Legal Crime 1.1.6 beta has been released. Changes:

• Rule changes. Game supports both Legal Crime 1.1.5 rules and a new rule set. To use the new rule set, every player participating in the game has to have 1.1.6B. The game creator switches between the old and new rules with Shift key.

All these changes apply only to the new rule set :

• Stakeout range +1.
• Stakeout building time increased.
• Sniper shoots faster.
• Shotgun man costs less, builds faster and has more hit points.
• Ghost bug is fixed.
• Quick repair bug is fixed.
• Arrest cost bug is fixed.
• No collection bug is fixed.
• Units can't fire and move during the same turn anymore.
• Income calculation bug with training centers fixed.
• Raids destroy the neutral business completely.
• Raid/sell bug fixed.
• Business model is changed. Each business branch has a business market size, which will limit the income growth. Size is determined by the map size. Business market size is 5 000 000 in 100x100 maps and 10 000 000 in 200x200 maps.

These changes apply to both rules :

• Waiting player list the players with are waited for.

Legal Crime 1.1.3b was released. New features:

• New startup screen and exit screen
• New bottom panel for the game screen; all the recruiting buttons are shown, but those that are not usable are greyed out
• A bug that sometimes crashed the game when a gangster was arrested has been fixed
• A chekcum error was sometimes displayed without a cause; this has been fixed
• When the map is larger than 100x100, the relational size of the gangsters in the small map has been enlarged.
• Other minor enhancements.

Legal Crime 1.1.1b was released. New features:

• Graphics frame-rate increased
• Faster scrolling
• Network communication flow control code improved to support
• transferring big map files.
• Processing of big maps optimized. They should run with much less lag.
• Problems with two network interface configurations fixed.
• Hanging problem, which occured in some configurations after pressing
• "enter gaming network" button fixed.
• AWE64 sound bug fixed.
• Next & previous buttons removed from tip screen.
• Crashing bug occuring in some episodes after demolition of Hq fixed.
• Crashing bug occuring in some cases after alliance set up fixed.
• Crashing bug occuring in some cases after death rumour fixed.
• Faster initialization of game screen after network game startup.
• Improvement to network entering code.
• Statistics screen showed at the end of the game now shows all the
• players.
• Ghost bug fixed in single player mode.

Legal Crime 1.1 was released. New features:

• Improved story texts
• Godfather death animation
• Faster log into the network
• Palette problems fixed in the installer

Legal Crime 1.1b was released. New features:

• Practise mode is changed completely. There's now 22 scenarios and a story around them.
• A single player scenario interface added. Users can now create their own scenarios.
• In-game clock showing game time added.
• Culture button added in the main display. User can find out the most important URLs.
• Crashing bug with maps bigger than 175x175 fixed.
• Networking code optimized.
• Alt-F4 doesn't quit the game anymore.
• Connection build up time out is now 5 minutes (instead of 40 seconds)
• Clarified purchasing instructions.

Legal Crime 1.0.7 was released. New features:

• a bug which crashed the game when sending (too) long messages has been fixed
• sniper and shotgun man animation and sound has been synchronized
• a bug with snipoers & collectors has been fixed
• the documentation was revised

Alcatraz, a Legal Crime players' virtual meetingplace has been opened. You can create your own family or join existing ones - if the Don of that family accepts your membership application. A map database and a lot more will be included later.

Legal Crime 1.06 beta was released. New features:

• 3 new single player scenarios for registered players
• the game algorithms are a bit faster

Crime Talk 1.0 was released. New features:

• Fixed a bug when clicking on the cat list with no entry
• Some internal modfications

Crime Talk 1.0b2 was released. New features:

• Typed lines can be erased with ESC, just like in the game itself.
• A colour signifying the active window where typed text goes.
• If a player is using Crime Talk, CT is listed by his nick as his location, i.e. Butcher/CrimeTalk
• The ability to drag the chat window anywhere on the screen

Legal Crime 1.0.5 was released. Changes include:

• The texts in practise mode have been revised.
• There have been some internal modifications which are not visible on the outside.
• Some sounds have been softened to make the overall audio level consistent.

