Glider PRO
Encyclopedia
Glider PRO is an Apple Macintosh game first published by Casady & Greene
in 1991. It is the final installment of the Glider series to date.
When Casady & Greene went bankrupt, the rights to the series reverted to the author, John Calhoun
, who opted to give a few versions of the game away for free on his website.
(the Glider) in, around, over and even under a house trying to collect a number of hidden magic stars. The Glider can only be maneuvered to glide forward, glide backward, or to stand still. Further navigation is done chiefly with the aid of air currents provided by floor or ceiling ventilation ducts, fans, drafts, and wind. It is also possible to slide along slippery surfaces (such as spilled grease), and transport from a part of the level to another using the ventilation system, mailboxes, and sometimes invisible "teleports".
The main challenge is to simply avoid collision with the floor, or obstacles such as furniture. Moving obstacles include bouncing basketballs, popping toast, and dripping water. Candles and other ablaze objects sport both a handy updraft and a lethal flame. Collision with "enemy" paper planes and balloons is also fatal, but these can be shot down with the use of a rubber bands bonus item. The other bonus items are aluminum foil (shielding against in-flight collisions), pieces of paper (extra lives), a variety of clocks (points) and batteries and helium tanks (mutually exclusive, granting the ability for faster or upwardly flight, respectively).
A puzzle element is added to the gameplay in the form of switches controlling vents, lighting, home applications and even enemies.
Unlike the Glider 4.0 game, in which the game metaphor involved such things as claustrophobia
and rainy days indoors, the metaphor in the Glider PRO game involves such things as sunny weather, the start of summer vacation
, and outdoor environments in addition to indoor environments.
and was continuously updated through a Mac OS 9 version, the final release on the "Classic" Mac OSes. It was later ported to Mac OS X
as a native Carbon
application, and while this version has reworked graphics and a more muted color scheme it lacks a variety of preferences and the built-in house editor present in the Mac OS 9 version. PowerPC Mac OS X users can still run the Mac OS 9 version of Glider in the Classic environment
, giving them access to the multitude of additional preferences and the house editor.
. The game was also tested under Windows 7, where it was later confirmed it worked.
, Castle o' the Air, Teddy World, Land of Illusion, Imaginehouse PRO II, The Asylum PRO, Nemo's Market, Titanic, SpacePods, Rainbow's End, Leviathan
, Grand Prix, Metropolis
, and obviously Slumberland, Empty House and Demo House. In addition, the utilities Moving Van, a utility for moving graphics and sound between houses and libraries and any combination of the two, and Foundation Mover, a utility for sliding an entire house over in terms of the map position if you room ran out and CD-ROM special instructions and some graphics libraries were included.
. A few of the game's existing interface elements can also be altered this way. Most houses, including all that shipped with the game, do include at least custom graphics. An interesting design point is that custom objects are on their own purely background elements, but can be made interactive with the help of the game's many different invisible objects.
Fans have exploited design bugs as well as constructed patches
to alter houses and/or the program itself even further; the extreme makeover remains Ward Hartenstein's "house" SeaCaves, which completely renews the game into an undersea adventure of a dolphin to free a magical starfish.
Furthermore, a debugging
feature in the Mac OS 9 version of Glider PRO allows all of the graphics and sounds in the game (including the ones that cannot be directly replaced by a house's resource fork
) to be overridden by alternative graphics. This is done by placing a file named "Mermaid", containing all of the replacement graphics and sounds, in the same directory as the Glider PRO application. This feature was forgotten about by the time Glider PRO was released, but John Calhoun later rediscovered it in April 2004. As of today, at least three houses exist that exploit this feature.
The word "Mermaid" was used as a reference to three lines from the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
:
The first of these lines also appears in the About box
of Glider PRO.
Following 1998 or so, with brief bumps coinciding with the release of the OS X version and the emancipation of Glider PRO, the community activity dropped, but a Yahoo! group is still active. John Calhoun has mentioned that he'd like to create a successor to Glider PRO that goes back to the roots of Glider (for example, by having fewer objects and all-indoor houses) but that it will have to wait until he's done with his work at Apple
.
operating system which only functions on PowerPC
processors, Glider PRO enthusiasts buying a new Intel-based Mac will not be able to build houses without resorting to a second, PowerPC-based Mac (or emulation
of one).
Glider PRO for Mac OS X will continue to run on Intel-based Macs through the Rosetta compatibility layer
, but with the release of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) Rosetta has been removed which makes it impossible to run the game on the newest Macs. The potential for a Universal Binary
(that runs natively on Intel and PowerPC alike) is highly dubious at best.
In 2006, Mark Arenz teamed up with Calhoun to construct Glider Web, an Internet-enabled version of Glider Pro built in Flash.
