ImagiNation Network

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The ImagiNation Network

 

ImagiNation Network

The ImagiNation Network Shipping Box


INN OpeningTheme
 

 Release Date: 1991
 Latest Version:
 Project Status: Revived
 Developer(s): Sierra On-Line
 Publisher: Sierra On-Line
 Designer(s): Ken Williams, Jeff Stephenson, Matthew George
 Source Available:  No
 Category: Application
 Type: Full Service
 Genre: Action, Board, Card, Gambling, MMORPG, RPG, Simulation, Sports, Strategy
 Theme(s): Card Gambling, Casino, Craps, Combat, Dungeon Crawler, Fantasy, Football, Golf, Shooter
 Engine: LSCI
 CP Scheme:
 ESRB Rating:
 Platform: MS-DOS
 Localization: English
 Website: http://inngames.com/ (Web Archive)

"The ImagiNation Network is a place where you can play games, make friends and have fun. Find out for yourself how the ImagiNation Network is changing the way the world makes friends."[1]

The ImagiNation Network (INN), formerly known as The Sierra Network (TSN), was an early online multiplayer gaming system. Developed by Sierra On-Line in 1989, and first available to the public in 1991, INN was a unique online gaming network that gave subscribers from all over the United States a place where they could "play games, make friends and have fun". A wide variety of games (including RPGs, a World War I Dog-Fighting simulator, live trivia, card and board games) meant that many different types of fans could find something enjoyable to play. INN also featured an electronic post office, many bulletin boards, chat rooms, and the company boasted of having "more than 200 groups, clubs and special events online".

   
The colorful, easy to use, simplistic and universally appealing GUI interface in The ImagiNation Network won the network a User Interface Design Award for its child and senior-friendly design.    

Sierra On-Line co-founder, Ken Williams wanted to create something that'd allow his grandmother to play a game of bridge with others whenever she wanted from the comfort of her home, and to that end INN emphasized a friendly, graphics-heavy interface and quickly attracted a senior audience, spurred on by NEC providing Sierra with computers for seniors interested in INN, in an attempt to attract that demographic to computers.

Each user was represented by a persona which they assembled using INN's built-in 'facemaker'. The facemaker was detailed, with enough different options to construct over 84 million unique personas.Citation Required[2] Users could then indicate their level of skill in various games, in order to encourage fair match-making between players, and a short list of hobbies to help match interests with new friends.

Based in Oakhurst, CA, INN enabled people from all over the United States to play games and chat with each other online. Tournaments were held for many games in which winning players or teams could win prizes. Top chess & bridge players, and several celebrities, played regularly on the network. Players were invited to compete against them, and regular challenges were setup.

Users could sign-up to INN by calling 1-800-IMAGIN-1 (during the service's time as TSN, this number was 1-800-SIERRA-1) and asking for a Sign-Up Kit, or by filling in an order form available in select issues of magazines such as InterAction Magazine, PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World and Electronic Games.

Introduction

The Sierra Network


Jeff Leibowitz in a 1994 episode of Dr. Moira Gunn's Tech Nation said:

Ken's image was really a network that his grandmother could get on at two in the morning if she couldn't sleep one night, and play bridge... And, the criteria was that it be easy enough for his grandmother to use, and that it be affordable enough, because she's on a limited income. As a matter of fact: The first one hundred Beta Testers of what was then called The Sierra Network were indeed senior citizens that had never before touched a computer, and the concept was that if they could use it and like it, anybody could... And that approach seemed to work very, very well, and we are still to this day very popular with Senior Citizens!


In early 1989, Sierra On-Line president, Ken Williams wanted to create an simple to use online gaming network so that his grandmother could play bridge and other card games whenever she pleased. Sierra's lead systems programmer, Jeff Stephenson, began improving Sierra's adventure game engine to communicate by modem with a maximum speed of 2400 baud, worked on creating hardware and network protocols to support a gaming network, and David Slayback / Al Lowe started to work on designing game prototypes that would run on LSCI (a modified SCI 1.1 which used Intel's Large Memory Model instead of medium, networking protocols and better resource compression / encryption).

Both David and Al began designing parlor and board games to test the engine's communication abilities, while they waited for Matthew to assemble all of the networking and telephony equipment which Sprint had provided. The prototype games worked very well, and Al's wife Margaret Lowe suggested naming the service "Constant Companion", which instead became the service's slogan for many years, primarily due to its senior-friendly nature. Although, realizing that the service wouldn't be viable for months, Al left the project for a return to game design.[3]

Ken insisted that the network be easy enough for his grandmother to use, so the user interface received considerable attention: It was designed to be colorful, easy to use, simplistic and universally appealing. Dubbed The Sierra Network (TSN), the service began operation as a private beta test in late 1989, with testers drawn from a list of registered Sierra Game Owners primarily in the senior demographic, with NEC providing computers to some seniors, in an attempt to widen the demographic's use of computers. As a result of this push on innovation, TSN won a User Interface Design Award.