Crime Talk 1.0b has been released! This small chat client allows users to enter Legal Crime chats without opening the game itself. This way they mey have the chat open and continue on their work and still be able the join a game when they wish.

Legal Crime 1.0.4 was released. Changes include:

• Included tips for the game
• A rare occasion where only 2 people could join a game when 8 should have been able to do so, has been fixed
• The menu can be used when the "Waiting for other player" screen is up
• A bug that caused a crash in lesson 7 has been fixed.

Legal Crime 1.0.2 was released. Changes include:

• Now it is possible to chat and see new games
• Tab bug fixed
• Entering and leaving network bug fixed

This article was published in the October 1997 issue of MikroBitti.

© Jukka Kauppinen/Mikrobitti

Crime really can pay !
- in Legal Crime, law-abiding do-gooders have a tough time finding lebensraum

About two years ago, a group of game fanatics began to visualize their dream game. They set out to make their dream real, sure in the belief that they would find others with the same mindset. Their gamble seems to have paid off, because even though the basic idea - the opportunity to play a power-grabbing Mafioso - is rather less than conventional, it has a unique power. The authors, Byte Enchanters Oy, are now poised to launch themselves and their dream on the international market from their hideout at Otaniemi in Finland.

In Legal Crime, a city resembling Chicago in the 1930s is the battleground for competing Mafia gangs. These gangs, each controlled by a human player, use every possible and impossible means to compete for control of the city and its various businesses - protection rackets, bribery, bomb throwing and drive-by shoot-em-ups involving limousines stuffed with gangsters bristling with machine guns. Usually, we humans get to control the law-abiding heroes, in Legal Crime you get the chance to operate on the other side of the law.

Can crime really pay?

Legal Crime is a real-time strategy game. Game sessions last from five minutes to several hours depending on the number of players and their degree of skill. Each player's career starts with two roughnecks who get things under way by 'persuading' local businesses to pay for 'protection'. As soon as the gang's funds reach a sufficient level, expansion is boosted by the foundation of illegal enterprises in back rooms. Naturally, greasing the palms of officialdom is fundamental - a percentage of the take can be used to tempt soldiers out of the army to pursue a more promising career, gain information from competitors or simply keep the police at a respectable distance.

As in real life, in Legal Crime the choice of strategy is yours. Either compete by manipulating market shares and watch the income roll in or take a more direct approach by turning the streets into a battleground, dispatching your heavily-armed gorillas to "reorientate" your competitors' profit forecasts.

Corruption and profit

The corrupt environment of Legal Crime is a direct loan from gangster movies - dirty tricks are a must, but violence is only one way of interfering with the activities of your competitors. What is your response when the city power utility has 'accidentally' blacked out a whole block?

Players are also encouraged to form alliances. From the profit perspective it makes sense to monopolize one of the four main sectors of criminal activity, but when the game features a sufficient number of players the controllers of each different sector can actually make more money by doing business with one another, for instance the liquor supremo can improve his own position by cooperating with king of the speakeasies.

Don't get over excited - according to game designer Jari Saarhelo: "Players won't have any time for tinkering. Everything happens in real time so you have no choice but to react to events in the various business fields. The economic model and the market economy background used in the game are fairly general."

Smooth action, cunning design

Legal Crime's user interface has been made as light-fingered as possible. To be honest, execution of a smooth user interface was one of the prime targets during alpha testing. As a result, mouse control of the action is easy, the keyboard offers shortcuts, and all the data you need can be located without you having to search for it.

Since Legal Crime was designed from the very beginning to be played over the Internet, it adapts well to the idiosyncrasies of that medium and doesn't choke when bottlenecks occur. In theory, the game is able to tolerate delays of as long as two seconds.

Legal Crime's cunning architecture means that there is no need to search for other players when you begin a network game, all Legal Crime servers and games just about to start are shown immediately. Creating a new game takes only a few clicks with the mouse and the city map, the number of players and the desired difficulty level are immediately visible to other Legal Crime players. Although the game was specially designed to permit the participation of an infinite number of players, practical limitations relating to network connections and map dimensions mean that gangster wars involving two to eight players will result in maximum satisfaction.