Casady & Greene
Casady & Greene, founded in 1984 by Robin Casady, was a software publisher of shareware products, primarily for the Macintosh. C&G published fonts in the earlier days of desktop publishing; founder Casady partnered with Michael Greene, founder of Greene Inc who developed QuickDex. An expansion into...
in 1991. It is the final installment of the Glider series to date.
When Casady & Greene went bankrupt, the rights to the series reverted to the author, John Calhoun
John Calhoun (software developer)
John Calhoun is an Apple Macintosh software developer. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he developed a series of shareware games for the Macintosh and Windows, under the name Soft Dorothy Software...
, who opted to give a few versions of the game away for free on his website.
Game basics
In the game, you fly a paper planePaper plane
A paper plane, paper aeroplane , paper airplane , paper glider, paper dart or dart is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of paper or paperboard; the practice of constructing paper planes is sometimes referred to as aerogami , after origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.-History:The...
(the Glider) in, around, over and even under a house trying to collect a number of hidden magic stars. The Glider can only be maneuvered to glide forward, glide backward, or to stand still. Further navigation is done chiefly with the aid of air currents provided by floor or ceiling ventilation ducts, fans, drafts, and wind. It is also possible to slide along slippery surfaces (such as spilled grease), and transport from a part of the level to another using the ventilation system, mailboxes, and sometimes invisible "teleports".
The main challenge is to simply avoid collision with the floor, or obstacles such as furniture. Moving obstacles include bouncing basketballs, popping toast, and dripping water. Candles and other ablaze objects sport both a handy updraft and a lethal flame. Collision with "enemy" paper planes and balloons is also fatal, but these can be shot down with the use of a rubber bands bonus item. The other bonus items are aluminum foil (shielding against in-flight collisions), pieces of paper (extra lives), a variety of clocks (points) and batteries and helium tanks (mutually exclusive, granting the ability for faster or upwardly flight, respectively).
A puzzle element is added to the gameplay in the form of switches controlling vents, lighting, home applications and even enemies.
Unlike the Glider 4.0 game, in which the game metaphor involved such things as claustrophobia
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...
and rainy days indoors, the metaphor in the Glider PRO game involves such things as sunny weather, the start of summer vacation
Summer vacation
Summer vacation is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students and instructors are off school typically between 6 and 12 weeks, depending on the country and district.-Students:In some countries, students participate in programs such as organized sports, summer camps, and...
, and outdoor environments in addition to indoor environments.
Houses
Levels are called "houses", although a level may contain any number of individual buildings, as well as outdoors, sewer, or other sections. Houses are entirely self-contained, and any of them is immediately available for play. The game was released with one real house called Slumberland, and one demonstration house. A later CD release of the game featured 14 further houses. Beyond this, a sizable number of houses are available for download on fan sites.Differences between OS X/Carbon and System 7-OS 9/Classic versions
Glider PRO was initially released for System 7System 7 (Macintosh)
System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997...
and was continuously updated through a Mac OS 9 version, the final release on the "Classic" Mac OSes. It was later ported to Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
as a native Carbon
Carbon (API)
Carbon is one of Apple Inc.'s procedural application programming interfaces for the Macintosh operating system. It provides C programming language access to Macintosh system services...
application, and while this version has reworked graphics and a more muted color scheme it lacks a variety of preferences and the built-in house editor present in the Mac OS 9 version. PowerPC Mac OS X users can still run the Mac OS 9 version of Glider in the Classic environment
Classic (Mac OS X)
Classic, or Classic Environment, was a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allowed applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the Mac OS X operating system...
, giving them access to the multitude of additional preferences and the house editor.
Microsoft Windows
The game was also ported to Windows, and it was confirmed that the game worked fine under Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. The game was also tested under Windows 7, where it was later confirmed it worked.
Glider PRO ("Classic") CD
This was an update that included Glider PRO, new houses, and a few utilities. The houses included were Art Museum, In the Mirror, Davis StationDavis Station
Davis Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division . It is the busiest Australian scientific research station...
, Castle o' the Air, Teddy World, Land of Illusion, Imaginehouse PRO II, The Asylum PRO, Nemo's Market, Titanic, SpacePods, Rainbow's End, Leviathan
Leviathan
Leviathan , is a sea monster referred to in the Bible. In Demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell and its gatekeeper . The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature...
, Grand Prix, Metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
, and obviously Slumberland, Empty House and Demo House. In addition, the utilities Moving Van, a utility for moving graphics and sound between houses and libraries and any combination of the two, and Foundation Mover, a utility for sliding an entire house over in terms of the map position if you room ran out and CD-ROM special instructions and some graphics libraries were included.
