''Bolo'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

initially created for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

computer by Stuart Cheshire in 1987, and was later ported by Cheshire to the Apple

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

. 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 A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

battlefield.

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".

Description

Players are divided into two teams. Each player commands a tank that can be driven around a battlefield within an orthogonal, top-down view. The tank has a cannon, which fires forward, and it carries mines as a secondary weapon, which can be dropped while moving or be placed somewhere on the map. Tanks have a certain amount of "armor" (

hit points Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the f ...

), which is reduced by enemy shots. A tank is destroyed if its armor reaches zero or if it is driven into the sea. Cannon ammunition and mines can be refilled by going to a friendly "base". The bases also repair damage to tanks, but this depletes the base's armor. Bases' ammunition and armor regenerate slowly. The goal of the game is to capture all of the bases on the map. Neutral bases may be captured by driving one's tank over them. Hostile bases can be made neutral again by shooting them until their armor supply is reduced to zero. Another game element is the " pillbox". Pillboxes are initially neutral and will shoot at any tank that approaches them. Like the supply bases, pillboxes can be shot at until destroyed, after which a player can restore it, making it friendly. Unlike the bases, pillboxes can be moved around the map by the players. Inside the tank is an engineer, who places mines and moves pillboxes. The engineer can also perform building tasks, after collecting wood in a forest. The structures that can be built are roads, which speed up travel, and walls, which act as a barrier. The engineer can be killed by enemies while out of the tank.

Networking

The Macintosh version of Bolo supported up to sixteen concurrent networked players, using

AppleTalk AppleTalk is a discontinued proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. AppleTalk includes a number of features that allow local area networks to be connected with no prior setup or the ...

over a

Local Area Network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a large ...

, or UDP over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

. All AppleTalk network connection types were supported, including

LocalTalk LocalTalk is a particular implementation of the physical layer of the AppleTalk networking system from Apple Computer. LocalTalk specifies a system of shielded twisted pair cabling, plugged into self-terminating transceivers, running at a rate ...

, EtherTalk, TokenTalk, and

AppleTalk Remote Access AppleTalk Remote Access, or ARA, was a protocol stack that allowed AppleTalk to be run over modems. It became a fairly major product for Apple Computer in the early to mid-1990s when their first portable and laptop computers were available (and v ...

References

External links

Bolo home pageStuart Cheshire
the author of ''Bolo'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolo (Video Game) BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Classic Mac OS games MacOS games 1987 video games Linux games Windows games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Multiplayer and single-player video games Military science fiction video games

Name

Description

Networking

References

Further reading

External links