Legal Crime's extended family

From the first glint of an idea, bringing Legal Crime to the mean streets of the Internet has taken almost two years. As a registered company, Byte Enchanters have been working on the game full-time since early 1997. Aided and abetted by some 3000 players in the beta testing phase, the closing days of development were spent fine-tuning network functionality and the game strategies - new versions of Legal Crime were released each month.

Once the game has been released, most of the Legal Crime servers will be located in the USA - the primary market - and the game will be available only as an on-line product. The game software itself can be copied freely but an unregistered copy will only operate for 15 minutes. As soon as you purchase a license number the time limit is removed (in the same way as, for example, Kali), and the Legal Crime servers ensure that different people are not using the same license. As a law-abiding purchaser, you only have to pay this one-time fee. There are no other charges - and the only demands for "a little insurance" should be traceable to your fellow players!

A team with special talents

Although the medium of wholly electronic release limits artistic freedom, graphic artist Reno Siradze, a former architect, has created an attractive gaming environment. After creating the blocks with a CAD program, details were added using an ordinary paint program. Sound effects such as the Italian-style "Mamma-mias" and other suitable exclamations performed by two American 'Mafiosi' will delight your ears. The production sounds are a huge improvement over the original "Embarrassingly throaty deliveries in a Finnish accent" rasped into a microphone in the corner of a room which caused some American testers to collapse laughing onto the floor.

The slick appearance of Legal Crime is no surprise when the other authors are put on parade. Two of the team have broken out of Nokia, one claims prior connections with ICL, and the musician honed his talents at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. In spite of their very different backgrounds, the Legal Crime team quickly found common ground. According to an off-the-record witness of their brainstorming sessions: "Sparks flew when they banged their heads together".

In such an atmosphere of hard labor and relaxed togetherness it would be surprising if Legal Crime had not managed to become a product making a promise you'll find difficult to refuse.

The bottom line

Legal Crime is definitely worth checking out. Not only is its subject seductive, the combination of a Mafia gang power struggle, excellent playability, gun-toting diplomacy and an extensive selection of highly-questionable activities makes it very special in a market choked with clones.

Legal Crime was released in mid-September.

Legal Crime in Case's Ladder

Many players have wished for ranking system. Starting from yesterday Case's Ladder the international multiplayer gaming league will rank Legal Crime players. Case's Ladder is the world's largest and most diverse multiplayer league on the Internet with over 17,000 active users.

Case's Ladder is a ranking system for game players that is based on consistency and who you can defeat. With this unique approach players are given a chance to prove how they stand against other players over a long period....Not just on any given day. Since every player out there has good days and bad days this system of ranking has won mass appeal among hard-core gamers. The Ladder is open to anyone who wants to join and is totally free!

Players are ranked according to who they can beat, and they move halfway up the distance between their spot and their opponent's if they should win a challenge. For example, if you are ranked 20th and defeat the person who is ranked 10th, you move to the 15th rung. A rung is just another term for your standing or position on the ladder. The lower the number, the higher the rung. EG: Someone who is ranked 50 is better than someone ranked 100.

The league also prevents players from getting high up into the rankings just by playing people who aren't very good. A lot of leagues rank players based on the number of wins and losses they have, which isn't a good system. Why would you play a tough opponent when you could pound on a newbie and still move up in the rankings?

Another good point is that since you move half the distance up with each win, the number of players in the league doesn't matter...You can still move up fast if you are a good player.

Other ranking formats make you lose points or ranking if you lose matches to players ranked below you. The ladder doesn't do that. The only way you will lose rank because of a match is if the player is ranked directly underneath you. After all, losing a match doesn't mean someone is better than you...It just means you lost the battle, but not the war.

New players only have to win one match to be ranked...Unlike some other competitions which want you to play many matches before your name can go up in lights.

We believe that if you can beat people ranked above you that you deserve to move up right away!

