Bridge Builder, revamped

October 30, 2001 5:55 PM

Bridge Builder, revamped I posted a link to this program months and months ago. Since then, the program has been revamped. It's now called PONTIFEX, and it gives you more options for bridge building materials, as well as better 3-D graphics (including an option to view your bridges from the point of view of the train's engineer). It's well worth another look.
posted by crunchland (8 comments total)

If you liked it before, you can buy the game for a mere $20.
posted by crunchland at 5:56 PM on October 30, 2001

(pontifex is also the name of the crypto system that uses a deck of cards in cryptonomicon, btw.)
posted by epersonae at 6:48 PM on October 30, 2001

Something wrong with this game...
I loved Bridge Builder, and it was my fav. game for a long time.

This game on the other hand gives me a frame rate of like 1 FPS, when I'm in the menu. My vid card is an Nvidia TNT 2, so i can't imagine that the menu in the game is really that hard to render.

I'm running XP, and even under compatability mode i get the same problems.

I even set the resolution to 640x480 w/ 16 bit.. and it still gives me the 1FPS...

Anyone know whats wrong?
posted by yevge at 6:58 PM on October 30, 2001

This is so cool! Thanks, crunchy!
posted by Optamystic at 10:47 PM on October 30, 2001

yevge: According to faq, there was a problem with Matrox cards running very slowly, but they claim it's all fixed. Don't know what to tell you. You might want to contact them.
posted by crunchland at 3:08 AM on October 31, 2001

Excellent game! thanks crunchland!
posted by stevridie at 5:33 AM on October 31, 2001

Damn you crunchland. When you linked to this last time, the game took away half my week and now..... ooh, look, the bridge is solid now... and there's more materials... and what does this do.... arrgh, it's bad enough I'm on MeFi all day, now I'll never get anything done.
posted by eyeballkid at 8:15 AM on October 31, 2001

They've made more than visual improvements, too. Now you have to have the train pass over the bridge 4 times instead of just once. So squeaking by and building a bridge that collapses just after the train passes over just won't do. I've pretty much decided to purchase a copy of the game. You get more levels to play, as well as the ability to design your own scenarios.

It's interesting because I'm sure a game like this would never see the light of day in a Compusa or Electronics Boutique. It reminds me of the C64 games of my youth. I think programmers like the ones who made this game should be encouraged.
posted by crunchland at 10:54 AM on October 31, 2001