Do you remember what it was like to fire up your modem and call your local BBS? You would dutifully read all of the new messages, post intelligent responses, upload useful files, and answer any questions that the new users might have.
Or did you have two accounts: one to download the latest files on Line 1 while you played online games (Leech, of course) on Line 2? Maybe you new-scanned the message bases, but only because the SysOp had the read-before-download option turned on.
If the second example sounds more like you, then Leech 2000 is your kind of game!
The object of Leech 2000 is to crash as many other virtual BBSs and users as possible. In other words, can you be the biggest Leech of all?
History
Leech has always been the second [1] external ported to every new version of Hermes. I wrote Leech 2000 while building the new External Development System to ensure that the EDS would have all of the necessary functionality to implement a complete external.
The source code for Leech 2000 is available under the three-clause BSD license, which essentially means that you can freely use Leech 2000 as a reference for building your own external. Please note that Leech 2000 is a complete reimplementation of the Leech game; it is not based on the source code for any other version of Leech.
The first Hermes external ported to new versions of the BBS has always been Update Phone. Yes, it does let you update your phone number, but its real purpose is to serve as a template for writing basic externals. Is there an Update Phone written in Python? Read the EDS docs and find out…
Missing elements
With the exception of a few minor items, Leech 2000 is a complete, playable game. The items that are missing from 0.9.0 have to do with multi-user interaction. For example, if a Leech wins the game while other users are still in the external, then everyone should be kicked out of the game so that it can be reset. This does not yet happen.
There are a couple of other items like that in the code, all marked with the TODO keyword. I plan to fix these items soon, at which point the 1.0.0 version will be released. In any event, Leech 2000 is a fun game and a worthwhile addition to any Hermes II BBS. Most users will not notice the small discrepancies caused by these missing elements.