With this system, you need to win several matches to actually overcome your opponent if you are close in the rankings, which makes the top ten very accurate. For example, there is no way to get to the number one slot without being number two. So there is always a showdown of the top players for the highest ranking. In addition, you don't lose any ladder position for losing a match -- But since everyone wants to be number one, it's easy to drop fast if you don't play.

How it works : All interested parties may stop by at www.igl.net.

Legal Crime 1.0 final release!

Changes:

• more sounds
• a few minor bugs

PRESS RELEASE

Legal Crime Commercial Launch

The on-line international gaming is about to meet its new challenger, Legal Crime. It is especially designed to enable multiplayer games over the Internet. Legal Crime is today commercially launched world-wide.

Whereas in real life people need to be honest and good, Legal Crime lets your dark side free. It is retrieving the atmosphere of organized crime families in Chicago early this century. Legal Crime is a real time strategy game played over the Internet connecting a huge player network together throughout continents. The game sessions last from couple minutes to an hour. Each player is a godfather who recruits his own organization and manages it, if you don't, staff quits and starts their own wild businesses. The target of the game is to gain power in the city. Only your imagination sets limits to means. You can do it honestly, but it pays little, unfortunately. Dirty means are in, but violence is not the only thing, hence what can you do if electricity is cut of from your headquarters. This is naturally the result of your opponent bribing the city officials. To win, you got to use your brain and fast.

Legal Crime is distributed solely via the Internet. Players can check out the game before buying by downloading a 15 minutes free of charge demo from the Internet. If player decides to buy Legal Crime, he can contact one of the resellers for the license number which is needed to enjoy the full version of the game. "It was a very clear decision to manage whole logistics in the Net. We wanted to make it very easy and fast for players to get Legal Crime. Depending on the reseller, the license number should reach player within a couple hours after payment" says Teemu Puskala, CEO, Byte Enchanters.

The passion to play computer games brought a group of young IT technology professionals together couple years ago. That is when the idea to make own game was born. Byte Enchanters was established in December 1995 to create a new generation of global game systems. Legal Crime is a strategy game for Internet environment and it is the first product of Byte Enchanters. Legal Crime is Kali compatible. Byte Enchanters is located in Espoo Technology Village in Finland.

For more information:

Teemu Puskala, CEO
Jari Saarhelo, Game Design

Fax +358-9-437 5392

Legal Crime 1.0 prerelease version was released. This is the final version before official release. Fixes:

• cop car cruising around parks fixed
• network traffic reduced
• many other smaller fixes

Legal Crime tournament

1. Signing up.
2. Prizes/Sponsers
3. Start date
4. 12 people signed up, with about 10 more who need to resign up
5. One last note

1 Signing up

If you are receiving this message, and you have not already signed up for this tournement, it is either because I happen to know you are a beta tester, or you emailed me requesting more information. If you would like to sign up for this tournament, you may do so by emailing me your GAME name. I recommend that you visit the mainpage first to learn the rules of this tournament, and any future ones. If you have anything that you think should be added to the rules, please email me. Remember, I can't run this tournament alone!

2 Prizes/Sponsers

I would greatly like to be able to give out a prize for the top 3 players, but I don't have enough money to give it out of my own pocket =). What I would like is for a company, or just a generous person to sponser this tourny. Email me for details (if a company would like to they will get advertising space at the top of the page!).

3 Start Date

I currently do not know when the first tournament is going to start, but it will be within two weeks (that is you can schuedle your first game for two weeks from today!). Check the homepage to see if you are currently signed up!

4 12 people signed up with 10 that need to resign up.

There as of right now 10 people who are on the players page. More of you have said that you would like to join, but I need your game name, as I said before.

5 One last note.

If by the time the tournement starts there are only around 20-30 people, I will need to modify the way the rules work. What will probably happen is that it will either be double elimination, or two people will advance from each round. If it is below 20 people, three people will advance each round, to make the tournement go longer.

