I've just finished an online game that some people might be interested in.
It's called Westward!, and it's based on an early version of Oregon Trail.
Let me know what you think. It's at //www.apolitical.info/webgame/westward.
It was fun. It's better than the artificially difficult versions we tend to see nowadays- more in keeping with the original.
Looks fun i'll give it a try tmw as im abit knackered at the moment to give it the right amount of attention it deserves.
Thanks both of you.
There is a little glitch in your form validation. I was playing soldier with $250 starting money. I had spread out my money to exactly $250 but was under the minimum values. The error message on the submission page said I had spent over $250.
Other than that, the game is fun even if I suck at it :)
If you enter a number that's less than the minimum required, it increases it to the minimum. So the system would have looked at the new total, and seen that it was over $250. So it's not an error exactly, but it isn't very user-friendly. I'll think about how to make that work better.
I figured that may have been the case, it just made me flick back and forward twice and then get out a calculator to make sure my brain hadn't failed me some how... until I noticed I missed a minimum. :)
I've changed that part of the game. It now gives the message that you've entered less than the minimum.
Your hunting trip is successful. You push on.
Early April, 1847.
One of the children breaks their arm. You stop and make a splint and sling.
After 2040 gruelling miles, you arrive at Oregon City. Congratulations!
Thanks! That was fun.
My first run was very short. I picked minimum food, didn't catch anything my first hunting trip and died of starvation the very next day! My greatest regret is that I never got to eat my oxen.
But next time around I picked soldier and bought $150 oxen, then distributed the rest evenly. I was able to hunt, shoot and eat well the whole trip. The lowpoint was getting gored by an ox, which allowed me to shoot it for food. Nothing tastes better than mad cow! Yum!
Glad you liked it.
Now that you mention it, shooting the ox doesn't actually increases your food supply, which logically it should. I've changed that (now it's the same as a successful hunting trip).
Thanks for that - made it on the third attempt. It brought back memories of primary school drama - a BBC cassette in which we planned for the expedition then role-played it out.
No worries, glad you liked it.