In 1991, TSN's doors were opened to the public. Originally only parlor games such as Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, and Bridge were available to subscribers, but over the next three years Sierra added many new games to target other demographics, such as the role-playing game Shadow of Yserbius and the dog-fighting simulator Red Baron. Throughout TSN's existence, tournaments were held for many games in which winning players and teams could win prizes. Top chess and bridge players regularly played on the network, as well as several celebrities (including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett), and players were invited to compete against them.

While TSN achieved over 30,000 paid customers, unfortunately it was not profitable for Sierra, who was losing millions of dollars per year. Most of the loss was attributed to the high bandwidth needs for some of the real-time games, and the inexpensive subscription model used. And so, Sierra looked at selling TSN to another company, while still developing the service's infrastructure and games. Sierra was approached by a number of interested companies, including Microsoft.

The ImagiNation Network



In 1994, AT&T purchased a half-interest in TSN for $50M. Under AT&T's direction the network's name was changed to ImagiNation Network (INN), hourly rates were increased and the unlimited pricing plan was scrapped, plus several elements of the network considered "too risque" were removed entirely and some other elements that related to Sierra's IPs were altered (such as LarryLand becoming CasinoLand). The following year, AT&T bought the remaining half of INN for an additional $50M, making Sierra one of the few companies at the time to have profited from online gaming.

AT&T continued to make enhancements and improvements to the service until August 6th, 1996, when they sold INN to America Online while scaling back on the dozens of projects they owned and funded to focus more time and resources on their telephone and internet packages, services and infrastructure. AOL bought the rights in a stock swap, amounting to 362,500 of their shares, which were then valued at $14.5M. Despite Sierra having made profits from their sale of the service, AT&T had made $85.5M of losses in their sale of INN to AOL.

With development of CyberPark in full swing, AT&T planned to shut down INN. When AOL took over, this happened in two phases: Phase One was to terminate access from Non-Preferred Access Numbers on August 16th, 1996; Phase Two was to completely terminate access to INN's servers on September 1st, 1996. One of the biggest advantages of the service's termination for AOL was that The Shadow of Yserbius, along with its successors (The Fates of Twinion and The Ruins of Cawdor) were inaccessible, which were each major competitors to their existing online RPG, Neverwinter Nights.

CyberPark



During Early 1992, Breighton "Rusty" Dawe, a senior programmer at Atari Games envisioned CyberPark, an online interactive amusement park where hundreds of players could interact with each other, and the environment.[4] Sierra, who was very impressed with the technical specifications of CyberPark, contracted Rusty Dawe to continue working on CyberPark, very much considering the service the future of INN.

Shortly following AT&T's Half-Interest purchase of INN in 1994, Rusty Dawe was hired into the team by AT&T, who was also very interested in CyberPark and additionally considered the project as the perfect getaway from Sierra's proprietary engine (LSCI) and their reliance on them to provide INN updates. Most of INN's team were tasked with the development of CyberPark, which was to be a 3D environment in which players could interact with each other (or AI "resident personas") via both Text and Voice, use virtual currency (to buy food, drink or clothes) and discover different areas where unique games could be played, and many characteristic sound effects utilized (such as bow & arrow sounds in a castle area).[5]

Load video
YouTube

Shortly after INN's shutdown, AOL decided to give the private entity (The Imagination Network, Inc.) which maintained INN and its team a broader and less restrictive scope by renaming the company to WorldPlay Entertainment, Inc. During 1997, some of the team working on CyberPark developed GameXpress for the AOL Games Channel, a project which retooled INN's parlor and board games as a set of 2D Windows 95 online games.

From Early 1996, users could visit a website[6] to discover regular news updates regarding the development of CyberPark, and input technical details about their PC's hardware and network connection into a form, to register their interest in beta testing it. Although, in September 1997, AOL received a lawsuit from Kesmai regarding WorldPlay's per-play plan for interactive games on the AOL Games Channel (which quickly caught on in the gaming industry), citing monopolistic practices in online gaming. Despite AOL denying the charges and later settling out of court, WorldPlay's reputation was damaged by the fiasco, and on Feburary 11th, 1998, AOL laid off 60% of their employees and cancelled CyberPark.

Other than the traditional parlor and board games that INN had been known for, the following games would have been featured on CyberPark: Acrophobia, Baldies: Online, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, Fantasy Adventures Online, Front Page Sports: Baseball Online, Front Page Sports: Football Online, Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2, Heavy Damage, MissionForce: CyberStorm, Red Baron II, SET, Shattered Light, Spunky's Shuffle, The Incredible Machine III and You Don't Know Jack: The NetShow.