Robert Brooks
Slash-SCAR

Legal Crime in a ladder in China

The country of clans has adopted the theme of Legal Crime. Welcome adventurer to The Chinese Ladder, the first Internet multiplayer game matching system in China mainland. the tournamentes will happen mostly in the China region, however rogues from all over the globe are most welcome to join. The "Chinese Ladder" is now available, and it is the world,s first Legal Crime Ladder. Feel free to take a look at :

http://www.kali.online.sh.cn/ladder/

Beta 11 was released:

• AI has been added to the practice mode
• Demo versions can now join and play with full versions
• A bug in raid/demolish etc. button visibility fixed
• Ghost bug in arrests fixed
• Bug in market share display fixed
• FBI "visits" last now 30 secs instead of earlier 60 secs
• Unload Cadillac bug fixed
• Starting location selection randomization has been improved
• Upgrade already seen businesses bug fixed
• New support building : fake business
• Units are now properly visible when seen by buildings
• Right click on enemy business now extorts instead of attacking
• Give money command
• Initial player funds can now be set

PRESS RELEASE

New Internet Strategy Game in Final Beta Test Phase

Commercial Launch in mid-September 1997

It is about three months ago when Byte Enchanters started actively to look for Beta testers for its new game Legal Crime. This search brought together 5,000 people who have formed a huge network of people throughout the world. This network of gamers form a community which is in contact with each other in real time, developing its own rules and culture.

"According to the feedback we have received many players like real time strategy games over Internet with human opponents. You never know what the other guy is up to whereas you can always learn how the computer opponent behaves. This virtual Chicago seems to have released the dark sides of many players" says Teemu Puskala, CEO, Byte Enchanters.

Legal Crime is an unique real time strategy game which is played over Internet. The theme of the game is organized crime. Every player is a godfather who has to build up his own organization as well as to gain power in the city. The game is the virtual Chicago of 1920s with bootlegging, pimps and bribing. Each game is different with its unforeseeable strategy, hence it is played against another human being. You need to be fast decision maker, smart and cunning.

Legal Crime is distributed world wide via Internet. Byte Enchanters has several partners in USA, Italy, Norway, Israel, China, Belgium, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland. For an Internet Service Provider (ISP) running game server like Legal Crime offers an opportunity to give its customers online entertainment in real time exiting strategy game. Legal Crime server does not require a lot of capacity from ISPs server since the actual game traffic will not load their server.

The passion to play computer games brought a group of young IT technology professionals together couple years ago. That is when the idea to make own game was born. Byte Enchanters was established in December 1995 to create a new generation of global game systems. Legal Crime is a strategy game for Internet environment and it is the first product of Byte Enchanters. Legal Crime is Kali compatible. Byte Enchanters is located in Espoo Technology Village in Finland.

For more information:

Teemu Puskala, CEO
Jari Saarhelo, Game Design
Tel. +358-9-437 5390
Fax +358-9-437 5392
teemu.puskala@byteenchanters.net
http://www.byteenchanters.net

Beta 10 was released:

Changes in bribing rules

• Order of army advantage is now pistol man, sniper, shotgun man, hit man, transport, Thompson
• new FBI information advantage : show enemy money, show number of enemy gangsters, show enemy market shares, reveal location of one enemy gangster.
• new benefits also from FBI : get a snitch in enemy forces, interrogate enemy (=freeze enemy UI for 1 minute)
• new advantage from politicians : recruit thief, demolish buildings, investigate enemy businesses, investigate bribing, start a rumor on enemy, initiate laws.
• new advantage from police : permits for businesses, release gangsters from jail, raid businesses, arrest enemy gangsters.

Server

• new games will show up faster.

Miscellaneous

• Player ping times are shown.
• Dead players are no longer shown in the message and alliance windows.

Beta 9 was released:

- New faces to gangsters.
- Terrorist attacks cadillacs automatically
- Drive-by shooting is now less effective
- Business model has been modified
- Only max player amount can join to game.
- When game is waiting player longer than 10 seconds, info window is displayed.
- in game chat messages are drawn by green color, and win and lose messages are drawn by red color.
- Crash after HQ destruction fixed.
- New sign to upgraded business.

