Frequently Asked Questions
Are you the Geoffrey Silverton who wrote Tunneler?
Yes.
Do you have plans to release an updated version of Tunneler with [some new feature]?
No.
Can you share the source code with me?
No, the source code was stored on floppy disks, and these were lost years ago.
Can I have your permission to write my own remake of Tunneler for [some platform]?
Yes, most likely. Please send me a note with details. In any case, I would love to hear from you if you’ve made (or are thinking of making) a Tunneler-inspired game. Contact me
Hi Geoffrey,
Many thanks for making Tunneler.
I enjoyed it back in the 90’s and recently played it with my 9 year old daughter via Dosbox.
It’s still great fun!
Thanks!
Greetings Kurt
Hi Geoffrey,
I’m creating a remake in your honor, for now only for Mac OS. I’ve spent many hours (possibly many more that I would consider as normal) trying to recreate as closely as possible the gaming experience of a game I’ve been playing when I was a kid with my sister.
Only now have I realized that you, too, must have spent a lot of time with a tester, fine-tuning those little details that make the game so perfect—kicking speed vs. energy vs. shot accuracy, and so on.
I have an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old amazing testers who want to play this with me every day. We spend dozens of minutes searching, attacking, retreating; everyone has their own strategy. It’s already so much fun that I don’t need to touch the game engine. It is as fun as I remember.
With your permission, I’d like to release the game for free on the App Store; I’ll send you a link once it’s approved (or I can probably send it in advance somehow).
I’ve also added some new modes that weren’t in the original game but that the kids requested (as a paid version to cover my nights builds):
1) three-player mode
2) the option to play with game controllers
3) graphical effects (day and night cycle)
4) anti-camping (the base briefly moves if a player stays in it too long)
5) random pickups
And most importantly, MINES!
We found that the attacking tank always has a better chance of success than the defending one.
Now we have the option to lay hidden mines while retreating, so the attacker is afraid to chase a player who is fleeing.
Mines added another level of gameplay, but they are already outside the scope of your DOS game. I feel like I need a moral permission from you :).
If you have any issues with the app being paid, I’d be more than happy to share a portion of any potential profits as you see fit.
Radek (rak@email.cz).
Hi Radek, yes – please go ahead with your MacOS release of Tunneler! You have my permission. I can’t wait to see it!
Actually, I didn’t do much real testing when I originally made Tunneler. I rarely got the chance to play it myself. I was just lucky that it turned out the way it did!
— Geoff