Games

TSN & INN

The ImagiNation Network & The Sierra Network were composed of several 'lands', each one featuring a different theme and selection of games and services.

Clubhouse

The Clubhouse featured traditional card and board games.

"The Clubhouse is the place to go when you want to meet new people, play traditional card and board games, read the Bulletin Boards, and chat with your friends. It's where you'll find the Welcome Room for new members and the INN Help Room. You can also join an online conference while you're in the Clubhouse, or learn something new at INN University."[7]

Games available at the clubhouse:

LarryLand

(also known as CasinoLand, which was an added feature a few years later)

"CasinoLand is the ImagiNation Network's casino and resort area, with fantasy gambling and games. Sorry, but no one under the age of 18 is allowed in CasinoLand. (If you would like access to CasinoLand, please fill out and return the CasinoLand Access Card included in this kit.)."[9]

Games available within LarryLand:

MedievaLand

"...is a fantasy-filled land where you can find adventures as a knight, wizard or another character of your own creation."[10]

Games available in MedievaLand:

SierraLand

"...is the place for exciting arcade style games, challenging board games and other amusements."[11]

Games available in SierraLand:

Funhouse

"The Little Red Funhouse[12] is the future home to `edutainment' games and activities. It's a place for kids who want to have fun learning."[13]

Games available in FunHouse:

Arena

"The Arena is where you'll find exciting sports and action games."[14]

Games available in Arena:

History

  • 1989: Private Beta Testing begins, primarily targeted at seniors.
  • 1991: Sierra launches TSN - The Sierra Network, to the public.
  • 1992: Breighton "Rusty" Dawe, while at Atari Games, envisions CyberPark, a somewhat three-dimensional world in which players can interact and play games.
  • 1992: Sierra, interested in CyberPark and seeing it as the future of TSN, contracts Rusty Dawe to continue working on its plans and technical specifications.
  • 1994: AT&T enters into a Half-Interest Deal with Sierra, purchasing half of TSN's rights for $50M.
  • 1994: AT&T renames TSN to INN - ImagiNation Network, and reorganizes service pricing and features.
  • 1994: AT&T, also interested in CyberPark, hires Rusty Dawe and puts the INN Team in charge of developing the service.
  • 1995: AT&T purchases the other half of INN's rights for an additional $50M, doubling Sierra's profits from selling the service to $100M.
  • Early 1996: AT&T plans to shut down INN in Fall 1996, in preparation for CyberPark to replace the service.
  • 1996/08/06: AOL buys INN from AT&T for 362,500 of their shares, totaling $14.5M... This meant $85.5M of losses for AT&T.
  • 1996/08/16: AOL shuts down access to INN, from Non-Preferred Access Numbers.
  • 1996/09/01: AOL shuts down access to INN's servers, ending seven years of continued operation.
  • Late 1996: AOL renames INN's private entity, ImagiNation Network, Inc. to WorldPlay Entertainment, Inc.
  • 1997: WorldPlay Entertainment develops GameXpress, a project which repurposes INN's parlor and board games as a two-dimensional set of AOL Games Channel games for Windows 95.
  • 1998/02/11: Following a lawsuit from Kesmai over "monopolistic practices", AOL cancels CyberPark and lays off 60% of WorldPlay Entertainment's staff.

Pricing

When owned by Sierra, users were given a certain amount of hours per month which one could play, with multiple monthly fee plans available. Only one plan, for $119.99, allowed for unlimited hours of play. All fees did not include any further charges the user may encounter from their telephone provider, such as Dial-Up or Long Distance charges.

Once acquired by AT&T, however, the unlimited hour plan was ditched, and using hours beyond the monthly plan involved a $2.50 per hour fee. AT&T also added a surcharge for those subscribers who did not access ImagiNation Network through a "Preferred Access Number". This surcharge, combined with the general increase in subscription fees and removal of the unlimited hour plan, contributed to the decline in users until INN's shutdown in 1996. Without a Preferred Access Number, all weekday time between 7AM to 6PM was billed $6.00 an hour, with additional time in one minute increments. AT&T users were given a 10% discount on their monthly membership fee.

Rates as of 1995 were as follows:

  • Welcome Plan: 5 hours for $9.95, $2.95 each additional hour
  • 10 Plan: 10 hours for $19.95, $2.75 each additional hour
  • 15 Plan: 15 hours for $29.95, $2.50 each additional hour
  • 25 Plan: 25 hours for $49.95, $2.25 each additional hour
  • 50 Plan: 50 hours for $99.95, $1.95 each additional hour
  • Unlimited Plan: Unlimited hours for $129.95

System Requirements


1995 ImagiNation Network Manual - Inside Cover:

To use The ImagiNation Network, you need a 386 or better IBM compatible Personal Computer with a Hard Disk Drive with 12MB free, 640K Conventional Memory with at least 580K available, a 2400 Baud or faster modem, VGA Graphics and a Microsoft compatible mouse.

