My brother and I are trying to remember a game we used to play on our old iMac (so a Mac Classic game, though not necessarily). I wouldn't be surprised if it was from a sampler disc or if it was shareware, though I don't remember getting any nags - frankly, I remember it always being there from day 1, as though it was bundled with the OS, but you'd think that would make it easier to find?

It was a galactic conquest-type game, where you managed a number of planets. You were one of several species: Humans, Simians, Insectoids, and my brother remembers a Lizard race that I don't. Each race had their own style of ship and I believe each player was identified by colour. Your race decided most of your advantages and disadvantages, ie the insects built faster so far as I remember. You had to conquer various planets and could build rudimentary upgrades on them. The interface was simple but efficient and it made for quick and easy play. I believe there was hot-seat multiplayer, and my brother remembers it being turn-based.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like Pax Imperia, which is discounted now.

Hmm, nope, though that is a good deal. Some of the features do look similar ("Wealth: Opulent" in particular), so we may be looking at some sort of clone, but it doesn't seem to be this game in particular

I certainly don't remember it having any sort of espionage system.

Well, apparently there is Pax Imperia and Pax Imperia Eminent Domain.
The former is classic mac only and was 1st link in my post above. Perhaps you can find youtube video. There should be mac classic emulator around... :)

Nope, even then. While I was looking into the original Pax Imperia, I noticed a few shots of the surfaces of the planets, so I think I should add that this game we're remembering was only space - all management of your planets was done through menus alone.

I was looking around and I wouldn't be surprised if this fellow and I were thinking of the same game. He posted some screenshots from Space Empires III that I wanted to single out, because I noticed a similar ship design, maybe copy and pasted into the game I'm thinking of?

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=30460

In the first picture in Post #9, you see a list of ships on the right marked "Ships in Imbari." The topmost design I think I remember being used for the Insectoids (if not, I remember it all the same), the designs under that for the humans. Except they weren't detailed, they were all one flat colour (the player's colour) for easy reference.

Maybe my imagination's getting away from me.

Hmm, nope, sorry.

lol, well I tried. Never played Apple games or owned an Apple computer.

EDIT: Loved the Dracula games from Dreamcatcher! Beat them all when I was about 7 or 8. Got me into adventure games. :D
Your avatar brings back great memories.

Personal favourites! I try to play them every year around Halloween, along with #3 since it came out. Doesn't always happen but it's good to see them again when I do.

Yes, the 3rd one was the last one I enjoyed really. The last three games weren't even developed by Dream Catcher. Maybe that's why they weren't as synonymous with the theme of Halloween and the name of Dracula for me like the first 2 games. Those were master pieces in my eyes unlike the last 3 games. Is Dream Catcher even still in business?

Master of Orion?


Edit: Oops, missed the bit about no planet surface shots. Hmmm.

Yeah, sorry. It seems our game mimicked a lot of the popular titles out there (including the sprite lifting from Space Empires). It must have been much smaller than we remember...

I'm going to guess it's probably not Spaceward Ho.

Heh, no. Though that's certainly a hell of a concept!