Beta 8 was released:

- Cars drive no longer on the sidewalk
- Hq can now be repaired and set as a primary training center
- Units heal over time
- Player has to pay for training and collection center maintenance
- Snipers can't change target during aiming anymore, i.e. big groups of snipers aren't effective anymore
- Drive-by shooting is less effective
- Now when car is destroyed passangers receive damage
- Hitman has now two types of attacks. First attack kills the target, others are much less effective.
- the business model has been adjusted (changes in the profits of the businesses)

Beta 7 was released:

User interface
- Statistics of the game at end
- Lots of new graphics
- ctrl-[home|end|pageup|pagedown] adjusts sound volume in game.
- shift-[home|end|pageup|pagedown] to adjust music volume in game.
- Tab-key will go through all the gangsters.

New business model
- Businesses are divided to areas: bootlegging, entertainment, gambling and troubleshooting.
- Bonus is avarded for high market share in a business area, i.e. the production of the business can rise at max 100 %.
- Bonus is avarded for the number of businesses in the same area, more businesses better production.
- The type of legal extorted business no longer limits the choice of illegal business.
- Supporting buildings, training and collection center can be founded in any legal business.

New Commands
- Patrol. Unit patrols between two selected points.
- Selection of primary training center, new units will appear there.
- Sell. Sell an illegal business for half of the founding price.
- Recruiting can be stopped by re-clicking the recruit button.

Units
- Cadillac. Enables fast transportation and also drive-by-shooting with thompson men.
- Thief. Can steal money from other people's businesses.
- Balance of units has been modified, the more advanced units are now much better.

New abilities
- Disguise. Enables a unit to move without being detected for one minute.
- Cause power failures. The production of a selected block is frozen for either 25 secs or 3 minutes, depending on the level of ability.

Bribing
- Benefits of bribing army : pistol man, sniper, terrorist, hit man, shotgun man, cadillac, thompson man.
- Benefits of bribing police : no raids to business (sizes 1 - 4), raids to enemy businesses (sizes 1- 4)
- Benefits of bribing FBI : location of 1 enemy business, enemies incomes, location of 1 enemy hq, thief, ability to disguise.
- Benefits of bribing goverment : ability to generate power failures (small/big), permits for special businesses (Casino/Nightclub/Revue).

Misc
- User can now instruct units to attack a hit man before he has attacked.
- Bugs in income calculation fixed.
- Collectors are fully healed after entering Hq.
- Businesses no longer produce income during upgrading.
- Starting funds are now $200 000
- The dead bodies no longer affect the movement of other units.
- Bugs in force goto & attack fixed.

Beta 6 was released.

Main changes:

- New voices added. Not final.
- Shift-# selects and centers to ganster group.
- It is now possible to set building to quick key by using ctrl-#. After that pressing # view is centered to that building.
- In join game or start new game screen by pressing escape key, current chat text is removed.
- Diagonal scrolling.
- h-key centers to HQ.
- Music added
- Map size up to 200*200 is supported now.
- Hitman is weaker.
- Police car is much cooler looking now.
- When no ganster is selected and g, a or e quick key will be pressed, game doesn't crash anymore.
- Some machines suffered slowdown when text is printed to screen. We hope that is fixed now.

Beta 5 was released.

Main changes:

- Bug fixes in the chat
- Suicide is no longer possible
- No longer is the money in a neutral business available to the player who starts to extort the business
- Added the display for players' relative ranking.
- Separate ending screens for the winner and the not-so-succesful.
- a couple of crashing bugs fixed.
- two new gansters: shotgun man and hitman
- You can no longer speed up your ganster by giving the go command several times in a row.
- It is no longer possible to cheat by giving the extort command several times in a row.

Beta 4 was released.

Main changes:

- Chat room

- several bug fixes.

Beta 3 was released.

Main changes:

- Beta 2 had a bug that makes a multiplayer game fail after one player has been defeated. We have fixed that.

- LCdata.bin file is created automatically. The game asks for the license number.

NOTE: if you make a mistake when entering the number, you can copy your old LCdata.bin file over the new one.