To run The ImagiNation Network under Microsoft Windows, you need at least a 386SX Computer with 4MB of RAM running in 386 Enhanced Mode.


Revival Attempts

FauxINN

In Early 2003, High School Student Zane Wagner (under the nickname Mithrandel) released a Public Alpha of the first completed ImagiNation Network remake, which he entitled FauxINN.[16] FauxINN emulated many of INN's features, including Bulletin Boards, the Post Office, the Town Hall, and a limited form of the Clubhouse with a select few board games. New versions followed at weekly intervals, with each new release more closely emulating the original interface of ImagiNation. Hundreds of people played on the server over a period of several months.Citation Required[17] However on October 11th, 2003, Mithrandel conceded that he had lost interest in the project after he ran into problems while revamping the game's graphical API.

Mithrandel[18] wrote:

Development on Faux-INN halted.

I feel bad admitting this, but I've totally lost my focus for Faux-INN. I never really resolved the DirectDraw7 / DirectPlay8 bug, and I couldn't get over that hump. However, I'd hate to see all the hours (200+, probably) I put into this project lost, so... Now, I promised before that if I ever lost focus, I would release the source code for Faux-INN. Is there anyone interested in taking over for me? If you can prove that you have a decent amount of skill in VB6 coding (not too hard to do, I know), I'll release the current source tree to you. =) Give me an email, or post on the forums.

Hopefully, this won't be the end. Take care everyone.


In 2004, a new group of developers attempted to recreate INN, they chose to re-adopt the name 'FauxINN' as the name of their project.[19] However their website domain expired in Early 2008, and was replaced by an ad placeholder website, and has since disappeared completely.

ImagiNation Network Revival

The ImagiNation Network Revival was the first successful server emulator for the ImagiNation Network. Development of the emulator had progressed to the point where many of the previously available games are now playable, including the MMORPG: Yserbius. This new service was opened to the public in March 2007. Unlike the early remake versions that tried to rebuild the network from scratch, the Revival project used DOSBox and the original client software to connect to a server which emulated the original. Further development was underway to resolve a few known issues and to make more games available for play, although sometime during 2016, the servers were shutdown and the project is understood to be dead.

INN Barn

Between February 1994 to November 1995, had been employed by INN to design an SDK to allow developers to understand how INN's servers worked and how to interact with it properly, without having access to the server's Source Code.[20] In January 2019, Jim was contacted by somebody wondering if he had retained a copy of INN's Server Source Code to allow a modern recreation of the original server, despite not having any such code, the idea of recreating INN's server stuck with him and after several months, he'd recreated a working server mostly by remembering INN's protocols and messaging structures and trial & error.[21]

INN Barn is in a Beta Stage, but is both more operational than ImagiNation Network Revival ever was and far less crash prone, as instead of relying totally on DOSBox to deal with networking, a standalone proxy runs alongside DOSBox to allow both faster network chatter over the internet, and reliable error logging. The Mail Room, BBS Boards, INNTeractions and NTN Trivia are the only features of INN not yet operational. An easy to use installer is available on the SHP website.

References

  1. ↑ INN Manual, pg 1
  2. ↑ This entry requires a citation or source.
  3. ↑ TSN's LarryLand - Al Lowe's Humour Site
  4. ↑ Breighton "Rusty" Dawe - Resume
  5. ↑ YouTube - CyberPark E3 1996 Demo
  6. ↑ INN Website - Jan 14th, 1998 (Web Archive)
  7. ↑ INN Manual, Pg 15
  8. ↑ Previously named Reversi
  9. ↑ INN Manual, pg 15
  10. ↑ INN Manual, pg 15
  11. ↑ INN Manual, pg 15
  12. ↑ Also known as School House, Little Red Funhouse
  13. ↑ INN Manual, pg 15
  14. ↑ INN Manual, pg 15
  15. ↑ Red Baron had numerous "clans" that would face off in tournaments. The clans included the Arabian Knights, Black Knights, Dawn Patrol, Strike Eagles, Lafayette Escadrille, Naked Crisco Twister, and Wing Walkers.
  16. ↑ FauxINN Homepage - August 4th, 2003
  17. ↑ This entry requires a citation or source.
  18. ↑ FauxINN Homepage - November 11th, 2003
  19. ↑ FauxINN Homepage - Feburary 27th, 2007
  20. ↑ Jim Leiterman's Portfolio - INN
  21. ↑ INN Barn Homepage

External links

 

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