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{{more citations needed|date=June 2020}}
{{Otheruses3|Bolo}}{{Infobox CVG| title = Bolo
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
|image = ]
{{Infobox video game
|title = Bolo
|image =
|developer = Various |developer = Various
|publisher = Various |publisher = Various
|designer = |designer =
|engine = |engine =
|released = ]
|version =
|released = ] |genre = ]
⚫ |modes = ], ]
|genre = ]
⚫ |platforms = ], ], ], ], ]
⚫ |modes = ], ]
}}
|ratings =
⚫ |platforms = ], ], ], ], ], ]
|media = ]
|requirements = ] for multiplayer
|input = ], ]
}}'''''Bolo''''' is a ] originally developed for the ] computer by ] in 1982. An update inspired by the original was created for the ] computer by ] in ], and later ported to the ] in its most popular incarnation. The original Bolo was a single-player game. Cheshire's Bolo is a networked multiplayer game that simulates a ] battlefield. It is thus a very early example of a ] game. While the graphics are somewhat primitive compared to modern video games, Bolo remains a popular and addictive phenomenon.


'''''Bolo''''' is a ] initially created for the ] computer by ] in 1987, and was later ported by Cheshire to the Apple ].<ref name="BoloManual">{{cite web | url = http://bishop.mc.duke.edu/bolo/guides/bolomanual/ | title = MacBolo Instructions | accessdate = 27 May 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070518053532/http://bishop.mc.duke.edu/bolo/guides/bolomanual/ | archive-date = 18 May 2007 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Although offered for sale for the BBC Micro,<ref name="acornuser198901">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser078-Jan89/page/n131/mode/1up | title=Bolo! | work=Acorn User | author=go-dax | date=January 1989 | access-date=30 April 2021 | pages=139}}</ref><ref name="worldinpixels-2020">{{cite web | url=https://www.idesine.com/blogs/news/the-mysterious-delos-d-harriman-talks-about-the-unreleased-bolo-in-an-extended-excerpt-from-acorn-a-world-in-pixels | title= Delos D.Harriman talks about unreleased Bolo | work=World in Pixels | author=idesine | date=November 2020}}</ref> this version is now regarded as lost.<ref name="sth">{{cite web | url=https://www.stairwaytohell.com/lostandfound/homepage.html | title=Lost and Found | website=Stairway to Hell | access-date=30 April 2021}}</ref> It is a networked multiplayer game that simulates a ] battlefield. Currently, a Windows version known as Winbolo remains in operation and continues to have a small but active player base.<ref>{{Cite web | title=WinBolo.com: Downloads | url=http://www.winbolo.com/downloads.php | access-date=2023-07-10 | website=www.winbolo.com}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web | title=WinBolo.net: Index | url=http://winbolo.net/ | access-date=2023-07-10 | website=winbolo.net}}</ref>
⚫ ==Description==


==Name==
]. Jack responds by shooting one of his own pillboxes, making it angry so it shoots more frequently.]]
According to the Bolo Frequently Asked Questions page: "Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. ''Bolo'' is about computers communicating on the network, and more importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc."<ref name="Bolo FAQ">{{cite web | url = http://bishop.mc.duke.edu/bolo/guides/stuartfaq.html | title = Frequently Asked Questions | accessdate = 27 May 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070518233700/http://bishop.mc.duke.edu/bolo/guides/stuartfaq.html | archive-date = 18 May 2007 | url-status = dead}}</ref>
In Bolo, the player commands a tank that can be driven around a battlefield viewed from above. The tank's primary weapon is its cannon, which has a fairly fast rate of fire. As a secondary weapon, the tank also stocks mines, which can be planted by an engineer who runs for the tank and "drills" the mine into the ground. The mine is invisible to other players, although it remains visible to the player who planted it, and other members of his team.


Another ] was created for the Apple II in 1982. In the user manual, Cheshire wrote that this was "an unfortunate coincidence".<ref name="BoloManual" />
Ammunition, both for the cannon and mines, can be refilled at a limited number of supply bases scattered around the map. Bases can be captured by shooting at them and then driving onto them. Their supply of ammunition refills slowly, so keeping several bases and protecting them is the primary strategic goal of the game.


