VGA Planets is catching on like wildfire!  It very well may become
   the most popular shareware game of all time. In just a few DAYS it
   has become the most popular game on America Online.

      Nothing like VGA Planets has ever been tried before.

      VGA Planets is a multi-player space conquest game for up to
   11 players. The game is designed so that the players can play
   by modem. The players calls the BBS that is acting as the game
   host or a BBS that is acting as a storage site for files to and
   from a remote computer playing host. The players download a
   small file PLAYER?.RST ( about 2k ). The players then log off
   the host BBS. The whole process can be done in under a minute.
   The file contains highly compressed data that is expanded into a
   set of data files by a UNPACK program. The players can then go
   into a VGA graphical program that uses the data files to show the
   the player what happened last turn and to plan out new moves,
   order new ships to be built and many other activities. The
   player has all his fun OFFLINE where he isn't subject to
   BBS time limits and isn't tying up a BBS phone line. When a
   player has completed his game turn he quits the main program and
   runs MAKETURN which compresses all the players data files into a
   PLAYER?.TRN file. The player then calls the host BBS again and uploads
   the PLAYER?.TRN file ( 24 bytes or more ) in a matter of seconds.
   Sometime very late at night (in most cases) the BBS gathers up ALL the
   PLAYER?.TRN files for a game and moves them into the HOST directory.
   The HOST.EXE program gobbles up all the PLAYER?.TRN files at once and
   feeds them into the universe's main data files ( *.HST ). The HOST.EXE
   program then gathers up all information important to each player in
   the game and forms a new set of PLAYER?.RST files ( one for each player )
   which are then moved to a download directory, so that the players can
   play out another game turn tomorrow.

      One line BBS's across the country have been crying out for a
   game like this for years, so I wrote it. This is a completely
   new idea. I hope you and your friends enjoy it.

      Version 1.1 had some major bugs in it, but this version ( 2.1 )
   seems very solid. My many play testers have reported no bugs so far.
   The size and complexity of the game makes debuging a very difficult
   task, so it is very likely some bugs may appear from time to time.
   
                                                  Tim Wisseman