House building
Houses are created using the built-in house editor in the "Classic" version. Standard backgrounds include rooms of many decors, from Asian tapestry to a personal library, as well as meadows, fields and gardens; sewers and basements; rooftops and open skies. There is also a wide selection of furniture, other obstacles, and background items ("clutter"), all of which are demonstrated by "Slumberland". Enemy design is limited to specifying attack range and timing.Customizing
Glider PRO allows for houses to include custom backgrounds, objects and sounds via embedding of 'PICT', 'STR#' and 'snd' resources in the house's resource forkResource fork
The resource fork is a construct of the Mac OS operating system used to store structured data in a file, alongside unstructured data stored within the data fork. A resource fork stores information in a specific form, such as icons, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and...
. A few of the game's existing interface elements can also be altered this way. Most houses, including all that shipped with the game, do include at least custom graphics. An interesting design point is that custom objects are on their own purely background elements, but can be made interactive with the help of the game's many different invisible objects.
Fans have exploited design bugs as well as constructed patches
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
to alter houses and/or the program itself even further; the extreme makeover remains Ward Hartenstein's "house" SeaCaves, which completely renews the game into an undersea adventure of a dolphin to free a magical starfish.
Furthermore, a debugging
Debugging
Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...
feature in the Mac OS 9 version of Glider PRO allows all of the graphics and sounds in the game (including the ones that cannot be directly replaced by a house's resource fork
Resource fork
The resource fork is a construct of the Mac OS operating system used to store structured data in a file, alongside unstructured data stored within the data fork. A resource fork stores information in a specific form, such as icons, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and...
) to be overridden by alternative graphics. This is done by placing a file named "Mermaid", containing all of the replacement graphics and sounds, in the same directory as the Glider PRO application. This feature was forgotten about by the time Glider PRO was released, but John Calhoun later rediscovered it in April 2004. As of today, at least three houses exist that exploit this feature.
The word "Mermaid" was used as a reference to three lines from the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, commonly known as Prufrock, is a poem by T. S. Eliot, begun in February 1910 and published in Chicago in June 1915. Described as a "drama of literary anguish," it presents a stream of consciousness in the form of a dramatic monologue, and marked the beginning of...
:
-
- "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
- By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
- Till human voices wake us, and we drown."
The first of these lines also appears in the About box
About box
An about box or about dialog is a dialog box that displays the credits and revision information of a computer software.Generally, most programs' about boxes include information about product name and installed version, company name, and copyright information...
of Glider PRO.
Community and future of Glider series
Probably due to its House-creating ability, Glider PRO has enjoyed an active and involved fan community during most of its life. Two monthly ezines, GliderTech and The Cockpit were published between 1995 and 1997 during Glider PRO's heyday. GliderTech published editorials, house reviews, house building tips and each issue was accompanied by a house or two with some examples of obstacles or techniques that could be used in house creation. Past issues can be found for download on various house repositories, and the actual zine is an OS 9 application.Following 1998 or so, with brief bumps coinciding with the release of the OS X version and the emancipation of Glider PRO, the community activity dropped, but a Yahoo! group is still active. John Calhoun has mentioned that he'd like to create a successor to Glider PRO that goes back to the roots of Glider (for example, by having fewer objects and all-indoor houses) but that it will have to wait until he's done with his work at Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
.
The Intel transition and its effect on Glider PRO
Influx of new house creators may over time grind to a halt following Apple's decision to switch the CPU architecture of their Mac computer line-up to Intel microprocessors. Only the "Classic" version of Glider PRO includes a house editor, and since Classic runs the now abandoned Mac OS 9Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...
operating system which only functions on PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
processors, Glider PRO enthusiasts buying a new Intel-based Mac will not be able to build houses without resorting to a second, PowerPC-based Mac (or emulation
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
of one).
Glider PRO for Mac OS X will continue to run on Intel-based Macs through the Rosetta compatibility layer
Rosetta (software)
Rosetta was a lightweight and dynamic binary translator for Mac OS X which Apple released in 2006 when it transitioned the Macintosh from PowerPC to Intel processors. It allowed pre-existing software to run on the new systems without modification....
, but with the release of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) Rosetta has been removed which makes it impossible to run the game on the newest Macs. The potential for a Universal Binary
Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
(that runs natively on Intel and PowerPC alike) is highly dubious at best.
In 2006, Mark Arenz teamed up with Calhoun to construct Glider Web, an Internet-enabled version of Glider Pro built in Flash.
External links
- John Calhoun's Glider page - has for download Glider PRO and 4.0 and a few house packs, and links to fan sites
- An interview with John CalhounJohn Calhoun (software developer)John Calhoun is an Apple Macintosh software developer. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he developed a series of shareware games for the Macintosh and Windows, under the name Soft Dorothy Software...
: Part one, Part two