] is also the name for a class of self-aware tanks in a series of stories initially published in 1960 by science fiction writer ].
A secondary strategic goal is the capture and planting of ]es, which are also scattered around the map. Pillboxes are initially neutral, and will shoot at any tank that approaches them. Like the supply bases, pillboxes can be shot at until destroyed, at which point they become friendly to that player's team. Unlike the bases, pillboxes can be picked up by the tank's engineer, and then moved to more strategic locations, normally closer to allied supply bases. In the early Macintosh versions the pillboxes were fairly easy to kill, but this was changed so they progressively increase their rate of fire as they are attacked, eventually becoming extremely deadly. Players have developed an array of tactical tricks to accomplish speedy pillbox capture, such as ''the decoy'' (where a player draws fire away from the pillbox while an ally shoots it) and ''the pillblock'' (where a friendly pillbox is placed so that it blocks the hostile pillbox's shots but allows the tank to shoot past it at the hostile pillbox).


⚫ == Description ==
The engineer can also perform building tasks. In order to do this he must first be sent into a forest to cut trees, which are essentially "cash" in the Bolo world. He can then built roads in order to speed travel, or concrete walls to protect bases and form traps. The engineer can be killed on these missions, and a replacement will parachute in after a time delay. Killing enemy engineers has also developed its own set of methodologies, one of the nastiest being to plant a mine in an forest where an enemy is collecting trees.
]


==Networking== == Networking ==
The Macintosh version of Bolo supported up to sixteen concurrent networked players,
using ] over a ],
or ] over the ].<ref name="faq1">{{cite web | url=http://bolo.net/rgb-faq1.txt | title= rec.games.bolo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 1 | author=Cory L. Scott | date=May 1995}}</ref><ref name="faq2">{{cite web | url=http://bolo.net/rgb-faq2.txt | title= rec.games.bolo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 2 | author=Cory L. Scott | date=May 1995}}</ref><ref name="VirtualCommunity">{{cite journal | last1=Moore | first1=Eric | title=The Bolo Game: Exploration of a High-Tech Virtual Community | journal=Advances in Consumer Research | date=1996 | volume=23 | pages=167–171 | url=https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/7937/volumes/v23/NA-23/full | access-date=1 November 2021}}</ref> All AppleTalk network connection types were supported, including ], ], TokenTalk, and ].<ref name="BoloManual" /> The current Windows version continues to support 16 players, who join via an active games page or the game's Discord channel.<ref>{{Cite web | title=WinBolo.net: Active Games | url=http://winbolo.net/activegames.php | access-date=2023-07-10 | website=winbolo.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Join the WinBolo Discord Server! | url=https://discord.com/invite/hkxKS3r | access-date=2023-07-10 | website=Discord}}</ref>


== References ==
Key to Bolo's popularity was its networking support, which allowed up to sixteen players to join a single game. In the "early days" the game supported only ] (for obvious reasons) and did so through an interesting implementation that formed the basis of Cheshire's dissertation.
{{reflist}}


==Further reading==
On startup, Bolo advertised itself on the LocalTalk network using the ], AppleTalk's system that allowed programs to be registered with human-readable names. If such a service could be found already, the new instance sent a message to that machine, asking to join the game. To the user, this was invisible and automatic.
{{refbegin}}
* Andrew Wilson and Stephen Intille, , MIT Media Lab Fall 1995 - this paper describes using Bolo as a system for developing a ] system.<!--Did this paper appear in a peer-reviewed journal, or has it been cited by other papers a significant number of times?-->
* Silberman, S. (1995). . NetGuide Magazine, May issue. Archived from on 5 June 2020.
{{refend}}


⚫ == External links ==
The game used only a single packet that was sent from machine in a round-robin fashion. Each new instance had its address inserted into one of the sixteen slots in the package, on a first-come-first-serve basis. The packet was then passed to the first machine in the list, who inserted any updates to the state of the player's tank into a payload area, read the next address on the list, and passed the packet along. That machine then received the latest data from all the machines in the packet. This approach dramatically reduced overall network traffic.
⚫ *
⚫ * , the author of ''Bolo''
*
⚫ *


