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M.U.L.E. is a seminal multiplayer video game written in 1983 by Dan Bunten of Ozark Softscape. It was published by Electronic Arts. It was originally written for the Atari 400/800 and then was ported to the Commodore 64 and the Nintendo Entertainment System and to the IBM PC Jr..
While it played like a game, it was actually an economic simulation taking place on a small colony planet.
In 1996 Computer Gaming World named M.U.L.E. as
3 on its Best Games of All Time list on the PC.
Essentially, the game is an exercise in supply and demand economics that is set in space on the planet Irata (which is Atari backwards) and involves competition among four players. To win the game, the players not only must compete against each other, but they need to cooperate with each other for the survival of the colony. Central to the game is the acquisition and use of "M.U.L.E."s (Multiple Use Labor Element) to develop and harvest the player's real estate which can consist of: Energy, Food, Smithore (from which M.U.L.E.s are constructed), and Crystite. Players must balance supply and demand of these four elements (Crystite is available as an option during Tournament play only) as well as other events such as fires, theft, etc.
M.U.L.E. was revolutionary in the ease with which it allowed multiplayer interaction through a single game/computer console. (Its development came years before the advent of multiplayer Internet connectivity.) Though this failed as a trend setter at the time, the game is still heralded as the first game to make effective use of the multiplayer game concept.
The game was very popular in its day among certain groups. It did not become a bestselling title, but it has more recently become a favorite of retrogaming enthusiasts. Various clones for modern computers exist, the most recent commercial clone published in 2002. The original's addictive theme song by Roy Glover has been widely covered by remix groups.
Dani Bunten (previously Dan Bunten) was working on an Internet version of the game until her death in 1998.
Many game designers cite the game as one of the most revolutionary ever and an inspiration for many of their games. Will Wright dedicated his game The Sims, the greatest selling computer game of all time, to the memory of Bunten.
A modern version of the game entitled Space HoRSE was developed in 2004 by Gilligames and is distributed by Shrapnel Games.
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M.U.L.E.
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| | Title | M.U.L.E. | | image |  | | Developer | Ozark Softscape | | Publisher | Electronic Arts & Ariolasoft (Europe) | | Designer | Danielle Bunten Berry | | Released | 1983 | | Genre | Turn-based strategy game | | Modes | Single player, Multi player (up to four playe... | | Platforms | Atari 8-bit family#The early machines: 400 an... | | Media | Varied | | Input | joystick, Computer keyboard |
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