http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udc0npJ1xME^8 minute video, not necessary but if you want to...
This game was made before Windows XP was even released. If you're one of the god-blessed gentlemen like me and somehow miraculously got it working on Windows 7 x64 without even doing anything... Hell, if you're one of the god-blessed people to still
own this game and are up for some multiplayer, post here.
If you want to buy this game, it's $97.97 on
Amazon for some ass-backwards reason, but you will be hell'a lucky to find it anywhere else. There are plenty of
results on eBay for this game, not expensive either.
Remember, though. This game was made just about a decade ago. Bear in mind the following before you purchase:
- The community surrounding this game is very, VERY small now.
- Tech support is near nill other than fan-based support.
- The game's engine is literally optimized heavily for Windows 95, 98 and 2000 era computers, graphics chips that are very weak and processors that calculated simple things with small amounts of RAM.
For the record, the system requirements are/were:
Windows 95/Mac OS 8.6,
Pentium II 350MHz/G3 333MHz,
64MB RAM (96 on Mac),
8MB video RAM (4MB will suffice & "on board" will work, slow),
8X CD-ROM, 600MB (750 with Direct X & save)
- That being said, the game's graphics are incredibly easy to create for most GPUs today, even low-end ones.
- It has a very slim chance of running on Windows 7 or Vista, even slimmer maybe for x64.
Currently you have to use either Hamachi or a player-made program to connect each other in lobbies and then launch the game from there. If you have any other technical concerns, i.e. can I run this or how do I get it to go widescreen, feel free to ask here.
What the hell is "Black & White"?Black & White is a computer game developed by Lionhead Studios (the same guys who made Fable 1-3) and published by Electronic Arts and Feral Interactive. It is a god game released in 2001, which included elements of artificial life, strategy, and fighting games.
The player acts as a god and takes control over villages across several islands. Black & White features a unique gameplay element, a creature that the player can raise and teach (yes, teach). The game was highly anticipated and overall well received.
It was followed by an expansion, Black & White: Creature Isle, and a sequel, Black & White 2.
tl;dr: You are a god. Be a god.
This game was pretty much the pinnacle of artificial intelligence back in the earlier 21st century. It won a lot of fame because you were practically able to "teach" your creature to do what you either thought was right or wrong, such as allowing it to either eat people or eat grain, set buildings on fire or build them for you, etc. It won a Guinness world record for the creature mind AI.
The game starts you off as a god called from a pure prayer, from which you start building a village and learning the basics of being a god. From there, you move onwards in the game, performing either main story tasks or side story quests as you sway more and more people to your belief and finally confront the most powerful of Gods. The game also features multiplayer and a skirmish (versus AI non-campaign) mode which allows you to take your creature with you.
Black & White was named after the concept of good and evil, which is the main basis for your existence in the game. Any action you do can have either a positive or negative effect upon your "moral standing". Evil gods will see a darker domain, a temple made of red spikes and a hand that glows wickedly red. Good gods will see a much brighter domain with rainbows, a temple of gleaming white and a hand that emanates a good presence. (IMO, good gods were more "gay" due to the fact that your hand had rainbows painted on your nails and your temple gleamed little sparkles, and the rainbows too.)
The "hand" I'm referring to is basically your input into the game. You use the hand for everything from basic camera movement to interacting with your creature and performing miracles. Your hand can only be used within your ring of influence, which contrary to the Bible, is not infinite :cookieMonster: . You can only do things within your influence and can expand this influence by placing more buildings, having more people and converting more villages.
The game features many, many miracles which can either be used to impress, torture or benefit you/the world/your people. Call a storm and decide whether its just a rainshower or a swirling tornado. Smite some people with lightning bolts out of your hand. Throw fireballs at your enemies and laugh like hell, or heal your people from sickness and hunger.
So what happened to the series?BnW1 received 3 patches, with the third patch needed to be installed
only if you have the P5 glove which no one bought anyway. An expansion pack, Creature Isle, was released later on and featured another island or two and a bunch of side quests and dumb creature stuff that nobody gave a stuff about (I didn't even play it).
Black & White 2 was released some time in late 2005 with a LOT of improvements and subtractions from the original game, namely the graphics department and the ability to either build cities and impress your enemies into joining you (wtf) or building armies and conquering them. The creature teaching was incredibly simplified with your ability to revisit behaviors to modify (instead of modifying your creature's behaviors as he did them), and also "buying" his skills. City building is MUCH more enhanced with a wide variety of buildings and specific buildings with functions, including the addition of a third resource, ore. The sequel lacks any form of antagonist god unlike the first game, except in the expansion which pits you against an "undead" God who really just spends his time watering his fields 80% of the time.
In other words, B&W2 is a "glorified city builder" with much less miracles, a useless creature, easy as hell gameplay and a lack of anything that made the first game original (such as enemy gods, skirmish, multiplayer and a single temple, not a temple that can be built over and over again and won't grow taller than mountains.
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