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolo (Video Game)}}
The major advantage to this system was that there was no "host" machine. Games could join or leave at any time, by simply adding or removing their address from the slots in the packet. Most modern games still require one machine to act as the "host", and if the host exits the game all the other players are "kicked off" as well. Given the need to lower latency as much as possible, this sort of architecture may be difficult to avoid, however. A single host can asynchronously receive and send data to all of the players in the game at the same time, whereas with the packet-passing system the data is not received until it has passed through all of the other machines; given a "ping" time on the order of a few tens of millisecond common on the ], this might mean that updates will not be seen for periods well over a second. Bolo's system sacrificed latency for traffic, a very reasonable trade-off in an era when practically every network was local.
⚫ ]

⚫ ]
Unfortunately there was one problem with the implementation as well. On larger games the machines had to be added to the game roughly in the order of their physical location on the network. If machines were added "at random", all the games would crash. It appears the system included a hard round-trip timeout, and if the games joined in a fashion that didn't minimize the latency between machines, it was possible to hit this timeout.
⚫ ]

⚫ ]
==Versions==

Bolo has been ported to ] and ] by John Morrison, under the names ''WinBolo'' and ''LinBolo''.

There are two independently developed ] versions of Bolo. One is ''XBolo'' by Genga Software, which seems to be out of current development. The other is ''nuBolo'' by C.R. Osterwald, which is a direct port of the original Bolo 0.997 source code. Neither of these versions is capable of networking with the ''WinBolo'' or ''LinBolo'' clones (according to the XBolo ], the author states he has not received a reply in his request for documentation of the networking function from the WinBolo/LinBolo group).

In more recent times (2004) a ] freeware version was released by the third-party developer Konstantin Dimitrov under the name ''Bolo: Resurrection''.

⚫ ==External links==
*
⚫ *
⚫ *, the author of Bolo
* and
⚫ *
*
*
*

⚫ ]
⚫ ]
⚫ ]
⚫ ]
⚫ ]
] ]
] ]
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Latest revision as of 17:40, 13 October 2024

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1987 video game
Bolo
Developer(s)Various
Publisher(s)Various
Platform(s)BBC Micro, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows
Release1987
Genre(s)Tactical shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Bolo is a video game initially created for the BBC Micro computer by Stuart Cheshire in 1987, and was later ported by Cheshire to the Apple Macintosh. Although offered for sale for the BBC Micro, this version is now regarded as lost. It is a networked multiplayer game that simulates a tank battlefield. Currently, a Windows version known as Winbolo remains in operation and continues to have a small but active player base.

Name

According to the Bolo Frequently Asked Questions page: "Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. Bolo is about computers communicating on the network, and more importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc."

Another tank game with the same name was created for the Apple II in 1982. In the user manual, Cheshire wrote that this was "an unfortunate coincidence".

Bolo is also the name for a class of self-aware tanks in a series of stories initially published in 1960 by science fiction writer Keith Laumer.

Description

Screenshot from the game

Networking

The Macintosh version of Bolo supported up to sixteen concurrent networked players, using AppleTalk over a Local Area Network, or UDP over the Internet. All AppleTalk network connection types were supported, including LocalTalk, EtherTalk, TokenTalk, and AppleTalk Remote Access. The current Windows version continues to support 16 players, who join via an active games page or the game's Discord channel.

References

  1. ^ "MacBolo Instructions". Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  2. go-dax (January 1989). "Bolo!". Acorn User. p. 139. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  3. idesine (November 2020). "Delos D.Harriman talks about unreleased Bolo". World in Pixels.
  4. "Lost and Found". Stairway to Hell. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  5. "WinBolo.com: Downloads". www.winbolo.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  6. "WinBolo.net: Index". winbolo.net. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  7. "Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  8. Cory L. Scott (May 1995). "rec.games.bolo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 1".
  9. Cory L. Scott (May 1995). "rec.games.bolo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 2".
  10. Moore, Eric (1996). "The Bolo Game: Exploration of a High-Tech Virtual Community". Advances in Consumer Research. 23: 167–171. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  11. "WinBolo.net: Active Games". winbolo.net. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  12. "Join the WinBolo Discord Server!". Discord. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

Further reading

External links

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