XBolo is better than winBolo in a few ways. Is that statement offensive to you? It shouldn't be. Now that winBolo is open source it might be possible for the brightest of us to implement some of the better features of the sister application. Why are we constricted to a tiny viewing window, for instance? It's a legacy of small screen sizes of the past and I simply don't like 'radar scrolling' all the time.

WinBolo is better than xBolo in other ways. The creator of xBolo would be wise to observe some of the things that work well in winBolo. I hope he does, because it will make his game better.

It's all Bolo, man! Isn't that a good thing?

The xBolo crowd also seem to exhibit a bit more tolerance and maturity. They're fun to hang out with and that in turn makes the games fun. Something else we could learn from them.

Cmdr_X, I'm not sure if you're aware but you have all the tools necessary to make XBolo compatible with Winbolo. The source code is available at http://winbolo.googlecode.com and the developer documentation is available at http://winbolo.org

Cmdr_X wrote:

XBolo is better than winBolo in a few ways. Is that statement offensive to you?

It definitely is offensive to me. I'll explain why. First, this is a winbolo forum, for talking about winbolo. This is not a xbolo forum. Second, the term 'better' is subjective. You may consider it 'better', however what makes it better is certainly up for debate.

Cmdr_X wrote:

Why are we constricted to a tiny viewing window, for instance? It's a legacy of small screen sizes of the past and I simply don't like 'radar scrolling' all the time.

The reason winbolo's screen remains small has very little to do with legacy, it has to do with strategy. That's what this game is about, its a strategy game. The moment you increase the viewable area you increase battlefield awareness, the moment that changes. It means that it requires less skill to know whats going on around you. This is akin to changing the rules of chess. Just because xbolo has the same graphics as bolo doesn't mean its much like bolo at all.

You make the statement 'its all bolo' and I definitely disagree strongly with that assertion. Its not bolo if it doesn't play like bolo. Having some tanks and pillboxes doesn't make it the same. Changing the viewable area makes it not bolo. Its some other game. If you want to play your other game, that's fine, but keep it off this forum.

Min

cmdrx= your fishing for xbolo players in winbolo pond. just piss off, its not welcome here. Done.

Lots of tension here... I don't have a mac, so xbolo is probably out of the question, but thanks for sharing with me. To be honest, I didn't like the small screen myself, and was hoping it had been modified. XD

All in all, it's Bolo to me so I'll just live with it. Any idea what server I should connect to to get into one of the communities Bolo games?

ImRtL wrote:

Lots of tension here... I don't have a mac, so xbolo is probably out of the question, but thanks for sharing with me. To be honest, I didn't like the small screen myself, and was hoping it had been modified. XD

That's what your scrolling keys are for. They allow you to move the view around so that you can see better whats going on in front of you. The downside is it means you can't see whats going on behind you as much. Hence strategy.

ImRtL wrote:

Any idea what server I should connect to to get into one of the communities Bolo games?

Not sure what you mean by that, just join any of the games your able to join.

Min

Min wrote:

ImRtL wrote:

Any idea what server I should connect to to get into one of the communities Bolo games?

Not sure what you mean by that, just join any of the games your able to join.

Min

Ya, I figured that out last night.. XD I'll play now and then. Is there a time when people are on more often than not?

ImRtL wrote:

Ya, I figured that out last night.. XD I'll play now and then. Is there a time when people are on more often than not?

Afternoon to early evening eastern time is most active.

Min

ImRtl,

Welcome back to winBolo! Sorry I skewed your topic so far aside from its original purpose. I'd be happy to play a winBolo game with you anytime.

It's a wonderful game; thanks to Stuart, Elvis and all the others who've contributed so much.

Thanks, Jhood, for your efforts to bring winBolo to OSX.

Cmdr_X wrote:

Back when it was shareware I paid my shareware fee.

Wait, WinBolo isn't shareware anymore?

ImRtL wrote:

All in all, it's Bolo to me so I'll just live with it. Any idea what server I should connect to to get into one of the communities Bolo games?

If you use IRC, we're on Efnet, #winbolo. I think there's a web client too but someone else should have the link.

Sticks wrote:

Cmdr_X wrote:

Back when it was shareware I paid my shareware fee.

Wait, WinBolo isn't shareware anymore?

Nope, not since Elvis open sourced it.

Min wrote:

The reason winbolo's screen remains small has very little to do with legacy, it has to do with strategy. That's what this game is about, its a strategy game. The moment you increase the viewable area you increase battlefield awareness, the moment that changes. It means that it requires less skill to know whats going on around you.
Min

I can't disagree with that. But I never got the hang of pillview. Whenever I tried, it seemed to break my concentration on other activities and add confusion with distraction. I'm sure some people use it well. I'm definitely not one of them.